Tamba Turkey Day

In Austin and Spence's battle for the wishbone, Austin was triumphant.




The Tamba family before we ate out holiday feast.



Melissa and Erica ecstatic about our delicious Thanksgiving meal.



I made squash and apple pies...yummy!

This thanksgiving, I am so grateful for my friends and family, here in Senegal and in America. For the love and support of everyone that not only gets me through each day, but makes every day meaningful and memorable! I appreciate and love you all more than words can express!

PS: Rava and Papa, Aunt Kim and Uncle Bill and Lisa thank you so much for your wonderful packages! So many sweet treats and thoughtful gifts! You made my Thanksgiving extra special!

Holidays

October 31st Tambacounda (my region) hosted Halloween for the Peace Corps Volunteers of Senegal, thus, naming it Hallacounda. Hallacounda was quite the success, with stations like palm reading and reach boxes. We rented speakers and drank creatively creepy drinks, while dancing the night away.



This is Leah, Anna, Kim and I dressed as EGOT's. Yeah I didn't know what that was either. Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony...Basically just a reason for us to wear all gold. The best thing about holidays are that they are a reason to see friends from other regions that we get entirely too little contact with.

On the holiday note, Tabaski recently passed. This is the most important Islamic holiday. I spent it in village with my family and it seemed pretty much the same as Korite to me. We woke up early to drumming at the mosque and ate a soup of macaroni noodles and palm oil that we soaked up with bread for breakfast. I know, how refreshing, but this is seriously a treat for my village.

After breakfast I gave my family some Tabaski gifts. After my mom heard that my family here in Senegal loves Parcheesi, she sent an amazing board my way. The center is mosques and the pawns are yaks, camels, elephants and hyennas. It could not be more perfect for an Islamic, Senegalese, Parcheesi loving bunch. I wrapped it up like a Christmas present and they opened it Tabaski morning and LOVED it.

We then went to mosque and prayed and greeted people. After mosque we returned home to slaughter our goat, like every other family does to commemorate Tabaski. Surprisingly, I watched the entire process. I don't particularly like the idea of killing an animal, but here in village it is completely justified. Plus, we eat meat all the time in America not thinking twice about where it came from. At one point it to was not in the boneless, skinless refrigerated section of the supermarket. Just another reality check.



I thought I'd spare you the slaughter photos. This is my brother and father blessing the goat before they killed it.

The rest of Tabaski, I went around Medina Bloc spending time with the families of my village and eating various meals. My sister-in-law and I brought her parents lunch, which I carried on my head all the way to their house, no big deal. At night everyone put on their new outfits, bought for the occasion, and walked around the village greeting one another and having random fits of dance. All in all, it was a successful Tabaski.

Thank you for all the love from home! I've gotten so much of it lately :o) Aunt Kim, Uncle Bill and Susan thank you so much for the packages filled to the brim with delicious treats. Jannis, the letters from all your students made my week. They were so funny and creative! I love and miss everyone! I'll be home for Christmas, not only in my dreams(!!!) and can't wait to love on everyone back home!

Weather Report Senegal

The rains have stopped here in Tambacounda and harvest is in full swing, as is frog season. The mosquitoes have gotten better, but I chase an average of five frogs out of my room on a daily basis. October was a hot one because the rain wasn't here to cool us down. As November has moved in temperatures have dropped a bit...Alhumdulilah. It's still sweaty during the day, but evenings and early mornings are what dreams are made of. They are chilly and feel like a spring morning in Indiana.



Everyone keeps talking about this “cold season,” and my response was that they were all crazy. I will believe it when I see it. Then, a couple weeks ago, I awoke at 4am freezing. I put on my extra cozy fleece, slipped into 40 degree approved sleeping bag, covered that with a sheet and tucked everything around so tight that only my face was exposed. Then, after much contemplation, not wanting to leave my comfort, I decided I needed to get out of bed and see what the temperature was. 72 degrees. Pathetic. The coldest it has been, that I have seen so far, is 68 degrees in the middle of the night. My bones will turn to ice in shatter in America, of that I am sure.



