R.A.T.S. (Rwenzori Adventure Training School)

Or as I so affectionately like to call us... the rat pack! It’s not every day that you get to spend 45 minutes of class time hunched over a pyrex bowl full of tadpoles, making sketches estimating with confidence their length to be 6 mm. Naomi’s exclamation, “They look like rats with no legs” Which is quite accurate I might add. I am accustomed to the pressure of the ever ticking clock and an average of 55 minutes with my class of 30 students. The freedom to take our time and feel the excitement in discovery is great. RATS is an in between term chance to enjoy life in East Africa and all it’s educational opportunities before we get back to our normal curriculum in February.

JULIA NATURE JOURNALING

I have a couple of young naturalists as students, examining bugs, noticing spores on ferns for the first time. We venture out into field and forest with our jars to collect specimens. I have admit that there are now about 10 grasshoppers missing at least one of their six jointed appendages due to Ephriam’s intense capturing methods. We take trips through the banana trees down to the river. We sit and observe dragon flies buzzing or the swarming butterflies or perhaps the smell of the sandy clay. Topista a guest teacher, has been giving us lessons in Africa crafts. Today we made soccer balls out of banana fibers (I think it was a hit for Quinn, who at age 7 already has plans to teach this skill to his children) Tomorrow will be basket weaving from palm leaves. (definitely more educational than underwater basket weaving)

QUINN AND HIS FOOTBALL

Cocoa is a big cash crop around here. The sent of drying/ fermenting cocoa beans lining the roads can not be escaped. Last Friday our adventures took us to the cocoa grove of Usta a friend of mine, where we would learn how to harvest. The kids were excited, as was I despite my apprehension about how buggy it would be. I am a bug magnet even in the states and on the equator in a place that gets a good bit of rain... well lets just say the first couple of weeks here I could have easily been mistaken for someone with chicken pox. Even bug spray does not seem to deter these pests from their quest for my blood. I have learned to be prepared. I wore pants under my skirt, socks with my crocks, as well as long sleeves. It was toasty but dampness is preferable to the itch and I could cocoa harvest anxeity free. So we began. Usta showed us how to identify the ripe ones by color. Jack could be seen with the long handled pod picker while others used pangas (large knifes) and other like myself picked them off the ground. Once the pile was assembled we all gathered for the debeaning. There was much laughing and chatting in Lubwisi what I could not understand, these people love to have a good time, even while they work. Pods were cracked with the panga revealing the white gewy beans, then passed on to us to be scooped into a basin or piled on a banana leaf. The empty pod is simply chucked over the shoulder (these pods double as bug dream homes) As we worked we snacked on the sticky beans. You can put them in your mouth the residue is a sweet/sour milky sensation. The left over bean is just spit back into the basin. All in all the excursion was a “sweet” experience ending in a gift of sugar cane from Usta for our help!

Just another day in the life of a R.A.T. (Rwenzori adventure trainee)...

UNRIPE COCOA