Mango Season

There are a ton of mango trees here, and at this time of year, all you need to do is throw a rock up into one and a tasty treat will come tumbling down.  Because the mangos here come right off the tree, they're much sweeter than the ones we import to north america.  Every few minutes, you'll hear a rustling in the leaves, then a thud on the sand.  It's a mango landing, ready to eat.

In fact, as i'm writing this, one JUST landed right behind me.

Last night I made an appearance at an Ngente: a naming ceremony for a new baby.  It usually happens one week after the birth, and everyone dresses up, with fancy hairdo's and lots of makeup.  Even the baby.  That's right:  for a baby girl, they put makeup on her, complete with lipstick and eyeliner and drawn-on eyebrows.

After that, I went back to the family compound and we had some tasty Benachin, followed by a special treat: local timbits, and an orange soda called "Chat".  The label indicated that it came from Turkey.   The fizz was all gone, and you could taste the chemicals in it.  Africa ends up getting the leftovers from the rest of the world.  Same goes for 'european' clothing (t-shirts, trousers etc).  But all the nice african clothes are made locally by tailors (who are all men).  And the women make fabrics with dyes.  The craftsmanship around here is pretty amazing.

Some people here drink half coffee, half tea in the morning.  It's not for me, but I think it'll get a hoot out of ordering that at a cafe when i get back.

Sorry for the lack of rich cultural descriptions and interpretations, if that's what any of you are looking for.  I tend to be more interested by the little bizarre things.

Flapjacks

This morning I made Pancakes for the family i'm paired up with.  I go there for dinner, and I chip in for them to bring me lunch at the center each day.  I had a little tin of maple syrup, so I figured it'd be a good way for me to show them that i can cook. (usually they don't let me help, because i'm a man).

We gathered a half-sack of groundnut shells, because I wanted to demonstrate how to use our Mayon Turbo Stove.  And I had bought some flour in Farafenni, as it's harder to find in villages.  With some condensed milk and eggs from the local shop, we were all set.  As i started mixing the ingredients, the family gathered around and watched.  starting up the stove, the groundnut shells took off with a huge flame, about 2 feet above the stovetop.  And when i went to start the frypan, the oil instantly crackled up.  I tried putting in some pancake mix, but it all burned up instantly, because it was way too hot.  The onlookers cringed as they watched me clumsliy trying to cook pancakes.  Plus, they could tell i was struggling with the smoke in my eyes, and hot sun making my brow bead up with sweat.  Soon I was gently whisked aside, and the women took over to finish the job, while I doled out dollops of mix.

Despite feeling like my stove demonstration was a bit of a failure, the result was satisfying when we all sat around the bowl, tasting the pancakes with real maple syrup.  Everyone seemed quite pleased.

TPS report

I realised I haven't really discussed the work I'm doing on this blog yet.   Here's a quick update.  

Building a kiln.  It's been neat to see our design go from concept to construction.  I've been the "apprente" on the job, hauling bricks and getting wheelbarrows of sand.  Soon we'll be firing bricks to make more kilns, which communities can use to generate income.  Currently there's only one large firebrick maker in the country, and they cost a fortune because they have a monopoly.

Got to use my Google Sketchup skills to do the design:

This is our current progress:

Also, the metal stoves are coming along... went to one of our larger shops yesterday to help them with rolling cone shapes.  We brought in a hand cranked roller from Europe, and it's working like a charm.  We're hoping to finish 4000 stoves by the end of June.

The key now is awareness.  People will save a ton of money (and forests) if they start using the massive piles of groundnut (peanut) shells that accumulate every year.

Here's a photo of the workshop boys I took from my computer-cam: