The smell of bubbling palm oil in large pots wafts through many African villages. Palm oil is used in African cuisine to fry beignets, cassava, various meats and to make any variety of sauces. A small but very significant part of my life journey rests in West Africa where I spent several years teaching in a local village where there was no electricity. So every evening as the sun dropped below the horizon and the heat of the day lightened its fiery grip, I would light my kerosene lantern and, guided by its soft glow, navigate through the evening and night. Many evenings I would join the stream of people with their lanterns swinging by continue reading…
