She came bearing mangoes

Sorting mangoes

I mentioned in my last post that we went a few weeks in our training host family before meeting our host mom, Aminata.  She had been in Kedougou, and when she arrived, she came bearing mangoes.  Before this week, I had never eaten a whole mango by myself.  In the US, it was a special treat to even get a few bites of one.  For the past few days, both Pat and I have each eaten a minimum of four mangoes every day.  We are both developing sores around our mouths from the juice.    The entire refrigerator is still filled with mangoes, so this amazing trend will be continuing for at least a few more days.  It is maybe the best thing that has happened to us so far.  Plus, we will be in Kedougou for the next two mango seasons, so we will get to experience this three times! 

Mangoes are just one of the reasons we are really lucky with our host family.  We feel really fortunate to be placed with them.  There are seven siblings in our "immediate family" (this idea seems to be more fluid in Senegalese culture than it is in the USA--for example, Mami explained to me how Kankou was her sister because she was the daughter of her father's brother). 

Salouma is the oldest, and is Pat's namesake.  Namsakes, or toxomalu seem to be a pretty big deal.  Salouma is visiting from Dakar, where he is a university student, and he refers to Pat as ntoxoma, or "my namesake".  Then there's Sega, who also lives in Dakar and is getting a Masters in Chemistry.  We first met him when he came to Mbour to vote, and he is visiting again for Easter vacation.  (They have almost two weeks off for Easter vacation, and it's a 95% muslim country, which is really interesting.  I think we will be back in Thies for Easter.  I have heard that Muslims and Christians help each other celebrate their holidays in Senegal, so it is very exciting to see how that will play out.)  Demba is next in line, and the only sibling we haven't met yet.  He works in the mining industry in Kedougou and is apparently a great soccer player and has played in France.  Mami, the only daughter, still takes on a very motherly role toward us even though our actual host mom is now home.  "Mami" is short for Fatoumata, as is Fanta, so Mami is actually my namesake.  Her husband Cherif lives in Barcelona and has never actually met their son Papa, who is eight month old and one of the great joys of Peace Corps so far.  He is teething in a place where teething toys are not even heard of, and he regularly tries to chew on my face, earning the nickname Bebe Vampire. 

Next in line of the siblings is Bine, who was living with us for the first while, and then we found out that he actually lives in Dakar for school as well.  It's hard to tell since the teacher strikes have prevented any secondary school students from actually going to school.  Mady and Mohammet are the little boys, 11 and 8.  In West African culture, it is completely appropriate to make young boys do whatever you don't want to do, so they spend a lot of time fetching things for their older siblings and anyone else in the house.  For example, when I asked Bine where I could find goat manure for my compost pile, he made Mady go get some for me.  My relationship with Mohammet mostly consists of him growling at me and me growling back. We have two cousins living in the house, named Kamkou and Cheikh, who are both wonderful.  Cheikh is a senior in high school and is very upset about the possibility of not being able to finish school this year because of the teacher strikes.  Kamkou literally falls on the ground laughing at least once an hour, so she is a lot of fun.  When everyone is home there are 16 people in the house, and just one bathroom!  I guess it's a good thing that no one drinks nearly as much water as us. 

Here's some pictures of most of the fam from a night when it was cold, so Papa was wearing a funny Santa Claus coat, which inspired us to get the camera out:

Mami and Papa

Me with Kamkou and Papa

Pat and Cheikh

Pat and Sega

Family and friends 

Pat and Bine

Papa and the ladies of the house

Kamkou and Mohammet showing their political alliances the night of the election in a house divided.  Mohammet's candidate won

Mami roasting corn

After spending two weeks in Mbour, we are back at the Training Center in Mbour for about five days.  Then site announcements will be made, and then we will go on a "Volunteer visit" where we will travel to our region and meet the current volunteers and see their projects.  I'm really excited for this, and to test out my Jaxanke skills in a place where it is actually spoken in the streets!