My family huddles around a fire every night, which I find hysterical because it started when it dropped down to about 80 degrees. While people complain about the cold I attempt to explain ice that falls from the sky in America. My family here has seen pictures of my American family sledding and building snowmen. Most times the older generation reverts to, oh that's sand. No it really is ice from the sky, I insist. They look at it contemplatively and turn the albums page. My brother says it snows here every morning of the cold season. I think he is talking about dew. I don't believe it eve frosts because everyone says this is the opportune time to grow vegetables.

I still have yet to accept the existence of cold season until it affects the days more. When I am hot enough to sweat through my clothes and bathe numerous times a day it is not officially winter. As of now, I am only cold in the middle of the night and when I bucket bathe in the morning (sometimes painfully cold for those.) Bring it on Senegal winter.

Harvest is happening here in Senegal. First, the corn was harvested, then the millet and another grain I don't know in English, followed by rice, now is peanut harvest, then, supposedly beans and cotton. People go to the fields every morning and sometimes I join them, but more often I help them when they have returned.

We spent many a late night husking corn. We also take the kernels off the cob, which is really hard with brand new corn. Sometimes we put corn cobs in a bag and beat it with a branch. This is by far my favorite task. We do it so that we can pound and cook the corn immediately, because by now last years food supply has run out. Rice is just dried and pounded to remove the outer shell. Shelling peanuts is a part of my everyday life now. Every single night, my sisters, moms and I sit around the fire and shell buckets of peanuts. I actually have peanut shelling callouses I am quite proud of. Such is harvest.

Behavior Change

Frustrations have been building up lately in terms of BEHAVIOR CHANGE! This is one of the most difficult, if not THE most difficult part of my work here in Senegal. Some days I feel like I talk, talk, talk and it goes in one ear and out the other. My kid has malaria, everyone in our family has the flu, diarrhea is making my baby tired, I've had 5 babies die, I can't afford to go to the health hut, etc. It's both frustrating and heartbreaking to have so much information and advice for all of these situations and have no one actually make the change to better their health and that of their family. I'm trying to keep from being cynical and have positive thoughts that I am 'planting seeds,' but that is more easily said than done.

I've thrown a few teenage temper tantrums with my family recently regarding priorities/behavior change lately. The first was with my brother and sister in law. They have a one year old named Mamadu that had eye infections on his upper and lower lids that just continued to get worse. I kept urging them to take him to the health post but to no avail. Finally, a Spanish NGO was in town and they were giving close to free consultations and free medicine. My sister agreed to come with me and bring her baby after we all ate breakfast. I ate my breakfast and then went to get them. “We are not going anymore. I have to go to the field today. We don't have money.” I was infuriated. My response was a very mature. “FINE! If you don't want your baby to have health, he won't have health. Wait until he is blind if you want!” Followed by an even more mature kicking off of my shoes before entering my room and slamming my door.

We ended up going to the health post and the Spanish nurses said that without treatment Mamadu could easily have become blind. His infections were severe and they urged my sister to some back the next week if the infections were still present. The infections got better, but that was weeks ago and they are still here. Needless to say, they have not gone back for a second treatment.

The second little fit I threw concerned school supplies. About a week before school started I went to talk to all the teachers and ended up with the school supply lists for my three siblings that attend school. I had a gut feeling that no one would actually purchase any of these materials so I began to talk to my dad about how important it was. His response, “God willing, I will buy them. Save the list until market day.” Surprisingly enough, market day came and God didn't will it. After many words were had, I ended up buying the school supplies and telling my dad I was deducting it from what I usually paid him a month (for living and food expenses).

My family is very poor , but I pay them a small amount each month that they could put towards health and education, but instead quickly disappears. I don't think they are squandering this money, but I also know that they would have to get by without my. Anything I pay them should be extra.

Third tantrum...(sorry, you may be getting sick of this, but seriously it is my life.) Hand washing. Something I have gotten my family to sometimes take part in. Everyone eats with their hands and tissues and toilet paper are not existent in the village, which also leaves the hands. This is not a pretty equation. Today I sat down around the bowl I share with my dad, two moms, younger sister and neice and asked where the soap was.

