Update: Busy Bees Need A Break

This past week has been exhausting. It feels as if we accomplished as much work as we had in the past six months, which means our productivity increased at more than an exponential rate. Together, we recorded another six half-hour radio shows, bringing the total up to fourteen, in which we talked about clean water, malaria, girls education, mud stoves, mango drying, and tree planting, all in Bambara. We also kept working with local leaders to develop a project proposal for fixing the broken water pumps in our village.

Additionally, Joye collected firewood with a bunch of women from our local church (notice in the picture above the woman is cutting down trees with a baby on her back!), and co-wrote a proposal for a “Take-Your-Daughter-To-Work” Day project for all volunteers in our sub-region. Also, she helped the 6^th grade to write letters to American penpals, delivered 150 literacy books to village literacy centers, planted nutritious moringa trees with a community school, and still managed to cook delicious dinners every night.

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

James, for his part, led a formation on dry-season tree planting in nearby village, mediated a discussion between rival jatropha biofuel producers, encouraged a women’s group to experiment with food drying in Duguba, and trained local enumerators to conduct a survey in our village for his Master’s thesis.

And on top of all that, we had to prepare for the reason we were so rushed in the first place: we are going on a much anticipated vacation. This trip and the awesomeness that is mangoes were the only things that kept us sane. And now, for the next three weeks, we will be in Morocco and France, eating fresh fruit, catching cooler temperatures, and enjoying travel by train, not bus. We’ll be sure to update you on our adventures when we return. Until then…

~James and Joye