So THAT'S how a sweet potato grows!

Yesterday, instead of fightin' to figure out what I was going to do in the office all day, I stayed back at my house and hung out with the family. We had a pretty "village in Africa" kind of day. Right now there is a water shortage.. and the communal taps are turned on on Wednesdays and Saturdays.. SO... while my family members were filling up wheelbarrows with empty jugs to take, to fill, I stayed back and watched the bore hole we have in the yard (kind of like a well)... that was giving some water, but at a slow trickle. My job was to entertain the kids and transfer water from the bore hole buckets to big water drums in the yard when the buckets got full (this took awhile).. in the mean time I played with Karabo (one of the coolest kids ever and my cousin) and Pheteletso (a little boy who has been visiting the family). We played with one of those big balloons that has the rubber band attached to it for bouncing... then it popped... I gave them each a plastic scary monster finger puppet.. then
they fought over which color they wanted... we colored... until they had used every sheet of paper I had brought out... and finally we just played in the dirt until it was time to dump the water... and we all carried the bucket to one of the big water drums in the yard to fill. Eventually about 5 big water drums and my little one were filled by about noon. It was a long morning, but now we have water for the rest of the week. I ate lunch and read some in my room before heading to the farm with MmaDiapo. I've been wanting to go since I first moved here and Wednesday we walked down the tar road towards the hospital, towards the farm! The farm... a small space of land that is crammed with beetroot, spinach, tomatoes, banana trees, mangos, avocados, sweet potatoes, mealie meal, green beans, cabbage, and morope (a root that is like a turnip... not much taste.. boil it and mash like potatoes). It was a nice afternoon. Really nice. Our mission was to fill the black bucket MmaDiapo had brought from home, some people in Metz wanted to buy some sweet potatoes.

In preparation for digging, MmaDiapo put on her big sun hat and took off her shoes.


Posing with all the sweet potatoes she found. Some plants were more fruitful than others, we found some potatoes the size of my hand! The rolled up mealie meal bag on the ground next to her was used as a cushion when she carried the bucket ALL THE WAY HOME on her head.


And walking home. I will always be impressed with the strength women in the village have. They work hard and are the glue in the community. The water to MmaDiapo's right comes from the dam and is used to irrigate the farm. All along the inside of the trough there are holes that are blocked with tree stumps and rocks. When land needs water, these plugs are removed to let it flow.