Day 81: Market and Composting

We got up really early this morning to go to a weekly market called Kurr Mam Sanga. We piled in the back of a truck, bundled up in sweatshirts and sheets (cause the mornings here are pretty chilly) and set off. The drive was pretty long and uncomfortable, with most people sitting on the bed of the truck. By the time we got to the market, it was around 830, and we all stopped in to this tiny little restaurant place where we got bread, eggs, and coffee. It was nice to have an addition to the bread; just plain bread every morning gets pretty boring (after 11+ weeks).

After eating, we all walked around the market together, some people buying things, and others just looking. To give you an idea of what the market was like, here are some examples of what people bought: Incense holders, palm oil, cloth, carrots, beesap leaves (hibiscus), tea by the bag, a metal pipe, bowls, and mats to sit on. This small town was clearly one that rarely saw any tourists, let alone toubabs (white people), especially in such a large group. So, we got stared at a lot, but the people didn’t really hassle us like they have in Dakar and even Yoff. In Dakar, they’re used to having lots of foreigners come through their markets, but this town was certainly no tourist attraction.

We got back to the truck, and returned to Nder before lunch. After a tiring journey, I planned to just sit around for the rest of the day, but my repose was disturbed by Ronald, who wanted to make some compost piles. The agriculture group then met and started 3 large compost piles. I took a lot of pictures, showing exactly how we did it, but I’ll describe briefly here.

We used what is called the “pit method.” First we dug 1mx1m holes about 30cm deep. We then put layers of tifa (dried reeds), chipped wood, manure, ash, and tall grass. This creates a good base on which people can put their organic materials to be decomposed. We are going to make the villagers aware of this composting area, and hopefully they will utilize (maybe even adopt) the practice of composting.

Dinner was alright, fish and French fries…we’ve had so much fish for the past 3 months that I’m really getting pretty sick of it…

After dinner, there was a get-together at another students house (who had cooked a large dinner) and I went and briefly visited, but left to relax and go to sleep.