And it begins

My life as a "real" volunteer has finally started. After a month of intensive training in all things agriculture and 5 months of language I have (most) of the skills needed to get some work done. In my first week back at site, I've gone from compound to compound interviewing people about what types of fruit trees they have and what types they would like. In the near future, one of the women's groups and I will fill and seed about 500 tree sacks. I've ordered guava, papaya, mango, and lemon seeds from Peace Corps and I have some jujube and tamarind seeds of my own. If people want their trees, they'll have to come to a training session on protecting the trees, amending the soil, and watering. I'm not filling 500 sacks just to have everything die. The selfish side of this project is I want to make my village prettier. Right now it looks like the end of the world. See below:

Gross

See what I mean?

In other news, the hot season has officially started. It's 106F in Kaffrine now and it's supposed to climb to 113F later this week.The other night I could not fall asleep. The night started with me in a pool.. of sweat. The foam pad I sleep on was actually wet. From there I moved my sleeping bag outside and lay on top of it. The bugs soon drove me inside to the floor of my hut. Eventually I moved back into bed, but opened both my windows and prayed no one would get the urge to check out a sleeping toubab. It's hard to believe it'll just keep getting warmer from here on out.

Back to projects, I hope to work with PEPAM, a Senegalese government organization to get latrines installed in my village. Unfortunately, when I last spoke with their representative everyone who wants one has to pay 15 mil... and I'd have to handle all the money. And our meeting consisted of them sitting in their car and me standing on the side of the road. Sketchy!

Other things coming up are hosting a university student for a week and presenting on the nutritional value of eggs and milk at the Nioro health fair.