Kolda Regional House

Im at the Kolda Regional House, which surprisingly took only 2 hours by car (115 km). We came together for regional meetings to discuss current projects and future interests. I still need to find out what my village is truly interested in so they will work on it without depending on me. There are a plethora of projects that I would love to stick my thumb into, but people often make the mistake of talking the community into projects that later fail because they they only showed interest to make the volunteer happy.
1.) With support, I would love to work on pre-elementary education because children here do not get the chance to do basic things like define motor skills by coloring or learn the importance of handwashing before snack time. As a result, they go to school without ever holding a pen, writing their name, oh, and speaking french, the language of schoolhouses.

2.) I am also interested in the collaboration of a fruit orchard with bee keeping. There are more than enough mango trees around, but cashew and citrus expansion could be a focus.

3.) Speaking of Mangoes, I will soon have the opportunity to learn about solar fruit driers. If my village (or a surrounding vil) could package mangoes, they could even have the chance to market them. Lets take this one step at a time.

4.) Agroforestry is my title, so trees are my game. Along with drying the fruit, I want to learn about grafting for improved varieties of fruit.

5.) The obvious: I will be trying to teach better gardening techniques, implement the use of compost, and discuss nutrition and health practices.

After the meetings, we decided to spent our night together at the kitchen table with arts and crafts. (crayons, scissors, stickers!) Yes, it may have been a little resemblant of a fifth grade group project the night before the due date, but it was heart-warming nevertheless. We colored 40 nametags and posted them by our beloved hometowns.