Acts of Kindness and Saying Thank You

So it all started the other day when our neighbor boy Brahima asked to borrow my bike to run an errand. Brahima does a lot for us, from watering our trees to taking care of our cats while we're gone, so I didn't hesitate to let him take it and run his errands. However, our definitions of being back “in a few minutes” differed slightly, and I found myself irritated when he arrived back over an hour later, as I myself needed to run errands now.

“Where's his bike?” I thought to myself. I knew that his family had a bike, so why couldn't he use their bike for errands. As it turned out the front tire had chunks of rubber missing and the air chamber had seen better days as well. The situation wasn't new, but the family just hadn't fixed the bike yet. I thought about the situation briefly. Should I just fix it for them? Should I just leave it for their family? It is their bike after all, and I can't fix it every time it breaks. Well, after all the ghosts of Christmases past, this scrooge decided to fix the bike. What kid shouldn't have a bike to ride?

Well the bike tire fix turned out to be more expensive than I expected. It cost $6 for the new tire and $1 for the air chamber, which adds up to a full day's pay for me here. This family, like many others around us, lives off subsistence farming and sells peanuts and grain on the side to pay for their kids education. They might make $7 in a week.

So I brought the tire and air chamber back home, and the kids were thrilled. Like most 10 year olds here, they knew how to take off the old tire and install the new one. When all was said and done they had a working bike, at least to Burkinabe standards. (I noted that one of the pedals was missing as well, and that the chain falls off the bent gears. Next time...) Brahima rode off to show his dad that the bike was fixed.

As is customary here, his father promptly came over to thank us. But it was no small thank you. He held his elbow as he shook my hand, which is a sign of respect. He lifted my hand up in the air above his head as he wished blessing after blessing upon Jessi and I. This was certainly the most extravagant thank you I'd ever seen, but it didn't stop there.

Brahima's dad told the whole neighborhood that we fixed their bike, so every time we ran into someone they stopped to shake our hand and thank us, even though it wasn't for them or their family. We even had some of our other neighbors come over to our house to thank us and give their benedictions. Phew! I guess it's sort of a West-African thing. If someone does something nice for you but you can't repay them you tell everyone about the good deed. It's a form of social credit. I guess we've just never seen it to that level.

The day after he came over again to thank us (to let us know that he really appreciated it and hadn't forgotten it). We said it was no problem, that the kids do a lot for us and that we're happy to help.

He told us that the kids aren't just his but the whole neighborhood's, and thus ours. The village is responsible for the child, but the child is responsible to the whole village as well. It's another way people are intimately connected with their neighbors here. Its a good thing.

Eating Seasonally

March 2011 Uploads

A short photo album of life in Burkina. Check out Brian's Facebook for photos from their trip.

Eating Seasonally
Are we obsessed with food? Yes. I would say so, but this time I want to obsess about the things we DO get to eat here. In most developping countries what you eat is closely linked to the season. Back home I know this happens to some extent as well. But you can get canned/frozen corn, green beans, fruits, etc at grocery stores for very cheap. Surprisingly canned food is rare and expensive here. The only canned food that people rugularly purchase is tomato paste. Thus, any other fruit or vegetable consumed has picked from somebody's orchard or garden only a day or two before it's eaten.

The Wonders
Eating seasonal fruits and vegetables means that they're being eaten at their peak ripeness, enhanced by the fact that most of our fruits and veggies come from less than 60 miles away. I can't remember the last time I bit into a carrot in the US and thought "wow, that tastes amazing!" Part of that is that, yes, our food selection here is limited. But the carrots back home sit in stores and refrigerators forever, and while they may still be cruncy, they are usually not fresh tasting like they are here. Lettuce is in season here as well, meaning lots of salads over the past month (well washed lettuce, don't worry). Back in the US I don't find lettuce to be very flavorful or exciting, bar garden grown lettuce during the summer.

The other cool thing about eating seasonally is that you're looking forward to what's just around the seasonal corner. Mangos and potatos are just arriving, something I've been looking forward to all year. When you can't get access to something all the time you appreciate it a lot more.

The Struggles
The downside to all of the seasonal eating here is that there is no other choice. People in the US has the option to eat seasonally/locally, or buy as much imported and preserved food as they like. Here, there is no other option (unless you live in the capital city). On top of that, food does not preserve here well. The heat severly reduces the shelf life of most fresh fruits and veggies here. When potato season arrived last year I wanted to buy 100 pounds of potatos and just save them in our house. I was sad to learn that a sack of potatoes will last 2 weeks in the coldest part of our house, whereas it would last months in the basement back home. Onions go bad in a month or so. Tomatos may last two days on the counter. Green beans that aren't eaten the same day get limp. The inability to conserve fruits and veggies means that we can only buy groceries for a day or two at a time, meaning frequent visits to our fruit and veggie ladies.

Seasonal eating becomes a struggle in May and June when nothing is in season, and it's even hard to find decent onions. People make sauces with dried leaves and dried tomatos, which have an oddly sour taste here. Mangos and Karité fruit (which Shea butter is derived from) are in season, but it's hard to make a meal out of them.

In sum, I think seasonal eating has made me appreciate the food I eat more than I did back home, though some days I would trade it for convenience.