Tartizio's son

Whose actual name is Isaiah was constantly referred to as 'Tartizio's son' during our field trip. Tartizio is one of the older established gents of the village who has been involved with the project.

Isaiah came along as a young addition to the group to help carry equipment and man the camp. Lots of the men in the village want to be part of the wildlife ambassadors team as they know it's a guaranteed source of pay each month. At around $30 for a patrol of a few days, it's much more than they'd be earning anywhere else.

It didn't seem to be seen as anything rude that no one remembered his name. My armchair anthropology tells me that here people are afforded much more personal respect and kowtowing as they age. Isaiah patiently and quietly waited his turn to help on the conservation field stuff and was no doubt grateful for a chance to be there.

Here's Tartizio's son helping to tighten one of the locks on a camera trap we've just fixed to a tree.

And I find it fascinating how many very old sounding Italian forenames  and surnames are in circulation here in amongst the standard Pauls and Michaels: Tartizio, Massimino, Pascuale, Vicenti, Mario. The source is very likely to be Italian Catholic missionaries the Comboni Fathers who predated the Brits in Sudan.

Later the team was engaged in stripping corn husks as DeeAnn and I accidentally sat around like Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, in discussion about community forestry and tomorrow's meetings we're planning. At least we weren't discussing how to subdue the natives so they'd wear white uniforms and serve us tea on our verandas. But it may have looked that way to a casual observer as one of the team members has developed the habit of slipping a folding stool under our butts as soon as we come to a standstill.

After we got back from the forest, some of the wildlife team said they'd sell us chickens. When we said it shouldn't be at kharwaja prices, Benneth negotiated on our behalf, and said:

'They will reduce the price if it is not a big cock'.

We informed him what connotations that phrase had and then all had a good titter.

Later on, after all agreeing on tomorrow's plan, Benneth recharged his portable DVD player on the car's cigarette lighter and put on a world wrestling foundation film for the community team, who gathered whilst hunched over their rice and beans. This wasn't exactly the idea when Benneth requested me to lug this contraption from the UK; we'd agreed at the time we would show wildlife documentaries when in the field.

He'll say he has to upload whatever the computer guy in Yambio has illegally pirated. I'll say he needs to try harder to locate appropriate films.