Africa Cup of Nations

Lately has been quite exciting with the soccer tournament going on (I get nightly updates on the BBC). Unfortunately, Senegal has already been booted from qualifying rounds. However, the fact that there are so many soccer games being played, and there is a single television in village, it can be a big event. Let me elaborate. I was sitting in my compound with my host father after drinking tea with a few of his friends when they invited me to go a few compounds over to watch a soccer game. I agree and meander over. I am given a plastic chair under the shade structure and watch as a television is pulled out from a hut and placed on a table. A cable box is then brought out as well, and wires are connected. A mat is hung behind the set up to block out some of the sun. A plastic jug of gas appears and three, single, liter bottles are filled through a small tube (after three people suck on the tube to get the “gas flowing,”) and little boys leave, and then I hear a generator start up in the distance. At the start of the game, there are about twenty people watching (myself, the only female). However, by the end of the game there are upwards of thirty, a few more women who have completed their cooking. The television is turned off for an hour until the next game starts. At the end of this game, there were easily nearly fifty people watching. I walk back in the dark following my host dad to have a late dinner. Every day now, I am invited to go watch the “tele.”

A day at site before IST

So what do I typically do during the day? Before I explain, let me accentuate the point that life is much slower here, especially in village, and particularly since harvest season is over (when I installed, much of the day was spent going to the fields whereas now, well, continue reading).

Lately, I have been waking up in the morning between 7-8am to the sound of chickens or the pounding of corn. I drink water, eat a cliff bar, and go on a run. When I get back, I go to the hand pump to get water, water my garden, turn on the BBC morning news on my radio, take a shower (well, bucket bath), and then I have breakfast delivered to my room (a rice or corn porridge). The past couple months since it’s been cold, my host dad has been making “kin-kili-ba,” a sugary, natural tea. The next part of the morning, I will either sit out in my compound with my family or across the way at my counterpart’s, study, or walk around the village (greeting people, noticing changes, checking in on gardens, etc). Recently, I have gone to Pular school a couple times since several adults are attending either Pular or Arabic school up to four times a week. It is really interesting to see people who know how to speak a language learn how to read and write it. I eat lunch with my host mom and siblings (typically rice, or corn couscous, with either a sauce or just hot pepper). The afternoon is quite hot and the family sits around chatting and drinking tea, and I often participate or read. Once it cools down, I go to the hand pump again to get water, shower, water my garden, and then listen to the BBC, talk with my family and neighbors, and occasionally attempt to help make dinner, although I generally end up sitting on the side, watching . When it gets dark, I light a few candles in my room and listen to the BBC evening news and wait until dinner is finished and my host mom brings in the bowl (same option as lunch) and my two younger sisters come in and we eat. Afterwards, I will either sit out and talk for a bit, or get ready for bed.

Walk to the hand pump for water

Arabic school classroom & building

There are atypical instances where my morning or afternoon is spent interviewing, going to the river to do laundry (or watch it be done), going to the fields to get cell phone service, collecting seeds, or walking around collecting batteries off of the ground.

A big day is Tuesday, or at least, I make it an important day. It is the day of the weekly market that is held just 5km away from me, in the town of Salemata, where also two other volunteers are stationed, and the other two nearby volunteers frequently come if they are at site. After my morning routine and finishing lunch, I bike the back trail to the main road and then to Salemata. I greet a store owner, Tijan and leave my bike in front of his shop, knowing I will come back to buy tea, sugar, and candles from him when I am ready to leave. I normally make a round to see what is being sold, see if my host father is there selling batteries and flip flops, and to say hello to people and see if I run into any other volunteers. If there is a “fuk e jiy,” (used clothing piles) I normally stop and take a peak, and then go off to get vegetables and seasonings for my family. On my bike ride back, I stop across the street from the secondary school to sit in the shade of a tree and make phone calls and take advantage of the fact that I have cell phone service.

Bouldering!

So I have had my eye on a set of boulders right off the road in between Kedougou and my village since I first went out to my site. However, it is probably 50km away from me. Not exactly convenient to go to (although I still need to scope out the area more extensively around me; my ancien thinks there could be boulders near Etchilo). However, I was biking back from village towards Kedougou, and a Peace Corps car was going out to do a site visit for potential new site and was going to come back to Kedougou. Therefore, I was going to have a ride back if I was feeling tired after biking and climbing! When I got to the boulders, I stopped and climbed until my fingertips felt just a bit raw against the hot rock that had been baking in the upper 90 degree heat. It was wonderful! It surprised me how much I missed it and how comfortable I felt. I definitely could have biked back by the time the car passed, but considering the last bit is quite uphill, I was fine to sit in the shade and listen to This American Life, greeting the few people that passed by, confused by the white girl sitting on the road.

Tailors

I wouldn't really think to go to a tailor in the United States since I am more than happy to go shopping. However, here in Senegal, as I learned while getting an outfit for Tabaski, it is essential to have a good relationship with a tailor; if you know them, they do a good job, they can prioritize your item if you happen to need it quickly, can do minor adjustments for free, and you pay a proper price. When I first arrived in Kedougou, I was disappointed when I asked who volunteers normally went to, and they didn't have a suggestion. Granted, Kedougou is small, but I figured there must be someone who is reliable. I have gotten things made in country, but often in other places (while traveling) via the suggestion of other volunteers. Kolda has a particular person they always go to, as well as Kaolack. So, I am happy to say, that I have gotten two skirts made, and intend to get a purse next time I am back in town. Simple requests so far, but I believe I have found my tailor and hope he continues to do a good job so I can suggest other people to use him!

