It’s almost been 8 months since I’ve been in Senegal… its incredible how time flies here. Though I may often complain about things here, I really do love Senegal and the Senegalese people. I contemplate returning back to America at least once a day, and it’s nice to know that I always have that option, but when it comes down to it, I don’t think I could leave this country right now.
So, many people are still questioning me about my living arrangements… I live in a small building that is approximately 5 feet away from the main house that my family lives in. I have a bedroom, a living room/kitchen/guest bedroom, and a bathroom. The walls are made of cement, and the roof is tin (when it rains, even the slightest sprinkling sounds like the world is ending… it is so loud!). My bathroom is the least attractive room in my place… the toilet is nothing more than a hole in the ground with porcelain surrounding the hole. Toilet paper is super expensive here, and most volunteers go without it. Instead, we use water to cleanse ourselves after we use the loo. I have to fetch water every day from our household faucet to use for showering and drinking. I have to walk to the other side of the compound and fill up two buckets of water (probably 3 gallons a bucket) and carry them back to my room. I usually stand inside of another bucket as I shower, and I dip a cup into the bucket of water and I pour it on me. That is how I shower. I usually pour water all over me then I soap up, then I pour water on me again to rinse off. My purpose for standing inside another bucket while I shower is to conserve water (it is a PAIN to have to fetch water every day!) I usually use the used water to flush my toilet (there is no running water for the toilet), or I use it to water my garden. I go through maybe two gallons of water a day- and that includes bathing, toilet and drinking. If I wash my hair (which I do maybe once a week) then I use a bit more water than that. I have electricity, but I can’t really ever depend on it… it comes and goes all the time. I have a small refrigerator, and a fan. I use the fan every night, mostly to drown out the noises of my town rather than to cool off. Senegalese people are SO loud! When they speak they sound like they’re yelling at each other, they love to turn the TV on very loud, and whenever they have weddings/baptisms or parties they hire out massive speakers and blast music. My ears are often ringing by the end of the day due to the constant loudness. My family is always awake before I wake up (I usually get up at 7am), and they’re always up much longer than I am at night (I usually go in to sleep at 10pm). It is still a mystery to me when they sleep… If I didn’t have a fan to drown out their noise, I am sure that I get a lot less sleep than I do now.
I have a small garden outside of my room, but I believe that it’s currently struggling with fungal problems. I planted okra, tomatoes, cucumbers, ginger, basil, flowers, beans, lettuce, pumpkin, a banana tree and mint. Only the flowers, mint and banana tree seem to be doing really well… the rest of the items either shriveled up and died immediately, produced a small amount then died (the okra) or is growing but can’t seem to produce fruit (the tomatoes). A tree in my yard has mushrooms growing off of it, and my gardeners and I assume that the problems stem from that.
My yard is really small, and surrounding it is a feeble chicken wire fence. The fence has holes in it, and on one side it is collapsing quite a bit onto its side. Because of this, I have a constant stream of chickens, ducks and Guinea Foul roaming about my yard. They don’t seem to do much harm, but sometimes they kick up the dirt and kill my little plant seedlings (the goats and sheep try to get inside my yard, but they haven’t managed to do that yet).
Thursday, October 23, 2008
My Family
My family’s ethnicity is Ballant, and they originate from the Cassamance region of Senegal. They speak mostly Wolof at home, but they also speak a lot of Ballant, so it’s hard for me to understand them. We live in a Ballant neighborhood, and the Ballant ethnicity is often a lot calmer and more relaxed than the often high-strung Wolofs. My family is pre-dominatly female, and there aren’t that many kids (which is rare in Senegal) My family consists of:
Malamine Mossley-My dad. We call him Baba. He works for the Agricultural department. He is very kind and he loves to talk. He is very secretive and funny when he asks me to pay him for rent… he always takes me off to the side, and he whispers that he needs one or two months rent in advance.
Khady Biaye- My mom. We call her Na. She loves to participate in community events. She travels to another town every Sunday and sells frozen bissap juice and bon-bons (sort of like donuts) at the weekly market there. She is a very loud talker at my house, and it always sounds like she's yelling at family members. Mama- One of my sisters that I haven’t met yet. She married a previous Peace Corps volunteer and now she lives somewhere in America (my family isn’t sure where in America she lives). She moved to America about 2 years ago, and she has a daughter.
Mari- My sister. She is currently living in Dakar, and studying law. She left Sokone shortly after I came here, so I don’t know her too well.
Sophia- My sister. I LOVE this girl! She is so patient and kind to me. She is probably the closest Senegalese “friend” that I have. She is very open-minded. She is 25 years old. Her husband lives in the Cassamance and works for the Club Med that is there. She has a 6 year old son named Oussman. She is super skinny, and she loves to sit and talk with me. She also loves it when I have guests over. 
Oulay Maya- My sister. I love her as well. She is 21 years old, has a 4 year old son called GB, and an 8 month old daughter called Nazarine. I REALLY want to adopt her daughter, she is BEAUTIFUL!!! Her husband currently lives in a town called Joel, and she recently moved back to Sokone because she wants to try to get a divorce from her husband. Her father forced her to marry after she became pregnant the first time… 
Anto- My only brother. He is super sweet. He is 19 years old, and already he owns 2 donkeys. He still goes to school, but when he has free time he transports people from one end of town to the other on his Moto. His sister in America sent him her old Ipod, and he LOVES it! He is always listening to music on it. His favorite music is Beyonce and Akon (fyi…Akon is Senegalese!)Sally- My cousin. She is fantastic! She is always smiling and dancing. She often cooks for us, and she’s the one who does my laundry for me (I tried doing it on my own, but she might start doing it regularly now… she says that I’m going to ruin my clothes because I don’t know how to wash them properly by hand). She has a 3 year old son named Moustapha (we call him Tapha). She was married before, but her husband was in the military and died while fighting in the Sudan a year and a half ago.
Yay-Fatu- My sister. She’s about 13 years old. She is super energetic and fun. She loves to dance, and watch movies, and she’s always smiling. Sometimes she goes running with me when I need some exercise.
Mamiko- My sister. She is super quite, but really kind. She is somewhat tom-boyish. She likes to play handball in school. She’s about 15 years old.
Oulay- My youngest sister. She’s about 8 years old. She is also super quiet around me, but when she thinks I’m not paying attention to her she opens up.There are also a few other people living in the house with us (they are not our immediate family, nor do they live there permanently)….. there is:
Mere- She is an elderly relative of ours that comes from the cassamance. I believe that she is my father’s aunt. She only speaks Ballant, so I never understand her, and she doesn’t understand me. We try to communicate to each other through hand gestures, but usually we just talk to each other in our respective languages. I hate when she sits next to me at meal time, because she always scoops up and eats all of the good sauce and I’m left with none! (But i feel bad getting annoyed with her... she is after all super old and skinny, and i'm able to buy more food if i need to...)
Mama- She is Mere’s granddaughter. She’s about 10 years old, and she came from the Cassamance with Mere (the older lady). Everyone in my family jokes that she’s going to be Anto’s wife (my brother). It’s funny though, because I really do think that they have a crush on each other, even though he’s 19 and she’s 10.Amy Turrey- She’s about 19 years old and she is living with us during the school year because Sokone has a private school that she goes to (and her village is quite a ways away). She is a BIG girl, and wow can she dance! She is always smiling and dancing and laughing.
Senabou- She is about 19 as well, and she is another girl that lives with us only during the school year so that she can attend school.
Babacar- He’s about 20 years old, and he’s a sweetheart. He is another student that is staying with us. Upon several occasions he has confessed his dying love for me, so it can be awkward for me. He loves to work out and play soccer.
