When Animals Attack! (from Feb 6th)

Had my first encounter with siafu, aka safari ants, this week. I'd seen them moving their nests and whatnot before, and knew from the way Tanzanians reacted to give them a wide berth. A few days ago I woke up and went into my backyard to get to my bathroom. By the tie I got to the bathroom, my feet were on fire. In my sleep-addled state, I had failed to see that my ENTIRE YARD was full of siafu. They had collected on my feet when I walked through, and they don't just bite, they hang on. (Shida came home once with a siafu lip-ring.) Yeah, not a good way to start off the day. After getting them off me and collecting my wits again, I went and told my neighbor, who came over with some poison to get rid of them. In the meantime, I could not use the bathroom or bathe, since they were in my choo and “shower” too. An hour later I was still finding them on me.

A few days later, standing outside my counterpart's house. His calf was grazing nearby and started nudging a box I was holding. Counterpart shoved the calf away, and the next thing I know I'm getting head-butted in the thigh in retaliation. Ouch, not cool, cow.

Same day, walking home and keeping an eye on the 5 primary school boys who were carrying my dresser from the carpenter's house. I didn't see the chicken just to the side of the road. But she saw me and thought I was way too close to her chicks. Cue the chicken chasing me and going insane, and the boys cracking up.

I've had two baby mice fall from my rafters and into my house. I'm not sure exactly why it's raining baby mice. Shida ate one of them, I swept the other outside, where I assume it was eaten by another cat.

It's been a bad week for me and animals.

Fortunately, it's been a good week for work. I got a regular time to meet with my environmnt club. They had a blast making the web of life and talking about species' interdependence for our first activity of the year. I also got a time set aside to do some girls' empowerment for 6th and 7th grade girls (I'm calling it “life skills for girls”, since empowerment doesn't translate and some locals may not want their girls empowered. The women's group is getting organized to start making baskets to sell, which is cool because I didn't have to do anything. And they're ready to start on soap as soon as I figure out how much our supplies will cost. The PLWHA group is raring to go; their leader tracked me down to ask when I'll be ready to start. Initiative! I love it. 4-H is on the backburner for now, but no big deal. I also permaculture-ed my front yard (hope something grows) and arrange for an education volunteer to visit and do a training with the secondary school science teachers. This is why I never have time to leave my village.