For us, this is the best time in the Christian calendar. Jesus is alive!!!!!!!!! and we live in hope – esp. when we have to deal with the finicky ness of humans. We know that one day it will be all over – Alleluia!!!!!!!
So, Happy Easter!!!
With Easter comes the hope of a break and the visit to the beach in Freetown. Little J is really looking forward to this break, and to tell the truth, we the adults are also looking forward to the break. It means a 7-hour journey on some difficult roads for us, especially with the onset of the rains, but we have heard that they are working on them, so it shouldn’t be as bad as our first journey.
It is hot and sticky during the day, but we are happy to report the nights are not as humid as we were warned. We have been having a few scanty days of rain and this seems to be the reason for the relative coolness of the season. Also, it seems the rains may have started early, and the farmers are scrambling to get their planting in on time. It’s wonderful to see the land being transformed from bush to cleared area to, hopefully, something edible. As M had reported, the hospital is hoping to embark on a farm project, and the land is being prepared for groundnuts, cassava and maize. We look forward to a feast.
In the meantime, the mangoes are coming!!!!!!!! The trees are full – although we thought, there would have been more fruits. The ones I’ve ‘eyed’ are good enough and I’m sure there will be more than enough for all. The children have started to pick the green mangoes, which they mix with salt (yuck!....could never get my tongue around that combination!), and knowing them they might even add a little pepper to give some oomph!. I’ll be patient for the real thing.
The breadfruit trees are also yielding a few fruits. We have already sent the scouts out to keep an eye for the ‘fit enough for roasting’ kind. Patience….patience, that is the key. Now only if we had some ackee and salt fish, mmm…………..it would be perfect!!!
We have found a way to make bammies, from gari (for the Jamaicans – just picture the bammy stage. Gari is the product of the cassava just before the baking stage for bammy. It’s the ‘powder stage’ which is then baked to produce the cake) which is a delicacy here. Gari is eaten here (and in Ghana) just as it is, by adding water to make a doughy kind of stuff. However, we have realised, if we put it in a hot frying pan with some oil and press it into a cake – presto!!! we get……BAMMY!!!! Or as close to it as possible. Thanks to my mum – who suggested we try, our diet has been enhanced with this introduction. We are even more blessed as the lady who helps us explains that they call it cassava cake and she is happy to make it when we buy our gari. So, a little piece of Jamaica has arrived (or as M would insists – West Africa is the mum to the West Indies. He’s right -we just do it better!!)
Since my last sighting of our friend the snake, I have not seen another. Yet we know they are there…we just pray they stay in their corner and we will stay in ours. With the rains approaching, we have been told to expect more sightings. Lord, please keep them far in the bush – and nowhere near the house!!!! We have precautionary measures in place anyway with a gate to the veranda and main house in place. We have a rule and practice to keep them closed at all times. We think that’s enough.
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