Pool!

Sometimes we do this...

Just because

This is Coly.

Yea, he's got lots of boogers on his face but he's still darn cute.

Poop!

Seriously.

Poop is a very serious issue to a Peace Corps volunteer. In this post we'll discuss the importance of cow and donkey feces in my life.

This past week I had an amazing guest. She is a study abroad student in Dakar named Cailtlin. She and six other students braved the long journey from Dakar to spend a week in a "real" village here in the Kolda region.

One of the highlights from the week was the most successful women group meetings of all time. I told Caitlin that she didn't need to attend. My part of the meeting usually lasts about 2 minutes and the other 58 are dedicated to the women talking at a loud volume at a rapid speed about the prices of okra. It's always amusing.

The formula of the meetings usually go as such...

Woopa-jey (me, the young woppa) - I start by stating what we need to discuss
Mariama (my savior) - Translates what I just said, in the same language I just said it
Woppa (the Pres.) - Repeats what Mariama says and adds a few ideas of her own, the looks at me and I click in approval.

Then someone mentions something about someone and it's a snowball rolling down the hill. The women start and with each comment gather a little more speed in their speech and volume in their tone. It goes and goes until everyone is trying to speak over eachother all at the same time when Souncan suddenly shouts, "Woppa (me), we're so happy you're here. We're so happy you greet us. We love what you're doing for the village..." and starts clapping. The other women totally do a 180 and repeat her, including the clapping. Part of me loves this HUGE ego boost, the other part feels like a little 5 year old who put their pants on properly for the first time and everyone was relieved I finally figured out how.

Anyway, this particular meeting was not like that.

I arrived with three large rice sacks and started the meeting. "Ok, ladies, here's what I need from you to begin our tree pepineres. I have three sacks here and you have one week to fill them with poop. I need poop from the donkeys and the cows. Do NOT give me sheep or goat poop..."

Mariama chimed in, "Woppa, don't we need to pound it?"

My jaw fell to the ground, "What?!?! You mean you all actually know how to do this? I don't have to teach you?"

Everyone, "Of course we know! give us the sacks!"

And here's where it gets awesome...

My wife, Kabajey (aka the woman I live with who I give an allowance to every Saturday) Jumped up and stated to the group, "I'm gonna get the most poop, I've got that donkey tied up all day over there!"

"No way, I am! My husband has a horse who just had a baby!"

And off they all ran to their compounds and returned with the massive pounder tools and buckets and bags worth of poop and start pounding. The little girls are helping, the little boys are clapping and cheering everyone on.

While all this is going on, I'm standing there, dumbfounded. I didn't have to lift a finger. I turned to Caitlin, "I can't let you leave. You make magic happen here." We laughed and pulled out the cameras.
And here they are, pounding away.