Some things that make me laugh.

1. Bed Bugs



It happened one night that Mika was staying in my village and we went to bed to find a man-eating spider staring back up at me from my pillow. I tried to catch it with the sticky side of the duct tape, while Mika attempted a photo shoot. The monster jumped toward us and we, in turn, lunged backwards, screaming like little girls. Mika grabbed my heavy Prospere Manual (perhaps my best Peace Corps resource because of it's bug killing properties) flung it at the spider and, alas the beast was slain.


2. Snake skin medicine...for money of course

(Translated literally from Pulaar and mostly stolen from Mika's blog)

(Man sits next to me on public transport with Spence and Mika right beside me.)

Man: I want you to be my wife.

Me: I don't want a man.

(Man pulls out identification card.)

Man: This guy wants a white wife... (it was him. Clever).

(A few moments later pulls out a plastic bag full of gray shiny stuff to show me.)

Me: What is that?

Man: The shirt of a snake (in other words-snake skin).

Me: Why do you have it?

Man: It's medicine. You wash your body with it and then you become rich. Buy it.

Me: Does it work?

Man: Yes.

Me: Do you have lots of money?

Man: Yes. Buy it.

Me: Not today, thanks.

(A few moments later...)

Man: You are white. Give me money.

3. A different man on public transportation. “Be my wife. We will drive to America together.”

I insisted that no matter how many cows he offered to give my dad that we could not, in fact, drive from Senegal to America together. He further insisted that airplanes were dangerous, so we would just drive there. (All of this being said while our car wouldn't start and once it finally did after several attempts and men pushing it I was literally wearing my helmet for fear of it tipping over.) I pomise him that you cannot dive across the ocean. He doesn't seem to respond.

4. “I know you know karate. Teach me karate.” (Said to Mika by someone in his village.) Upon investigating why the man thought he knew karate it was discovered that the assumption was based on Mika's ability to sit cross legged. Obviously he knows karate.

5. My sister Ruby running into my room during a thunderstorm with her shower cap on. “Medicine for my head for when the rain comes.”

 

6. Said by my neighbor during fasting for Ramadan and translated from Pular. “Today, I slept until I was tired!”

7. Antione Dodson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U55mgeVlcL4

8. My sister said:

“Namesake, your big butt is very good today!”

9. Fanta (my niece) literally peed on my hut. Here is the culprit.



10. My mom asked me for money to buy medicine for vampires. Unsure if I heard her right I asked my friend Kim to confirm it. Yes indeed. I think she was having nightmares about vampires, but my village seems to have have an obsession with vampires and most people believe in them. Also, I might have told my brother in jest that I was in Senegal because America found out I was a vampire and kicked me out. I came here to drink their blood. This was before I knew their fear of vampires. Whoops.

11. The same mom said if I went to the capital alone next year for Senegalese independence day to see Akon perform (which she suggests) I should buy a pistol. Hmm, I bet Peace Corps would be thrilled.

12. My counterpart: "Aissatou, you should stop running. It's bad for your head. it makes your Pular tired.

13. My sister suggested I buy and eat an entire can of Sardines when I was sick to make me feel better.

14. Seeing goats attached to the back of bikes and in bags or buckets with their heads sticking out for transportation.

There is so much more. No matter how much frustration comes with each day and how much my patience is tested, there is always a laugh to be had!

Ramadan

Being out of village for IST did wonders to my hut. It looked as if the bugs and rodents of Medina Dar Salam had thrown a frat party. There were homes constructed all around the interior perimeter of my hut, mostly ant hills and termite mounds with plenty of spider webs thrown in there (the man-eating ones of course). My back yard/sand was pure weeds that I had to wade through to get to my douche before I got to clearing everything out. Home sweet home.

But really it is good to be back. I had missed my family here without really knowing it. Everyone was so excited to see me back, which was really encouraging! Having a family as big as mine here and truly liking every single individual is an incredible blessing. I have special bonds with many of my family members and every day those strengthen and new unique bonds form.

I gave them bubbles which was a huge hit!



The last week has been a perfect mixture of work, bonding, culture immersion and down time. I've done baby arm-measurements, helped with a mosquito net distribution, worked on a questionnaire for my village and worked in the fields with my family. Working in the rice fields has been surprisingly rewarding. Barefoot, in the mud, with only the women, chatting and clearing weeds.

Ramadan has provided a cultural insight nothing else could quite compare to. It was undetermined which date Ramadan would actually begin (the 12th or 13th), because the Islamic calendar follows the lunar calender. Seeing the moon signified the beginning of Ramadan. When everyone saw it they got giddy and kept pointing towards it. You can see the tiny silver of moon here:

That night my entire family went to mosque together (the women are only allowed to go during Ramadan). The men all prayed inside and the women and children in the courtyard. There I was, my head draped in a scarf out of respect, amidst a 100% Muslim group following their lead in prayer. It was an overwhelming feeling to have such an insiders view. It gave me chills to realize that I am truly living life in Senegal and being accepted into the community.

