19.10.04 - 12:55

A Word on the Locust Situation:
Locusts, locusts everywhere! Up your nose and in your hair!
Or rather, they were everywhere. They have since died in autumn-colored droves about Kankossa. But before they went, they spawned a myriad yellow/green/black babies and ate EVERYTHING.
everything.
Whole villages left their fields; there was nothing they could do.
Ask Yahya how his garden is and he will say "what garden?!?!?" They ate everything but the limes.
So there is still almost no produce in the markets; what exists is expensive. Farmers and gardeners are just now replanting, which means a much shorter and later growing season.
In short, it is not what Mauritania, especially my severely malnourished children, needs. They will survive (mostly), but it will, as the kids are taken to saying, "suck."
I will be fine, because I am rich enough to afford an occasional can of fruit or veggies. Yes, my friends. A rich person in Mauritania is one who can buy Grade C canned peas.

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