Beach Balls, Knife-Wielding Children, and My Hero Pat Conroy

After recovering for several days in Bo, it is time to go back to the village. We've already purchased a generator for the hospital as well as futbol (soccer) jerseys and balls for the village.

The first day back in the village, we spent most of the day playing with children. Before leaving North Carolina, I grabbed a few beach balls from the dollar section at Target; we inflated them today and had a ton of fun with the village kids. It was a little disconcerting to be playing with small children when when many of them were swinging cutlasses around (without sheaths). There was one boy dragging a large knife who couldn't have been older than three. And to think my mom wouldn't even let me have a toy gun when I was growing up!

There are only five goats left in the village now. The rest have either died or been given to neighboring villages to prevent them getting sick too. We believe the mystery goat disease is PPR. (Moe's sister looked this up for them and it stands for Peste des Petits Reminants. It mainly affects sheep and goats although it can affect gazelles. The mortality rate is so high -- between 90 and 100 percent -- that some say it could be used as a biological weapon. It is common in the Middle East, West and Sub-Saharan Africa, and part of India. THANKFULLY it is apparently not transferable to humans! What a relief for our mom!)

For more on PPR: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/biosecurity/ag-biosec/anim-disease/ppr.html

We still haven't been able to get a vet, sadly, and we are getting really conflicting information such as from HEIFER International -- some say there is no vaccine, while others say there is one, while others say there is a vaccine but it is not available here. (Moe's sister did research and there is no possible treatment for sick goats -- they will die. However, there is a vaccine that may help prevent the disease, but it was a new vaccine in 2002 and she doesn't know if it is available there now.)

Now it is time for a fun fact! Have any of you read The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy (my favorite author)? If so, you may remember hearing about the Gullah people in South Carolina. These African Americans are of Sierra Leonian descent; their ancestors were brought to Charleston as slaves. They have retained a great deal of culture from Sierra Leone that is not seen in such density elsewhere in the States (except for a Gullah population below in Georgia). These groups reside mainly in coastal fishing communities and speak the Gullah language. A very high percentage of the Gullah language comes from Mende and Vai, both Sierra Leonian languages; it is mainly a combination of Mende and English. (Mende is spoken in the village.)

On my way down for my first Robertson summer, Austin and I drove down together and stopped for the night in Georgia. At a bookstore there in Decater, I found an absolute treasure: a signed copy of Conroy's first (self-published) book, The Boo. So it seems that Pat Conroy and car-wrecks are haunting my Robertson summers.

If you've never read anything by Pat Conroy, immediately stop reading this blog, and go get The Prince of Tides.

ps -- our cab karma still isn't that great. The car broke down on the way back to the village. Clutch cable was broken.