Garden Building – 22 Jan 2011

We built a garden for our training group this week, and I thought the process was humorous and quite different from starting a garden in Austin. So I will list the steps we took to create our garden:

1.       Find an old fishing net with a myriad of holes through it and tie it around decaying wooden posts for a fence (a fence is a necessity here to keep the goats, sheep, chickens, and donkeys out)

2.       Find dried palm leaves to weave through the holes in the net

3.       Dig new fence posts with machete

4.       Cut down entire tree (probably 8 – 10 inches in diameter) with machete

5.       Have the random 10 kids watching, help pick up the branches and haul back to the garden area

6.       Secure the fence with the tree branches

7.       Make a door with the sticks, nails, and flour/rice sacs.

8.       Watch as the goats eat the branches, and the chickens find a way inside the fence.

9.       Listen to a Gambian women tell you she could’ve built the fence in 30 minutes.

Eyooo eyoo (okay okay)! Also, recently we had a naming ceremony for all the volunteers in our village. Bens new name is Sana Camara and my new name is Kaddy Gitteh!! So now, on our walks through the village we hear: Kaddy Gitteh! Sanna Camera!!! And most of the time, followed by questions we can’t understand.  Domanding Domanding (slowly slowly).