Sharing
One thing that I really love about the Senegalese culture is how they share what they have. For example, if you give one person of the family an orange, instead of eating the entire orange himself he will break it apart and give everyone in the family a little piece of it. The same goes with cookies, bread, fruit and even beverages… everything is shared amongst everyone. It’s really quite beautiful… especially when you see a 5 year old child willingly give up candy/food/drink to another child, or even to an adult for that matter.
People here also share work it seems… for example, in my family, one girl is in charge of sweeping the floor after we eat, another is in charge of getting the spoons, another in charge of whipping the bissap (a condiment of sorts). As for the cooking, the ladies alternate days in which they cook… the same goes for doing laundry. I’m not sure how or when they organize themselves to do such tasks, but it seems to work out very logically.
People here are constantly asking me to give them my bicycle, or my sunglasses, or my jewelry, or money, or even my hair… and it can get so frustrating sometimes. What makes them think that I will give them, complete strangers, any of those things? But instead of getting upset with them, I tell them to give me their jewelry, or to give ME money… thinking I’m giving them a dose of their own medicine… but it always backfires because as they look at me somewhat quizzically, I look down and they are actually handing me their jewelry (or the last bits of change that they have in their pocket)! THAT is the Senegalese culture. It can drive one crazy, but it’s also so very beautiful.
People here also share work it seems… for example, in my family, one girl is in charge of sweeping the floor after we eat, another is in charge of getting the spoons, another in charge of whipping the bissap (a condiment of sorts). As for the cooking, the ladies alternate days in which they cook… the same goes for doing laundry. I’m not sure how or when they organize themselves to do such tasks, but it seems to work out very logically.
People here are constantly asking me to give them my bicycle, or my sunglasses, or my jewelry, or money, or even my hair… and it can get so frustrating sometimes. What makes them think that I will give them, complete strangers, any of those things? But instead of getting upset with them, I tell them to give me their jewelry, or to give ME money… thinking I’m giving them a dose of their own medicine… but it always backfires because as they look at me somewhat quizzically, I look down and they are actually handing me their jewelry (or the last bits of change that they have in their pocket)! THAT is the Senegalese culture. It can drive one crazy, but it’s also so very beautiful.
Tree Grafting Training
I completed my first real project here last week! I did a big two day tree-grafting training for about 30 people. I had to write a grant to obtain funding for the project, and then I had to organize the lunches and the chairs and the materials. It all ended up being quite simple… but it was highly successful. There were many times that I thought we were going to have problems (lunch on the first day wasn’t ready until about 4pm for example), but as Senegalese people are so laid back, everything worked out smoothly. I had Demba Sidebe, the head of PC training in Senegal, lead the event. He is Senegalese and he studied at Cambridge in the UK, and he is quite possibly the best tree-grafter in all of Senegal. I also had 3 other volunteers come to the training, and each of them brought about 2 or 3 farmers from their respective villages. We also gave each of the participants a small mango tree, and two scions to graft onto that tree.
I hired the women in my family to cook the lunches… and the women were AMAZING. Not only was the food delicious, but they managed to cook in a way that I don’t think American’s can even fathom. It was easily 100 degrees out (possibly 120 in the direct sun), and they stood in the direct sun and cooked food for over 30 people in a large iron pot over a small wood fed fire. There were no tables for them to chop and peel vegetables (they sat on plastic chairs and cut the items into a bowl that was on their lap), there was no cold water to drink, no electric mixers, no sharp knives (the knives are all fairly blunt compared to American standards), no air conditioning either… they had chickens and ducks and sheep and goats running about all around them, they had sand under their feet and some of the women even had babies on their backs as they are doing all of the cooking! These women were amazing… And after the whole process was over, they still manage to smile and shake their booties to music.
I hired the women in my family to cook the lunches… and the women were AMAZING. Not only was the food delicious, but they managed to cook in a way that I don’t think American’s can even fathom. It was easily 100 degrees out (possibly 120 in the direct sun), and they stood in the direct sun and cooked food for over 30 people in a large iron pot over a small wood fed fire. There were no tables for them to chop and peel vegetables (they sat on plastic chairs and cut the items into a bowl that was on their lap), there was no cold water to drink, no electric mixers, no sharp knives (the knives are all fairly blunt compared to American standards), no air conditioning either… they had chickens and ducks and sheep and goats running about all around them, they had sand under their feet and some of the women even had babies on their backs as they are doing all of the cooking! These women were amazing… And after the whole process was over, they still manage to smile and shake their booties to music.
The end of the rainy season
The rainy season in Senegal is just about over. Lately we’ve been getting about 1 day of rain every two weeks… the rain immediately cools the weather down, it’s amazing how much so. I’m somewhat happy that the rainy season is ending, but also somewhat sad about it. I’m happy because it means that the cool and dry season is soon approaching… which means no more mold! It is so hot and humid here that when I take my clothes off the shelves to wear, they have a slight moldy scent… a pair of my shoes that I brought from the states were actually covered in a dusting of white mold! And I just opened up my wallet and pulled out a piece of paper, and that piece of paper was speckled with mold. It’s disgusting!! But there isn’t really anything I can do about it. I also want the rainy season to be over because my garden springs up weeds like crazy during the rainy season! It’s virtually impossible to control. As for the good things about the rainy season… the tiny stink bugs that infested my room prior to the rainy season disappeared (and it seems like they are now slowly making their come-back… grrr… I really can’t stand those bugs!). The rainy season is also good for what us PCVs call “guilt free reading”.
Fuggy-Jaaye
Another thing worth mentioning in this blog is something that in Wolof is called the fuggy-jaaye. (But before I go further on that topic, I would like to quickly note that the shoe of preference for Senegalese villagers when they play soccer is nothing other than jelly shoes! Yes, the celebrated shoes from my childhood are enormously popular here amongst the male athletes!) There are also many knock-off Dolce & Gabanna items for sale in this country, from sunglasses to t-shirts to bags… but apart from traditional Senegalese clothing, the majority of people here wear clothes that have been donated from America and Europe… and the medium in which they are sold is called the fuggy-jaaye (which literally translates to SHAKE and SELL…because you need to shake the dust off the items that are found in the piles of used clothing). Most of the time the clothing that I see on the streets is cute… I often see kids wearing old Boy Scout button-down shirts and the teenage girls often wear what looks like old prom dresses (they LOVE those dresses!) But sometimes the clothing that I see on the streets down-right embarrasses me. Once I saw a little girl of about 6 years old wearing a t-shirt (she was so tiny it fit her like a dress) and in big letters the shirt said “I’M A VIRGIN” and written in small letters underneath that was “This is an old t-shirt”. I’ve seen old, wrinkly grandmothers wearing highly obscene t-shirts as well… and the thing that bothers me is that these people have NO IDEA what they are wearing. In a way it’s funny (comparable I guess to someone getting Chinese characters tattooed on their back to only find out later that it means something completely different from what they were told), but in another regard I find the whole thing to be completely disgusting and even sad. The clothing is sold at the fuggy-jaaye for about $2 an item… I’m not really sure who the money goes to once it’s sold… it is blatant that the clothes being sold are gently used donations… but the fuggy-jaaye seems to be a fairly steady source of profits. I’m sure that a percentage is used for transportation, but I am interested to know where the rest of the money goes.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Chased by Kids
I am officially done with mandatory Peace Corps training! I just spent 3 weeks in Thies learning about tree grafting, raising chickens, fruit drying, gray water usage and other such things. Training was fun… it was nice to see all of my friends again and to compare stories with them, but I must admit that the technical training itself was not very in-depth…in fact it was, dare I say, often disappointing. For example, when we were taught about fruit drying, the actual lesson was rushed and lasted only about 8 minutes, and then we were given mangoes to “dry”. But as there weren’t any working fruit dryers at the training center, we simply cut up the mangoes and “dried” them in our belly’s. All good fun, but hardly a professional training session that one would expect from the Peace Corps.
