October Pictures

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Here are some pictures from my site in October:


I was hoping that the squash-looking plant growing to the left across my yard would have large yellow squash (fairly common during December-January in Kedougou), but unfortunately it only has small fruit about two inches long. They are okay, but not nearly as good as normal squash.

My toxoma's goat had two kids!

My toxoma's goat and its kids

My toxoma's goat and its kids

Last shot of the kids

A bee hive (the large log in the tree) made by someone in my village. He will bait the hive soon and hope for bees

Close-up of the beehive log

The river that passes under the road about 1km east of my village. The concrete added to reinforce the banks clearly did not stand up to the flooding of the river. During the peak of rainy season, the river once came up to the level of the bridge

I helped my toxoma's family shuck their corn for a little while one morning
An "average village" I visited one time on the way into Kedougou

Rainwater collection system. I have found that putting my benoirs under the edge of my roof allows me to capture the most water. The water is usually a little yellow, so I just use it for showering. 

Sorghum fields that Amadou and I passed on the way up to visit a Bedik village about 10km from my village. The Bedik are a Christian population in Kedougou. The other large Christian population in Kedougou are the Bassari, famous for their initiation ceremony

Amadou standing next to a fonio field in the Bedik village we visited

Fonio plants! They are close to being ready to harvest

A sweetsop tree! This is the first producing sweetsop tree that I have seen in Senegal

The Bedik village Amadou and I visited for a day. No one was in the village because they were all out harvesting fonio together in the fields

Fruiting mango trees in October (in the Bedik village, of course)! This was the last thing I expected to see when Amadou and I took our field trip to the village on top of the hill

Some pretty flowers in the Bedik village

A view from the Bedik village down the hill towards my village. We biked 8km, left our bikes in the last compound of a Pulaar village at the base of the hill, then walked approximately 3km up the hill to reach this point. Unfortunately it was a hazy day, but maybe next time the view will be better

A giant bantan tree (I don't know the English name) in the Bedik village. Due to the large trees and the microclimates they produce, it was much cooler here than in my village. I love these trees

Another giant bantan tree. They have amazing roots

Back in my village. This is the pile of corn husks from the corn that I helped my toxoma's family shuck

My petit pois tree (center) planted this year is already much taller than me. It grew so fast!


My counterpart Amadou with some trees in his backyard
Amadou's wife Ramatu pounding rice to cook for dinner. Amadou is in the background working on his moto

My toxoma's wife Maimouna in her cooking hut. My host brother and I built her mud stove in March


My host mom Sohona with her mud stove (that I built with my host brother in March). 


The 2-year-old in my compound reaching for my phone camera


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