A host prepares onya, or white ants, for sale at market
Hello! A warm welcome back and I am hoping this finds you well.
We wrapped up another great week in the field. Lately I divide my days between fieldwork on the host and refugee side, so that neither of my translators become overly taxed and we can stretch through the afternoon until 4 or 5pm. One day we all ended up in the field together for most of the day, so I took both Robilert and Dennis (translator for refugee villages 16-18) out for lunch at the nearest restaurant, which is still several kilometers into neighboring Rhino Camp refugee settlement. They ate fish cooked in sesame paste with boiled cassava and sorghum flour, while I munched on my favorite lunch of raw cassava.
Lunch with translators Dennis and Robilert
When in the field, I am always fascinated by examples of how hosts and refugees eke out livelihoods in increasingly difficult conditions for survival on both sides. Anecdotally I have learned that rains are more unpredictable and temperatures hotter, threatening rainfed agricultural production. At the same time, the prices of fuel and food staples have risen with global inflation. On the refugee side, food rations decline yearly and I have heard from several refugees that UNHCR plans to shift all refugees to receipt of cash payments instead of food aid in the near future. There is great concern that high demand for food and low supply of food stuffs in Imvepi will devalue the small cash payments even further.
A refugee carries home one month of food aid for two people from the village distribution point
The primary livelihood activity for hosts and refugees alike is agricultural production: either growing one's own crops or earning cash for cultivating land for others. One refugee told me that 95% of the food his family consumes is grown on farmland rented from hosts, with only 5% coming from food aid. Cassava and dryland cereals like sorghum and maize are the staple crops, with groundnuts and sesame following closely. Interestingly, I am learning that many hosts also rent agricultural land if their own land is not suitable for certain crops or if they simply have small landholdings. On both the refugee and host side, I try to learn from participants how they earn the initial startup money needed to rent land, which is not negligible in this cash-strapped environment. In this post I'll cover two strategies: 1) add value to agricultural products for resale at market, and 2) collect wild foods for home consumption or sale.
Adding Value
Brewing cassava alcohol is a common income generator for hosts and refugees, though the means of production can differ. Hosts brew alcohol with mold from cassava tubers as the fermentation catalyst, while I have heard from refugees that they buy slightly-rotten cassava flour from the market to boil and ferment. Most producers have regular customers who consume cassava brew themselves or purchase large jugs and resell in smaller quantities.
Cassava alcohol brewed by a host (left) and a refugee (right)
Grinding sesame seeds (locally called simsim) paste is another strategy for adding value to crops. Sesame seeds are dried, stored, and then hand ground between stones into a thick paste which is popular in local cuisine and valuable at market.
Hand-grinding simsim paste
Seed-saving increases crop value when seeds are stored and resold in the following planting season. For example, one host told me that after harvesting cowpeas, she tries to avoid selling her crop at a low price and instead saves them for the following year when she can earn 50% more for the same seeds. Storage of seeds is not easy, however, as rats can easily enter thatched roofed homes and consume the harvest. This particular host built a raised seed-storage contraption, filled to the brim with last-year's cowpeas.
Saving cowpeas to resell in the next planting season
One other value-added product I will mention (though there are countless others) is local ash salt, called balanabuga by refugees or a-iaka by hosts. Ash-salt is produced by burning the trunks and branches of specific trees or stems of plants, collecting the wood ash, soaking it in water, and straining. The strained liquid is considered "salty" in taste and used for seasoning dishes, as well as to help soften beans when boiling.
A refugee dries a papaya trunk for producing balanabuga
Collecting Wild Foods
I will start with onya, or white ants, as we are currently in the thick of onya harvest. As I discussed in a previous post, onya are collected during the rainy season when they emerge from their hills late at night or early in the morning. Onya hills are typically located under trees and in bush areas, and I have noticed that host access and harvest of onya seems more widespread than among refugees. During a firewood walk, one host showed us where she came to harvest onya at 11pm the prior evening. She set fire to a specific kind of "elephant grass" (we see piles of this grass at nearly every host home we visit, waiting for onya harvest) and held the grass over a pre-dug hole. The onya are drawn toward the light, fall into the hole, and are collected in big pots. Onya are sold after their wings are removed and are either toasted or boiled and mashed into a special cake called ombagulu.
(Left to right) An onya hill with hole dug nearby, de-winged onya, and elephant grass for onya harvesting
Collecting wild fruits for market sale is very common. Front and center right now are mangoes, with May as peak mango season. Though some people grow grafted mango trees with large red fruits, the local mango variety is small and skin ripens yellow in color. Children everywhere are seen eating mangoes, and settlement paths around Imvepi are strewn with mango pits. Again, access differs across refugees and hosts, with most host families having at least one giant mango tree on the home compound, while refugees mainly access mangoes from common land or near firewood collection sites.
Mangoes for sale in the Imvepi market
Wild greens are foraged and sold in big bundles at market. Some of the favorites are Corchorus olitorius (wild jute mallow), and different varieties of Hibiscus spp. which I have yet to identify. Cowpea leaves (Vigna unguiculata) are another favorite green. When collected in wild areas (as opposed to intentionally cultivated), the hosts call this plant adroa osubi, which means "cowpea of the Gods."
Mondrokelo, or wild jute mallow collected in the bush
Lastly, I will mention hunting and fishing. I have seen different hunting apparati across the settlement, including the bow-and-arrow wielded by the gentleman pictured below. When asked, he said he uses the bow-and-arrow to hunt snakes, guinea fowl, guinea pigs, and even antelope. He also said that he uses it for self protection in case he is approached by enemies. Small slingshots are also used to hunt birds with small clay balls as ammunition.
A host demonstrates how to use his bow and arrow
Fishing is most common in the dry season when the river Enyau, which flows through Imvepi, is shallow and can be blocked by constructing barriers with branches or stones. The bark of two trees (Tephrosia vogelli or Sclerocarya birrea) can be used to poison the constricted water, causing fish to float to the surface where they are collected with hand-woven nets. Smoked fish can last at home for months or are sold in market.
A line of Tephrosia vogelli planted along a cropfield, and a boy weaves a fishing net
I haven't mentioned other important livelihood strategies, such as rearing livestock, but hope to circle back to this theme in future posts. Thank you for reading, as always, and I look forward to posting again next week!