Oh the Places We Go
Well I'm back. There's a new cyber in town and it is living proof of the saying "If you build it, they will come."
Things have been busy on this end of the sandbox that is the Sahara. First, our stove project is off to a running start. We have visited four villages; spreading peace, love, improved cooking technology, and the Macarena. Much to my dismay there is photographic evidence of that last item. And, as always; a great deal of travelling means a great deal of travel adventures. These trips were no exception; and made more entertaining by the fact that I was riding on top of the car a majority of the time. Riding on the cab of a pickup is actually a pretty good arm and ab workout; especially since none of the village we visited were on a paved road. The prettiest trip so far was the drive to N'diago, which is 128 km from Rosso; on the ocean. We left at one in the afternoon; we arrived after dark. The majority of the trip was pretty, we drove through a bird park and saw giant pelicans and about 5 warthogs. About two hours before sunset we turned onto a flat stretch of ground full of cracks. It reminded me of The Land Before Time when the earth dries up and cracks leaving a grid of irregular hexagon type chunks of earth. Anyway, the important point here is that it looked perfectly dry. Then the first car drove across it and the back left tire just sank. It was all mud underneath. Nice. This was followed by a great deal of rocking the car and bringing sand to throw under the tire, which was not possible at first because the whole tire was buried. Then it was decided we had to unload it. This truck was carrying 45 stoves; weighing 60 lbs each. Once they were all unloaded we rocked the car some more; added the sand; pushed, pushed again; and finally succeeded in dislodging it from the mud trap. Our driver; Iba; then sped across the not-really-solid land to solid ground. As the car moved off, you could actually see the ground give under the weight of the car and then spring back, like Iba was driving over a sponge. Land shouldn't do that.
Then we began the torturous process of hauling the stoves over to the car, about a 100 meters away. I had just carried one over with Christa when I hear Abdu M'bye; one of our metal workers who builds the stove, shout "Imbecile!" I trust no one needs a translation of that one. I turn around to see that the second driver; who was just hired for the day because the village had ordered 60 stoves, had driven his truck slowly over the same area; and was now stuck.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
So after hauling 67 stoves - we always bring 5 more than they estimate and 2 to raffle off- and all the bags; and the tent and poles; the sun is setting as i drag myself back on top of the car and we begin the 19 km left to reach the village. It was dark by the time we could hear the ocean. At this point the road becomes treacherous because dunes have overtaken the road. Iba made everyone get off the cars while they drove to clear ground. So as the moon rose Abdu and Mamadou; the two stove makers, had all of us "faire du sport", and jog behind the cars over the sand. Between lifting the stoves - I tried once to carry a stove all by myself by putting it up on my shoulder. The guys all do it and then Amy H. tried and so did Christa, so I figured no problem. I told Mamadou to help me put it on my shoulder. He looked at me like I was nuts, but put it up there. I got about 15 steps before I realized I might not make it. And it was at about that time I head Dan and Nicole yelling "Amy put that stove down!" To which I admitted the embarrassing truth that I didn't know how to put it down, and had to wait for Nicole to get it off my shoulder.- so between that and the moonlit jogging we figured we got a pretty good cardio and weight training workout.
We got another the next day when we discovered that the site for the animation, where we sell the stoves and play music, was in a part of town too sandy for the car, so we had to carry the stoves up the hill. We did; then found out later that the women who had surveyed the demand for that twon had not told the people the price, so no one knew the stove coast 5000 ougiya. They asked us to lower the price; which was particularly poorly timed since we had just hauled over 2 tons of metal over 100 kilometers. Anyway, I about cried at the thought of bringing all those stoves back. In the end we sold 52. We were then presented with a bill for 38000 ougiya. Oh yes, it seems the clever people of N'Diago had conspired to take the white people for all they could get. They charged us for everything from the water we bathed with to the little plastic bags they put the donuts in, which we didn't ask for. Apprantly the four women we had trained about the stove had told the town that no one should buy a stove; that way we would have to lower the price and everyone would only have to pay 2500 each. It wasn't until we told them that the stoves would not be staying there; that we would be selling them in Daara, the village we were scheduled to visit in four days; that people started to buy. So all in all; we were not that impressed witht he village, although the ocean was very pretty.
Daara turned out to be an awesome village, they had prepared a skit about the stove and everyone who had ordered a stove had paid in advance. They danced the Macarena and I danced to Senegalese music with a baby tied on my back.
