The Great Ant Massacre

For the past month or so there's been a marked increase in the ant population in my hut. They especially enjoy living under and on my spice shelf and under and in my food trunk. Lately they nestle their larvae amongst my packets of ramen and tea.

The other night I heard something rustling in my "kitchen corner." I got up to check it out, assuming it was something like a cricket or a lizard. It was a huge swarm of tiny ants all over the floor and in my shelves. I cringed inside but went back to reading, ignoring the problem in true Senegalese fashion. (I'm so integrated!!)

Later I got up to make tea, as I often do when I'm bored. While waiting for the water to boil the little turds kept swarming up my legs. Then I had a brilliant idea:

Operation F Off:
Enemy: Ants
Allies: Spiders
Weapons-of-choice: Boiling water, woodash

I grabbed my kettle of boiling water and ambushed the ants under the trunk. I pushed the trunk aside and drenched parents and larvae alike in scalding water. My heart softened and my resolve faltered when I watched survivors struggling to pull their mangled offspring to safety under the cement floor. Moments later their pathetic little lives came to an end under my flipflop.

The trunk ants were in retreat. I launched a counter attack on the shelf ants. I water bombed the base of the base of the shelves, forcing the ants to crawl up into the spider webs. (The spiders and I had struck an uneasy truce.) In a final stand I used my knowledge as an agriculture PCV and threw a layer of woodash over everything. Ants have soft bodies, and wood ash has microscopic jagged edges so in theory ants can't walk across it. I question this as they still manage to get seeds out of my veggie pepenieres.

I sighed and retired to my bed, satisfied that the enemy had been subdued at least for the night. The has been but one small battle in a never ending war that I can't win.

MTV cribs: Special Edition Africa

Welcome to the heart of Senegal. This is my crib. As you can see it's built in the traditional African bush style with exquisite attention to detail, including such features as mud bricks and thatched roof. The home was built in 2007, custom made specifically for PCVs! Since the hut is 7 years old, it has some character not found in more recent, bland constructions including disintegrating floors, fossilized bug nests, and rotting wood. C'mon, let's go inside!

Here we have the kitchen/garage area. Not everyone would think of combining these two rooms because they really don't go together. Note the state-of-the-art gas range on the left. An innovation in minimalist design, it has only one setting: cremate.







Separate from the kitchen/garage is the zero-energy bio refrigerator. It only stores water and as a bonus feature creates a perfect habitat for earwig breeding, another environmental bonus as earwigs are probably good for something in the complex ecosystem of life.








On to the study, where the arduous work of being a sustainable agriculture agent takes place. I spend hours at the vintage-shabby desk. Mostly eating, sometimes reading and working. This photo was taken before the wood warped and cracked from setting hot pans on it all the time. On the wall is my contemporary African art collection. I only have one piece so far, a horse-gazelle that I haggled down from $20 to $4 in Thies. Atop the concrete floor is a cozy plastic mat, a feature of every self-respecting Senegalese's hut since it can also be used as a bed and for praying.

























Next is the bedroom. The hut came furnished with a king size stick bed. Probably inexpertly made by my host dad so he could charge my ancienne an exorbitant price for it. Watch out for stray pieces of wire when you climb in! The wicker armoire was left for me by the previous volunteer but my "dad" took it and sold it back to me. He's such a charmer. Mice love making their nests in my clothes. No more need to pay extra for distressed jeans. I have my own little factory right here.

This is my yard. When I moved in there was NOTHING here. Just dirt. Now it's a beautiful, lush oasis of calm in a crazy Wolof village. My plants include potted basil but the back door, 3 chaia trees for making leaf sauce, a red bird of paradise flower, cassava, papaya and banana trees, and an experimental moringa intensive bed. Velvet beans are climbing up the side of the latrine, my attempt to make a shade structure so I don't get sunburnt while taking long poops.

Advice for New Stages

Just some tidbits based on my 10 months as a PCV:)

Packing

People say not to worry about packing. This is true. However, if you want to obsess about it like I did because I had nothing else better to do, that’s ok too. Below is a list of things not to worry about bringing and some essentials.

