No, the Kolda Donkey Rally is not the newest reality show on CBS, but a project dreamt up by two Kolda volunteers in Kunkande. What makes intelligent volunteers agree to ride donkeys for 100 kilometers right when hot season is scheduled to begin? Well, the project was thought up to raise money for the Gardens of Moringa Fund. The idea was to spend 6 days and travel the distance between Kunkande and Kolda, while conducting informational trainings on nutrition and the health benefits of Moringa. Here's the promotional video from the project.
http://www.youtube.com/user/KoldaDonkeyRally
The idea was fun and came at a point where I didn't have much going on in my village, so I agreed to help. Initially, I helped set up causerie sites near me, where I informed the relais of the project. I also agreed to be bike support for the donkey riders- helping carry peanut stalks and luggage. There was NO way I was going to attempt to ride a donkey for 6 days. OUCH. Before I knew it, we were home from WAIST and the donkey ride was a week away. OY. I went out to the Kunkande area the day before the ride was to start and had a sleepover in Cara's village. The next afternoon we biked into Kunkande and had our first causerie. It was hilarious! We had music playing and there was an adorable little boy who was dancing his butt off, SO CUTE! We worked with Geoff's counterpart, who's a relais, and another man who came along to care for the donkeys. Before I get too carried away, let me introduce the participants of the donkey ride. Unfortunately, one of the inventors of this project accidentally fell off the roof of the Kolda house in February and was sent home to America for surgery. Here's everyone else:
Geoff: The driving force behind thie project. He is an environmental education volunteer who is constantly working on a new project. He delegated tasks, but made sure that the logistics were taken care of. His donkey was Scarface.
Curtis: Curtis rode J Lo, who only had half a tail. He took some amazing pictures from the ride and taught kids how to sing in English.
Mike G: Mike rode Princess Sparkles for 4 days, until they sold her in my village. Princess was a diva who did her own thing. Mike entertained everyone with his stories, and became bearer of a megaphone.
Cara: Cara rode Shackleton for three days. She brought her tent along on the ride and kindly let me share it with her.
Charlene: She started out being bike support with me, but kindly took over Shackleton. Charlene never complained when she was hauling lots of stuff on the back of her bike (I did).
Me: I hung out, rode my bike, had fun, and got tan.
Kelly: Kelly did three days of the ride in the beginning. She had to go home because she had a training to do. We almost had to fight each other for a space in Cara's tent.
Mike T: He came out for two days of the ride. I don't get to see him ever, so it was great to catch up and talk with him. He also contributed to the discussions and brought up fantastic points.
Jake, Martin, Jason, Dan, Minnie, Sam, and Dave: They were all present for at least one causerie. Some of them (and their families) fed us and housed us.
Amanda: Amanda joined us for the last three days. She brought her speakers and boosted our energy as we were getting tired from the ride. BOOM!
Moustapha: Geoff's counterpart and relais who did the causeries with Geoff. He was hilarious!
Foday: Our donkey caretaker. He was quiet and a Kande (our joking cousin family). He didn't like salad and would constantly lose to Charlene at cards.
That's the cast for the ride. Whew! Ok....back to the ride itself. So we started with one causerie in Kunkande and we spent the night there. After a delicious dinner of fish salad, they separated us into the boys room and the girls room. The girls had a hilarious sleepover, where we just chatted for hours. The next morning, we left at 8am for our next two causeries. I biked ahead with Charlene and Kelly. Kelly's women's group makes a nutritional concoction called ceramine (it's made with beans, corn, millet, rice, moringa, and a little bit of sugar- then it's all ground up together into a powder). Kelly brought sachets along to sell and we were MOBBED in the first village. We sold all the sachets in 20 minutes. Awesome! The only thing is, this makes a highly nutritious meal, but are the people buying it because Toubabs are selling it or are they actually invested in improving the nutritional status of their children.
So, I tried to post a video of the skit, but it's not working. BUT, the story is that Cara is cooking dinner, while her son, Curtis plays nearby. Her friend, Faatumata (played by Geoff) enters with "her" son, Mike on her back. They talk and Cara invites them to stay for lunch. After some convincing they agree. The meal is filled with a variety of vegetables and fish, and very little oil is used. Faatumata reprimands her son for trying to eat the vegetables and fish, saying it's only for the adults. Cara says in her household, everyone eats and it's important for growing children to eat vegetables to get enough nutrients. The end. The women LOVED the skit. It gently pokes fun, while being informative.
The skit is followed by discussion and a series of visual aids. All the caueries had the same basic flow, except they stopped doing the skit day three (they were waaay to worn out). We finished at Kabendou, then went on to Diaobe. After our causerie, we saw a Moringa tree with ripe seed pods. It was IN someone's house, so we knocked, greeted and asked if we could take some seeds. No big deal. They kindly said yes, so Charlene climbed the tree to shake down the pods. I'm sure everyone was thinking what the hell are the Toubabs doing. It was also the anniversary of my stage landing in Senegal. We had hit the one year mark- YAY!
The next day exhausting for the donkey riders. They were sore and ended up walking their donkeys in the 115 degree heat. Oy. That evening, Mike G. and Cara were lounging around when a bee approached Mike. He kept swatting at it and made it so angry that it stung Cara in the forehead. EEK. It caused her eyes to swell and thank goodness for Charlene who kindly agreed to take over Shackleton for the remainder of the ride. It took two days for the swelling to go down.
The next day was Dabo, where we spent the night at Dave's. Then it was onto my village!!!!!!!! I couldn't stop talking about how great my village is during the first few days of the ride. I hyped it up so much, and I don't think that I disappointed anyone. A lot more people now know the magically place that is Mamadou Badeifa. It was so much fun to host everyone in my village and my family loved it too. The next day consisted of three causeries, then we were DONE with causeries! The last day was Kolda. Woot! By the end of it all, we were all exhausted and so slaphappy. We were giggling and laughing over every little thing and we may or may not have scared people. HA! We were so silly that we got Mustapha to join in.
**Note: I know I breezed through the last few days, but it was basically the same schedule. Hot and tiring treks during the day with 1-3 causeries, then a fun sleepover like atmosphere in the evenings.
So, the ride is now over, but the project continues. The Gardens of Moringa Fund will be used to support small-scale projects that pertain to Moringa. The stipulations are that project costs must be $150 or less and must include an intensive Moringa leaf bed and a causerie on the benefits of moringa. The fund currently has $1,700. If you're interested in donating, visit www.pcsenegal.org . Click Donate- Click the link to donate to the country fund- Enter an amount and designate "Gardens of Moringa Fund" in the comment box. DONE! Thank You in advanced!
That was our big adventure. So tiring and I wouldn't do it again, but it was worth it.
--Peace Out
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