So in short I am exhausted but happy. And completely out of internet time.
love
amy
Things have been busy on this end of the sandbox that is the Sahara. First, our stove project is off to a running start. We have visited four villages; spreading peace, love, improved cooking technology, and the Macarena. Much to my dismay there is photographic evidence of that last item. And, as always; a great deal of travelling means a great deal of travel adventures. These trips were no exception; and made more entertaining by the fact that I was riding on top of the car a majority of the time. Riding on the cab of a pickup is actually a pretty good arm and ab workout; especially since none of the village we visited were on a paved road. The prettiest trip so far was the drive to N'diago, which is 128 km from Rosso; on the ocean. We left at one in the afternoon; we arrived after dark. The majority of the trip was pretty, we drove through a bird park and saw giant pelicans and about 5 warthogs. About two hours before sunset we turned onto a flat stretch of ground full of cracks. It reminded me of The Land Before Time when the earth dries up and cracks leaving a grid of irregular hexagon type chunks of earth. Anyway, the important point here is that it looked perfectly dry. Then the first car drove across it and the back left tire just sank. It was all mud underneath. Nice. This was followed by a great deal of rocking the car and bringing sand to throw under the tire, which was not possible at first because the whole tire was buried. Then it was decided we had to unload it. This truck was carrying 45 stoves; weighing 60 lbs each. Once they were all unloaded we rocked the car some more; added the sand; pushed, pushed again; and finally succeeded in dislodging it from the mud trap. Our driver; Iba; then sped across the not-really-solid land to solid ground. As the car moved off, you could actually see the ground give under the weight of the car and then spring back, like Iba was driving over a sponge. Land shouldn't do that.
Then we began the torturous process of hauling the stoves over to the car, about a 100 meters away. I had just carried one over with Christa when I hear Abdu M'bye; one of our metal workers who builds the stove, shout "Imbecile!" I trust no one needs a translation of that one. I turn around to see that the second driver; who was just hired for the day because the village had ordered 60 stoves, had driven his truck slowly over the same area; and was now stuck.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
So after hauling 67 stoves - we always bring 5 more than they estimate and 2 to raffle off- and all the bags; and the tent and poles; the sun is setting as i drag myself back on top of the car and we begin the 19 km left to reach the village. It was dark by the time we could hear the ocean. At this point the road becomes treacherous because dunes have overtaken the road. Iba made everyone get off the cars while they drove to clear ground. So as the moon rose Abdu and Mamadou; the two stove makers, had all of us "faire du sport", and jog behind the cars over the sand. Between lifting the stoves - I tried once to carry a stove all by myself by putting it up on my shoulder. The guys all do it and then Amy H. tried and so did Christa, so I figured no problem. I told Mamadou to help me put it on my shoulder. He looked at me like I was nuts, but put it up there. I got about 15 steps before I realized I might not make it. And it was at about that time I head Dan and Nicole yelling "Amy put that stove down!" To which I admitted the embarrassing truth that I didn't know how to put it down, and had to wait for Nicole to get it off my shoulder.- so between that and the moonlit jogging we figured we got a pretty good cardio and weight training workout.
We got another the next day when we discovered that the site for the animation, where we sell the stoves and play music, was in a part of town too sandy for the car, so we had to carry the stoves up the hill. We did; then found out later that the women who had surveyed the demand for that twon had not told the people the price, so no one knew the stove coast 5000 ougiya. They asked us to lower the price; which was particularly poorly timed since we had just hauled over 2 tons of metal over 100 kilometers. Anyway, I about cried at the thought of bringing all those stoves back. In the end we sold 52. We were then presented with a bill for 38000 ougiya. Oh yes, it seems the clever people of N'Diago had conspired to take the white people for all they could get. They charged us for everything from the water we bathed with to the little plastic bags they put the donuts in, which we didn't ask for. Apprantly the four women we had trained about the stove had told the town that no one should buy a stove; that way we would have to lower the price and everyone would only have to pay 2500 each. It wasn't until we told them that the stoves would not be staying there; that we would be selling them in Daara, the village we were scheduled to visit in four days; that people started to buy. So all in all; we were not that impressed witht he village, although the ocean was very pretty.
Daara turned out to be an awesome village, they had prepared a skit about the stove and everyone who had ordered a stove had paid in advance. They danced the Macarena and I danced to Senegalese music with a baby tied on my back.
So in short I am exhausted but happy. And completely out of internet time.
love
amy
posted by amy at 7:17 PM
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