A Beautiful October

Sclerocarya birrea, seen from a sunrise run in Imvepi

Dear All,

Welcome back, and I hope this is finding you well!

I am writing to you from outside my room in Imvepi's basecamp in the dark, listening to chirping crickets and the tinny, ethereal sound of South Sudanese radio broadcast from someone's compound in a nearby village. Friday evenings are always strikingly quiet as most of the NGO staff clear out for the weekend to their homes in nearby cities. A few of us stay behind and enjoy the peacefulness and slower pace, washing our bucket laundry and cooking meals together.

Today was my 33rd birthday and it was really quite special. It actually started Thursday night when I taught my neighbors about Halloween and we collectively carved a giant orange pumpkin. It was great fun, (although a few people asked-- "Why are you playing with food like that?") We lit a candle in the pumpkin and everyone loved the glowing effect.

Halloween in Imvepi

Today, Alex, Robilert and I had a short morning in the field. At noon, we went to my friend Lilly's house for a joint birthday party, as her birthday was just a few days ago. We spent four hours together with Lilly and her son Godfrey, listening to South Sudanese music, laughing, telling stories, and eating. We brought food supplies and Lilly's daughters prepared coffee, oranges, and groundnuts, and later a meal of chicken in sesame sauce, boiled cassava flour, and cabbage salad. When I came home, my dear friend Grace had prepared my bed with a beautiful birthday card and treats, and we boiled and ate yesterday's pumpkin which was delicious.

Birthday coffee and snacks at Lilly's

October was a great month of fieldwork. We continue to progress at a more relaxed pace as we juggle data collection with rain, illness, and doing some preparatory work for upcoming projects in the Spring. On the refugee side, we are working with participants of an agroecology program run by DanChurchAid, who have cultivated their small plots of land in very productive and inspiring ways. For example, in the photos below, you will see a pig shelter fenced with live Markhamia lutea trees, a raised permagarden of eggplants fenced with rocks dug out of the plot, and a shade structure for ducks built over water-harvesting ditches with beans growing overhead.

Agroecological practices on a refugee compound in Imvepi's Zone 3

The ability of refugees to transform compact, hot, rocky plots into productive and nourishing compounds never ceases to amaze me. The agroecology program has ended, but the group leader has persevered to create a community-based organization called TRAYOL: Tree Replantation At Young Ornamental Level, which is aiming to continue the work of raising and distributing tree seedlings within the neighborhood for planting by neighbors.

Tree nursery on a refugee plot

On the refugee side, we also received in-depth instruction on some of the procedures for preparing local medicine. Participants often explain that they pound, soak in water, and then drink the liquid produced from the roots or bark of certain plants and trees, but I have never seen the actual process. While in the bush last week, one of our participants harvested a large chunk of root from a vining plant known as limilire in Kakwa (scientific name unknown), in order to treat a skin rash on her daughter's neck. She showed us step-by-step how she 1) peeled and washed the root, 2) pounded it using a large grinding stone, 3) mixed some with water in a cup and left to sit for several minutes, and 4) gave her daughter to drink a bit, and the rest will be spread on her daughter's neck after bathing.

Limilire, prepared to treat skin rash

The level of specificity in involved with local medicinal knowledge is incredible. Very specific plants are used to treat very specific conditions. For example, one refugee participant showed us how the flowers of Biden's pilosa L. can be twirled in the nostril to treat nasal vestibulitis, a condition where a painful pimple develops within the tip of the nostril.

Using Biden's pilosa L. (or blackjack) used to treat infections in the nostril

On the host side, we worked with our oldest participant, a gentleman in his late 80's, who still actively makes fishing baskets and rope. We thought it was particularly sweet how he picked a fruiting stem of Lantana camara, the berries of which are typically eaten only by children, and started munching away, as if it were an ice cream cone. We were also touched by his empathy with the circumstances of nearby refugees and decision to rent out large portions of his land to refugees for farming at no cost.

An elderly host enjoying Lantana fruits, locally known as Oboloko pipi or "fruit of the wolves"

Hosts, as well as some refugees, are in the thick of harvesting sesame (locally called "simsim"), which is sold as a cash crop and used at home to make a paste for thickening sauces. The sesame stalks are dried on huge racks, and tied to the rack using a particular vine from the bush known as aduruba in Lugbara, or Cyphostemma adenocaule. It has been great to see how the vine is actually used, after learning about it in the bush from hosts over the past 8 months. After the sesame seeds are harvested, the stalks and seed pods will be burned and used to produce a local ash-salt for cooking.

Simsim drying racks

And on Uganda's Independence Day (October 8th), the Imvepi Fitness Club completed a 15-mile journey from Imvepi to Rhino Camp and back. It was a long haul but we felt great afterwards! We persevered through many puddles left from heavy rains the previous night.

I'll leave you with a photo of a visitor in my room the other night. My assistant Robilert lives in a grass thatched house that often leaks during rain storms. When he complained to his landlord about the leakage, his landlord simply said "This is Imvepi, what do you expect?" After that, we have adopted this line anytime we encounter hardships, like bad road conditions, which always brings a smile and acceptance that things just aren't going to be perfect or easy here. So when I looked up from my bed and saw a rooster in my room, the only appropriate reaction was "This is Imvepi."

Thanks for reading. Please stay well, and be sure to vote!

An uninvited guest