Rain rain rain rain rain. It’s been raining for 6 hours now and no end in sight. It rained (poured) on and off yesterday too. I figure it’s a great time to get caught up on data entry, make a powerpoint presentation to show Gola Forest peeps, organize files and eat soup. Anna is still here and we are making fantastic dinners. We made bean burritos last night (salsa and everything!). Darn delicious. The night before that was pasta with lots of oregano. Swoon. Tonite may or may not be French onion soup. Or something to do with garlic bread. I’m not losing as much weight this time around. Hahah.
So I don’t think the dog was actually given to me. Or else it is a traitor cuz it still spends all its time with the lady who beat him. She’s been trying to make nice with me ever since so maybe she will think twice before trying to kill the dog again??
Kambama has been having issues with goats. They were given some sheep and goats by some NGO awhile back. They were taught about animal husbandry and made a corral and all that. Well somehow that stopped happening and the sheep and goats have free rein of the village. In Niger during farming season, people would send their animals with the Fulanis to graze in far off pastures on top of mesas. Here they don’t do anything to control the livestock, so now the goats are wreaking havoc on the rice, cassava, etc fields. They also keep sticking their heads into the snares in the field fences that are meant for cane rats, squirrels, etc. There have been at least 6 goats that have died this way in the past month. Fights, fights and more fights in the village every day about this issue. There is also the issue that some of the goats are actually owned by people are some of the goats are communal goats shared by the village. So one guy decided he’d had enough and since he didn’t get any benefit from the goats, he seized one of the community goats for his own. The village demanded the goat back and he said “Heck no, you can take me to the Potoru court for all I care” and the village said “Well ok then.” So the village packed up and reported him to the local police (traditional police, not government ones) and the traditional court. I think Kambama bit off more than they can chew. The court began issuing fines to people immediately. Now the court has decided to pay a visit to Kambama and dole out more fines left and right. One lady got fined for using abusive language. The people whose traps caught goats may be fined too. One man who hit a goat one time is also getting fined. The fines up to now have been in the hundreds of thousands of leones region. The court case is going on right now and I decided it was a perfect time for me NOT to be in the village.
Anna is extremely good luck for finding animals in the forest. We saw a bushbuck lying down, and had a black and white colobus monkey yell at us for about 10 minutes (usually they just run away). AND we saw chimps!!
There is tons of bushmeat in the village nowadays. Should I be ashamed to say that I really enjoy smoked cutting grass meat (looks like a large rat, also called cane rat)? I do make a point of asking what is in the sauce every time I eat in the village. No endangered animals for me! So far it’s been mainly cutting grass, Maxwell’s duiker, and the occasional snake. One of the boys brought in a dead Gaboon viper that was caught in a trap. They are gorgeous but one of the most venemous snakes here. I didn’t realize they were so huge!
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