Friday - Farming and cooking

We started Friday with a delicious breakfast of plantains, fish stew and Cameroonian coffee to prepare us for another day of learning and helping out at the farm. The owner of the farm, who we call “Ma Justice,” because she is a judge, joined us.

We took a long walk around the farm and saw fruit and vegetable trees and plants, as well as fish ponds. There are also many forest areas, unlike the farms we are used to visiting in New York. We watched Farmer Tantoh’s friends Julius and Mary harvest leaves from the Huckleberry plant (also known as black nightshade).

When we returned from our walk the cooking began! Farmer showed us how to de-feather and butcher a chicken, which was grilled over an open fire. We removed the leaves from the Huckleberry stems, chopped them up, washed them and put them in a pot over another open fire. We made fou fou out of corn flour and water and cooked that over an open fire, too.  You can see from the video of Ms. Calarco stirring it that it is hard work!

When the fou fou was done cooking, we wrapped it in banana leaves to give it extra flavor. We ate a communal meal, sitting on benches. People in Cameroon eat many of their meals without utensils - it was fun to lick our fingers, and not have to wash extra items!

After a short rest back at the house we had a wonderful dinner with Ma Justice and her husband. I gave their grandson, Davy, the bookmark that Eddie made. We will be giving the other bookmarks out when we visit local schools.

To end our evening, we went out to hear some local musicians sing and play instruments (piano and keyboard). Farmer Tantoh loves to sing and dance, and went up on stage with them!

(And he also shared the great news that the materials for the well have been purchased - with the money YOU donated - and work will start on it tomorrow!)