No Stress

Clothing- I spent a lot of time trying to find cute, culturally appropriate clothing. Don’t bother! What’s appropriate and not appropriate varies greatly by region.  In the North your shoulders may have to be covered while in the South women’s breasts are falling out of their dresses. Also, cheap clothing can be found here. Wherever there’s a market there’s usually a fukki-jai (second-hand clothing stalls). They sell everything from T-shirts to jeggings. Most items can be bought for less than $1. One of my favorite parts about Senegal is picking out beautiful African fabrics and having tailors make me clothes. Unfortunately, a significant portion of my monthly allowance gets spent this way, but fabric is only about $1/meter and a dress is $4-$6 to have made. Let your imagination run wild!

Host family gifts- They’re happiest with tea and sugar that’s bought here.

French dictionaries/textbooks- Do not weigh down your suitcase with a heavy college French textbook like I did. (Unless you’re an urban volunteer.) No one in my village can speak French let alone read or write. The four years of French I used to know have been completely eclipsed and erased by Wolof.

Make-up/hair products- No matter how much you care now or think you’ll care later I guarantee you won’t.

Bring!

Pocket knife

Camera- I recommend the Olympus Tough- shock proof and water proof!

Ipod and speakers

Photo album

Solar-powered flashlight

Small pruning clippers (If you’re an aggie!)

Tent with a rainfly- Sometimes there aren’t enough beds at the regional house and camping is a great way to save money on trips.

Sleeping bag

Bike pump- The ones PC gives us are crap. Be sure to bring one that works with both valve types.

Solar charger- I’ve had some issues with the JOOS Orange but their customer service department has been very supportive. They’re sending me a new one free of charge. Update: The second one doesn't work either. Don't buy this brand!

Kindle- Don’t get the Kindle Fire. It’s great if you have power but if you’ll be in the bush bring one with a better battery life.

Hiking backpack- My regular backpack is already broken.

American snacks:)

Finally, Peace Corps lets you bring two 50 lb suitcases. Use it! Better safe than sorry.

Myths

• Weight loss: So you're going to a developing country to work in agriculture. One would think you'd come home thin and tan. Think again. Rice/millet and oil are the foundation of pretty much every meal here. A gut is inevitable. However, I do have the best (farmers') tan ever.

• Safety: Heard that Africa is unsafe? Not Senegal! Our country might not be the most scenically stimulating, but I've never felt safer. I'm comfortable walking around my village and Kaffrine at night. Drinking and drug use are extremely limited and theft tends to be limited to touristy areas.

Who let the Cows Out!?

Asalam malekum and welcome back to my blog. I hope you come in peace only. 

The last couple weeks have been busy ones. Kaffrine has seen a few light drizzles, a sign of the changing seasons. My cat’s testicles have dropped. Soon the village will have another noisy delinquent running around impregnating the local harlots. Tree nurseries are sprouting and moringa beds are shooting up. I’ve been working on a grant for a small dairy operation and it finally got approved! I’m so excited- this is always what I’ve always dreamed about doing. The project will be in a small village about 18k away. Oussman and I are working in conjunction with ISRA (Institut Senegalais de Recherches Agricoles) to establish a cut-and-carry based operation. The government is providing us with a variety of bean seeds that vines vigorously for increased fodder production. We already have a fenced-off field for growing the beans and several different species of leguminous trees (pigeon pea, lucena, moringa). These will be brought to the cattle in a separate enclosure with the goal of improving herd health and increasing milk production. 

Why is this important, you ask? Despite the large numbers of cattle in Senegal, about 90% of the milk on the market is imported. Production of milk is severely limited by poor feed quality. Cattle roam the fields during the day, grazing on crop residues and shrubs.  Forage is of such a low quality that a cow can barely produce enough milk to support a family let alone provide a source of income. No one wins: the cattle are starving, crop fields and gardens are damaged, and families still have little income and poor-quality food. 

