Hey everyone, how’s home? Winter starting to wind down or is it being stubborn as usual? From my end it’s amazing to think that snow and ice covers the landscape at home. Here and there I’ve been showing people pictures of snow and ice in an attempt to get their sympathy as I do my best against the midday sun which struggles to penetrate the shade of whatever tree I’m taking refuge under.
I heard there’s been some rain back home of late. I feel obliged to mention that it poured at my house the other day! That was pretty wild. Before it came I could hear a bit of a rushing sound, maybe like if you heard a river off in the distance. Normally I would associate that with a downpour next door about to come my way, like sometimes happens when a storm comes through back home. I should have trusted the instinct but nonetheless I refused it given the notion that it was hot/dry season and that it’s not supposed to rain. But it poured in sheets for about a half an hour! Cooled things right off (and at least now I know where the leaks are in my house). Makes me that much more excited about rainy season!
But until the rain comes more regularly shade is my best friend. The association I work with a lot here calls themselves “Songou-Man” (Shade is Good). Truth! The thought of living here without the shade of certain trees isn’t an appealing one. Honestly, I can manage to stay feeling fairly fresh if I don’t venture far from my go-to trees. I’ve staked out one good spot in particular where a couple of old trees still stand thanks to the presence of the large boulder they’re wedged around. I can set up my old hammock just right between them for a solid nap and light reading if I need an escape. However, I have to say that the best shade trees are mango trees, one of the few trees that are widely planted and protected by everyone for obvious reasons.
Right now I’m reaping multiple benefits of mango trees. Mangos are coming out in quantity and variety! I shamelessly take advantage as I indulge myself in them. I feel like a kid when I finish and stand up with mango juice all over my hands and face and realize my teeth are lodged full of stringy mango grains.
There are many varieties of mangos, but only one of them really seams to root well in the soil here. It’s a succulent variety, but small and grainy. To add to the variety of the mango crop people often practice grafting. It’s a technique where you create a sort of mango “hybrid” (you can do something similar with oranges too). How does it work?
Pick out your mango tree that does the best in the local climate and plant it. Once the tree has at least 6 months of age go find your mate. Hunt out another mango tree (this can even be another grafted tree that is already mature) and cut off the tip of one of its branches. Slice off all the leaves and then sheer off the skin of one side of stem. Pick a spot on your young mango and sheer off an equal sized strip of skin and then kiss the two together. Wrap it in plastic, wait for it to bud, open up the budded part and then let it grow. This way your mango trees will start producing fruit at a younger age and will give you mangos that are, as my Moba mom would say in her broken French, “gros-gros…et doux”!.
I’ve recently started walking the river bed on occasion as a way to get out and about. Now completely dry it makes a pleasant walk and leads me out into the bush a bit were I can find the appeal of a forest relatively undisturbed. A combination of coolness afforded by the shade, sounds of birds playing and the sights of the native trees lures me there.
However, thanks to the presence of dry season my walk there inevitably leads me across groups of people like the ones in the picture I posted here. For those who aren’t fortunate enough to have a well that doesn’t dry up, finding water right now is tough and for some, means routine trips to the "marigot". Fortunately for us my family does have a well right outside our compound. It’s deeper than it was three months ago, but there’s still water there (one of our ducks can attest to that as he fell in searching for water…we cleaned him a week later). Our problem is that our rope often breaks, sending our bucket careening into the depths until we able to fish it out or buy a new one a couple days later. In this case my sisters may be forced in the meantime to venture into the marigot for water like the folks in this picture.
One of my friends in village claims that the river didn’t used to dry up. But as the years went on people started farming on the land right on the river’s edge. When the solid vegetation was uprooted nothing was left to hold it together when the rushing water of rainy season came. This swept away the banks making the riverbed, (formerly narrow and rocky as my friend claims) wide and sandy. So instead of standing water being left in the river all year round (at least a little bit anyway), what water is left in dry season rests under the sand of the riverbed (this is their "marigot").
So if you don’t have a well you grab a bunch of containers, a hoe/shovel, a couple of calabashes and your donkey if you have one and head out to a spot like this. Start digging until you hit water, dig some more (a little bit past the “water table”), clean out the dirty water you just created and then wait for it to fill up with relatively clean water. Now scoop out your water with a calabash and lug it back home, which for some can be rather far. It’s rough work and they know it, but at least while I’m around they keep a good spirit up in spite of it. I feel fortunate for my well!
Good luck with the winter doldrums back home! All my best!
