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.

A Cat's Life

A couple weeks ago I was in the market in Kaffrine and I saw the most pathetic little kitten in the street. Because I ADORE cats, of course I had to scoop him up. That turned into me carrying him back to the office, wrapping him in a blanket, and popping him on the back of my bike for the hour-long ride home.

Once there, I cleaned him up and went around to neighboring compounds to see if anyone had I goat I could milk (goat milk > cow milk). He's still alive and biting 3 weeks later on a diet of milk, rice, and dried fish. If I can't keep plants alive, at least I can do cats! Maybe I should start extending them as garden helpers. They could eat bugs and keep birds away. Maybe even increase soil fertility with their poop.

So, the following pictures chronicle my kitten's short, yet so far full, life.

Baby's first night home

Helping water my pepeniere

"Are you sure you transplanted the tomatoes right?"

Guard cat on duty!

I'm sure I flushed..

Climbin'

Favorite nap spot. No work happening here!

Cutie

Maybe cat extension isn't a good idea.

Also, for your viewing enjoyment, pictures of my hair in braids. Afterward, my family told me; "Sohkna, today you finally look like a woman." I thought I looked like a drowned rat but hey, no one can accuse me of not integrating enough!

The Wild Life

The 12th was my Birthday! Fortunately it was also the Prophet's b-day (Gamou) so I was able to pretend the celebrations were for me.

For Gamou we went to a nearby village. I got to meet my favorite sister's family and see where she'll be living in two months (she has to move into her husband's compound). Fortunately this village is within running distance:) We ate lots of rice (but it had veggies) and did the usual Senegalese visiting and talking with everyone. Ngentepul had a special market going on just for the holiday, so I bought several sachets of frozen juice and ate them all myself. A guy also offered to get me and him a hotel room, but I had to turn him down since there was no AC.

My dad had my grandma switch rooms with him (since hers is nicer) so I no longer share a fence with her and we can't talk through it every morning while brushing our teeth. And I know my dad won't water her garden, so I'm trying to salvage everything I can. (This was the only bad thing about my birthday.)

Now, for something more interesting: All the animals I've seen! The pictures are not mine; I always see stuff on my runs when I don't have my camera.

Pied Crow

Laughing Dove

Red-billed Hornbill

Red-billed Firefinch

Golden Jackal

Senegal Coucal

Grey Heron

Pale Fox

Cattle egret

European Bee-eater

Little Bee-eater

European Roller

Senegal Parrot

White-tailed mongoose

Savannah monitor lizard