My First Formation
After IST I jumped right into getting my fruit tree project started. It took 3 days to visit every compound in the village, surveying what types of trees people already have and what types they want. (There are a total of 64 compounds in Ndioudiene.) The next step was to gather sand and manure for tree sacks. Omar and I dug through the village trash/poop pile for manure and sent his kids out into the bush for sand. His women's group came to help fill the sacks. We got over 500 done in less than an hour! It was my first organized event, and I bought everyone juice and tea as refreshments. (Tea is the key to getting people to love you and integrating into Senegalese culture. I wouldn't think of holding a meeting without it.) Later this month I'll be getting lemon, papaya, and guava seeds from Peace Corps and I'm working on saving up cashew and mango seeds. With any luck, every family will end up with several trees that will provide shade and fruit for years to come. |
| A recipe for fruit trees |
Seeing with New Eyes
For 5 days an American student studying abroad for a semester came and stayed with me in my village. At first I was nervous, as other volunteers have told horror stories of students not being able to handle life in rural Africa and being embarrassed by them and generally miserable. At this point, things had slowed down for me (there's only so many times you can check to see if your trees grew another millimeter) and I was beginning to get fed up with life my village. Then my student, let's call her Diara, came. Despite my less-than-perfect African family and tiny village with nothing in it, Diara was positive and enthusiastic the whole time. She was actually sick of life in Dakar and wanted to get away from all the hustle-and-bustle and the harassment that goes with being white in Senegal. She got excited about things I'd stopped noticing months ago. My counterpart's field was beautiful. My grass roof kept my room cool. The food had less oil in it. The sunset over the baobab trees is spectacular every single night. I realize again how I'm so lucky to get to spend 2 years of my life here in this place doing this work.
After college Diara wants to become a PCV. There is no doubt in my mind she will get into Peace Corps and do amazing things with her service. All the best and bonne chance Diara!
The Nioro Health Fair
April 2nd was the 1st (hopefully annual) Nioro health fair and 5k, located in the lovely Nioro du Rip 37 miles southwest of Kaolack. The day started out with a "5k"- more like a 3k. Everything about the race was so.... Senegalese. It started half an hour late, most of the runners were barefoot 6ish year olds, the boys cut the course, etc, etc. However, all of this is irrelevant because the race was a great success. The whole community stopped what they were doing to cheer us on. The kids were up and moving. Best of all, a significant number of high school girls participated!
After the race PCVs, NGOs, and local artisans set up booths on different health topics ranging from correct condom use to hand washing. Another volunteer and I presented on the importance of eating eggs and drinking milk. This topic sounds oddly specific, but if you saw all the cows and chickens around that aren't used to their potential you'd understand. Our poster design may have been a bit creepy, but our booth was very popular. Plus, the little boy will grow up to be strong and handsome because he drank milk and ate an egg a day. If fact, I bet he'll have 4 wives! |
| Group stretching |
