This week’s news roundup

Here’s a bee swarm that Leah and I found on our walk up to Shaikou Oumar’s house :  

Alas, I didn’t get any pictures of the monkey that I found hiding out in my avocado tree—I suppose I should be upset that he’s up there stealing avos and mangoes, but he got so scared he dropped an avocado for me (I’m sure he meant it for me), so I’m doubly tickled pink.

Meanwhile, the pine trees in the tree nursery are growing taller, while the water level in the wells keeps dropping.  Most mornings, I walk through the pine plantation to work with the pepiniere (tree nursery) group for a few hours—we water and weed, and I get a little bit of the morning’s gossip in Pulaar: who died, who’s getting married, and who is off harvesting her tomatoes instead of helping us water.  Alas, my Pulaar still isn’t good enough to get any juicy details.  On Tuesday we dug down a few feet further in hopes that our closest well would produce enough water to cover all 10 beds of tree seedlings; alas, it’s still not quite enough, so we end up making a few trips to the further well.  Where I dropped a watering can yesterday.  And unfortunately, not one of the lightweight plastic ones that floats; no, I dropped a metal one, and it sank like a stone.  I’m quite grateful to Barbe, who managed to fish it back out. 

I’ve built one more mud cookstove, and I’ve got another new request for help building one, but they’re not sure when they want to build it… my life moves very slowly.  

And it was my birthday last week!  Kim brought me chocolate chip brownie mix when she visited, so on my birthday I brought it into Dalaba and Christina and I made brownie pancakes: follow the instructions on the box but add one extra egg, drop the batter into a good nonstick pan to make coaster-sized pancakes, and voila, instant brownies without an oven.  Chocolate is SO GOOD! 

Also, this week is Malaria Month—I’ll be writing a separate blog post all about that.  But here’s one helpful hint: eating mangoes will not make you ill with malaria.  Which is a good thing, because with my current 4-mango-a-day habit, if there were any truth to that myth, no amount of malaria prophylaxis could keep me safe through rainy season.