going on a berry hunt

there is an area just a short walk from the village where everyone gets their firewood, there's a few mango trees, lots of other trees and right by the river after the rainy season beans and corn are planted. i love this area for many reasons; it's a quiet place to go for a walk, there are plenty of shady areas to sit and watch the river, it's proof that trees do grow when you don't cut them down, and there are trees that grow this weird fruit thing called jabbe that are everywhere. jabbe season just wrapped up for us and these past few weeks i would often take whatever small children were around, a bowl, and a large stick and head out to the jabbe trees.

the jabbe tree is like most trees that grow in the fuuta; there are thorns. and not just any thorns but little thorns that are shaped like hooks. so not only do you get stabbed by the thorns, they refuse to let you go. hence the large stick. when you're collecting jabbes it's best to just whack the tree and let the jabbes fall to the ground, where usually safe from thorns you can collect them almost pain free. so my job, as the only person over the age of five on these outings, is to beat the trees while the little munchkins gather up the jabbes. this goes on for about an hour or two until we've filled up the bowl. then we head back to the village, usually singing and me leading like the pied piper. once home, we deal out the jabbes and feast.

the first few trips it was just me and silleye who attches himself to my hip when i'm in the village. on our way home silleye would usually get tired (or lazy) so i'd carry him on my back where he imediately would go to sleep. then as our activities were noticed by more and more mothers (aka banel's going away for a couple of hours, let's dump the kids on her!) the number of kids grew so that i'd have anywhere from five to twelve kids with me. the more the kids, the louder the parade back to the village and the more the mothers would smile and laugh. the more i'd smile and laugh too.

now that the jabbes are over, you can only buy them at the markets, and so the trips have started to die down. but i still love going to the mango trees and just watch the river float on by...