A New Home

It is cool today. A slight breeze carries away the heat. A chanting prayer is broadcast from one of the three mosques this small village has. The melody floats past date palms and versatile neem trees which rise gently over the burnt clay and cement houses. The cooler weather is welcomed.

Christine has seen the results of malaria and dehydration in children and adults during her mornings spent at the health clinic. She has been going early most mornings as a way to introduce herself to the community. It has been rewarding and challenging. Language barriers make it difficult to communicate even simple ideas to people; like writing down vaccination dates or cleaning off a child’s arm before injections. Many people are thrilled that she is there but are unsure of why exactly she is there. People are used to thinking of medicine in terms of treatment instead of prevention. They don’t understand yet that Christine’s information on ays to prevent malaria and the spread of other sicknesses is just as useful as and less expensive than the medicine the nurse gives out. Christine has told kids not to pound and suck on old batteries that are in the street. She has found joy in the fact that they actually listen. Sanitation and cleaning the streets will probably be Christine’s main project. As of now peoples urine and waste water run directly into the roads and walkways. It is smelly, unsightly, but most importantly very unsanitary. This is a massive project which will only succeed if there is community interest and involvement.

A sustainable approach to development work has been difficult to figure out. There are many things we would like to see done in Woulloumboni but we realize that without the communities interest it will make no difference. Part of the challenge lies in persuading people that we have come here to help give ideas but not to do. It has been proven over and again when work is done, or medical/food are given to a community in a developing country it does little to stabilize and sustain them. It at times weakens a community’s creativity in finding solutions to their own problems.

From and agricultural stand point I will be harnessing few resources that aren’t available to the people of Woulloumboni. The last few mornings I have been going out to our hsot fathers (Samba Lolo Nji, my namesake) fields to help cultivate it. Because of the very clay soils here it has been like scrapping off dried cracked sunburned skin. Satisfying but difficult. Soninke people are wonderful farmers. They have been doing it for decades. So it has ben a little more difficult to see how I might be utilized here. Of course we realize that we have only been here for two weeks and we have many people yet to talk to. As of now I have talked with many farmers who want fruit trees. They have tried in past years to grow lemons and mangos but all except one or two non-fruiting trees have died. So, I will look into the cultivation of fruit trees and the reasons they have trouble growing here.

Ramadan has begun. Fasting sunrise to sundown is no easy task. Work still needs to be done and with no water or food every day tasks become difficult. Even though Christine and I are not fasting it is a challenging time. Everything slows down in a place where time seems to crawl along anyway. Work in the fields is cut way back and it is a inopportune time to hold town meetings, or go around and talk with people. They tend to be tired. The children who don’t fast are returning fromtheir morning work and static plays over the radio. The buzzing of bad reception is what is admitted from Mauritanian’s radios 75% of the time. I don’t know why they don’t change the station or turn it off. I will add this puzzle to the pile of mysteries of Mauritania and hope that after two years maybe some will be solved.

"I've got soul but I am not a soldier"

Lee George and Christine Zwicky
B.P. 222
Nouakchott, Mauritania
West Africa