My village is located in the heart of Senegal's peanut basin and currently, it is peanut harvesting time. One by one, the villagers are beginning to unearth all the peanuts from their fields. Peanuts are a ground nut, so they grow in the ground attached to the roots. (Seems obvious, but I hadn't thought about the source of the category's name.) Thus, to retrieve the peanuts, the entire plant is pulled from the ground. The peanuts are then pulled off the roots.
The first time I passed essentially my entire village sitting in a field surrounded by piles of green, I had no idea what was going on. I was riding my bicycle, but I vowed to return to the field after bringing my bike to my room. On my way out the door, my mom handed me a bucket, asking if I was going to look for peanuts. I responded that yes, I am going to search for peanuts, glad to learn what the commotion was all about. I brought my bucket to the field and sat down amidst a circle of women. I then began pulling the nuts off, one-by-one, but the kids all laughed at me and showed me how to do it faster, pulling a few off at a time. I soon learned that it wasn't all about speed; joking, running, and dancing were all important aspects of the task. I filled my bucket and then prepared to leave, though everyone else was still hard at work. I now had an entire bucket of peanuts to share with my family and eat - delicious, fresh, and still wet peanuts (much different than the dried ones for sale in supermarkets).
Peanut harvesting is a social activity in my village. Women, children, and a few men go to the field in the morning and remain there all day. The day begins with the men and children walking through the fields and pulling out the plants. They pile these all up. When the women and more children arrive, they sit down in front of these piles using buckets, old cans, stools, or just the ground as their seat. They then begin to pick the peanuts from the plants and pile them into their buckets. It's a daunting task to harvest peanuts from a whole field especially during the heat of the day, but they have a fun time doing it. Women talk and joke with each other. Children run and jump into the discarded piles of peanut plants (like American children into piles of leaves). Sometimes a small coal stove is brought to the field to make tea. And, of course, a lot of peanuts are eaten in the process.
Generally, the field belongs to one family. The rest of the village comes to help them harvest when the crop is ready. At the end of the day, the amount of peanuts collected by each person is measured, and they are paid based upon the amount collected (and receive a small amount of peanuts to take home with them). This is a great opportunity for the kids who often get to keep the money they earn from working in the field to buy new shoes, an orange, or other treat. And they go out, day after day, to participate in the great harvest.
And then a few sidenotes with some updates/accomplishments:
-My grant for a water pipeline was approved by Appropriate Projects, so we can begin construction on it, and my village will be able to have a community garden. For information about my grant and project, you can go to: http://appropriateprojects.com/node/1332
-I can now carry my own water-just half a bucket of water at a time, but I can balance it on my head!
-I have successfully pulled water from the well. The water table in my village is 45 meters deep (very deep), so this task requires 2 people, but I finally participated in it. (Usually we get water from a water pipeline connected to a water tower in a neighboring town.)
-The 2 toddlers in my compound who used to be petrified of me (crying whenever I came near them) have finally fully given up their fear. This was confirmed 2 days ago when one of them climbed on my lap for the first time ever, refused to let anyone else touch me, and proceeded to follow me around chanting my name for the rest of the afternoon.
-About a month ago, I taught the sage femme (the trained doctor who deals with prenatal visits and baby deliveries) and her 2 assistants how to make neem cream to use as an insecticide; it prevents mosquito bites and thus helps prevent malaria. They were so enthralled by it that they have raved about it to other doctors and family members, and I have received many additional requests for the recipe and suggestions that someone should begin to sell it. Neem cream is catching on in my area.
-Currently, 58 of the 80 individual fencing needed for my fruit trees (to prevent animals from eating them) have arrived. Hopefully the rest will arrive by the end of the month. They are all hand-made by wrapping branches around several upright branches.
-I am receiving lots of compliments on my Wolof and being told that I finally understand Wolof! I still have much more to learn, but I'm making progress.
-And finally, my host mom is ecstatic that her picture is now on my blog and facebook. She tells me "Dem naa Amerik" (I went to America) and is completely impressed that her picture could be sent there. I tell her that she's now famous.
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