SeneGAD, All Vol, WAIST & Prom

SeneGAD is a sector of PC Senegal that focuses on gender and development. The day before the all volunteer conference (where Peace Corps volunteers across Senegal, Mali, and Cape Verde come to share best practices) focused solely on SeneGAD activities. Unfortunately, I was ill and spent the day in bed. However, the following days I was able to attend presentations on school gardens, medicinal plants, the importance of developing integrated trainings, moringa, and went to a panel on diversity. During this time there were also SeneGAD elections where I was able to vote for new officers (country coordinator activities, fundraising, and communication) since I am now a regional representative for Kedougou (which entails coming to Thies more often to attend meetings).

As soon as "all-vol" ended, I took a PC bus to the offices in Dakar and headed to a nearby cafe with Ash (my homestay room mate and girl from my "stage") to enjoy mango sorbet (the only place I have found so far in this country )! We were placed with the new country director of USAID and his wife in the Almadies neighborhood. We went to the house where we were welcomed into the guest wing with our own bedrooms and bathrooms. It was wonderful, although a touch of western life too soon! They had just gotten back from America and had the kitchen stocked with American products-- we even had lamb from Costco one night. The house is across the street from a private beach on the Atlantic Ocean with gated houses on either side, one of which is owned by the presidental nominee and famous Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour. It was great.

W.A.I.S.T. is an acronym for West Africa Invitational Softball Tournament. The weekend was filled with softball games during the day (where I soley watched in my leg warmers and knock-off Oakland jersey since I continue to have a fear of getting hit in the head with the ball, or just hit in general) and a few organized parties in the evenings, the first of which was Prom. The dance was held at the Marine's house and two gentlemen from each region were auctioned off along with a dinner certificate to raise money SeneGAD. I got to wear my great 90's themed dress I had made while I was in Kolda for Christmas (bright, gaudy, floral print, sweetheart top, with a large bow at the waistline). The following night, volunteers rented out the Oceanium and had a dance there as well.

I, along with a dozen other volunteers from Kedougou, took the overnight bus on Tuesday from Dakar and arrived back in our region just after 9 the next morning (I have been wondering why my back was sore, and I realized it was from the terribly uncomfortable attempt at sleeping during this ride). I intended to go back to site although had a miscommunication with other volunteers going towards my area and ended up not getting a seat in a car, and also had to repair my bike and it was too hot and late in the day to bike (if I wanted to make it before sunset). However, I made the best of the little daylight I had left, went to the tailor to drop off material for a skirt, got some "bohei radi," essentially a baobob fruit popsicle in a plastic bag, and watched movies into the evening. The following day I worked on my presentations for my upcoming "in-service training," (IST) had some internet time, and did a Jillian Mitchell workout. Nevertheless, I am anxious to get back to site to see my village! I am really looking forward to it as well since my language teacher from pre-service training, Pape, came down with my assistance program director, Djitte, and volunteer assistant, Ariana. It will be great to have my counterpart, Amadou, meet them, and have villagers see them to further legitimize my presence in village. Furthermore, I am interested to see where our new volunteer, Ashleigh (evacuated from Cameroon, and also a volunteer's long term girlfriend), will be placed because she will now be my closest neighbor!

New Years

A whirlwind of plans and unexpected events led Brent and I to Dakar to spend New Years. We managed to get a ride from Kolda to Tamba in a Peace Corps car (since an regional director, Pape unexpectedly stopped by), and took an uncomfortable overnight bus to the city the very same day. Dakar is alright (I have not spent much time there and certainly do not know the ins and outs of the city) although you must take taxis to get around, and since the Senegalese decided to stage a transportation strike due to increasing gas prices Jan 2-4, it made it difficult to do anything and I literally felt trapped. Fortunately, a fuk e jiy (used clothing market) was within walking distance and I found my "costume" for WAIST (West African Invitational Softball Tournament, following the Senegal Gender and Development and West Africa all volunteer conferences January 11-13), an Athletics jersey for TambaGou's "baseball" theme, along a few other things. We stayed at the regional house in the city, Liberte 6, and were in the company of many other volunteers while there. The day before we met up at a friend's apartment to make dinner (preceded by appetizers), which reminded me how much I like to cook and entertain! It was really low key but pleasant.

For New Years we were invited to house hop expat's homes with some volunteers and Marines before we all ended up at a field by the water to light off fireworks. The house hopping was really fun (it was really interesting to see the living standards of expats e.g. American lifestyle and amenities despite being in Senegal), as each house had a theme (Mexican, Mardi Gras, Italian, and the last was supposed to be "Frat," but they decided not to do it). We gathered more people at each stop and were transported by two Alhums. Fireworks were impressive but when people left to go out, we just went back home. We resided in Dakar until we were able to travel and headed down to Koalack to go to Brent's site for a couple days since by the time I would make it to Kedougou, I would have to come right back up for conferences.

In order to get to his site, once we arrived in Koalack, we went to the garage to wait for a mini bus to Guinguineo to fill up. At the garage, we ran into Caitlin, from our stage, which was really nice because I was supposed to see her over New Years but due to changing plans, didn't. Once in Guinguineo, we took a seret, cart pulled by either three donkeys or a horse, for another half an hour to his village. It was really nice being back in a village, but frustrating because we didn't share the same language (although there were the few people who knew Pular greetings which were nice and familiar). We walked out to the Master Farm one day, but other than that, just spent a lot of time with his family and greeting people. I forgot how much I like being up north for the "cheb yu gin" (fish, rice, carrot, cabbage, potato, and bitter tomato dish); it is so much more filling than my lunches down in Kedougou (either rice or corn couscous with some type of sauce, typically peanut or okra). Once back in Koalack, I went to the tailor to get alterations on a dress I had made for "Prom" being held during WAIST (quite 90's, and rather fabulous). Details soon to come!