"Working" in Konsango

Yes, we did work in Konsango. For most of us (myself included), the work was MUCH more physical than that to which we are accustomed. But the villagers REALLY worked.....AMAZING! Our primary "tasks" while there were to assist in planting 300 fruit trees and build a rock wall fence around them (to keep the sheep and goats out). We were there 5 days. In that time, the plants were planted and a 6-foot tall fence, roughly 30X80 yards was built. And with no major injuries (I had a couple scratches and that was perhaps the worst of any of it). It was touching to see the villagers truly come together to work on a project that would benefit them all. The closest I have experienced to this "coming together" was when our house flooded in Houston in 2001. The neighbors helped each other rip out carpet and pull down sheetrock, we went in together for dumpsters, and our next door neighbor and we shared a contractor. I'm certain the same happened in New Orleans after Katrina, but due to the comparatively limited damage WE experienced, I don't have that personal touch. But here the people truly came together. The mason of the village supervised the fence building. The women and children were involved wherever they could, in between their traditional jobs (cooking, washing, etc.). Women with babies on their backs participated, even women nursing would just flip the sling to the front and continue on working as the baby fed.

It was also fun to watch the development of a process, specifically for watering the holes prior to planting and once the trees were planting. It started with a couple/few buckets -- you'd fill it up at the well (ok, someone would fill it for you!), then carry it back to a hole to fill it. With few buckets, we had to share, so a lot of time was spent waiting for a bucket. Gradually, more buckets showed up. Then more people showed up. Finally we created a "fire brigade" line, passing the buckets back and forth which made the work much faster and allowed us more interaction with the villagers (at least those on either side of us). At one point a few people started an entertainment for us -- drums and chanting, walking up and down the line to entertain while we moved buckets back and forth.

It was also interesting to be seen as the village's "entertainment" -- we were "tubob tv" (tubob is what they call white people -- not a derogatory means of description, but a harmless label). The children would gather at the gates to the fence, would gather courage and walk inside our compound, gradually coming closer until an adult villager would "shoo" them back. It really was cute (until the last night when a couple kids were shining flashlights into our faces while we slept!). Who knew sleeping women were so interesting to watch?

In any event, this was the work we did over our time in Konsango -- more on our adventures later!