Tamba is hot...that is what every Senegalese person will tell you when you mention you are moving there. Believe them...it's true!

The past four days I have spent at my permanent site in Medina Dar Salam. I stayed with Mary, the volunteer who's site I am replacing, and Spence a fellow trainee who is going to be my closest neighbor once at site. Although it started out nerve wracking, the visit was a positive experience and gave me an idea of what I will be working with for the next couple years.



It was exciting and overwhelming to meet the family that I will be living with for the next two years. I have approximately 17 family members living in my compound in nine huts. I have a dad, two moms (polygamy is the norm here), 7 brothers (3 adults, 18, 15, 10, 10) 2 sisters (14 and 7), 2 sister in laws and 2 neices and a nephew. Everyone is extremely welcoming and friendly and the kids are adorable. We have donkeys, cows, roosters, goats, chickens and a dog named Meanie (from a past volunteer). This equals loud at all times of the day and night. It is much like sleeping in a petting zoo. I am officially in "the bush."



My living quaters are a tiny round cement hut with a thatch roof. I have my own douche (hole in the ground) for bucket bathing and bathroom functions. I have a shade structure out back to sleep under during the hot season because it is too hot to sleep indoors. Our compound has a well where we pull water for drinking, bathing, cooking, etc. We eat corn or millet porridge for breakfast and millet with leaf or peanut sauce for lunch and dinner. Not exactly taste bud friendly but I probably won't starve.

The first day in my village my host family gave me a new Senegalese name. In this neck of the woods I am now referred to as Issatou Ba. I am named after my sister-in-law, which here is called your tokora (namesake). For the rest of the day we talked with the family through mostly translation and biked around the surrounding villages.
During he rest of our visit we were able to meet with the directors of the nearest preschool and primary school. Both visits were encouraging because the directors truly cared about the children they are serving and the value of education, which was not at all similar to the previous Senegalese school that I visited. I also met with two local counterparts I will be working with. The first is a health relais whose job is to sensitize the community about health issues and work to promote healthy living. The other is going to be the very first employee at the health hut under construction in my village. A health hut is the most basic health care provider that does mostly first aid, provides some medications and recognizes greater health concerns to advise patients to go to a health post or hospital. I am excited to work with both women and think there is a lot of great work to be done together.



I am lucky enough to be located approximately 7 k away from the Gambia River. We visited the river bank twice and saw hippos, baboons, Green monkeys and beautiful landscaping. I am quite certain this will be an essential weekly visit for me that enables me to maintain my sanity. I also hear rumors of the amazing weekly market that comes near my village and its ability to provide almost anything you could possibilty need for life in Senegal. It will be a good excuse to meet my neighbors by the river and buy nutrient rich food once a week.