Another aspect worth mentioning about my training in Thies was my return to my first home-stay family. We as volunteers were not permitted to sleep over at the training center (apparently it‘s too costly to feed 34 volunteers), so we had to live with the home-stay family again. This was one aspect of training that I did not preview as something that would effect me. After living with my patron family in Sokone (my host brother there owns an ipod…enough said) it was eye opening to return to African poverty. I observed that there were no mosquito nets in the compound, that food was scarce and basic; we always ate rice mixed with dried fish and beans, and there often wasn’t enough of it for everyone. The kids clothes were torn and dirty (very unusual for a Senegalese… they are usually very proud of their dress), and I was asked on a daily basis if I had gifts for them (they demanded things such as warm clothes for the evening, radios, and flashlights). Being with them inspired me in many ways… sometimes, living in Sokone I feel like Senegal is already well on it’s way to development and that there is little that I can do to improve their lives. But now I can better understand that many areas of Senegal still could use help at the grassroots level.
It was great to spend time with them though, and I’m really going to miss my cute little host brothers. As a gift before I left their compound for the last time, I bought a soccer ball for the boys (I had previously bought a plastic ball for them, but a teenager kicked their ball too hard, and thus made it pop). I also had some photos of my host sister printed up for her to keep (she’s a beautiful girl, and she knows it, and loves to look at pictures of herself). And I brought my host parents a mango tree transplant. I figured that the mango tree would be beneficial to them in the long run… in about 4 years it could possibly be a source of income (but my fathers second wife confided in me after I gave them the tree that my host father actually would have preferred a box of tea and a kilo of sugar. Oh well, you can’t please everyone).
After training was over, there was a big party on the beach in Mbour. A big house was rented out, and the theme was “Vegas nights”. At first I dressed up in Toga (think Caesar’s Palace), but then I changed into a dress after an hour. The party seemed doomed at first, the power was out for about 2 hours… but as we’re resourceful peace corps volunteers, we made the most of it with a few candles… and then we found a generator somewhere, and that solved all our problems. The night was filled with dancing … it was a blast!
The next morning was probably one of the most interesting mornings I’ve ever experienced in my life. Me and a few of my friends were walking down a street in Mbour looking for a restaurant for brunch. We turned a corner and two Senegalese “adults” stopped us and told us to wait because there was the concurrant down the street, and that it was very dangerous. As we didn’t really know what a concurrant was, we thought they were saying that the currant (electricity) was cut, or that a power line was down. We looked down the street, and all we saw was a big mass (hundreds) of children between the ages of what looked like 7 and 13, parading down the streets. The two “adult” Senegalese then told us that the concurrant was very dangerous, and that sometimes people get killed and raped. By this time, we were very confused… was a power line cut? Or were they really saying that these kids had the potential to kill and rape? We waited for about a minute, then we proceeded to go towards the mass of children (the numbers were beginning to dissipate)… we were hungry for some brunch, and the restaurant was just past the children. We walked maybe 50 yards towards the children, then a few of them yelled out “TOUBAB” (which means White Person), and a few of them began trickling towards us… then there were more… and then more! We turned around and began walking quite fast away from them (we were giggling at this point), then we turned around and saw that several of them were actually running towards us! At this point, we stopped laughing and took off running away from them as fast as we could. We looked up and a man in a 2 story building told us to enter into his house… so we ran inside and shut the door behind us. We went up to his balcony and looked down, and several of the kids surrounded the house and were looking up at us… Our hearts were racing!!! But after only a few minutes the kids left, and we were once again on our way to the restaurant for brunch. Once at the cafe, all was fine until about half-way through our meal, when the concurrant began to make it’s way back to where it originated from. This time, all the kids passed the cafe without so much as glancing at us, but such was not the case with a group of boys who were about 19 or 20 years old. They came right to the gate of the cafe (it was outdoors), and they began to wave big sticks (about 20cm in diameter) in the air at us, and they were yelling profanities at us in English. The café owners actually ran to the gate and shut it (the gate was only hip-level), and they told the boys to be on their way. And after a few more seconds of calling us vulgar names, they were on their way. SCARY! I just tried looking online to see exactly what a concurrant is, and nothing can be found. Perhaps I'm spelling the word incorrectly, I don't know. But from word of mouth, a concurrant has something to do with male circumcision... and a BIG man is dressed up and carries knives and he acts as a sort of Senegalese boogeyman. All the children are scared of him and run from him... if I find more information about this tradition, I will write about it in the future.
I feel bad for my friend Jen who has her site in Mbour… Besides all the craziness involved with the concurrant, Mbour is a city known for it’s sex tourism, but it’s not necessarily typical sex tourism. In Mbour, there are many older European women who come and hire out young and strong Senegalese men. I was in Mbour for a mere 24 hours, and during that time I saw many old (and more often than not, fat and ugly) women walking down the street or sitting in restaurants with young and attractive Senegalese men. The sex trade in Mbour is an escalating problem…(and as I’ve heard, it’s an even bigger problem in The Gambia, a country that lies within Senegal).
Upon returning to Kaolack yesterday (my regional house), I did a radio show with a fellow volunteer named Tayo. We did a skit, where I was the wife, and he was the husband, and we were trying to teach people how they can save money in Senegal. It was fun to go to a recording studio and to speak French on a radio station in Africa. And in between “scenes” of our skit, we played some music. The whole program lasted about an hour. Next month I have an appointment to go back and record an emission in Wolof (the national language) about something that concerns Urban Agriculture. It should be exciting!
On my way to the radio station yesterday, I realized how completely disgusting Kaolack is. It is quite possibly the most disgusting city I have ever seen in my life. It was pouring rain, so the roads turned to sloppy mud, and the cesspool/open sewers overflowed. It was disgusting, and I had to bike to get to the radio station, so I biked through 1 ½ feet of flood water that collected around a gas station, my foot sunk about ½ foot into mud when I tried to balance myself from falling over, and I got laughed at by a group of boys, and I had mud (and I’m sure poop and several diseases) all over me. Kaolack is not a nice city at all. BUT, it does have the largest covered market in all of Africa.
(Oh, and this is off-topic, but I thought it was worth mentioning… Kaolack, as well as all over Senegal, has these incredible restaurants called Tangana’s that have these delicious fried egg and spaghetti sandwiches! (no sauce on the spaghetti, just plain pasta) They are a carbohydrate overload, but they are so delicious!)
On another note… either today or tomorrow (depending on how motivated I am), I will be returning to Sokone. I’m excited to begin as a fully trained volunteer, and to start tackling projects. On September 1st or 2nd (depending on the moon), Ramadan starts in Senegal. This is going to be an interesting time to be in Senegal because everyone will be fasting for 30 days. They do not eat or drink anything (or indulge in any worldly pleasures) from sun-up to sun-down. Apparently they wake up at 5am for breakfast, and then around 7:30pm they break the fast with some coffee and bread, and then they eat dinner around 9 or 10pm.
I am going to try to fast with them… at least for a few days, so that I can experience what they are going through. Apparently, people get very lethargic and grumpy and lazy due to the fasting, and volunteers who have already experienced Ramadan have told me that it can be very frustrating to interact with Senegalese people if we do not understand what they are going through first-handedly. I don’t think that abstaining from food will be an issue, the only thing that I worry about is abstaining from drinking water in this heat, but I’ll be smart about it… I won’t let it become dangerous. If I see that I can’t fast for 30 days, I will have to eat and drink secretly and away from anyone’s sight… it’s considered rude to do so in front of them during their fast (justifiably so).
