Rice harvest- Take me to the river

As many of you more geographically oriented (or those who have google mapped my location) know, my village is relatively close to the river which borders Mauritania. Many families have land up on the river to grow rice, and right about know is harvesting time, meaning that about half of my village now lives on the river to gather their stores for the next year. A friend of mine took me out to the fields the other day, and I spent the day observing and helping out with the gathering (kind of, mostly just sitting in the shade with the babies).

The process boils down to this:

The men use their hook-looking tools to cut down the rice stalks. 

Rihanna's playing on one of their phones in the background

After the entire paddy has been cleared they bundle up the stalks and the women carry these on their head to the cleared location. 

This is a bundle I was rescued from (I made it 50 ft or so)

The skyline is always filled with walking bundles

There they lay out a large tarp, and grab handfuls of the rice stalks and bang them against the ground to free the rice grains. 

The grains are poured against the wind to sift out the debris.

The grains are pounded.

Rice is ready to be cooked! Add a little fresh fish, and you've got yourself a Senegalese staple.

Lots of fish available by the river!

It's a lot of work, but these few months of harvest provide most families with enough rice to last them the year. It was a great experience to go see my fellow villagers at work, and much more appreciative of the bowl of rice I eat for lunch daily.