Fasting lasted about 3 days for me. I was waking up at 4am to have breakfast with my family and then didn't eat until breaking fast at 7:30 pm. It wasn't that bad not eating, but it's impossible to be active, which is crucial to my mental stability here. Fast-breaking with my family is not much, but it was especially enjoyable when I was fasting. The first day everyone broke fast together with bread and tea, laughing and excited to eat.

On day 4 of fasting, God knew I needed a break. Spence and I went to church at the home of a Catholic family near my village and there was a baptism with a party afterward. My day was the complete opposite of fasting. We cooked, danced, ate duck and drank palm wine. It was just like coffee and doughnuts except better, and now I have church buddies!

Love you all and hope things are well! Updates make me happy :o)

In-service training and the gluttony that ensued

I have been out of the village awhile now. My recent travels included visiting my friend Sarah in her Sereer village near Mbour, Thies for In-service training (IST), Popenguine for a much needed beach day and then experiencing the magic of Dakar.

IST consisted of two weeks of sessions geared towards giving us more specific information and training to carry out projects in our villages. They ranged in variety from agricultural techniques, to douche (bathroom) building, to radio broadcasting, to funding sources and everything in between. Having been at site for about two months now, we all have a vague idea of what might benefit our village most.

The projects that I am most excited about and/or hope to implement revolve around girls empowerment and child nutrition. I plan on spending the next month completely dedicated to getting to know my community. I want to find out if they are also as interested in these areas of development, why or why not?, if not what they think is most needed, who would be motivated work partners, etc.

I would like to have an small girls group that meets regularly to discuss important topics and do fun activities. Many girls here do not have much of a childhood. It is very common in rural villages that girls do not attend school. If they do attend school they are often pulled out at a very young age to either help with work around the family compound or be married off (something I also want to address). I want to have a group that informally helps girls develop self-esteem, leadership skills, attain information about STD and pregnancy prevention, etc. mixed with fun activities and underlying female bonding. I hope to eventually do a girls camp that mixes all of this into a fun filled week...we shall see.

Child malnutrition is one of the biggest problems in my village. Overall nutrition is very poor in my area so by training new mothers on nutrition for their infants, I hope to trickle down nutrition education. One model I may use is the Hearth Model, which is a two week approach to teaching mothers of malnourished children, nutritious porridge recipes and tracking child weigh to promote behavior change. The other is the Care Group Model, which focuses on the training of trainers. It would consist of forming many small groups of people who each choose a leader. Then, the leaders would be trained on a variety of health topics and given the responsibility to meet individually with members of their small groups and train them.

These are just ideas that I am throwing around. It will all come down to what my village wants and needs, my desires, the motivation of the people I am working with, etc. Plus, Africa has a tendency so throw curve balls your way and send you down paths you never expected. I also have to keep in mind that you can only work at the pace of your community. Here in Senegal the phrase “hurry up and wait” comes to mind quite often.

Dakar is, as my dear fellow PCV and recent travel buddy, Anna Alsobrook said, “is the land of milk and honey.” There you can consume delicious food (and actually have options), hang out with American ex-pats and other volunteers, shop at the most amazing (and only) grocery store in Senegal, etc. I may have consumed my body weight in food daily while in Dakar.

We fit in some educational touristy stuff by visiting Île de Gorée and the presidential palace. Île de Gorée is an island off the coast of Dakar that was used as a port during the slave trade before shipping slaves off to Europe and the Americas. The island was full of history and culture. Currently, it is inhabited by about 1200 Senegalese (a mixture of Catholics and Muslims living in harmony) and a large number of artists that are squatters, living in what used to be French military bunkers. It gave me the bizarre feeling of being a tourist, as well as, the sensation that I was not in Senegal anymore. I also got my first residency discount (because guess what? I really live here!).

At the presidential palace Anna and I made good friends with the guards while trying to convince them to let us in to meet the president or, at least, check out the sweet crib. We talked for awhile and would have gotten forcibly removed outside the White House for the ridiculous questions we were asking. For example, exactly which room does the president sleep in? Which room is he in this very moment?, etc. The guards not only asked for our numbers, but stepped away from the palace to walk us to dinner...reminders that I am NOT in D.C.

Now I am preparing to return to my village in the morning. I'm riding a roller coaster of emotions. Being in a setting in which I have been around Americans, have a variety of food choices, speak English, have the academic learning part of my brain stimulated, and so on, have made me feel closer to America. This has, in turn, made me yearn for home even more (It didn't help that I watched Rudy today. It did not help that while in Dakar, I realized that, time wise it would take less time to get to America than it does to reach my village on wonderful (read with great sarcasm) Senegalese public transport.

Ramadan begins in a couple days. This is like the Islamic version of Lent. It is a holy month of fasting and penance. Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. I plan to try it out to see what my family is going through but who knows how long it will last. From gluttony to fasting...Ramadan take one...