Another aspect worth mentioning about my training in Thies was my return to my first home-stay family. We as volunteers were not permitted to sleep over at the training center (apparently it‘s too costly to feed 34 volunteers), so we had to live with the home-stay family again. This was one aspect of training that I did not preview as something that would effect me. After living with my patron family in Sokone (my host brother there owns an ipod…enough said) it was eye opening to return to African poverty. I observed that there were no mosquito nets in the compound, that food was scarce and basic; we always ate rice mixed with dried fish and beans, and there often wasn’t enough of it for everyone. The kids clothes were torn and dirty (very unusual for a Senegalese… they are usually very proud of their dress), and I was asked on a daily basis if I had gifts for them (they demanded things such as warm clothes for the evening, radios, and flashlights). Being with them inspired me in many ways… sometimes, living in Sokone I feel like Senegal is already well on it’s way to development and that there is little that I can do to improve their lives. But now I can better understand that many areas of Senegal still could use help at the grassroots level.
It was great to spend time with them though, and I’m really going to miss my cute little host brothers. As a gift before I left their compound for the last time, I bought a soccer ball for the boys (I had previously bought a plastic ball for them, but a teenager kicked their ball too hard, and thus made it pop). I also had some photos of my host sister printed up for her to keep (she’s a beautiful girl, and she knows it, and loves to look at pictures of herself). And I brought my host parents a mango tree transplant. I figured that the mango tree would be beneficial to them in the long run… in about 4 years it could possibly be a source of income (but my fathers second wife confided in me after I gave them the tree that my host father actually would have preferred a box of tea and a kilo of sugar. Oh well, you can’t please everyone).
After training was over, there was a big party on the beach in Mbour. A big house was rented out, and the theme was “Vegas nights”. At first I dressed up in Toga (think Caesar’s Palace), but then I changed into a dress after an hour. The party seemed doomed at first, the power was out for about 2 hours… but as we’re resourceful peace corps volunteers, we made the most of it with a few candles… and then we found a generator somewhere, and that solved all our problems. The night was filled with dancing … it was a blast!
The next morning was probably one of the most interesting mornings I’ve ever experienced in my life. Me and a few of my friends were walking down a street in Mbour looking for a restaurant for brunch. We turned a corner and two Senegalese “adults” stopped us and told us to wait because there was the concurrant down the street, and that it was very dangerous. As we didn’t really know what a concurrant was, we thought they were saying that the currant (electricity) was cut, or that a power line was down. We looked down the street, and all we saw was a big mass (hundreds) of children between the ages of what looked like 7 and 13, parading down the streets. The two “adult” Senegalese then told us that the concurrant was very dangerous, and that sometimes people get killed and raped. By this time, we were very confused… was a power line cut? Or were they really saying that these kids had the potential to kill and rape? We waited for about a minute, then we proceeded to go towards the mass of children (the numbers were beginning to dissipate)… we were hungry for some brunch, and the restaurant was just past the children. We walked maybe 50 yards towards the children, then a few of them yelled out “TOUBAB” (which means White Person), and a few of them began trickling towards us… then there were more… and then more! We turned around and began walking quite fast away from them (we were giggling at this point), then we turned around and saw that several of them were actually running towards us! At this point, we stopped laughing and took off running away from them as fast as we could. We looked up and a man in a 2 story building told us to enter into his house… so we ran inside and shut the door behind us. We went up to his balcony and looked down, and several of the kids surrounded the house and were looking up at us… Our hearts were racing!!! But after only a few minutes the kids left, and we were once again on our way to the restaurant for brunch. Once at the cafe, all was fine until about half-way through our meal, when the concurrant began to make it’s way back to where it originated from. This time, all the kids passed the cafe without so much as glancing at us, but such was not the case with a group of boys who were about 19 or 20 years old. They came right to the gate of the cafe (it was outdoors), and they began to wave big sticks (about 20cm in diameter) in the air at us, and they were yelling profanities at us in English. The café owners actually ran to the gate and shut it (the gate was only hip-level), and they told the boys to be on their way. And after a few more seconds of calling us vulgar names, they were on their way. SCARY! I just tried looking online to see exactly what a concurrant is, and nothing can be found. Perhaps I'm spelling the word incorrectly, I don't know. But from word of mouth, a concurrant has something to do with male circumcision... and a BIG man is dressed up and carries knives and he acts as a sort of Senegalese boogeyman. All the children are scared of him and run from him... if I find more information about this tradition, I will write about it in the future.
I feel bad for my friend Jen who has her site in Mbour… Besides all the craziness involved with the concurrant, Mbour is a city known for it’s sex tourism, but it’s not necessarily typical sex tourism. In Mbour, there are many older European women who come and hire out young and strong Senegalese men. I was in Mbour for a mere 24 hours, and during that time I saw many old (and more often than not, fat and ugly) women walking down the street or sitting in restaurants with young and attractive Senegalese men. The sex trade in Mbour is an escalating problem…(and as I’ve heard, it’s an even bigger problem in The Gambia, a country that lies within Senegal).
Upon returning to Kaolack yesterday (my regional house), I did a radio show with a fellow volunteer named Tayo. We did a skit, where I was the wife, and he was the husband, and we were trying to teach people how they can save money in Senegal. It was fun to go to a recording studio and to speak French on a radio station in Africa. And in between “scenes” of our skit, we played some music. The whole program lasted about an hour. Next month I have an appointment to go back and record an emission in Wolof (the national language) about something that concerns Urban Agriculture. It should be exciting!
On my way to the radio station yesterday, I realized how completely disgusting Kaolack is. It is quite possibly the most disgusting city I have ever seen in my life. It was pouring rain, so the roads turned to sloppy mud, and the cesspool/open sewers overflowed. It was disgusting, and I had to bike to get to the radio station, so I biked through 1 ½ feet of flood water that collected around a gas station, my foot sunk about ½ foot into mud when I tried to balance myself from falling over, and I got laughed at by a group of boys, and I had mud (and I’m sure poop and several diseases) all over me. Kaolack is not a nice city at all. BUT, it does have the largest covered market in all of Africa.
(Oh, and this is off-topic, but I thought it was worth mentioning… Kaolack, as well as all over Senegal, has these incredible restaurants called Tangana’s that have these delicious fried egg and spaghetti sandwiches! (no sauce on the spaghetti, just plain pasta) They are a carbohydrate overload, but they are so delicious!)
On another note… either today or tomorrow (depending on how motivated I am), I will be returning to Sokone. I’m excited to begin as a fully trained volunteer, and to start tackling projects. On September 1st or 2nd (depending on the moon), Ramadan starts in Senegal. This is going to be an interesting time to be in Senegal because everyone will be fasting for 30 days. They do not eat or drink anything (or indulge in any worldly pleasures) from sun-up to sun-down. Apparently they wake up at 5am for breakfast, and then around 7:30pm they break the fast with some coffee and bread, and then they eat dinner around 9 or 10pm.
I am going to try to fast with them… at least for a few days, so that I can experience what they are going through. Apparently, people get very lethargic and grumpy and lazy due to the fasting, and volunteers who have already experienced Ramadan have told me that it can be very frustrating to interact with Senegalese people if we do not understand what they are going through first-handedly. I don’t think that abstaining from food will be an issue, the only thing that I worry about is abstaining from drinking water in this heat, but I’ll be smart about it… I won’t let it become dangerous. If I see that I can’t fast for 30 days, I will have to eat and drink secretly and away from anyone’s sight… it’s considered rude to do so in front of them during their fast (justifiably so).
Monday, July 7, 2008
The 'Gou
So... last night I got back from one of the best trips of my life! I went to Kedegou (South Eastern Senegal) for the 4th of July, and had an amazing experience! Kedegou is exactly what I imagined africa to be. Everything was green (it reminded me of a revamped old movie...the ground was a super bright, almost flourescent green; the roads were a rich brick colored red, and the sky a light blue- the colors were so intense and exagerated that it seemed almost fake) , there were mountains in the background (mostly from Guinea), monkeys, wild boar, rivers with Hippos...