We are striving to have a positive impact on the lives of villagers in the region in many areas. One goal is to improve nutrition by providing an affordable source of milk and milk products. With the marketing of our milk, we’ll incorporate casual discussions on basic nutrition with a focus on growing children and pregnant women. In addition, I want to use this operation to extend Peace Corps supported improved field management techniques. The cattle will need to spend a portion of the year grazing the fields outside their pen for food (as is done traditionally.) This will be a great opportunity to talk to farmers about intercropping leguminous trees in their fields, leaving crop residues on top of the soil, and farmer-managed natural regeneration. Eventually I’d like to integrate management-intensive grazing techniques to rehabilitate the land, but that’s probably a couple years down the road. Finally, there’s not a whole lot of thought or management that goes into feeding livestock in Senegal. If this project is successful, the ranch will be a place for interested farmers to come to learn and ask questions about caring for and feeding their cattle in a responsible, sustainable manner. One of my roles will be to keep track of feed composition and the effect this has on milk production and calving rate as well as the expenses and income of the farm. This will allow us to quantitatively show potential dairymen/women what it takes to start a similar operation and what can be gained from it.

Now for the best part! I get to ask you for money! You can donate through the Peace Corps website at https://donate.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=13-685-018. All the money will be going towards a chain-link fence for the cattle pen. We'll be planting a live fence around it as a backup and for when the chain-link finally gives out and as another food source for the cows. If you have questions, e-mail me at maier.92@osu.edu or call me at 221.77.116.9677.

Don’t forget- Your donation is tax-deductible!!!!!

Thank you:)

My Inspiration

Fighting desertification:

 

Management-intensive Grazing:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/gsg/

Cows:

Grandma Boran's Ndambe

Chef Boran

For all you foodies out there, here's what you've been waiting for! Experience a bit of my life through your mouth. This next post is all about how to cook Senegalese ndambe, or bean sauce. The recipe comes straight from my grandma, Arame Boran so you know this is the real deal. But first, let's fulfill some of Peace Corps third objective- promoting a better understanding of host country culture to Americans! So, a story...

Every morning all over Senegal, the bean ladies rise early. They tie their babies onto their backs and head out into the street to string up curtains between trees and set up their tables and chairs. Et voila, a mini restaurant! Beans are boiled, eggs fried, Cafe Touba simmered. The first customers (PCVs) enter. What to choose? On the table are bowls full of different sandwich toppings. Should they save money, and just get the beans or also take in their daily protein requirements and have an egg? Should they just go all out and get everything including mayo and onion sauce? Yes, the latter sounds good but it'll need a sweet, milky cup of Cafe Touba to go down right. 300 cfa later, the customer is full, happy, and ready to face whatever horrors Senegal has to throw at them. A shout out to bean ladies near and far for feeding PCVs for over 50 years!! Alxumdililah.

Ndambe

Ingredients:
.5 kg cowpeas
5 onions
2 tbsp chicken bullion
2 tbsp tomato bullion
4 tbsp concentrated tomato paste
1/4 cup oil
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes

Directions:
1. Soak beans overnight (for faster cooking).
2. Cook beans with chicken and tomato bullion until soft.
3. Meanwhile, add oil and onions to a frying pan and cook until caramelized.
4. Once beans are done, mix in the onion mixture and tomato paste.
5. Add salt, pepper, red pepper, and a splash of water to taste.

Slap it on top of some fresh millet bread and you've got yourself an authentic African breakfast:)

6 Month Update

I finally got around to writing this long overdue post, but only because I'm stuck in Kaffrine waiting to leave for Dakar to get a suspicious mole removed. So there are good things about going to the med hut! A lot has happened in the past 3 months, so this post will just be a combination of all the other posts I should have written weeks ago.

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

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.

Soo Jiwul, Doo Góob.

I haven't really written about ag. work yet, but it is happening. The past 3 months I've spent filling out a baseline survey to best identify the needs of my village. I've asked a range of people (women and men, young and old) 12 pages worth of questions. It's seriously pushed my language skills to the limit, and I'm still not sure if my ideas are plausible and sustainable. Here's a page as an example:

Agroforestry Activities
What kinds of trees are found in your village?
Papaya, jujube, neem, baobab, mango

Have the villagers ever done a nursery? (Y/N) __No.______________________

           

If yes, in what year(s)                                                                                                            

Have they ever practiced any agroforestry techniques? (Y/N) _Yes.____________

If yes, what specific types of agroforestry techniques?

            a.         Live fencing               d.         Gardening w/trees

            b.         Windbreaks               e.         Trees randomly in the fields

            c.         Alley cropping                       f.          Other

Have they ever planted trees for other purposes? (Y/N) __Yes.________________

            
If yes, for what purposes?

      a.   Shade in the village               d.         Ornamental

      b.         Along roads                       e.         Other

      c.   Human consumption (using parts of the tree as diet supplement, not including fruit trees such as mango, etc.)

