Chinese New Year

This is not professional fireworks. These are just normal people setting off fireworks.

Imagine that... me holding a dead bat.



Me, Ginagones, John Baptist (Ginagones husband) Ilean (Their daughter) Awa and Ami (Neighborhood kids)

This fetish is called the blood of the innocent. Young girls are brought here and concecrated to/with the fetish preists.

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Matt and I sitting on a traditional drum.

Medicine

This is what they call medicine here. It is the horn of a ram sacrificed at a fetish. Then filled with herbs. Then its tied to this fruit tree. The purpose of this "medicine" is to scare people into not taking the fruit of off the tree. It is believed that if you take a fruit off of this tree you will be frozen to the tree unable to move until the person that tied the "medicine" to the tree comes and beats you. Only after that will you be able to move.

Ekonkone

Jerome and his new baby Paul

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Jerome and baby Paul



Mary teasing Joshua with a cookie



Joshua not handling the teasing so well. Jerome says that Joshua is very stressed out because of the new baby.



Baby Paul

Adventures in Kedougou

Audry and I about to eat pork. Audry lives in Kedougou. She took me around town.




Tina and I at a watering hole. We swam in it. it was a lot of fun



Audry and I hiking down stream



Oh thats right. Me and Tina sitting on the side of the road while the driver of our car fixes the tire.... gotta love Africa.

Small viallage on the edge of Kedougou