I slept most of the way to Waterloo (John was driving). We drove a little ways after we picked up Ben but he got hungry at about 9:30 so we stopped for second breakfast.
Chad and I had cassava leaf and country rice (AKA BROWN RICE!!!) I was so excited!
Cassava and rice are Sierra Leonean STAPLES. It is like American hamburgers and french fries. It looks kind of gross but it was very spicy and flavorful. And you all know that I love my greens!!! (they cooked the cassava leaves for the dish) It had a little bit of fish in it too.
John and Ben ordered the lamb. I had a bite it was also very tasty and spicy!
Ben made me laugh though. He sent his dish back because they had put a higher fish:lamb ratio than he thought was acceptable. So they went back and put more lamb in it. He acted disgusted and said "this is the African way" basically meaning they will give you more fish (which is cheap) and give you less lamb (the expensive stuff) to save on their costs. Lol, I would have had no idea! It made me laugh! It reminds me of when you order a salad and pay like $3.00 for them to add chicken and they give you like two little pieces.
On the road again... It was almost a full day's journey to Serabu.
A little background on Serabu...
Chad has been working through Willamette Medical Teams (an NGO that does more than just medical) to get a rice planting project in Serabu. It is funded by a young gentleman who raised money to upfront the cost of a rice planting (somewhat of a microfinance model) This young gentleman started a non-profit organization called Truth x Vision. They bought all of the seeds needed to plant ~20 acres of rice. From the harvest, the community members that support (not financially) this project, they will split half of the rice. The other half will go back to Truth x Vision I am assuming to refund their costs and hopefully start this same project in another community. Basically the community is in charge of planting and harvesting. They do not invest money... just time and labor but they get the fruits. They can then probably replicate the planting next season as well as have rice to eat. This is the goal anyways... but nothing ever quite goes as planned lol!
The road we drove on. The clouds look dark. I think it sprinkled a little on they way. The roads on this picture do not depict most of the stretch of road we traveled. The majority of the road is really pot holed or has large crevices on it from the water running off.
As this post is getting a little long (aka I want to get out for a walk to the local market to buy some food for lunch)... I will post more about the rice project harvesting and its minor snafu tomorrow... as well as the place we stayed over night.
No comments:
Post a Comment