What techniques have they used to protect trees in and around the village?

a.         Individual fencing                 e.         Fencing large areas

b.         Restricting livestock  f.          f.         None

c.          Surveillance                           g.        Other

d.         Allowing trees to naturally regenerate

            
What techniques of fire prevention have they used in and around the village?

            a.         Live breaks                              d.         None

            b.         Fire breaks                               e.         Other

            c.         Controlled burning

Agricultural Activities

What type of soil(s) exist in your area?  in approximately what percentage?  Which crops   are grown there?

a. sandy soils___5______%___________crop(s)________________________

b. sandy loam____45_____%___________crop(s)__Corn, millet______________________

c. loam clay_____45______%___________crop(s)Corn, millet, peanuts, sorghum______

d.  other (clay)________5______%___________crop(s)________________________

What are the most frequently cultivated crops in this area?

a.         Peanuts                                                           e.         Sorghum

b.         Millet                                                              f.    Corn

c.         Black eyed peas                                              g.         Rice

d.         Cassava                                                           h.         Other

Is gardening done during the dry season? (Y/N) __Yes.________________________

Is gardening done during the rainy season? (Y/N) __Yes._______________________

How serious does the level of soil degradation appear to be?

a.         Very serious                c.         Not serious

b.         Mild                                        d.         Other                                       ­

What is the community basically comprised of?

            a.         Cultivators                              c.         Combination – emphasis on cultivation

            b.         Herders                                   d.         Combination – emphasis on herders

Are there any organized animal husbandry projects in the village? (Y/N) _No.__________

What tools are available in your village?
There are some communal machines for processing grains and peanuts. Extension information is not available.

This is just an example from the agriculture section. There are also questions covering kinship, education, economy, politics, associations, religion, recreation, health.. the whole shebang.

In addition, I've also been working on starting up a garden in my family's' compound. I'm hoping it'll provide veggies for me and them as well as serve as a demonstration site so farmers can visit and see what correct spacing, mulching, pruning, etc. looks like. I've already used it as an example. Setu, an older woman in the village, wanted my help setting up garden beds. I was surprised that she gave me the chance to show double digging and adding amendments (charcoal, manure and wood ash). We finished the beds by making berms to keep the water in. Spacing didn't go as well. I caught her planting extra seeds while my back was turned. It's okay. You can't win all your battles and she's been doing this much longer than me. Maybe I can thin them out later.

Two other volunteers and I work at a master farm in Katakel, about 7k away for me. The master farmer program is part of Peace Corps' Food Security Initiative. Enthusiastic and innovative farmers all over the country are paired with Peace Corps volunteers to develop a hectare of land. In exchange for funding, training, and advice, farmers have to hold two open field days every year to extend best practices to other farmers in the region. Our master farmer, Fatou, is the only female master farmer in Senegal! Last year all the farmers were given materials for a drip irrigation system. However, a monkey chewed through several spots in the drip tape. We spent a long day repairing the line and setting it up so she could plant veggies next to it and so it'd hit several fruit trees. Last time I was there she wanted to move it. None of us understand why, but we sure as hell aren't doing it.

"Leave the drip irrigation here."

Talking about field crops

Right now our ag. stage is at the training center in Thies completing our In-Service Training (IST). IST is two straight weeks of classes on field crops, agroforestry techniques, gardening, and meeting with advisers to discuss first year action plans for our sites. After this my service begins in earnest. I have an interview Monday. After that I should have a better idea of what to work on and how to go about it. Inshallah.

Soo jiwul, doo góob. If you do not sow you will not reap.

Other work:

Earthworks tourney in Soto

Seed collection. The helmet makes it safer.