Yes, but what do you actually do?

          I was informed that while I have given great detail over many aspects of my adventure in Senegal one topic that has been neglected is what I do on a daily basis. You can see how this would slip my mind because what I wake up and do daily is rather uninteresting to me and seems mundane, but since you aren’t me, you may be far more interested in such things. So, for today the treat has arrived of what work I am filling my time with while here in AFRICA!

           My job title is Agroforestry volunteer. Agroforestry is defined as a land use system that incorporates trees, planting and care techniques, and even animals, to increase yields. Some of the primary technologies of Agroforestry include; ally cropping, live fencing, wood lots, fruit tree propagation and grafting, and increasing availability of food. Ally cropping involves planting beneficial trees within a field crop(corn, beans, rice, peanuts, sorghum, cotton) area which fix nitrogen or provide shade and generally increase soil health and benefit the shorter field crops around the planted trees. Live fencing is the use of thorny, dense, or non-edible plants to surround a field and keep out animals, pests and even people. Live fencing has many great uses in Senegal and I’m trying to focus on increasing usage in my area during service. The Senegalese like to build fences out of dead wood around property they want to protect. The problem with this is the huge population of termites attack fences causing them to need to be rebuilt yearly and it isn’t easy work. Also during the dry season when there are no fresh plants animals will ruin weak old fencing in desperation for whatever plants remain inside. If one were to have a living fence though, termites would leave it alone and it can do cool things like produce flowers which attracts pollinators. The collection of wood for cooking and charcoal production has been hitting the forests of Senegal fairly hard in the past fifty years, so another technology we try to introduce is wood lots, the production of large amounts of wood via planting large amounts of trees in one place. Senegal also has a unique climate for mangoes and during one part of the year is the only place to buy large quantities of fresh mangoes. As a cash crop and food source we assist farmers in the planning and implementation of orchards. The local variety is fairly small and the improved varieties have poor root systems for this environment so what we do is plant a local seed, and then graft an improved variety to the roots of the local. This way the root system is of the local variety and is adapted to the soil, and the top of the tree provides larger and tastier mangoes! Some other work within Agroforestry is to plant trees in a manner that reduces the crazy winds that blow through during rainy season or trees that greatly hinder the movement of the many bush fires during the dry season.

           The first step of my job is to travel around looking at fields and talking to farmers to determine if one or more of these technologies could help them and weather or not they have any desire to put in the work to implement them. Which basically is reduced to biking around the African bush looking at fields and jungles and trying to talk to farmers in Pulaar. Fun times really. Luckily for me the volunteer living in my village prior to me pointed out some good farmers to work with and what they wanted very early in my service. So from here the farmer and I decide on a course of action, what they desire and how we should go about making it happen. I’ve received many requests for live fencing and fruit tree assistance with mangoes, cashews, and citrus.

           

            Now we have to talk about how this is all going to begin. The best method usually is to plant the trees into tree sacks(pictures below) during the dry season, care for them until the rains come, and then outplant them to the fields and let the rain continue to care for them. The benefits of planting all your trees in tree sacks are that it is far easier to care for them as a group. Watering and monitoring for pests and the like is easier when you can stand in one spot than if you had to walk around your field and look at over one hundred different plants every few days, or daily, when it comes to watering. Protecting the young plants from hungry cows and goats is much easier when they are all in one spot as well. So teaching farmers how to use the sacks correctly is another part of my job. They tend to want to put dirt in the sack and call it good, but since the plant will be living off the nutrients in this sack for upwards of a whole year they need to mix in manure or compost to increase the nutrient content. Small things like periodically picking up the sacks and moving them so roots do not break through the bottom and start growing into the ground are also important tips that need to be taught.

            Teaching is a large part of the job. Many farmers are aware of the benefits of techniques such as grafting, but don’t know how to do it. I’ve seen branches from one tree cut off and stuck onto other trees and tied all up with cloth, which might work but seems to only have about an 8% success rate. So if I see improper grafting or a farmer asks me to help them, I teach them to take a six to eight inch segment of the tree you want the fruit from and graft it into the tree and then wrap it with plastic so it doesn’t dry out. Grafting is a quite difficult procedure but I’ve recently had some successes that started producing leaves and am very happy because I had doubted myself a little. There’s a mango tree in my neighbor’s backyard and several of the branches hang behind my hut. So I grafted one of the branches and cut away the others so the graft can grow outward into the new space and give me exclusive good mangoes next year, haha.