Mom #1: “The soap is gone.” Me: There is a shop right there, why has no one bought any?” Mom #1: “There is no money. I didn't even drink tea today.” Me: “Mom, little bugs (germs) are on your hands and you are eating them. Then they go to your stomach and make you sick,” Mom #1: “I don't see them.” Me: “ It is like God. You don't see him but you believe he exists. The germs are there.” Mom #2 (and what really set me off): “Do people in America use soap?” Me: “Yes” Mom #2: “And they still die?” Me: “Yes, but,” Mom #2: “That's what I thought. Let's eat.”

I excused myself I said I would not be eating. My dad followed me to my room and said that if I didn't eat he would not either. I explained how rude it was of second mom to say that, but ended up eating with my family because I had a meeting directly following that my dad attended and as village chief, with politics I needed him to be supportive of my program.

My role is so tricky. I want to take everyone, especially the kiddos, and fix their problems. When it comes to health and education, my heart wants to give everyone medicine and pay for all the kids to go to school, but in the end that is clearly not my role here. When I leave, that would only leave everyone in the same rut that they wee in before I came to Medina Bloc.

Women's Care Group

The Women's Care Group officially began the 6th of November. This is the program in which there are 10 female village volunteers that meet with my counterparts and I bi-weekly to discuss a health topic and do theater and/or activities related to the topic. Each women is then in charge of sharing that information with the 10 households nearest to her compound. The idea is that all three villages involved will receive 100% coverage and slowly, slowly, health knowledge will begin to sink in and behavior change will start to take place.



The kickoff had its ups and downs. The volunteers were wonderful, but there was some drama between my dad and counterpart and unfortunately my dad very inappropriately brought it up and argued loudly in front of everyone for quite some time, putting a damper on everything. He continued to bring it up throughout the meeting, infuriating me.

After issues were put aside, we talked about flu prevention, how to avoid giving everyone the flu once you have it, and how to get rid of the flu. The women were all very interactive, even in front of the village chiefs, religious leaders and health committee members present. It assured me that they were the right women for the job. They asked questions, answered questions and acted out skits without embarrassment. The kickoff ended with drinks, each woman receiving a uniform and visual aids, and then we had a tam-tam, which is a drum and dance circle.



Since then, my dad and I have thankfully resolved all of our issues and the Care Group has gone house to house with flu information. We had our second meeting last week. This time diarrhea was the topic. The women were even more wonderful and with only the volunteers and my counterparts it was much more like a comfortable family setting. I am really excited about this project and the possible outcomes. I have to remind myself that behavior change takes time and nothing happens fast in Senegal. It's likely I will never see the results, but hopefully something good will come of it.

Autumn in Senegal

I have lived in Senegal for over 7 months now and some days I feel as though I am falling into a routine and flow of life here, slowly piecing the puzzle of preventative health together, while other days I am overwhelmed with the discouraging lack of behavior change and panic at the thought of living here for another year and a half. Every emotion here is extreme whether it is raw joy or deep anger or homesickness.

It's been so long since I've updated so here's my attempt to fill you into what I've been u to.

Work wise things are continuing to roll along at a decent pace. The Women's Care Group I am trying to start in my village and the other two closest villages is set to kickoff November 6th. A lot to do before then in order to make for a fun kickoff party and effective health talk. I found out through my child and maternal health that 30% of children in my village die before the age of 5. Many times these deaths could be prevented with adequate health knowledge and practices concerning pre- and post-natal care, diarrhea, child nutrition, etc. The goal of the Women's Care Group is having local volunteers go house to house bi-weekly to share their health knowledge and in turn increase preventative health practices and result in BEHAVIOR CHANGE (those magical words). I just wrote a grant to try to get funding for uniforms for the volunteers and materials and supplies for the duration of the program. Grants=Pain in the butt! Hopefully it gets approved. I am both excited and nervous at the possibilities, but Inshallah something good will come of it.