On the 4th of July there was a big Peace Corps party at the regional house in Kedegou, and I had a blast. The kids of Kedegou cooked up a pig, and made lots of salads and desserts (just like the 4th in America). We also had plenty of palm wine, honey wine and beer to drink... a DJ, a pinata, water balloon fights, frisbee, catch with a football, trips to the river to go swimming (yes, i probably have shisto now!) and plenty of catching up with people we haven't seen in awhile. It was great!
On the 5th, a group of about 10 of us decided to take a 20 mile bike ride to go to see waterfalls... the trip was breathtaking! We rode our bikes through the jungle, then hiked for about 2 hours to the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen (it was a national geographic moment, for sure!) The hike was beautiful, we saw monkeys in the distance (apparently, in this part of Senegal, the monkeys are known to make poisonous arrows!!) and we swam in the waterfall. That night, we all stayed in a campement (grass huts that could easily get blown over from the wind) that was close to the waterfalls. It was lovely... we sat outside and talked under the stars, with noises from the jungle in the background (we were told to put our bikes in the huts with us, because there are apparently bandits from Guinea that roam that part of senegal at night!!). The next morning, about half of us decided to head back to Kedegou at 5:00am (the sun doesn't rise until about 6:30am), so we were trying to bike on extremely bumpy roads in the dark (only one of us had a headlamp, the others were trying to bike while holding on to flashlights, or with no light at all... i personally had my flashlight in my mouth while i was trying to avoid all the bumps and pot holes and large puddles. I think i ended up wiping out on my bike twice on my way back to Kedegou!).
Once we got back to Kedegou, we had to leave to go back up north almost immediately. The roads from Kedegou (where i was), to Kaolack (my regional house, where i had to go) are HORRIBLE!!! It took about 15 hours to go approximately 300 miles!!! It was one of the worst road trips ever. Our driver kept stopping on the way to talk to his friends, and we also had to stop to get food, and for him to pray at sunset.
But I made it back to Kaolack in one piece, and I think that I'm refreshed and ready to return to my site and start working again!
On the 4th of July there was a big Peace Corps party at the regional house in Kedegou, and I had a blast. The kids of Kedegou cooked up a pig, and made lots of salads and desserts (just like the 4th in America). We also had plenty of palm wine, honey wine and beer to drink... a DJ, a pinata, water balloon fights, frisbee, catch with a football, trips to the river to go swimming (yes, i probably have shisto now!) and plenty of catching up with people we haven't seen in awhile. It was great!
On the 5th, a group of about 10 of us decided to take a 20 mile bike ride to go to see waterfalls... the trip was breathtaking! We rode our bikes through the jungle, then hiked for about 2 hours to the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen (it was a national geographic moment, for sure!) The hike was beautiful, we saw monkeys in the distance (apparently, in this part of Senegal, the monkeys are known to make poisonous arrows!!) and we swam in the waterfall. That night, we all stayed in a campement (grass huts that could easily get blown over from the wind) that was close to the waterfalls. It was lovely... we sat outside and talked under the stars, with noises from the jungle in the background (we were told to put our bikes in the huts with us, because there are apparently bandits from Guinea that roam that part of senegal at night!!). The next morning, about half of us decided to head back to Kedegou at 5:00am (the sun doesn't rise until about 6:30am), so we were trying to bike on extremely bumpy roads in the dark (only one of us had a headlamp, the others were trying to bike while holding on to flashlights, or with no light at all... i personally had my flashlight in my mouth while i was trying to avoid all the bumps and pot holes and large puddles. I think i ended up wiping out on my bike twice on my way back to Kedegou!).
Once we got back to Kedegou, we had to leave to go back up north almost immediately. The roads from Kedegou (where i was), to Kaolack (my regional house, where i had to go) are HORRIBLE!!! It took about 15 hours to go approximately 300 miles!!! It was one of the worst road trips ever. Our driver kept stopping on the way to talk to his friends, and we also had to stop to get food, and for him to pray at sunset.
But I made it back to Kaolack in one piece, and I think that I'm refreshed and ready to return to my site and start working again!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
So, today was the big day for me to bike from Sokone to Kaolack... it was POURING rain this morning when I woke up, but i decided to give it a try anyways. I put my HUGE backpack on (i'm guessing that it weighed over 20lbs) and put my raincoat over that to keep the contents somewhat dry. I probably made it only 3/4 of the way to Kaolack before some guy offered to give me a ride in his truck the rest of the way... I was DYING by that time!!! After the pouring rain, the horrible roads were covered in mud, and i was soaked to the bone. At one point, i pulled over to the side of the road, and (making sure no one was around), took off my pants and underwear and put on a somewhat dry pair of shorts that I had in my backpack. But by the time the nice man offered me a ride in his truck, my pasty pale legs were covered in mud (the cars that drove past me must have found it fun to drive as close to me as they could and to splash brownish/red/stinky water all over me)... but he still let me in his truck!! Senegalese hospitality at it's finest! If I didn't have such a heavy backpack on, and if I wasn't soaked to the bone from the rain, i think i could have made it the whole 30 miles....
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Today was one of my better days in Senegal… it’s funny, keeping a blog like this is making me realize even more that my life here is an emotional roller-coaster! I woke up feeling somewhat down, so I went for a 5 mile run… exercise always seems to perk me up. I go jogging almost always on a dirt road behind my house… it’s quite pretty, but it’s the “bush” so there isn’t much there besides mango and cashew trees, some random fields, and a few small villages (the villages are awesome to see in the early morning!!! Some are off in the distance, and all I see are little huts and a few smoke stacks shooting up into the air…but it’s quite beautiful, a real “Africa moment” if I could say so myself). Upon returning into Sokone, I bought a loaf of village bread (so yummy and doughy, compared to the “factory” bread, which is somewhat like what is found in the states), and I went back into my ‘apartment’ and made myself the best scrambled eggs with tomatoes and basil (fresh from my garden!!), and I put it on the bread, with a little Laughing Cow cheese spread. Yummy! And for a drink, I made myself a nice cup of Earl Grey tea. Afterwards, I took a bucket bath and then headed to the Catholic Church in my neighborhood. I don’t really understand much that goes on in church, they speak a mixture of French and Wolof, but I try to go every Sunday if I remember. My family likes that I go; I get the impression that the 2 previous volunteers that lived here never attended church. Church here is SO beautiful! Instead of an organ or piano, there is a beautiful chorus and they play the African drums…
Then later in the afternoon, my friend Liam (another PCV, who happens to be from New York State as well) came over for lunch. He brought tea and a small bag of sugar with him as a gift for my family, and my sister’s husband, another Senegalese man, Liam and I relaxed in my room and drank 3 rounds of tea (this is a traditional amount). Then Liam went back to his village, and I went for a little walk and chatted with some of the people that live in Sokone… around 6pm, the sun began to cast it’s beautiful setting rays on the freshly rained on palm trees, and the sky was a dark, deep gray (from rain clouds)… it was such a beautiful contrast… I think it was the first time that I realized exactly how beautiful Sokone is. Upon returning home, there was the brightest rainbow I think I have ever seen in my life… Africa……is…. Amazing.
Then, before dinner, me and the men in my house (I don’t think the women are very much interested), watched the final soccer match of the European Cup - it was Germany against Spain, and Spain won (I haphazardly chose Spain as “my team” after France became disqualified). It was a lovely day indeed.
So, in about 2 days I will begin my trip down south to Kedegou…and I’m super excited about going! I think I’m going to start out the trip with a bike ride to my regional house (we have to take bikes to Kedegou; there is really no other option for transportation once we get there). And seeing that the trip will take 12 hours, I think a little exercise beforehand will do me some good. To go from Sokone to my regional house (which is in Kaolack), I will have to bike 47 Kilometers (give or take), which amounts to about 30 miles!!) I’ve never taken such a trip on my bike, let alone by myself; but people before me have done it, so I know it is doable. I’d love to go with other people, but everyone that lives near me has different travel plans than me. I will leave Sokone probably around 6:00am, and according to other people, it will take me a little over 3 hours to get to my regional house. Wish me luck! Once at the regional house, I will meet up with all my friends, and we will make the long journey together!
