Back in Forecariah

We arrived back in Forecariah yesterday and boy was I glad to be home. The prospect of not having to repack my bag again in the morning was AWESOME and having a bathroom right next to my room is amazing and having my family cook great food for me every night is so awesome and I now realize how much I have grown to like Forecariah and living with my family. It is a little different, though, because Fatim is no longer here, she is in Conakry at university.

So I had all these dirty clothes and Yari came to get me from the café at the Carrefour to give her my clothes and when she saw the pile I had for her, her eyes got real wide and she exclaimed, “Nagnouma! C’est beaucoup!!” I said thank you about 50 times and hauled the water from the well to the house for her, though she was the one to actually haul the water UP the well. I am not ashamed to admit that a 16 year old girl (hell, even a 10-year-old in Mamadaba’s case) is way stronger and more capable to hauling water than I am. Plus she won’t let me haul the water because she says I’ll fall into the well.

So then I went out again and when I got back she had all my stuff hanging out to dry and I thanked her again and went to my room to get her some bon-bons. I had one of my favorite African bon-bons which is like a strawberries and cream Chupa Chup lollipop to give her and a roll of Smarties. I said, “Un petite cadeau pour toi” and she seemed genuinely stoked to be getting bon-bons right up until Mohammed spotted them and started insisting on having some. She tried to give him the lollipop but he was dead set on having the Smarties so I finally went back in and got another roll. Then grandmere is helping Mohammed open his roll and she starts to try to get him to give her some and he keeps moving his hand towards hers but then reversing direction and popping it into his mouth instead, each time of which grandmere would give him a little slap on the back and try again. He finally gave her one and then as he toddled off I caught grandmere popping one into her mouth from her other hand, which contained about half the roll. Sneaky old lady, she loves the Smarties!

Anyway, everyone’s site visit went pretty well, I think I was the one with the best horror story aka the Diahrrea Dash to the End Zone or “Hey, blanc, ca va?” which the whole ordeal has been boiled down to. Tomorrow we do a debriefing and my APCD will be here so I will bring up the housing concerns with her as well. I think as long as I end up with a workable house all will be well in my village.