Whoa! Time has slipped by! Have I really not blogged since before Christmas??? Well, I had a great one with friends that have become like family in Batouri (Eastern Region).
It’s getting increasingly difficult to crank out this blog. Nothing new and exciting seems to be transpiring. I am bogged down in the day to day of village life.
The chicken saga continues. (I know more about chickens than any person should!) As in any new business, problems continue to arise. But, we are confronting them head-on and continue to learn from our mistakes and adjust to changing conditions. More importantly the business is surviving and we expect to break even on our third round if all goes as planned, which, of course, it will not. We will be making our own feed, which will help a lot on cutting down expenses, and the market for chickens should improve over the next couple of months. The mamas, when they are healthy, are amazing and hard working. The problem is that people get sick a lot here (either the mamas or someone in their family) so we are always somehow short handed. A formation in nutrition seems to be in order.
I have another series of business classes to present beginning in mid-February so I have been working on that and promoting it like crazy. I have hung big banners across some of the main roads here to get people’s attention. I am hoping for a big turnout, but am not expecting it. People always seem to need more information than I seem to be able to give. No matter how many fliers I distribute and people I talk to, there always seem to be questions that, to me, are clearly explained on the fliers and that I have clearly explained personally. One person told me that there needs to be a telephone number on the fliers, banners and posters, so that they can call me and ask questions. Duly noted. At least people are talking about it, but there is a lot of “talk and no action” that goes on around here. Such is life in the village. If I were in a city, it would be easy to find students. There is something I am just not getting. In any case, we’ll see what happens.
I will be flying off to Rome and Sicily in March (right in the middle of my business classes...oops, see you in a couple weeks students…) to meet up with some old friends (Simone and McDweef) for some r and r and boy am I looking forward to that. I am just plain hungry and so sick of the food here. I think I am flying into the right place to take care of that problem.
My post-mate and I will be working on a mushroom “farm” here soon to help out a sweet mama who really knows her stuff but just lost her husband. We’re going to try to help get her back on her feet and re-established. That should be interesting. Mushrooms are strange beasts and are a lot of work. You start with spores….just that word gives me the creeps….and then create somehow from that something that is called “base” and then put that in jars with crushed corn cobs where it colonizes and then you grow them in a darkened, damp room….getting creepier….and then there is a whole process that I do not entirely understand (but will) after that, but if you don’t hear from me again, follow the spores.
Here are a few pictures, but they are not the ones I wish I could post as my camera broke recently. They will have to do. Thanks to everyone for keeping in touch (Christmas cards, letters, packages, messages...THANKS!!!) I will try to do better on that score myself.
Dry season is from hell.
Heartbreaker!