The relays (volunteers who sensitize their own population on health issues) in my village and I have been focused on malaria prevention over the last month. We have been giving talks about mosquito net usage and care and making home aid mosquito repellent called “Neem Lotion.” Spence and I did a mosquito repellent making demonstration at the market and people were very interested. It might have been the 'toubab' factor, but it got everyone talking. People were explaining the process of making Neem lotion to those around them who didn't see and translating for people who do not speak Pulaar or Jakanke, without us even asking them to. One man said that he was going to go home to his village and teach the people there to make Neem Lotion. At the end of the day who knows if anyone actually went home and made the repellant. What I do know is that for a few hours everyone was talking about malaria prevention, asking questions and helping one another. I consider it a success.

A volunteer near my region had a “Healthy Baby Contest,” in her village last month. The program started as a way to get women to regularly weigh their babies. Monthly they showed up to the health post to weigh their babies while village health workers gave health talks. At the end of the year all of the most dedicated women in the village had a table and did rotating health stations. Each woman had a PCV to help them. Mika and I helped a woman talk about pre-post natal health care. Our most successful group was of all men, maybe 15 of them. Usually, men play little to know role in a pregnancy, but these men were all ears listening to when they should take their wives to the hospital, what their pregnant wives should be eating, and several ways they could help make pregnancies stay safe and healthy. Again you never know if they will actually practice

Lately, I've been working on a radio show about cold prevention and treatment, People do not understand or refuse to believe in the word “contagious.” I lecture grown men on the health committee about pulling snot out of their nose, wiping it on a tree and continuing the health meeting without washing their hands. Snot rockets are common place. One person gets sick and the coughing and sneezing, fevers, and body aches commence and with the lack of hand washing and the added bonus of sharing cups and eating out of the same bowl...the entire household is sick. And people laugh when I ask them to cough into their elbow or tell them not to share cups. My idea of contagiousness is as silly to them as many of their off the wall beliefs. Yet its proven over and over again. Anyway, the radio show has some funny skits, a song written about colds to the tune of the new Pulaar hit sung by my little sister Ruby and cousin Fatu, and fun American tunes! Doing radio is a something fun and different. It reaches all over the Tambacounda region so it really gets the message out there. I might be into this radio thing!

Other news:

1. ALERT , ALERT, AMAZING PACKAGES received:

Thank you Mom, Dad, Sana, Jake, Abby and Sam for the birthday packages! Everything good was packed into those babies! Fun great activities for my soon to be girls group, delicious foods, a beautiful cross, Dakar clothes, way cool home-made jewelery (thanks to my new jeweler Becky Lyon), giraffe printed shorts and an amazing poem (thanks Abs!), letters, games and photos. Seriously THANK YOU SO MUCH for being so THOUGHTFUL!

Stacey and Matt thank you! Conditioners importance in my life had been forgotten, but now my illusion that I didn't need conditioner here has been shattered. The Cliff bars and granola bars=yum! And travel coffee is awesome because sometimes I get stuck places without a caffeine fix and those times kind stink! THANK YOU sooo much!

2. Trip to Dakar, Joal, and Popenguine:

The Health and Environmental Education summit was in Joal this year. Although I'm not sure how helpful the summit was it did give my stage time to get back together and celebrate life. There were birthday's to be celebrated (HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH AND KIM!), Lebanese and French food to be eaten, a beach day or two, real coffee, we even took a rendevous to Sereer Island at night to check out the island made of shells and inhabited by Catholics. It was a great break and happily I was really ready to go back to village at the end.

3. Icky/Sad News:

Tucker died. My sweet baby and kitty died at only 2 ½ years. Most of you know how obsessed I have always been with my little cuppy cake so it's been hard for me. I just expected him to be around for another 10 years. That little mischievous booger is a really big part of my life. At least I know that he had so much love. That my family spoiled him and gave him all their love down to his last day. It won't be the same but I know it will get easier.

4. School has begun:

I have a NGO funded adorable pre-school and a government elementary school near my village. I plan to do fun health experiments and activities with the kids. The teachers seem open to that, but I also know they can be pretty hard to work with. They are educated in Dakar and then sent out to work in villages so many of them are not happy where they are. They cancel classes with ease and just disappear sometimes. Regardless, I plan to get in there and have some fun!