Some smaller scale projects take up spots of my time as well. Several weeks ago I went around my village asking if anyone wanted moringa trees. Moringa is a great tree with tons of uses and very difficult to kill and the people here love the leaves to cook with, which are very healthy and in my opinion very delicious. So I planted forty or thereabout two meter beds of moringa and will continue to go around talking to people about how to care for their trees and how to use the leaves for maximum benefits, such as drying them out of the sun. Senegalese like to dry everything in direct sunlight, obviously faster, but tends to reduce the healthy vitamins and proteins.

Monitoring of projects is also a large part of my job. Several of the live fences I am working on involved filling tree sacks and then caring for the trees until the rains arrived. Although laziness, forgetfulness, or other work such as preparing their fields for corn and other crops and general repair of houses and fences and things, tends to make caring for the tree sacks less of a priority for the farmers than it is for me. I’ll visit and see weeds and drooping trees from lack of watering and need to remind them to spend a few minutes with their plants every few days at the least. Making sure projects are coming along and that grafts are alive and that animals aren’t killing everything are all part of the job as well.

One of the best parts about the work is having a work and cultural advisor within the village assigned to each volunteer. Mine is Mama Saillou Balde and he’s excellent. If I need help explaining projects to farmers or if there is a holiday or funeral Mama Saillou is my go to for what’s happening. He is also the sweetest older guy, always checking in to make sure I understand while discussing something and he doesn’t talk really fast to me, just a jolly fellow really.

I also work outside of Agroforestry. The nearest volunteers to me are all health volunteers so I have helped them work on malaria education. We went to the weekly market in my road town(closest town with an actual road and cars) and set up a booth, signs and visual aids about malaria. I also wanted to paint a world map in my village because I’m asked geographical questions frequently but didn’t have anything to help explain, and giving such descriptions purely in a new second language isn’t easy. Now I can show the kids where they are and point out where I’m from and most importantly of all… show people where the countries participating in the world cup are. I’m also involved in another malaria project that studies mosquitoes. I take a sheet and spread it out inside a room/hut and then spray a poison around the room to kill the mosquitoes. Send the mosquitoes to the capital city of Dakar where they study how many and of what type and when and if they’ve eaten, all to advance knowledge of malaria transmission. I do ten huts/rooms per month and it only takes me a few mornings then on to other adventures.

Then there are the activities I have to do that aren’t really work but need to be done to further my work, i.e. trainings, meetings, travel to and from such things. I’m in my regional city today because the past two days were an Agfo summit training. We learned about pineapple propagation and care, banana propagation and care, and some other neat things that I can take back to site and teach farmers. Meetings and trainings might be as far away as 900km and with terrible transportation I spend some time sitting in busses and cars just riding all day. Although the riverboat crossing in Gambia is fairly fun, and they have great chicken sandwiches for 700cfa/$1.50 while you wait!

I also like to care for my own garden. Behind my hut I’ve planted several trees for the production of an edible bean and one for shade eventually. Planted squash, cucumbers, okra, eggplant, peppers (hot and green), some local plants that give good fruits or tubers, and my own fruit trees and live fencing trees to show farmers as an example. I must admit to a great fondness of caring for these plants. Every morning and evening I walk around my backyard and look for sprouts, seeds coming up, or insect damage then try to find and remove the insects. Making sure trees are growing straight and removing unwanted branches, keeping an eye on my compost pile, weeding, seeding, watering, it’s all very Zen and peaceful, one of my favorite things about living here in fact.

Also there are the activities I do that aren’t even work at all. Reading has become a great new friend. A kindle and one of my solar lights make each night before falling asleep entertaining and fulfilling use of my time. The Senegalese also love their tea as I’m sure I’ve mentioned. Sitting around at night with either my counterpart Mama Saillou or my host brother and his family drinking tea and teaching about constellations or chatting about the news which is in French and they understand so I’m usually being taught about what is big in the world in Pulaar. A few nights ago I found some people preparing bread so I went over to watch that procedure. They have a big brick furnace and light a fire inside, let it burn to mostly ash and a little coal, then pull out most of the coal leaving only a small amount of it. Then the bread goes in, upwards of fifty loaves. Each loaf about 16 inches long with a razor blade slice down the middle and painted with a water/sugar/flour mixture just before entering the oven. Cooks for about twenty-five minutes and then you can buy em hot or not for 100cfa/25cents. I sat around asking questions about their procedure then bought two and ate one hot before bed and one for breakfast, was a good night.

