It is freezing cold!

So I'm finally back in Kombo after 4 months in my village in the Central River Division of the country. I've been in The Gambia almost 7 months? Really? The time is going by so fast I can't believe it. We're down here, well, to eat food that we can't get up country, like cheese, and because we have an in-service training next week where we will be learning about fruit tree grafting, bee keeping, and small ruminant/livestock production. Kombo is cold!! Well those of you back in the northwest would think it was hot at 75F but after I've been sweating in my heat rash in 100F weather in village I need a fleece and hot chocolate! Kombo has the hot chocolate but I didn't bring a fleece. Brrr. In village I've started sleeping in my backyard because it is too hot inside my hut to be comfortable.
You want to know what have I been doing with yet another large chunk of time without updating this blog? Well, I've been helping my host mom weigh sesame (over 17 tons of it) and calculating how much money each farmer will get for their product. My host mom is working with an NGO here to pay farmers. They are getting D11.50 per kilo of sesame. More money than groundnuts! On to the chickens! We've sold all the broilers and are now focusing on the layers which should commence egg production within the next month. I'm currently looking into alternatives to fish as a protein source for poultry feed because the cost of fish is very prohibitive to most people here. Often fish is left out because of the expense and the birds don't grow as fast or as a large as a result of the protein defiency. One possibility is soy but from what I hear, farming attempts here last year weren't too promising.
Last week my family compound had a naming ceremony and wedding ceremony in the same day. There was so much food and dancing and laughing it was ridiculous. My host brother, Modou, took a second wife. Her name is Yamai and she is from a neighboring village. Modou didn't meet her until a week before the ceremony as my host father, Mbarra, arranged the marriage. Quite different from courtship in the US, eh? The naming ceremony was for baby of another host brother, Iliman, and his wife, Fatu. They just had their second child, a little girl named Fatumata. She is absolutely gorgeous! ("Rafet na torop!" in Wolof).
The mangos are starting! Yum yum yum! I bought 3 giant mangos in village last week (Dad: I would compare them to Kents in size and delicious flavor) for D5. That's like 15 cents. Yum yum yum! Ci kanam tutti dinaa lekka mango bes bu nekka=Soon I will eat mangos everyday! I eat a lot of eggplant here too. I'm pretty sure I used to think it was disgusting, but it tastes so good cooked up with some coconut milk, curry paste, and lentils. Oh, and chicken. Its good. Be jealous.
Come visit me! Eat mangos or watermelon depending on the season!
I think of home often and miss you all!

Love,
Mandy aka Awa