Then later in the afternoon, my friend Liam (another PCV, who happens to be from New York State as well) came over for lunch. He brought tea and a small bag of sugar with him as a gift for my family, and my sister’s husband, another Senegalese man, Liam and I relaxed in my room and drank 3 rounds of tea (this is a traditional amount). Then Liam went back to his village, and I went for a little walk and chatted with some of the people that live in Sokone… around 6pm, the sun began to cast it’s beautiful setting rays on the freshly rained on palm trees, and the sky was a dark, deep gray (from rain clouds)… it was such a beautiful contrast… I think it was the first time that I realized exactly how beautiful Sokone is. Upon returning home, there was the brightest rainbow I think I have ever seen in my life… Africa……is…. Amazing.
Then, before dinner, me and the men in my house (I don’t think the women are very much interested), watched the final soccer match of the European Cup - it was Germany against Spain, and Spain won (I haphazardly chose Spain as “my team” after France became disqualified). It was a lovely day indeed.
So, in about 2 days I will begin my trip down south to Kedegou…and I’m super excited about going! I think I’m going to start out the trip with a bike ride to my regional house (we have to take bikes to Kedegou; there is really no other option for transportation once we get there). And seeing that the trip will take 12 hours, I think a little exercise beforehand will do me some good. To go from Sokone to my regional house (which is in Kaolack), I will have to bike 47 Kilometers (give or take), which amounts to about 30 miles!!) I’ve never taken such a trip on my bike, let alone by myself; but people before me have done it, so I know it is doable. I’d love to go with other people, but everyone that lives near me has different travel plans than me. I will leave Sokone probably around 6:00am, and according to other people, it will take me a little over 3 hours to get to my regional house. Wish me luck! Once at the regional house, I will meet up with all my friends, and we will make the long journey together!
Wow…I can’t believe it’s almost July already! Time sure does seem to fly here sometimes! So, yesterday was not a great day for me… it all started when I was digging a flower bed (all by myself!!!) at my demonstration garden, and I ended up hitting a water pipe, and water squirted out everywhere. Luckily, one of my gardeners was there with me (but for some reason or another he talked his way out of helping me dig the flower bed), and he knew who to contact to get the pipe repaired… . Then I went home and had to wash my clothes by hand. It is MUCH harder than I would have ever expected… My family offers to wash it for me if I pay them about $5, but I feel wrong giving them money to do my work for me… so I’m trying to do it on my own. I had help from my little sisters, but I was tired, and people who decided to come into my yard and watch the white girl try to wash clothes kept telling me that I didn’t know how to do it, that my garden wasn’t getting enough water (which I know, but I got tired of hearing how expensive water is every time I got a bucket of it from the water faucet) and that I don’t know Wolof (SO annoying when you hear it 20 times a day), so my anger was starting to build up. Then everyone decided to camp out in my ‘yard’… they actually brought a BED into my yard so my sisters husband could take a nap under the shade of my tree, and then we ate lunch in my yard (I suppose because it was really pretty from my hard work in the garden…it was the first time we ate in my yard), but this annoyed me too because they threw fish bones all over the ground, and there was rice strewn about everywhere…and the door to my yard wasn’t closed so chickens came in and started eating my garden!!! I got quite upset (I think it was a combination of the 10 people in my tiny yard, my tiredness from dealing with the busted water pipe and the discouraging comments directed at me), so my attitude showed itself a little bit… I was so annoyed; I wanted to leave Senegal for good!! LUCKILY, my good friend and one of my closest neighbors, Elizabeth, came over with her friend Caitrin…and they cheered me up with banana’s, bissap juice, cookies (we ate an entire box of Keebler Elf cookies that were sent to Elizabeth from the USA), chocolate covered coffee beans, wassabi peas, dried fruit and fruit roll-ups. We totally pigged out!!! Then I ended up spending the night at Elizabeth’s… I had a lovely bucket bath under the stars at her place (she lives in a tiny village close to Sokone…she does not have electricity or running water, and she lives in a hut. It was SO nice, I felt like I was on vacation!!! And today I felt so refreshed and much better (I ended up apologizing to my family for my poor attitude).
But today, (luckily it wasn’t yesterday!) construction workers were putting cement on the walls in my yard, and they totally RUINED my garden!! There was cement everywhere, and my plants were trampled… (I’ve been working on my garden every day for the past 3 weeks). They even cut down the beautiful tree in my yard (which I was fine with them trimming it a little bit…the branches would brush on my tin roof at night and keep me awake..) but they totally demolished the tree…it’s so ugly now. I’m just happy that I’m in good spirits today and in a positive state of mind, otherwise I probably would have been very upset. But, there was actually revenge for my messed up garden… my father ended up putting cement on the floor of the ‘porch’ of our house, and right after the construction workers left, our donkeys decided to walk around on the porch, and they ended up totally destroying the porch!! I felt bad for my family, but at the same time I had a mild satisfaction in knowing that they might be experiencing what I experienced when I saw my garden totally ruined. (Does that make me a bad person?).
After dinner I had a long conversation with my sister’s husband, and he was trying to explain to me why it’s good for men to be able to have more than one wife. He believes that men are weak, and that if they weren’t able to have more than one wife, then they would end up cheating on their wives… and because they are ‘devout’ Muslims, adultery is strictly forbidden and out of the question. Therefore, men should be able to have more than one wife so that they can continue to follow God’s laws. I am not satisfied with his answer!!! But that seems to be the rational for having multiple wives for many of the men in this country.
For the 4th of July I will be going down to a southern town in Senegal called Kedegou (also known as the ‘Gou). I can’t wait; it should be a really good time. We’re going to have a wild boar roast I think, and plenty to drink. Apparently Kedegou is really pretty with waterfalls and lots of trees. I debated going down south at first… it’s a long trip (about 12 hours) and it’s somewhat expensive. But my friends talked me into going. The 12 hour car ride is going to be an experience in-and-of itself… the road is apparently terrible, and we will be off-roading for the most part (there are pot-holes everywhere, and driving off the road is actually nicer than driving on the actual road).
But today, (luckily it wasn’t yesterday!) construction workers were putting cement on the walls in my yard, and they totally RUINED my garden!! There was cement everywhere, and my plants were trampled… (I’ve been working on my garden every day for the past 3 weeks). They even cut down the beautiful tree in my yard (which I was fine with them trimming it a little bit…the branches would brush on my tin roof at night and keep me awake..) but they totally demolished the tree…it’s so ugly now. I’m just happy that I’m in good spirits today and in a positive state of mind, otherwise I probably would have been very upset. But, there was actually revenge for my messed up garden… my father ended up putting cement on the floor of the ‘porch’ of our house, and right after the construction workers left, our donkeys decided to walk around on the porch, and they ended up totally destroying the porch!! I felt bad for my family, but at the same time I had a mild satisfaction in knowing that they might be experiencing what I experienced when I saw my garden totally ruined. (Does that make me a bad person?).
After dinner I had a long conversation with my sister’s husband, and he was trying to explain to me why it’s good for men to be able to have more than one wife. He believes that men are weak, and that if they weren’t able to have more than one wife, then they would end up cheating on their wives… and because they are ‘devout’ Muslims, adultery is strictly forbidden and out of the question. Therefore, men should be able to have more than one wife so that they can continue to follow God’s laws. I am not satisfied with his answer!!! But that seems to be the rational for having multiple wives for many of the men in this country.