This would be an average day for me, I typically like to do two work things per day. Wake up and do maybe run or practice karate before it gets too hot, wash up and find some break-fast(typically leftover dinner of rice or maybe rice porridge). Bike to one of the neighboring villages either 1km or 7km away and check in on a project and discuss outplanting when the rains arrive, look at their work and remind them to weed and water, see if they have any problems and offer solutions. Return home for lunch around 1 or so and then a little rest until 3 or 3:30 when it isn’t so hot. Head back out to monitor my own projects or care for my demonstration live fence behind the school(has to be weeded and pruned) or measure a farmers field to see how many trees he can fit in it or go around talking to people about their new moringa trees and how to care for them or seeing if anyone has problems with any of the above and trying to solve those. Usually make it back home around six thirty or seven. I like to take my bucket shower around dusk or after the stars have come out and then water my plants. Grab my spoon and go sit with my host brother Demba, his wife Safi, their 4 yr old Allu, the six month old Seynee, the village chief/my host dad (although I’ve never called him that, I call him my host), a few random kids that live with us and have family elsewhere, and if they are in village(rarely) one or both of my host moms, Wude and Paite, and wait for dinner to be ready. Hang out sometimes after dinner or go chill with my work partner or simply return to my hut and read until about nine thirty or ten when I fall asleep and start the whole thing over again. Yep, it’s rather nice without TV and such making me feel like I wasted part of my day, part of the reason I came here actually, wanted to sample that freedom.
And now for your dosage of pictures.
Here we've got from right to left Jess Moore, Jenny Cobb, Scott Le, and Allia Crouse. With Rob Leventhal in the background there. Each holding a pommelo during our first Agfo summit on a visit to a huge orchard of citrus, mango, and other neat stuff near Theis.

 This is another shot of the orchard. I believe the approximate size was given as 100 hectars.
 So this is an example of my work on a small scale. You can see some nice cow poo on the left and I've tried to reduce its size by stepping on it, being the pile in the bottom center.
 Mix with sand sitting to the right of the bucket, at a little water from the bucket. Then fill up your tree sack! Only if I'm working with a farmer it is usually several hundred of the smaller sacks seen closer or about fifty of the larger sacks in the back for mangoes and so forth.
 I took this at Jenny Cobb's village wedding (was ceremonial and not legally binding, although she received an engagement ring during the event and will be married in the future to her non volunteer fiance who was visiting at the time). Not sure why the woman pounding thought the serious face was the best option but she used it for each of the eight pictures I took of the women cooking. These wooden morter and pestle sets are everywhere. People pound rice, millet, sorghum, and just about everything in them. Most of the cereal grains are pounded to remove the little husks around the actual grain.
 The starting of the world map in my village outside the entrance to the elementary school, as well as the ever present donkey. 
 Some kids watching us, because they have nothing better to do than watch foreigners and talk about them, usually forgetting that we can somewhat understand them. Here we have from right to left Tasha Torchon, Jess Chow, and Lexi Merrik come to help me with the work and I will go to their villages and help them in the future.  


 The work done(minus the names) we get a nice photo with two kids I like and three kids that bothered us the whole time. Yay kids....(he said with sarcasm)(not that kids are bad but when nobody raises them it's rough.)(Seriously they give the infants to like six year olds to wear on their backs and take care of, not constantly but usually it's the kids taking care of the other kids, not adults) 
Panorama of the finished product with some women returning from planting the rice field caught in the side.
 
 Several of the little monsters from village. I know Bacary in pink, Mamadou the tiny kid in blue, and Bota who is front green. Bota is a strange child always doing odd dances and weird things in general, although comical to say the least. The rest I don't know names of, and they simply wanted to be in something because they saw my camera. The reason of the fist is that they know I know Karate and want to be cool or something, not sure. Although I'm liking this kid in the front right for actually being photogenic.


 Some of the woods/jungle less than a km from my village. The grass will become much taller this is simply the beginning of rainy season and everything short burns during the dry season. 
 One of the paths to and around my village. How's that for scenery on your trip to work every morning? Admittedly for 1/3 of the year it is burnt and all ash, making it look like a post apocalyptic wasteland. They balance one another out overall.  
 And finally some of that reading thing I was talking about. Turns out people used to do this back in the time of radio and monocles. This is Meditations written by the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. Tough start and its merely a bunch of numbered suggestions and observations, but many are quite good.
On a final note to everybody noticing that Senegal is next to some of the countries where the ultimate doom of the universe (Ebola)... don't worry about it. It won't get you, and my superiors are making sure that it won't get me. If you combat this argument with 'but the news says', I'd like to remind you that the news covers the same story for months at a time because its full of horseshit and can't actually talk about things deserving of your attention due to how it is designed. My suggestion is to stop watching it entirely and either watch The Daily Show, or just breeze through the headlines online each day.
Next time we'll be covering people of the village! Ok toodles!