Reflections of our second week in Daru village....
One hour of total gardening time...most of it watering and planting seeds.
Across the river from a bamboo grove, we find a sandy beach, where we enjoy sitting and reading in the shade.
We pound rice in a giant wooden mortar and pestle (for about 5 minutes)...which is much more tiring than it looks. We have new respect for the children after we watch them tirelessly go at the rice for an hour.
Eat river frog for the first time, which is DELICIOUS! The frog was caught with a fishing rod by the German volunteer, Nicholas, and his friend who lives in the village.
Matt works on framing the roof of a local house while I watch the process of making pamine oil, which they use for cooking as frequently as one might use vegetable oil in the States. The process consists of stomping on a massive amount of fruits taken from a specific type of palm tree in a giant pit with water. The oil then sits on the top (great density lesson for kids--I can't stop thinking about teaching) and they skim it off and boil it in a large barrell over a fire for quite some time. The result is a wonderful orangey colored oil.
Someone finds an airplane magazine from Qatar Air and when they flip through the pages, they keep asking if I am the people in the ads. A great moment for me was when the kids thought that I was Scarlett Johanssan (sp?) in a perfume ad. Because all white people look alike....
We wake up one morning to hear that a woman from the village has gone into labor and six men from her family carried her in a hammock the six miles to the nearest village with a hospital. The six men took turns carrying her, two men at a time.
The ants here are amazing! But, if an ant bites you, they draw blood...sometimes we look like we're dancing along the paths, because we are trying to be light in our flip-flops, for fear of ants.
Showers by starlight have become a part of our daily ritual. It is nice to get cool right after the sun has disappeared and neat to see so many stars.
Pineapples, pineapples, pineapples. Oh, how I love the pineapples here. They are so sweet, juicy, and delicious. I have NEVER tasted anything close to the taste of the pineapples here.
We try new foods: fritambo (a deer-like animal named, duiker) and cacari, (sp?) which is a delicious fruit with cacao seeds.
Booberry (sp?) and Sad Baby are two of the most popular musical artists, if you can call them that, so, you should look them up if you have the time. Then you'll get a sense of the nightly dance parties that happen in Daru village.
As we wait for a "poda poda" bus on the road back to Kenema, we see a palm tree with a few holes in it. When we ask, we learn that at that junction, a hamlet used to exist. When the war happened, the entire village, with the exception of one person, was killed. The bullet holes in the palm trees are all that remains.
Here are some more photos of Daru life:
Ladies making fishing nets out of the reeds you see on the floor. The woman in front is blind and does a lot of weaving throughout the day.
On my way to go fishing with the entire village.
Some really intimidating and beautiful women we met while walking to the next village to go pick up our machetes.
You guessed it! This is the blacksmith shop.
This picture reminds me of "Where's Waldo" except it is pretty easy to find the only woman who just happens to be the only white person sitting amongst the religious men during a ceremony. And no, I did not choose to sit there...they cleared a spot for Matt and I to sit, so we sat there.
Some men in Daru were in the process of building the house behind them. They fill in the gaps between the wooden structure with mud. When they saw I had my camera, they insisted that I take their photo.
These grasshoppers were EVERYWHERE! They are very beautiful. This one is eating a papaya that fell from a tree.
Don't be fooled by the dimples and cute smile. This young girl is merciless. She and her sister would terrorize each other all day long, laughing throughout the entire thing. I've never seen higher pain tolerance or more determination in any kid, ever. Matt and I had many conversations about Amazonian women fighters because of these little girls...I wish I had a video to show because if I had not seen the drive with which these sisters continuously tried to hurt one another, I would not believe it myself. But, as violent as it seems to me....I never heard either of them cry. All I heard was them laughing...even when they were pinned to the ground.
Alpha!
I play "toast" with the kids.
Matt with Doe, our farming boss.
One hour of total gardening time...most of it watering and planting seeds.
Across the river from a bamboo grove, we find a sandy beach, where we enjoy sitting and reading in the shade.
We pound rice in a giant wooden mortar and pestle (for about 5 minutes)...which is much more tiring than it looks. We have new respect for the children after we watch them tirelessly go at the rice for an hour.
Eat river frog for the first time, which is DELICIOUS! The frog was caught with a fishing rod by the German volunteer, Nicholas, and his friend who lives in the village.
Matt works on framing the roof of a local house while I watch the process of making pamine oil, which they use for cooking as frequently as one might use vegetable oil in the States. The process consists of stomping on a massive amount of fruits taken from a specific type of palm tree in a giant pit with water. The oil then sits on the top (great density lesson for kids--I can't stop thinking about teaching) and they skim it off and boil it in a large barrell over a fire for quite some time. The result is a wonderful orangey colored oil.
Someone finds an airplane magazine from Qatar Air and when they flip through the pages, they keep asking if I am the people in the ads. A great moment for me was when the kids thought that I was Scarlett Johanssan (sp?) in a perfume ad. Because all white people look alike....
We wake up one morning to hear that a woman from the village has gone into labor and six men from her family carried her in a hammock the six miles to the nearest village with a hospital. The six men took turns carrying her, two men at a time.
The ants here are amazing! But, if an ant bites you, they draw blood...sometimes we look like we're dancing along the paths, because we are trying to be light in our flip-flops, for fear of ants.
Showers by starlight have become a part of our daily ritual. It is nice to get cool right after the sun has disappeared and neat to see so many stars.
Pineapples, pineapples, pineapples. Oh, how I love the pineapples here. They are so sweet, juicy, and delicious. I have NEVER tasted anything close to the taste of the pineapples here.
We try new foods: fritambo (a deer-like animal named, duiker) and cacari, (sp?) which is a delicious fruit with cacao seeds.
Booberry (sp?) and Sad Baby are two of the most popular musical artists, if you can call them that, so, you should look them up if you have the time. Then you'll get a sense of the nightly dance parties that happen in Daru village.
As we wait for a "poda poda" bus on the road back to Kenema, we see a palm tree with a few holes in it. When we ask, we learn that at that junction, a hamlet used to exist. When the war happened, the entire village, with the exception of one person, was killed. The bullet holes in the palm trees are all that remains.
Here are some more photos of Daru life:
Ouiya with our very last delicious pineapple.
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