For the 4th of July I will be going down to a southern town in Senegal called Kedegou (also known as the ‘Gou). I can’t wait; it should be a really good time. We’re going to have a wild boar roast I think, and plenty to drink. Apparently Kedegou is really pretty with waterfalls and lots of trees. I debated going down south at first… it’s a long trip (about 12 hours) and it’s somewhat expensive. But my friends talked me into going. The 12 hour car ride is going to be an experience in-and-of itself… the road is apparently terrible, and we will be off-roading for the most part (there are pot-holes everywhere, and driving off the road is actually nicer than driving on the actual road).
Thursday, June 26, 2008
My experience thus far as a Peace Corps volunteer has been an emotional roller coaster. One minute can be the best minute of my life, the next minute I ask myself why I ever came to this country (notice how I stress the word minute… I purposefully did not write week, day or even hour). Luckily, feeling lonely, scared, bored and misunderstood are emotions that are not new to me… and I am grateful that my experiences in India, France, NYC and even Delhi/Bovina helped me to prepare for this. Without having had such experiences in my life, I highly doubt that I would have the courage to continue with what I am doing here.
Today I went to an anniversary party for a women’s circle here in Sokone. There are about 25 women, and they meet twice a week to do projects that will increase their health, wealth and well-being. For example, they do mosquito net dipping (in an insect repellent), they make anti-mosquito lotions, sew clothes, make dolls, syrups, jams and juice. Anyways, the ‘party’ was supposed to start around 10am sharp (I was told), so I get there at 10am, and I sit and wait…and wait…and wait…. It wasn’t until about 1:00pm when the ‘party’ actually started. Typical. But still as frustrating as ever!
Tonight I had a mini-dance party with my younger sisters…it was fun (but not quite like the dance parties in the previous village that I lived in called Keur Sadaro). I love the Senegalese for the very simple reason that they will burst out in song and dance at any given moment…and WOW can they move!!! Young and old alike can move their bodies in ways that I never before imagined was possible! But what was funny about the dance party was that my two 19 year old ‘sisters’ decided to ‘go for a walk’ instead of partaking in the dance party. Normally, they dress fairly conservatively around the house, but as they were leaving to go for their walk, they ripped off their long skirts and snuck out of the house with little short skirts on and tight tops! Even in Africa, 19 year old girls are just like girls of that age in the USA.
Just the other week, I was bored one afternoon and decided to put dreadlocks in my hair! When I was doing it I thought that it looked great, so I put glue on the ends and in the middle of the strands to keep them in place… But when I woke up the next morning, I looked in the morning and realized that I am quite possibly the most ridiculous girl in the world. They looked HORRIBLE!!! I was going to leave that morning to go to a beach with some friends, but I didn’t want to leave the house looking like I did, so I asked two of my friends to take them out for me. It took a whole morning for them to do so (and some cutting of the pieces that I GLUED), and I missed my trip to the beach, but I no longer have dreads, thankfully!
As for my work here…it’s coming together slowly. I think. I go to a ‘demonstration garden’ every morning to plant new things and to water the garden. The purpose of this garden is to ‘experiment’ with different micro-gardening techniques, and in turn we will show this garden to people with the hopes that it will give them some ideas that they could try on their own. I actually find the gardening aspect quite interesting… I like working there… but the two men that I work with go there from 8:30am and they leave at about 10:00am! They themselves are somewhat volunteer workers there, so they don’t put a ton of work into it, they have other priorities. So sometimes I am there working by myself… but in cases like that I bring my ipod, and the music keeps me company (and so do the cute little girls that live next to the garden and call my name and stare at me all morning). There are other aspects that my work will entail in the future, but for right now I am merely getting to know the people of Sokone and the language, and I am even learning how to garden (something I honestly didn’t know much about before I came here!!). In August I will go back to the training center in Thies for 3 weeks of further training, and after that I assume that my real work will begin. I’ll delve into that a little later when I myself have a firmer grasp on what I will be doing.
I even started planting a garden outside of my ‘apartment’, and I am super excited about it!!! It’s going to be really pretty!! I have flowers, okra, hot peppers, green beans, a pumpkin, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and a banana tree! (The okra and hot peppers are used often in Senegalese cooking). Sometimes I have a problem with chickens and our sheep (named Matilda), they like to come into my fenced-in area and eat what I’ve worked on. And my two year old host brother likes to pick my flowers and hit my plants with a shovel until they are beyond redemption. But my brother is so cute that I can’t get upset with him.
Today I went to an anniversary party for a women’s circle here in Sokone. There are about 25 women, and they meet twice a week to do projects that will increase their health, wealth and well-being. For example, they do mosquito net dipping (in an insect repellent), they make anti-mosquito lotions, sew clothes, make dolls, syrups, jams and juice. Anyways, the ‘party’ was supposed to start around 10am sharp (I was told), so I get there at 10am, and I sit and wait…and wait…and wait…. It wasn’t until about 1:00pm when the ‘party’ actually started. Typical. But still as frustrating as ever!
Tonight I had a mini-dance party with my younger sisters…it was fun (but not quite like the dance parties in the previous village that I lived in called Keur Sadaro). I love the Senegalese for the very simple reason that they will burst out in song and dance at any given moment…and WOW can they move!!! Young and old alike can move their bodies in ways that I never before imagined was possible! But what was funny about the dance party was that my two 19 year old ‘sisters’ decided to ‘go for a walk’ instead of partaking in the dance party. Normally, they dress fairly conservatively around the house, but as they were leaving to go for their walk, they ripped off their long skirts and snuck out of the house with little short skirts on and tight tops! Even in Africa, 19 year old girls are just like girls of that age in the USA.
Just the other week, I was bored one afternoon and decided to put dreadlocks in my hair! When I was doing it I thought that it looked great, so I put glue on the ends and in the middle of the strands to keep them in place… But when I woke up the next morning, I looked in the morning and realized that I am quite possibly the most ridiculous girl in the world. They looked HORRIBLE!!! I was going to leave that morning to go to a beach with some friends, but I didn’t want to leave the house looking like I did, so I asked two of my friends to take them out for me. It took a whole morning for them to do so (and some cutting of the pieces that I GLUED), and I missed my trip to the beach, but I no longer have dreads, thankfully!
As for my work here…it’s coming together slowly. I think. I go to a ‘demonstration garden’ every morning to plant new things and to water the garden. The purpose of this garden is to ‘experiment’ with different micro-gardening techniques, and in turn we will show this garden to people with the hopes that it will give them some ideas that they could try on their own. I actually find the gardening aspect quite interesting… I like working there… but the two men that I work with go there from 8:30am and they leave at about 10:00am! They themselves are somewhat volunteer workers there, so they don’t put a ton of work into it, they have other priorities. So sometimes I am there working by myself… but in cases like that I bring my ipod, and the music keeps me company (and so do the cute little girls that live next to the garden and call my name and stare at me all morning). There are other aspects that my work will entail in the future, but for right now I am merely getting to know the people of Sokone and the language, and I am even learning how to garden (something I honestly didn’t know much about before I came here!!). In August I will go back to the training center in Thies for 3 weeks of further training, and after that I assume that my real work will begin. I’ll delve into that a little later when I myself have a firmer grasp on what I will be doing.
I even started planting a garden outside of my ‘apartment’, and I am super excited about it!!! It’s going to be really pretty!! I have flowers, okra, hot peppers, green beans, a pumpkin, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and a banana tree! (The okra and hot peppers are used often in Senegalese cooking). Sometimes I have a problem with chickens and our sheep (named Matilda), they like to come into my fenced-in area and eat what I’ve worked on. And my two year old host brother likes to pick my flowers and hit my plants with a shovel until they are beyond redemption. But my brother is so cute that I can’t get upset with him.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Just the other day I went to visit the "city" that I'm going to be living in for the next 2 years, and it is SOOO nice! i'm super excited to move there!!! The village is called Sokone, and it's about 35K north of The Gambia... There are about 17,000 people in sokone, so it's not overwhelming at all. There are donkeys and pigs within sight at all time in sokone, and there are some really lovely mangroves and a beautiful delta (we went swimming in it almost every day... which was AMAZING considering that it was about 120 degrees!!!) Seriously, after our 10 days just spent in sokone, i can totally understand why things are hard to get accomplished in Senegal- it is simply WAY too hot!!! From 12-5 at least, the only thing that you can do is sit outside under a tree (it's super stuffy inside the rooms- and the shade of the tree actually does make a MAJOR difference in how you feel).
