Crazy Adventures in the Life of a Redhead

One summer, I decided to weed the garden at my dad’s house because it had gotten so bad that we could no longer see the flowers in the bed. I think I spent about five hours cleaning it up, and I was very happy with the results. A couple days later I left on a three-week trip to Lithuania with a team from my church. When I came back, the weeds had mostly returned, and I was so discouraged that I never tried gardening again—until this week. I think it is funny how life changes; how one goes through periods marked by different sorts of activities and passions. Some phases continue throughout one’s life and some pass with rapidity. I think that gardening has become indelibly a part of my cornucopia of interests. Having never really planted anything in my life, I had very little knowledge of how to start. Thankfully I observe well and I retain what I read; so with the few articles I have read about planting and what I have observed at Beer-Sheba, I commenced my gardeni...

  If I were to ask anyone in Senegal to tell me the dirtiest place in the country, he/she would say without fail “Kaolack.” Back in November, when I first traveled to Kaolack, I did not think much of the rubbish and the flies because most of Senegal is full of litter and dotted with unkempt alleyways and small side streets. Returning to Kaolack for a few days this past week, I realized that the city is a most unpleasant place to live. The flies are terrible—almost unbearable—and now in the rainy season, there are so many mosquitoes, I needed my fan to swat them away—even in the house. Fortunately, I know some lovely people in Kaolack; otherwise I would never return.  I spent three days with GRADES, an organization I wrote about at the start of my time in Senegal. I had spent two weeks with them to help write their strategic plan. They asked me to be the sponsor of their polyvalent training center’s graduation ceremony for the 9 th and 10 th groups of...

The week flashed like lightening as I went about my tasks in the fields, the garden and the new dormitory that we rushed to clean and organize before a group of 11 Korean people came to visit us. I spent Monday and Tuesday scrubbing the bathrooms over and over again to scrape off the cement and paint that the careless construction workers left caked to the door frames, walls and floors. Our new building already has door handle problems (I locked myself in the bathroom, for instance, and had to climb out of the window to exit), plumbing issues and was built crookedly. Expecting a job well done here in Senegal is like waiting for a bus that never comes; good enough is their motto and well done is not in their vocabulary. I felt pleased with my work and know that I have made my small mark on the history of Beer-Sheba doing what I can to improve the property and the farm. I suppose  that is what my all-encompassing goal during these short stays at project sites a...

Capturing the Beer-Sheba team Well, I have never seen Meryl Streep or Robert Redford grace the premises of Beer-Sheba, but I have no doubt that Karen Blixen, the woman who wrote Out of Africa , would have been in awe working at this particular 225-acre farm in Senegal. What I love most about a living, functioning farm is the fact that it changes frequently. I find myself comparing the changes in Beer-Sheba to the developmental differences I have seen in my little nephew Bennett since he was born. Each week that I see him, I remark upon something that has recently formed in his character or his physical appearance. He never stays the same. Beer-Sheba, as I imagine all dynamic farms to be, transforms from one week to the next.  Moringa field I faithfully continued my weeding in my small section of the okra field and expanded my weeding efforts to our moringa field. Our okra plants are growing well, and we think that our first harvest should happen wi...