My eyes have been opened, once again, to just how many kids do not go to school here. Many times school is simply not a priority and little importance has been placed on it. For example, my niece is 4 and had her first day of pre-school and her parents didn't even walk her there. My dad, and many other family's do not buy the kids the supplies they need because they “don't have money,” but really it's just being spent on something else...like tea...always. It's such a different perspective of education's importance.

5. I emptied my entire hut to sweep my ceiling. Yes indeed, termites are slowly dismantling my hut. They leave a yellow dusting of freshly munched ceiling on my entire room, similar to frost on the lawn in late autumn. The job turned out to be a project complete with cob webs destruction, frog, mouse, poisonous lizard and bug eradication, and bleaching everything. I feel mildly cleaner in my newly freshened living space!

6. We had a traditional dance celebration with men that dressed as trees. They also ran around with hay that was on fire to push people away from them. It was a fun culture fete.

7. Malaria like I've never seen it. While in a families compound I happened upon a little boy whose body was hotter than I've ever felt and whose eyes were yellowing. It was obvious that he had a serious case of malaria, but the family had gone to the health post and gotten medicine. While still there the little boy started convulsing. It was terrifying and so frustrating because there is so little you can do. I ended up lending them money to go to the health post, but it took them so long to get there. First, they had to go out to the fields and get the donkeys, then prepare the chariot, and slowly, slowly make it the 7 kilometers to the health post. Alhumdudlilah, he ended up getting a different medication and recovered. Scary and so sad.

8. Mental health is so misunderstood here. People treat mentally slow people like animals in many cases. I realize it is still a stigma in America and that not long ago our own practices were repulsive, but it sucks to see this first hand.

9. Some interesting local beliefs:
* If you brush your teeth after sun down an old person dies. You know like every time a choir sings an angel gets its wings!
* When you lose a tooth if you don't throw it on top of your hut a new tooth will not grow in. I thought this was funny, but then explained the tooth fairy and realized maybe they are right.
*Vampires: Oh my goodness, this topic comes up daily in my village. My brother drew a vampire and it was an owl with a human head and bat wings.

9. My older brother is convinced that evil men dig up graves after the bodies have decomposed and take the fingernails to pound into powder. It then turns to poison and they put it into the water of people they dislike.

10. Tambacounda has 7 new volunteers!!!

11. It's HOTT again. I mean it never really stopped being hot but at least it rained. That is all behind us now. It's back to blazing until the 'cool' season that people speak of. I have yet to be convinced that this exists.

12. I miss Autumn. My favorite season. I miss the smells, the crunchy leaves, the red and yellow trees, the crisp feel, bonfires, pumpkin baked goods, sweaters, fire places, football, etc.

Well, I hope these scrambled thoughts have given you an idea about what I've been up to! I miss and love you all and will be in AMERICA in 50 days!!!

Islamic Festivities and Getting down to business

It's finally come time to do some active health work in my village and surrounding areas. The past week has brought the opportunity to help facilitate health talks at several women’s groups in my community. My intention is to help guide sessions and ensure that all important points are covered. The local “health relais,” or volunteer health workers whose role is to sensitize their community on health, should be leading the sessions. This guarantees that when Peace Corps is no longer a part of Medina, health knowledge and trusted relais remain.

I've started organizing a “Women's Care Group,” and I am really excited about the possibilities. How it will (hopefully) work is that there will be 10 women in Medina dar Salam who volunteer to share health knowledge with their neighbors. My counterpart and I will meet with these 10 women (6 who have already been chosen!) bi-weekly to discuss a chosen health issue and do skits, songs, visuals to bring the subject to life. Then, each of those 10 women are responsible for sharing that health knowledge with 10 other women/households (that are predetermined ad remain the same through the duration of the program). They will go house to house over the two weeks in between meetings and individually greet, teach and build relationships founded on health, with their neighbors. This is all very idealistic considering how things will probably work, but I have high hopes that it could be a successful program that could be replicated in other villages.