The volunteer that I am taking over for in sokone has a really lovely garden, and I'm super excited to get involved there....one of the gardener's that I will be working with has an absolutely beautiful smile that lights up the room... i'm really excited to work with him... his name is Sabaly, and apparently he is well respected in Sokone.
I am actually going to be having my own apartment in Sokone, it's detached from the family's house, but only by about 10 feet, so it's semi- private. I have my own bedroom, living room/kithchen and bathroom (but apparently the bathroom is prone to get huge cockroaches at night- yikes!) My apartment has electricity, but no running water, so i have to get water from the faucet outside of my house, and i'll be taking bucket baths every day (I'm lucky that I don't have to pull water from the well!!!)
The volunteer that I am taking over for in sokone has a really lovely garden, and I'm super excited to get involved there....one of the gardener's that I will be working with has an absolutely beautiful smile that lights up the room... i'm really excited to work with him... his name is Sabaly, and apparently he is well respected in Sokone.
I am actually going to be having my own apartment in Sokone, it's detached from the family's house, but only by about 10 feet, so it's semi- private. I have my own bedroom, living room/kithchen and bathroom (but apparently the bathroom is prone to get huge cockroaches at night- yikes!) My apartment has electricity, but no running water, so i have to get water from the faucet outside of my house, and i'll be taking bucket baths every day (I'm lucky that I don't have to pull water from the well!!!)
Friday, April 4, 2008
This is a bunch of my fellow PCV's waiting outside of a Cyber cafe in Thies....
This is the first group of kids that we hung out with in Thies, they call themselves "G-Unit" (everyone in senegal loves G-Unit and Akon....)
This is my bedroom!!! the color is actually quite nice, and i get a really nice breeze through the window (however, at night I must shut the window, and my room is USUALLY about 95 degrees...HOT)
This is the first group of kids that we hung out with in Thies, they call themselves "G-Unit" (everyone in senegal loves G-Unit and Akon....)
This is my bedroom!!! the color is actually quite nice, and i get a really nice breeze through the window (however, at night I must shut the window, and my room is USUALLY about 95 degrees...HOT)
This was our first "night on the town"....there were a LOT more people out with us....but this is the only photo I took all night....we had REAL food and some nice cool beer
Sunday, March 16, 2008
I arrived safely in Thies after about 34 hours of travel... and so far i love it! All of the volunteers with me are wonderful! They are all so nice and sweet and open minded. We've been having a lot of training so far... i've taken a few Wolof language classes, and we had some cultural classes where I had to carry a bucket of water on my head, taste some different food and drinks, learn about religion, and different ways to dress. There was also a "Tam Tam", where a fews senegalese played the drumbs in our training center, and we all danced around in a huge circle... it was SO much fun!!! I received a pretty cool mountain bike, and today I learned how to take care of it, and how to fix it.
It's pretty hot here so far, and this is the end of the cool season, so I don't even want to imagine what the middle of the hot season will be like!
I haven't yet learned where I will be staying for the main part of the two years, but it will more than likely be in an urban area. At first I was REALLY nervous about this, because traveling from Dakar (the capital) to Thies, the scenery of the urban areas can be quite intimidating. However, after walking around in Thies yesterday (the 2nd or 3rd largest city in Senegal), urban areas seem a lot more managable.
There are 6 other people within my group of volunteers that are doing Urban Agriculture with me... 2 girls and 4 boys. The program sounds super interesting, however, we haven't had any training with that as of yet.
I am SO happy that I brought a water bottle with me, and my Teva sandals, because without either, I would be lost. I probably didn't need to bring as many clothes as I brought, and I probably should have brought some index cards (to study the langauge) and maybe a sturdy bag to carry my daily things around (i have a cheap cloth bag that works, but it'll probably get worn out soon). I'm also pretty happy that I brought all the candy and gum that I brought, because it is so dusty here, and the candy and gum help to keep my mouth feeling somewhat clean.
I can't believe that I've only been here for a couple of days, it feels like it's been 6 months already... on our first real day in senegal I was telling a fellow volunteer how I enjoyed our language class the day before, and she looked at me weird and said "that class was this morning, we flew in last night!" So thus far, keeping track of time has not been too easy.
Anyways, I am done for now... please keep in touch and write letters!
It's pretty hot here so far, and this is the end of the cool season, so I don't even want to imagine what the middle of the hot season will be like!
I haven't yet learned where I will be staying for the main part of the two years, but it will more than likely be in an urban area. At first I was REALLY nervous about this, because traveling from Dakar (the capital) to Thies, the scenery of the urban areas can be quite intimidating. However, after walking around in Thies yesterday (the 2nd or 3rd largest city in Senegal), urban areas seem a lot more managable.
There are 6 other people within my group of volunteers that are doing Urban Agriculture with me... 2 girls and 4 boys. The program sounds super interesting, however, we haven't had any training with that as of yet.
I am SO happy that I brought a water bottle with me, and my Teva sandals, because without either, I would be lost. I probably didn't need to bring as many clothes as I brought, and I probably should have brought some index cards (to study the langauge) and maybe a sturdy bag to carry my daily things around (i have a cheap cloth bag that works, but it'll probably get worn out soon). I'm also pretty happy that I brought all the candy and gum that I brought, because it is so dusty here, and the candy and gum help to keep my mouth feeling somewhat clean.
I can't believe that I've only been here for a couple of days, it feels like it's been 6 months already... on our first real day in senegal I was telling a fellow volunteer how I enjoyed our language class the day before, and she looked at me weird and said "that class was this morning, we flew in last night!" So thus far, keeping track of time has not been too easy.
Anyways, I am done for now... please keep in touch and write letters!
Friday, March 7, 2008
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
5 more nights in New York
I had a wonderful going away party on Saturday...and I really had a great time! Some of my friends from NYC came to visit and stay the weekend...which was really sweet (Coming from NYC to Delhi can be quite the culture shock). But most of my family came, and some other friends from Delhi/Albany etc... It was nice.
However, my older sister was the one who had the idea of throwing me the party, and unfortunately she got sick and could not make it!!! But her father in law made the most gorgeous (and delicious) cake. I think i ate half of it all by myself. Seriously. ha.
We had TONS of food at the party...I had to give a ton of it away, because all i did was stuff my face with leftovers yesterday. And I also received a lot of really nice gifts that will help me out while I'm overseas (i think i have maybe a 6 year supply of everything).
Anyways, 5 more nights with my family and boyfriend and friends...and then i'm off on my own for 27 months....YIKES. I can't believe this is happening already!!! Time seemed to stand still not too long ago, and now it's flying so fast!
However, my older sister was the one who had the idea of throwing me the party, and unfortunately she got sick and could not make it!!! But her father in law made the most gorgeous (and delicious) cake. I think i ate half of it all by myself. Seriously. ha.
We had TONS of food at the party...I had to give a ton of it away, because all i did was stuff my face with leftovers yesterday. And I also received a lot of really nice gifts that will help me out while I'm overseas (i think i have maybe a 6 year supply of everything).
Anyways, 5 more nights with my family and boyfriend and friends...and then i'm off on my own for 27 months....YIKES. I can't believe this is happening already!!! Time seemed to stand still not too long ago, and now it's flying so fast!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
My assignment
Program: Agriculture & Forestry Extension
Job title: Sustainable Agriculture Extension Agent
Job title: Sustainable Agriculture Extension Agent
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