8.11.08
You are no officially allowed to call me a “Baykat”. Yes, that’s right, I’m a farmer. I woke up early and went with my brothers to go work in the fields. We hooked the Charét to our donkey and rode out to our millet field. The ride took 20 minutes or so and it was beautiful. The rainy season has transformed Thieneba into a lush, green African plain. The Boabab trees are even covered in leafy greenness. It’s amazing that just a few months ago this was all sand. It’s also a wonder that this open expanse of sand can be a thriving field of beans, millet or peanuts when you add a daily storm or two. When we arrived at the Dugub (millet) field, we unhitched the donkey and then exchanged the charét for a plow-like mechanism. My brothers told me we were weeding the dugub using “the machine”. I watched for a bit as my brothers worked. Moustapha led the donkey as Balla controlled the plow. Matar followed along the side ready to hit the donkey with a stick if a loud “Allez!” wasn’t sufficient. The plow did pull most of the weeds up, but we left them there. I’m sure most will die but I also wonder how many will just reroot. We worked for several hours and by the end I was even manning the plow. The whole experience was so awesome and I kept imagining myself living in Thieneba and farming with my brothers forever. Being out there surrounded by the beautiful fields with an overwhelming calm was refreshing to the soul.
Here are some pictures and a video to enjoy:
From Back in Thieneba
From Back in Thieneba
From Back in Thieneba
From Back in Thieneba
3 comments:
i can't help but being a little jealous of your description of the peace and the simplicity of life while working in the field. i could sense it in the pictures... this is what my life is lacking at the moment.
-gup-
NOD! You're like fluent! What was your conversation about in the video?
I concur with Colleen & Michael....
straight off the discovery channel impressive!
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