Mango.

In our South Sudan  blogs, this fruit comes up very often.



What is special about the mangoes seen in Central Equatoria State is how big their trees are. One time we were driving to a school asked the villagers for directions, they told us, "Turn right at the second mango tree from here". Everyone here can recognize a mango tree. Our driver correctly recognized the “second mango tree”, and when we turned right as we were told, we did find the school we were looking for.   



The tree is very big, but the fruit that grows on the tree is relatively small- about the size of apples in Japan. People of South Sudan, adults and children alike, use a stick to drop green mangoes before the skin has ripened to red or yellow, and eat them like you would eat apples. For children, it is an easy breakfast or afternoon snack.
It is the season now, and there are many delicious looking mangos growing on the trees.
However, you must be careful sometimes. The branches of the mango trees are actually quite delicate and cannot hold much weight, so it may suddenly fall when it cannot stand the weight of their fruits.



The branch in the picture above is one that actually fell, scraping a JEN staff's shoulder while researching the village market. There was a loud sound as if a lightning struck, and some women nearby screamed in surprise, but the scream soon turned to laughter. As people were laughing, some ran toward the fallen branch, and picked the fruits and started eating them.




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