Rainbows over the house

Dinner with Charles and Louis

Tonight was Louis last night in Oussouye. His vacation for 2009 is now over. We are thankful we had an opportunity to spend some time with him.

Tom makes attai with Charles

Homework

Two weeks ago Tom and Lorrie's homework was to cook Yassa Poullet for us. Yassa is a very Jola dish with grilled chicken and a sauce of onions, lemon and garlic.

Planting Season

During this time of year everyone is busy planting their rice seedlings and getting their fields ready for the rice. A few weeks ago we were visiting a friend in Kahinda and his neighbors were preparing the stored rice to plant in the fields. They had rice bundled from last seasons harvest. So they were threshing it by hand, or "by foot" in this instance. They will then take the threshed rice and plant the seeds in the field to get their seedlings for the actual rice paddies.

Tom's friend Boris

While walking through Okoute a few weeks ago I was lost in the forest. Luckily we came upon a guy named Boris, who offered to lead us out of the forest. Boris has become a friend of Tom's and last week Boris took Tom on a tour of Okoute.

Try Batik on for size

While walking in Edingough the other day we met a woman who makes Batik. When I lived in Ghana I was fortunate to learn how to make batik. This woman appears to be a real artist. As she was encouraging us to buy her fabric she dressed up Lorrie to see how it would look on her.

Everything's big in Senegal

Lorrie and I climbing on an extraordinarily large tree

Lorrie and Tom

In bed with a boa

In the Cassamance forest from time to time we hear stories about big boa's slithering through homes to try and catch an unsuspecting cat for lunch. I heard a story last year about a woman who felt something slither past her and her sleeping child. She ran outside and her neighbors ended up killing a three meter long boa. Bigger boa than I'd like to be sleeping in. Here is a picture of me and a boa skin. The skin is folded over the door so it's twice as long as you see there.

Dedicating the Babies

In the traditional religion of the Jola when a baby is born they dedicate him to the fetish. All thoughout the child's life he is attached to the fetish and is required to make sacrifices to the fetish. This is a traditional alter on a Jola home where they dedicate their babies.

Making Charcoal

Have you ever wondered how they make charcoal? In the villages they make their own charcoal by burying the wood and then lightning it on fire so that it slowly chars and turns to coal.

Twins

My neighbor's wife had twin boys last week. I went to visit her last week because I was asked to take some photos. The boys are healthy but super tiny. As the boys laid on their little bed a knife with a charm was laid at each of their heads.

Edingough

Friday we went on a prayer walk in Edingough. This village is known as a Catholic village. The roots of Catholicism in this area made an agreement with the fetishers. They wanted to Baptize the children into Catholicism if they could all continue to worship at the fetish. As we were walking through the village we saw a charm hanging from some cashew trees. Ishmael explained that the proprietor of the farm went to the maribou and asked him to make a special charm to protect his forest. The magic of the charm is that if anyone tries to steal the proprietors fruit, the trees will trap him so that he will be caught. What was interesting about the charm is that mingled with the fetish charm was a grass cross. "Because" the proprietor is Catholic.

Samba and his cows

Lorrie makes pizza with Astou

Day off at the Beach

Day off at the Beach

After having been in Senegal for about six weeks we took a day off to walk on the beach. During the rainy season the ocean stirs itself up and all the silt on the bottom of the ocean mixes and mingles at the top. It's not as much fun to swim in as during the dry season. So this time we walked from Kabrousse to Cap Skirring. It was a great day and we all took some sun and hid from the sun a bit too.