My last two weeks in Senegal have been jam packed full of learning and community activities. Every morning in Sangalkam my language group has class. After class we all return to our host families and eat either fish and rice or some variation of sauce and rice on the ground around a bowl of food shared between the whole family (or part of the family depending on family size). After lunch we spend time with our host families trying to further our vocabulary/communication skills and build relationships. Almost every afternoon this past visit we had an activity going on in the community either to give us better insight into Senegalese cultures and customs or to practice the skills we are forming for our permanent sites.
Some of our afternoon projects have included, fencing in our garden, building a mud stove, painting a mural to increase AIDS awareness, mapping our community etc. Building the mud stove felt like an accomplishment because I know that the woman that we built it for will benefit greatly from it. Before, she cooked every meal in a small hut over an open fire. It was ridiculously hot and she was consistently breathing in smoke fumes. The mud stove uses much less fire wood and contains most of the heat and smoke so it will help her to cook faster and be much healthier for her and the environment. Mud stoves are made with a mixture of manure, sand, clay and can be completed in just an afternoon in most situations. It was exciting to feel like we had made a sustainable change for a family in our community.
At night we always water our garden/tree nursery, which surprisingly and excitingly has started to sprout. Considering it was planted in only sand and manure (without anything near what we would consider soil in the U.S.) it was somewhat unexpected that we would see results. I try to squeeze in a run before dusk and take my daily bucket bath around eight pm. My host family eats dinner (usually the same thing we ate for lunch) around nine and then sits around and watches ridiculous Senegalese television. If you know me at all, you know I didn’t particularly enjoy t.v. in the states so watching Senegalese soap operas and wrestling are not high on my list of things to do. We all have electricity now but probably won’t at site so I may not have to endure much more of men covering each other with milk and slapping each other (wrestling traditions here…who knows why). I try to hang out with my host family a bit, do some language practicing, study some and then get a good nights sleep. Some nights I play Uno or look at pictures of home with my family or pictures of their weddings/baptisms and such. They always point out that I look “different” (I.e. presentable) in America and love seeing pictures of my life at home.
One day I had the opportunity to do observations in classes at a local school. The first class that I observed had 66 adolescents learning French, math, geography, history, etc. Considering the lack of one on one attention (with only one teacher) the class seemed to run reasonable well. The best description would be controlled chaos. Kids stood up and snapped yelling out Monsieur, when they wanted to answer questions. Everyone seemed to be very eager to learn and be in the spotlight. The next class I observed had 82 seven and eight year old students to one teacher. Nothing seemed to get done and the children didn’t really know what they were supposed to be doing most of the time.
In every age group the children who are not innately quick to catch on get left behind because there is very little room for one on one attention. In Senegal, at the end of every year the students take a test and if they pass they move on and if they don’t they are usually done with school for life unless their families can afford private schooling. Corporal punishment is legal and used in the Senegalese education system. Having a dedicated and loving teacher is important no matter what country you are in, but here it could make or break the success of a student.
I also had the chance to observe the Sangalkam health post. I sat in on consultations for general health and women’s health (specifically pre and post-natal). I saw how the offices functioned and an example of a large village pharmacy. It was vaccination day so I also observed baby weighing and vaccinations.
My experience in the general consultation room was disconcerting. Three women, worked together to see patients one at a time. They had all received three years of training at a university in Dakar. I witnessed four patient consultations, none of them lasting over five minutes. They never spent more than two minutes asking questions or getting information from the patient. It seemed like they were writing prescriptions before the patient opened there mouth to speak. The only vital consistently taken was blood pressure and only one out of the four had their temperature taken. In the record keeping books the women rarely filled out the diagnosis section, but the treatment section was full of 3-5 prescriptions each. The only way records were kept were by date of visit.
The pharmacy sold tickets to those needing a consultations and obviously sold prescriptions. It consisted of a woman behind a desk with a bunch of drugs behind her. A doctors visit was 200 CFA for children, 300 CFA for adults, and 500 CFA for pre/post-natal. ($1~460 CFA currently) Prescriptions were government subsidized and available at very low cost.
The women’s health consultations were far more impressive. The Sage Femme (head midwife with medical training) had been educated in Dakar and then trained other women to work under her as matrons (traditional birth attendant). Together they handled all matters of women’s reproductive health and babies’ health. I asked if women came for general checkups and they responded that only the well educated come to get annual gynecological examinations without a problem prompting their visit.
Surprisingly, women in Sangalkam have access to family planning and are using it. They can get the pill or the Depo shot without informing their husbands. The sage femme said that many women, singled and married were taking advantage of it, which is very suprising in this culture. If men had to know the chances of women being on birth control would be close to non-existent, like in most small villages. Thus, people have a billion and one kids. I was very impressed with the information and resources given in women’s consultations regarding health issues, family planning, pre/post natal care, follow up, etc.
Last week I was lucky enough to bamboozle my language instructor to accompanying my group to Lac Rose. I had read about Lac Rose before coming to Senegal and was pumped to have the opportunity to see this pink salt lake. The transportation to get to Lac Rose was the first terrifying African transport I have taken. Alhum vehicles (short for Aluhumdulalait, meaning we will get there thanks be to God) are essentially buses made in the 60’s packed tight full of people. Upon arriving at Lac Rose we were asked if we wanted to see the Lake or Ocean…what a pleasant surprise! We had no idea Lac Rose was on the coast. The lake wasn’t very pink this particular day, but there are certain times of day and year when it is most likely to be pink. The reason it is pink is because it is right next to the ocean and contains large amounts of salt and in turn creates a bacteria that resists the salt, thus making it pink (sometimes). It was neat to see mounds of lake salt all along the shore.
After having our fill of Lac Rose we headed to the beach. It was absolutely amazing. On the way we saw camels in the sand dunes and it looked like a scene straight out of the bible. The beach was a long walk in the sand with a forest on one side and palms on the other. I got super giddy when seeing the ocean and did a mandatory cartwheel into the water. The beach was untainted and so clean. A clean beach is always amazing, but in Senegal it’s even more spectacular! The day was rejuvenating for the spirit. There I was on the Ivory Coast splashing in the surf and collecting seashells I got super giddy when seeing the ocean and did a mandatory cartwheel into the water. The beach was untainted and so clean. A clean beach is always amazing, but in Senegal it’s even more spectacular! The day was rejuvenating for the spirit. Every day in this Muslim culture one is pressured to be ultra conservative in dress and action but here I was free to swim in underoos and have no concerns about being judged. There I was on the West African coast splashing in the surf and collecting seashells thinking about my family doing the same exact thing on the Gulf Coast. The public transport home was terrifying but so worth the amazing day.
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