My ‘elevage’ meets with death

My own attempts at ‘elevage’ have met a lot of death. Last week, Mabel the sheep died. Basically she was going out ‘en brousse’ and ate some wet morning grass with tiny little frogs in. These frogs are poisonous, the tummy swells up and she was in agony within hours. There was nothing the vet could do so her throat was slit. This way people would eat her and she died a quicker death. She had 2 babies inside. I was very sad. I couldn’t eat her. They skinned her for me and if I’d had a bit of tin foil and an oven I could have wrapped the leg up they gave me and put it in the oven, but I couldn’t chop the meat up myself. My Bogo family ate her though as they are eating my folare grown in my garden. My 3 baby chicks also died within the first 3 days. They drowned as in the rainy season deluge the chicken hut flooded. I’ve moved it now so it’s on a slope. Bouba just says it is God’s, or in his case Allah’s, will.

After a week I went and bought another girl sheep because Yod was all lonely. She is a beautiful light brown colour so I have called her Caramel. Bouba says she is also carrying babies.

This month has also been salutary about open sores in tropical climates. A scratched mosquito bite became infected and became a crater very quickly. I had 2 trips to the hospital to get it cleaned properly and finally needed penicillin for the wound to start closing up. You have to use iodine here and keep it covered with a sterile gauze and bandage. You can’t leave cuts exposed to heal. I am going to have terrible scarring, on my ankles especially, from mosquito bites even though I use repellent at dusk as advised.

 

I also had the feedback with the commune executive on all the interviews Harira and I have made over the summer. Of course I didn’t tell them exactly what their people say; that they are corrupt and keep all the money themselves, because anyway I don’t believe that totally (maybe some are a bit corrupt). We talked about getting good PR messages out about what they do do and getting the town public toilets open amongst half a dozen other things. For some unfathomable reason many of their public buildings are seriously underutilized. Doors are locked and one set of keys given to one of the 4-6 people who are really important, but never in Bogo and never there to open up. If I can get the toilets open and cleaned daily it will be a triumph as we are in the middle of a cholera epidemic. I get daily MTN texts from UNICEF alternating in French and English to wash my hands with soap and use a toilet.

 

I was proud of myself at the commune exec. I can now facilitate and debate with this bunch of old Muslim men in French and they don’t claim to not understand me anymore. They argue the toss all the time, but they are definitely warming to me.

 

7 new volunteers arrived last Monday, all under 30, 1 English person, but whose Mother is French the rest French Canadian, 6 women, 3 black (it is said they have a worse time than white women) and a married couple. I just thought when I met them – lambs to the slaughter. Only the younger ones who have real super confidence and attitude tough it out here. The rest leave. We are down from over 40 volunteers last year to 17 which gives an indication of the difficulties volunteers have experienced in their placements.