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| My morning commute. |
9:30AM -- Up and at
‘em! I lounged around in bed until the
rain subsided (plus a half an hour to give the unpaved jungle roads some time
to dry), and then was on my way! I rode my bike 12km to the cassava farm in Mfida 3, a village outside of Akono.
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| Tithonia Diversifolia |
Whenever I have a Tuesday or Thursday free, I head over
to Mfida 3, where I join a group of women on their cassava farm. While each woman has her own personal farm, this
shared plot is an experimental farm.
They’ve divided up the land into sections to test which technique
produces the highest yield: traditional
planting methods, “improved” planting methods, with Tithonia diversifolia (a
weed that can be used as a natural fertilizer and insecticide that wards off root-eating pests), and without Tithonia diversifolia. So in the
morning, I ride my bike through the jungle til I reach the farm, and then we
work until it becomes too hot. On my first day visiting the farm, the women were a bit skeptical of me: “who is this white girl coming to disturb our productive
workday?” But once I proved I was
willing to get dirty and work hard,
they warmed right up to me. They were
impressed with my hoe-wielding skills, while I was impressed by how these mamas
do this every single day without their hamstrings burning as bad as mine. These women are amazingly strong and hardworking, and more importantly, they are kind. Ever since that first day, they welcome me with smiles and hugs, and send me away with a backpack full of mangoes. I've learned to look forward to their company on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as much as I look forward to the wonderful workout that comes with tilling the Earth.
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| Mama Alphonsine counting out Tithonia diversifolia leaves. May 2015. |
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| Mama Helene preparing to plant cassava. May 2015. |
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| Ntie |
Anyways, I was psyched for a long day of farming, but I arrived
at the pond only to find that the ladies decided not to work this Tuesday! Nevertheless, the ride was not a total waste; my friend Ntie
flagged me down as I was riding past.
Together we walked around the farm to observe which parcels were
producing well and which were not. It was hugely evident that the improved
methods and Tithonia diversifolia yielded
better results. Ntie explained to me
that they had obtained their objectives with this project: the women were sufficiently convinced that these new
methods were the way to go. Because they
were able to see the results for themselves, they were convinced and ready to
begin applying these same techniques on their own farms. Success!!
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| The field today. |
I had intended to continue my bike ride to visit Mr. Mfugue, a fish farmer in Mfida 4, but Ntie informed me that Mrs. Mfugue was sick and they had gone to town for medicine.
12:00PM -- I arrived
back to Akono and was suddenly super hungry, so I stopped by Mama Melanie’s
food stand for a bean sandwich before going home. Melanie is my favorite food vendor in
town. During my first weeks in Akono, she won me over as a customer by literally dragging me away from other food vendors and giving me free beignets. Some days I’ll hang out and help
her make sandwiches (at first, clients are annoyed at how long I take to crack hard-boiled eggs or de-bone fish, but they always walk away pleased when they
see how generous I am with sauces!). Today was I was sweaty from my bikeride and didn't want to linger, so after exchanging some village gossip, I took my sandwich to
go.
Before getting back on my bike, I ran into Raphael, a fish
farmer and the head of the cassava farm that I had just visited in Mfida 3. We had a nice chat about work before each of
us were on our way.
12:30PM -- Not even
home for ten minutes before it starts raining!
It continued to rain for the next two hours. Since farming and visiting Mr. Mfugue were the only things on my agenda
for the day, and since they both fell through, I was now free to hang out. Nobody ventures outside in Cameroon when it rains, so I took advantage of this time and had a guilt-free afternoon of reading and napping.
3:30PM -- I went for
a walk to visit some friends, but none of these friends were in their usual stomping grounds: Carole wasn’t home, Rashida wasn't
in her tailor shop, Frida wasn’t at the mechanic’s shop, Patience wasn’t at her
bar. So instead I bought a kilo of
peanuts to roast and supplies to make brownies later in the week.
4:15PM -- Roasted
some peanuts, ate some peanuts. Made vocab flashcards for the GRE.
5:30PM -- My legs were tired from my bike ride, but it was such a beautiful day that I decided to go for another evening run. I returned home just in time for a quick phone call with my Mama!
Overall it was a laid back day. My main plans fell through, which happens pretty often. I’ve learned to appreciate days when I can lounge around and read.
Okay…sometimes these types of days drive me crazy.
Sometimes I get frustrated at the slow paced life, wishing for more structure, more work, more "to-dos". Today though, today it was nice.
Three things that made me smile today:
- My morning bike ride through the jungle was amazing as always, and reminded me how lucky I am to be here.
- I had a really nice chitchat with a long lost friend (talkin' bout you, Markalark!)
- Sour gummy worms!
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