My worry is that people will “talk the talk but not walk the walk.” This ugly phrase has come to mind often since I've been in Senegal. You see people who know that washing their hands with soap before eating with their hands will decrease diarrhea and other illnesses or that making and using natural mosquito repellent will likely prevent mosquito bites that cause malaria, but do not oblige by these simple health standards. Even my own counterparts and health relais talk about how important hand washing and other hygiene practices are, but if you go into their compounds you do not see most of it in practice. It's a tough road because people argue that soap is expensive or that they are already too busy to add yet another step in the schedule of their daily lives. It's true that people don't have money so my goal is to convince them to use the little money they do have to prevent illnesses, rather than doling out a large sum of money for malaria treatment. I am determined to slowly convince these 10 village volunteers to follow the health advice that they are sharing with their neighbors. In the long run BEHAVIOR CHANGE is my goal, whether it is pure peer pressure induced from other community members or truly a personal decision to follow the road to better health. Thoughts and prayers that these women (especially the volunteers) surpass all previous expectations and pave the road to better overall health in my village is much appreciated!

While getting to know my village, one of the biggest health issues that were identified are poor maternal and child health care. Every woman I talked to about child birth would mention that they have had one or several infants/young children die and I've heard of several women dying in childbirth or shortly after due to complications. Babies are not named for a week because infant mortality is so common. Based on the women I have talked to so far, I would say that the majority of women in my community are giving birth alone in their huts, conditions that I consider too unsanitary for my own health, let alone a newborn or a woman who has just given birth.

The nearest health post, a step up from the health hut in my community, with a matrone (who has training, but not equivalent to a midwife) is 7 k away. It has a structure meant for to be a maternity ward, but has been damaged due to poor construction and storms since its construction and has sadly never been used. Currently, women who make it to the health post give birth in a small room with two beds (only one meant for labor) with no comforts.

Spence (my closest neighbor who lives 1k away from the health post) and I are in the process of trying to ensure the training of a midwife who will serve the women that go to the health post. We plan to find funding (God willing, as they say here), to repair the maternity ward, provide better care to women and infants and lighten the 'doctor's' work load.

I want to also bring a trained matrone to assist in childbirth to my own community. Again, the health post is 7k away and while it is definitely better to give birth there, many times circumstances will not allow it. I think that having a woman educated in child birthing hygiene, problems, etc. could greatly reduce the maternal and infant mortality rates in my community.

On a lighter and more fun note RAMADAN HAS ENDED!!! Not that I was fasting at the end of it, but it was still a fun community celebration. Korite is the second most important or celebrated holiday for Muslims in Senegal after Tabaski. The men shave their heads and dress in their finest apparel and the women braid their hair, henna their feet and hands and adorn themselves in jewelry and their prettiest complets.

The day before Korite was spent getting ready. My sisters hennaed all of the women in my compounds feet, including mine. The drums went off at the mosque around 7:30pm signifying that the moon had been spotted and sure enough Korite would take place the next day. People were giddy with excitement.

On Korite morning my sister braided my hair and my brother ironed all of our clothes. We all went to mosque and there was surprisingly something very familiar about the repetion and praying in unison that was comforting. I had been to mosque a few times before during Ramadan in the evening, but this morning time prayer felt nearest to home. At the end of prayer everyone went around saying, “Did you pray in peace?” Just like the Christian sign of peace. People asked for days afterward if you prayed in peace. I gave my brother, Mamadian, my camera and was rewarded with a billion and two photos. Here are a few:



The rest of the day people spent eating (Yes Sam...even corn on the cob now!). I went around the entire village meeting and greeting people who were celebrating. It was a special time to be in people's homes, break their month long fast with them, joke around, play with their children, etc. Mamadian again had my camera and here are a few shots for you to enjoy.

At the end of the day there was a soccer match that was all the rage in Medina and the surrounding villages. It was like the stereotypical high-school football game crowd. All of the girls dressed up even more than they did for mosque that morning and all of the guys huddled in groups making fools of themselves. Again feelings of home popped up as I watched the game with my siblings. Overall Korite was a special day shared with meaningful people.

Oh yeah...I've lived in Senegal for 6 months now! Thanks for the love, support, and prayers of everyone who has kept me going and sane. I love you and am grateful that everyone of you is in my life!