Day to day life in Djalingo is always a little different each day, depending on what we have going on. We are taking it pretty easy most days although we have done some work as well.
We bought 12 tree seedlings from Daniel; a farmer in another village I used to work with, and planted them in Issa's Dad's compound. A mix of Neem trees, Cassia siemia, terminalia and citrus trees. We are planning on getting more in the next couple weeks.
This morning Issa had a guy down inside the family well cleaning out all the silt and mud so this afternoon we can lower a pump down and attach a pipe to pump water out. This will be a lot easier for the family instead of lowering a bucket by hand down in the well and then hauling it back up again by hand. In fact, Chris caused quite a scene one day when he went to get water because typically this is women's work or done by young girls for thier moms. So to see Chris getting water had everyone chuckling (partly because he is a man but also I think because he is Nassara - a foreigner or white person); some of the girls insisted he let them do it but he refused. Here is a picture of all the action!
We pretty much feel like we are long-term camping. It's actually not that bad except we can't sleep in as much as we'd like because of the various morning noises - chickens crowing, sheep baabling, the mosque call to prayer at 6:00, women waking up kids for school, girls sweeping the sand, etc. It never ends. It starts to get really hot (90's) around 11:00, so if all the "chores" aren't done before then it gets to be unbearable. We've come to enjoy an afternoon treat of getting a cold drink from the market vendors that have a fridge. Here is a picture of me and Abdou one day after a hot morning walking through the market. 
The days we don't have anything going on in Djalingo we usually go to Garoua and swim at the pool, check email and relax, heading back in the afternoon.
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