Ile Karabane - ca tire! ca tire! ca tire des carabines a feu!

(Image left: Ile Karabane as we approach via small boat)

On the weekend, I went to another destination in Casamance called Ile de Karabane. It is an island in the fleuve Casamance which is a couple kilometers from the ocean. There are about 500 people who live on the island. It was the capital of the Casamance region back during the colonial days, during which it was inhabited by about 3000 people. Today, it is about half christian, half muselman.

More religions stats: Senegal is about 95% muselman; Casamance is about 90% muselman.

We (MC, Claudine and Sabine) left Zig after work on Friday afternoon and made it to a small town from which we took a boat to the island.

(Image right: Elinkine waterfront from where we took our boat. The baobab tree is the village's sacred tree)

On Saturday morning, we went fishing! We were quite terrible fisherwomen… Claudine caught a HUGE tree trunk, Sabine caught rocks and I got a fish, a crab and more rocks. The most exciting part was seeing dolphins again!

(Image left: view of Casamance Fleuve from our hotel room)

I enjoyed exploring the island on my solitary walks. Sunday morning, I set out on a mission to get what the island is reknowned for: coconuts. I asked around and eventually got a guy who asked a boy (about 7-8 years old) to climb a coconut tree obtain them for us. I was utterly amazed to see the agile barefoot boy climb the tree with no equipment. He stayed up there for a good 20 minutes, hanging off the tree, kicking the coconuts down one at a time. Every second he was up there I was scared he slip and fall 25`!

When I got back home with my coconuts as gifts for my family, I invented a dessert with one of them. I`m proud to say that I`ve learned the technique of how to break a coconut and access the meat in less than half a day`s work! I bought peanut paste (this is the land of peanuts but curiously, they don’t eat peanut butter!) and mixed with it with the coconut I had grated. I then rolled the paste into little balls which were extremely addictive and pleased everyone who tried them!

(Image right: what could have been! We did not catch these fish but we sure did eat them! Villagers come to see the catch of the day as the fishing boat returns before sunset. The fishermen give the fish to the villagers according to size. Very nice to see)

Since the trip to Dakar, my caseload had significantly decreased and I had zero patients scheduled for Monday. As it turns out, I had three appear out of nowhere which made for a full day! I was anxious for Monday pm after work since I had organized a palm wine drinking session with collegues from work (Lucien and Calyssao). I heard about palm wine when I first got to Senegal and really wanted to try it except it wasn`t in season. Now it is! Palm wine is the water collected from the top of palm trees. When first extracted, it is sugary and has a milky look/consistency. At one day old, it starts its fermentation process and becomes alcoholic. Devout muselmans do not drink palm wine = my family doesn`t.

Drinking palm wine is ritual-like in that they pour it in a special wooden bowl with a big wooden spoon that everyone drinks from. There is a special technique to hold the spoon and fill it with the liquid. I really liked the experience even though I didn`t dig the wine itself that much. I found the 1-day old wine was plain gross. The fresh wine was ok- I think its an acquired taste ;)

(Image left: I took lots of photos at Ile Karabane during my walks)

In the evening, I was invited to Sabine`s (MC`s roomate) for supper. We had sangria, red wine and german food! She prepared a delicious potatoe salad with meat balls unlike any that I had tasted before. The diversity in food felt really good. We ate by candle lite because Ziguinchor is plagued with black outs these days.

That night, I slept terribly! Since there wasn`t any electricity, I couldn`t sleep in my room because its too hot (no fan). So, I slept out on the balcony where I eventually got woken up because I was being devoured by mosquitoes. I then moved back into my room; the electricity hadn`t come back but I was sleepy and the temperature had slightly decreased. I had trouble falling asleep because Nabu (my roomate) was snoring hardcore. The next time I woke was to pee. Then the nearby Imam with a crazy throat started praying/yelling at 5:30 am. Then, El Hadj started crying. Then my alarm woke me at 6:30 to go for a jog. Arr. I ended up skipping the jog and doing it at dusk instead.

(Image right: little kids who really wanted me to take their photo on the island. Baobab trunk in the background)

Wednesday, I woke up with my stomach feeling kind of funky. Once at work, I was ecstatic to see that a little girl I had seen when I had the palm wine two days ago had showed up, as I had recommended she come to consult. The poor 8-year old girl cerebral palsy and walked on her knees. A pair of orthotics, a walker and some therapy will really increase her quality of life. The parents had never sought help because they are too poor. Us three Canadians agreed on splitting the costs of her interventions.

We tried a new place for lunch which is run by nuns (we didn’t see any though). It was pleasant and I now know of a place where I can eat pork! After lunch, we went to the market to buy our supplies for a Shepard’s Pie meal planned for the following day for our all our work collegues; 16 people. While at the market, I bought hair extensions as I will be getting my hair braided soon.

(Image right: myself, Sabine, Claudine, Marie-Claude at the hotel`s restaurant. As you can see, the waterfront is very close to the hotel - the entire village is like this)

Thursday, my stomach discomfort continued accompanied with diahrrea. The day seemed long… We made the Shepard’s Pie for the entire department with one burner in a tool room and our cooking utensils brought from home. Quite a feat! The meal was enjoyed by everyone. They finished everything! The best part was the ketchup: they aren’t familiar with it so they called it Canadian bissap. Bissap is a plant here with red flowers from which they make sauces and juice (red). They loved eating the Shepard’s Pie with lots of ketchup so they kept on asking to “pass the Canadian bissap”. Ha ha. After the Shepard’s Pie and even though I felt yucky, I went to play ultimate since I’ve promised myself to try and introduce the sport. The turnout was pretty good. We’ll see about it again for next week!

(Image right: sunset during my walk on Ile Karabane. This is a little river within the island)

On Friday, my bed sore presentation got cancelled AGAIN because the nurses said they have no time. This is really starting to reflect the sense of professionalism in this department. One nurse explained to me that she had already learned all about bed sores in school so if she wanted a refresher on them, she could simply consult her notes. And if she wanted to update her knowledge, she could simply go online and research. No comment. I’m giving up; my time is spent better doing other work.

My upset stomach continued through the day and night. I took a nap and went to a concert I had bought tickets for. It was three Senegalais groups from different parts of the country and with different genres. Very entertaining and enjoyable. I came home early though because of sickness. I spent Saturday relaxing since I still felt iffy and had no energy. In between naps, I prepared for the presentation Claudine and I have to give to the hospital’s porters in the coming weeks. I took it easy on Sunday too but my energy levels were much better. I felt very homesick on the weekend so I decided to make some comfort food: spaghetti. The hardest part is getting the ingredients at the market. This procedure is getting easier with experience though. However, I don’t think I’ll ever get entirely comfortable with buying meat from a butcher with no gloves, who cuts your piece of meat off a huge chunk of the cow with flies all over it, bringing your warm piece of meet across the market to a gang of ladies with hand propelled mechanical grinders that aren’t so clean and who ask another nearby merchant lady to precut the meat. Gross. That’s why its so important to cook it very very very well.

(Image left: cemetery of Ile Karabane; beside the Muselman one)

The spaghetti meal turned out to be a success even though I didn’t have any of the ingredients I’d usually use except for onions, carrots, salt and pepper. It truly hit the spot and not just mine! My whole family devoured the dish. Astou even unbuttoned her pants to be able to fit more in! What a compliment!