Uncategorized – Page 42 – Katja Malmborg

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I call this piece: Lost in a millet field

While walking around in a fallow/shrubland, I ran into these goats and their herders. The children started shouting for me to photograph them. Later, I ran into them again, in another shrubland. It turned into even more photographs. And finally, they had found Elli by one of her soil sample sites. There was no endContinue reading “the goat herding photo models”

in Elli’s footsteps (October 26)

Most of the day today, I followed after Elli and her search for good places to dig for her samples. I collected GPS points for interesting landscape features. And photographed. Not UFO activity, but a soil improvement strategy. They have dug down organic matter in the bare soil, hoping that it might make theContinue reading “in Elli’s footsteps (October 26)”

underneath another tree (October 26)

I’m sitting under a tree by a homestead in Reko, next to a well. Two women are washing clothes under another tree. I’ve been walking around, trying to get to know the relationship between my satellite image based landcover classification and the real world. Mostly, my map is wrong. The good thing is, I canContinue reading “underneath another tree (October 26)”

the angry feminist in me (October 25)

In a moment of weakness, I thought: If the men of this country don’t stop referring to ”a good woman”, as if there were mostly bad ones, and if they don’t swallow their pride and start helping out with the ”women’s chores” such as carrying grocery bags and preparing dinner, this country will never getContinue reading “the angry feminist in me (October 25)”

moments of waiting (October 25)

Sitting under a tree in Rallo, waiting for a man to arrive on a motorcycle, I watched a baby goat try to eat a dry leaf. First from the ground, then pushing it up on a wall, desperately trying to get a bite but not quite managing to. And I thought: How on earth didContinue reading “moments of waiting (October 25)”

first contact (October 25)

Today, after dropping Elli off in Reko, me, Desiré and Theo drove around all day visiting the three potential transect villages that I had picked out in the vicinity of Ouahigouya. There was a lot of time spent, sitting in the shadow under a tree, waiting for the right person to come back from aContinue reading “first contact (October 25)”

trials of traveling (October 24)

Sometimes, I don’t recongnize myself when I’m traveling. My moods really go to the extremes, things are amazing, and then horrible, it is fast and I can’t really keep track. At times, I just want to go home. At others, I feel I am in exactly where I should be. I think I recognize theContinue reading “trials of traveling (October 24)”

the culinary arts of a fieldworker (October 23)

After searching, without success, for a restaurant that served vegetarian food the first night in Ouahigouya, we realized we would have to cook our own food. So, we got permission to use the gasoline kitchen that we had brought with us, bought a bunch of vegetables, and started cooking in an unfurnished corner of ourContinue reading “the culinary arts of a fieldworker (October 23)”

a soft start (October 23)

We were taken on a guided tour through Reko today with Madi, as an introduction to the landscape where we will be spending the coming seven weeks. It was hot, trying to handle tablet with maps in, GPS and camera at the same time was impossible, and there was so much variety in the landscape. IContinue reading “a soft start (October 23)”