Putting out the beehive

Recently the beekeeping group put out their beehive in a nearby eucalyptus field. They baited it with bilbil millet dregs, lemongrass, and rabbit manure...mmm. They will be checking on it in the next few weeks, to see if bees have found it and inhabited it! Here are some photos.

Rokona Paul working on the stand
The group (Pascal, Warda Jean, Metsina Michel, Dakoza Anonias, Rokona Paul) with some kids and Kelly

Long Absense from Blogger

I realize it has been a long time since I have written on here! What with site visit of my replacement, followed by my parents visit, followed by my replacement's arrival and my moving out, followed by the holidays, and wrapping up last minute things in village, I have not written at all! My apologies. But, along the way I bookmarked different times when I wanted to write, so now I am filling them in. Please look back a few posts for new ones! I believe there are 4 or 5.

Baby bunnies

So the other day, Kelly told me that one of the rabbits had babies! Three. They are so cute! I think they were actually born around the same time as the five that died (when my parents were here). I believe because the mother was stressed with the heat, she aborted five, but then in the next few days had the others, but had dug a burrow so they were hidden. It's only in the past week that the three of them emerged, softball sized and completely furry. They are adorable, and I'm so happy I got to see them before I left. They have a nice shelter over their area for the heat now, and I am optimistic that they will reproduce and be a good project for many people in village. Already many people have expressed not only interest but incredible enthousiasm for raising rabbits, seeing them and saying "I want that!" I think it is a good alternative for households, when weighed against chickens, as the rabbits can be kept in an enclosed area. Home chickens wander around, passing diseases amongst other village chickens, and also being prone to theft. Recently, a bird sickness swept through Sanguere Ngal and killed everyone's chickens and ducks. I know someone who lost 20, and just before Christmas! I'm hoping that rabbits will be added to the small livestock collection of many villagers in Mafa Kilda and Sanguere Ngal.

*Photo courtesy of Kelly! :)

Mount Tingaling hike

I went for a beautiful hike in the chain of mountains that run east and north of Garoua, from around Pitoa to Gaschiga. The day was gorgeous, very clear, fairly cool, no harmattan. We aimed to hike up at one point, walk along the flat tops, and come down to go to Gaschiga. We made it up, walked along the top, could see Gaschiga, started to head down when it started getting dark, and somehow ended up getting turned around, heading down on the same path up. Unfortunately it wasn't until we were a good bit down we recognized it. So all the way back the way we came. After clammering through fields and gulleys for hours in the dark between the foot of the mountain and the nearest little village, we finally found the village. We went to the nearest house to ask for water, and as I was sitting in the dark, a woman came out and said "Elizabeth?" It turned out to be one of Jessie's homestay moms. How she recognized me in the dark I don't know, except perhaps that there's not an excess of white people around, especially not ones who would be wandering around en brousse in the dark. It was her nieces wedding, so she took me to see her, and we ate some good rice and sauce, before limping to the road to head back to Garoua. That serendipedous encounter made up slightly for the sadness of not getting to Gaschiga, but we'll attempt it again another day.

agroforestry library completion

Some of you may remember the project to renovate a room to house different resources for agriculture and agroforestry? With funding from the Commune of Garoua 3, the project is now complete. There are posters, books, and pamphlets housed here, as well other group project materials (i.e. a beehive, while waiting to be placed outside). We have been using the area outside to hold courses on beekeeeping, and it will be a good spot for any future classes. The room can also serve as a sort of "office" for the peace corps volunteer to hold "office hours" if anyone wants to meet and talk about farming or questions.

this seasons colors

The crops are all reaching the end of their lifespans, corn stalks turning brown, golden heads on rice, yellow soy and peanut leaves, millet stalks golden with red tops. Yet the rains have not quite stopped yet, (although we might have gotten the last drizzle last week), so the grass, and general vegetation is still green here. This makes for a beautiful contrast and palette of bright greens and dark greens and golden yellows, and sorghum red. What a lovely time of year. Soon though, with the end of all the rains, the grass and trees and other plants will catch up with the crops, all turning yellow and brown, except for a few trees and watered things. I prefer it right now, and have been appreciating the variety of color.

All my peanuts have been harvested, and this year, the rain was pretty poor, so everyone's peanut harvests are bad. Soy is also ready to harvest, so I might be doing some of that in the next week.

birthday hike

I had a lovely birthday today. A few volunteers spent the night at my post the night before, and the morning we met up with two Cameroonian friends, Cheik Abdul and Alpha Barry, to hike a mountain. It is a mountain I have seen for the past two years and wanted to hike, and finally this year said, I will climb it on my birthday. It was Cheik's first time climbing a mountain! We set out at around 8 am I think, and probably got to the top around 10 or 10:30. The view from the top was beautiful, views of Garoua, the mountains of Adoumri/Bibemi, Lagdo, the Benoue from Lagdo to Garoua. You could see all the tiny villages, including mine, along the road from Sanguere Paul to Mafa Kilda. The colors were stunning, even though it was slightly hazy. A flock of European beeeaters circled the top as soon as we got up there. I brought my watercolors and Alpha brought his garaya and at the top we ate bananas, painted, played/listened to music and looked and looked. At the top there is a little crest, which was completely covered in grass, which had turned golden. So that when you walked over that ridge, all you saw was golden waist high grass, a few scraggly trees, and blue sky everywhere. Very surreal. I wanted to build a little hut up there to spend the night in. Finally, as the sun broke the cloud cover and started to heat things up, we headed back down. Slipping and sliding down the steep slopes. We also got a sighting of two monkeys from a distance, in the fields.

The afternoon, we sat in my courtyard, and Alpha played and lured in children with his songs, so that my mat was overflowing with people. After, we visited my local market, sampled some bilbil, and then headed into Garoua for dinner at a restuarant and dancing. It was a perfect day.