Snakes: In my second house, I was talking to a student, Mohammed, one day when he suddenly jumped up and yelled “Kali!” I didn’t know what had upset him, but he grabbed me and dragged me out of the room. Kali is the Mende word for the green mamba snake, a very deadly species. The snake was under the table where we were seated and talking. It was so dangerous, that he would not even try to kill it by himself. He called for help from others, and among them, they cornered it, then coaxed it out of the house.
I saw lots of snakes outside, but my colorblindness kept me from knowing which were dangerous and which weren’t. I avoided them whenever I could. In the Mende language, there were several words for the mamba snakes, I think based on their color. After this, I understood why I was told to keep any green vegetation away from the house. If any vegetation was close enough to the house, a snake could use it to enter through a window or door.
I saw lots of snakes outside, but my colorblindness kept me from knowing which were dangerous and which weren’t. I avoided them whenever I could. In the Mende language, there were several words for the mamba snakes, I think based on their color. After this, I understood why I was told to keep any green vegetation away from the house. If any vegetation was close enough to the house, a snake could use it to enter through a window or door.
First trip to a student's village: Went to Koindu, a village near the northeastern Liberian border, with a student, Mohammed Kabba. Met his family, or at least a part of it, who made up most of a smaller village, Kpandu. Whenever I went with a student to his village, they made no effort to find a place for me to sleep, so I usually ended up on a bed shared with a variety of people.
I presented one of Mohammed’s brothers with four books and on leaving, I was given a live chicken and a large sack of oranges. Koindu market has a reputation as an international trading center (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Gambia), but there wasn’t much there besides vegetables and fish. It took seven hours by lorry to get to Koindu from Kenema, and seven coming back, including stops for two punctured tires. Back in Kenema, I gave the chicken and oranges to Mohammed. He and the other students would enjoy the non-school food. When the lorry stops for repairs, everyone has to get out, and most people look for a place to urinate. A bumpy lorry does that to you.
I presented one of Mohammed’s brothers with four books and on leaving, I was given a live chicken and a large sack of oranges. Koindu market has a reputation as an international trading center (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Gambia), but there wasn’t much there besides vegetables and fish. It took seven hours by lorry to get to Koindu from Kenema, and seven coming back, including stops for two punctured tires. Back in Kenema, I gave the chicken and oranges to Mohammed. He and the other students would enjoy the non-school food. When the lorry stops for repairs, everyone has to get out, and most people look for a place to urinate. A bumpy lorry does that to you.
