25 January 2010

Dad and I wished my sister a happy birthday before heading out to the "work site" to move rocks and water holes (yes, we watered the holes that were filled with "compost" -- sheep/goat droppings and various plant material). 3 walls of the fence were pretty much complete and the men were moving large boulders (by hand, pry-bars). And the women of the village were all carrying huge rocks on top of their heads while carrying children strapped to their backs. We again set up a "fire line" to water the holes. Again, the women were hard at work with babies strapped to them, flipping them around to nurse when the babies got hungry (not that I nursed my girls very long, but I can't imagine working like that while doing it!).

The chief of the village gave a demonstration of how they make traditional buckets from calabash. Today, they more often use plastic buckets that are purchased or ones fashioned from old tires (quite resourceful, no?).

We were also treated to see the man making the rope -- he holds the fibers between his toes and tightly winds the materials together.


Before lunch, we were treated to a tour of the village. Moussa took us to see his grandmother's house (no one lives there now). We saw the mosque and the chief's house which is (appropriately, I suppose) very big. It's more of a compound with an entry room, a courtyard, a room for the men, a room for the goats, a ladies' house, and a separate area for the chief.

After a lunch of chicken, pasta, and sauce, we were back to moving rocks. Dinner of chicken with yummy sauce. And then for the fun -- after all their work was done, some of the ladies came over to give those of us who wanted them henna tattoos. What fun! Multi-step process -- first they cut bandage tape in small strips (with a straight razor blade) to create a pattern on the part of your body that's getting tattooed. Then a greenish mud is applied and the area is covered with plastic overnight. In the morning they came back to take off the mud and replace it with a gray mud and recover. Some chemical reaction occurs (it felt warm) and the result is a henna tattoo!





Finally, my interesting observation on the day on the characteristics of my fine "baby" hairs that are all around my hairline. The young (12-15) girls were fascinated by them! I'd noticed the girls were blowing on the back of my neck and couldn't figure out whether I should be annoyed or enjoy the breeze. I finally felt the tickling when some of the longer strands were blown around and laughed with them as the blew my hair around. Fun!