The New Network

Well, I guess there’s a problem when I have to start off each post with an apology for not posting but that’s the way it is these days!  I can’t believe that I’ve already been in my village for over 6 months.  Looking back now, it has totally flown by even though some days can really feel like an eternity under the Senegalese sun. 

In the past few weeks things have really picked up around here.  A few older volunteers planned a massive project to help people all across the region of Kolda repair and care for their mosquito nets.  In villages all across the region, volunteers have been helping villagers sew, wash, and transform (from square to circular) their mosquito nets.   In most villages the program has also included a small skit about malaria and/or a question and answer session with the audience.  Two older volunteers have been going from village to village more or less for the past two months!  In Sa’re Gueladio, I spent a couple of weeks preparing for their arrival by:

- Asking the chief (also my host dad) for permission

- Telling my counterpart about it so he could help me organize

- Choosing some people to put the skit together and having rehearsals (by far, the trickiest part!)

- Inviting…. And then re-inviting the entire village by going house to house and telling people

- Borrowing seating (straw mats and benches) and benoirs (to wash nets) for the day of

While this is a fairly straightforward task list, actually putting into action was anything but, especially since I spent a few days prior to the event in other nearby villages helping to execute the same program.  The theater was definitely the trickiest and up until it actually happened, I was almost sure it was going to fall apart.  For starters, the cast was ever-evolving due to various travel, changing minds, and really who knows what else.  When I finally got a few of the perspective cast members in the same room for what I thought was a meeting to choose a topic for the sketch, all that we actually decided was to have a meeting two days later where everyone would present their idea for the topic of the sketch and we would choose the best one and then be able to start rehearsing.  This, bear in mind, all for a ten minute skit. 

In the end, things came together beautifully.  There was great attendance all day. In total, we washed about thirty nets, sewed up about twenty, and transformed over twenty nets as well.  During Universal Distribution last year, my entire village got square nets.  But with some simple materials (a plastic tube, tape, and a few fabric scraps) and a bit of ingenuity, any square net can be easily changed to circular.  This makes them a little longer, easier to hang, and some people really strongly prefer them.  The sketch also came together out of nowhere.  First, my counterpart conducted a Q&A with the audience to get the conversation going about malaria and particularly the importance of preventing and treating malaria in pregnant women, since that was the topic of our skit.  Then, somewhat miraculously, nine people from my village performed a flawless skit about the importance of detecting malaria early in pregnancy and attending regular pre-natal visits.  The audience was totally captivated and laughed a lot.

I should note that watching Senegalese people perform theater is sort of an interesting cultural experience because it’s hard for us Americans to understand all the references (for both linguistic and cultural reasons).  Right off the bat, when the cast was introducing themselves by their character names, the audience was already cracking up which makes me think that there must have been some references that went over my head.  Considering what a small part of this project it was, the theater really highlighted the importance of working with Senegalese counterparts and having host-country nationals really run the show.  If I had tried to script the theater or direct the flow at all, I doubt the skit would have been anywhere near as entertaining.

In other news, rainy season has ended and “cold” season has begun.  In reality, it’s slightly less sunny during the days but still quite hot.  It actually feels pretty chilly at night, at least enough for me to bring my sleeping bag back to village to stay warm while sleeping.  My garden is also starting to be productive.  The colder weather has especially helped the lettuce to thrive and I have seen my first eggplants start to grow.  I’ve also added a banana tree and a plantain tree that are still getting going.  The extra plants have made the process of watering my garden a bit of a marathon each day but it’s also pretty fun.  My moringa trees have also grown very quickly and my family has even started to use some of it in the meals that they cook!

I wish I could say that I will post more soon but that’s probably not true.  Enjoy the pictures and happy trails!   

Transforming a net with my counterpart

Kadja, my neighbor, was particularly happy to leave with a newly circular net 

We were also able to provide on-site testing for anyone who had a fever or headache on the day of the event

Opening scene of the theater: what a father should look like when his son wakes up feeling ill 

Taking their son to the hospital ASAP!

Dakar, Training, and Back to the Grind

First off, sorry about the delay in posting.  It’s been a busy, yet somehow uneventful few weeks.  Right after Ramadan ended, I made my way back up to Thiès for the second half of my training.  But the other new volunteers and I decided it might be worth our time to leave a day or two early and take a slight detour in Dakar.  We were right. Twelve hours and seven vehicles (including a boat) later we found ourselves practically a world away in Senegal’s capital.  Dakar has very little in common with my village, and while it’s definitely not like being back in America, it’s pretty darn close.  There are sit-down restaurants, high-class shopping, ice cream parlors, and my personal favorite, American style grocery stores.  Our excursion pretty much centered on food cravings and planning our next “extravagant” meal.  Highlights included bagels and lox, veggie pizza, ice cream, and not a single bit of rice.  On the last day we visited Gorée Island, an historic slave trading post.  

Then, it was back to the training center in Thiès for an intensive two weeks of technical training.  This included sessions on common malaria prevention activities, proper cooking of nutritious porridges, and the ins and outs (literally) of building latrines.  The days were long but the information was mostly useful and, as usual, it was great to see everyone from my training group.  By the end of training, I was pretty eager to get back to site and start planning with my counterparts but after spending time with all my friends again (not to mention the air conditioning and nice showers) it was a little hard to pull myself away from Thiès.  

When we finally did get back to Kolda (a 14-hour trip this time without a boat since we didn’t come through the Gambia) I got stuck for another two days at the regional house.  Last year, the volunteers in Kolda planned a youth camp for middle schoolers that took place in March.  I really want to be involved in next year’s camp so I volunteered to write the grant.  But this was a slightly rushed process as the grant deadline was September 1^st.  I couldn’t start the grant until after training, and as you may have noticed, internet is in short supply.  After traveling to Bagadadji (another city in Kolda) to meet the staff of the campsite where camp will take place, I could hammer out a budget and got the grant submitted on time.  Now I get to sit back and not think about camp for another three months until the real fun will begin.  

Life back in village has resumed its pre-Ramadan pace, so there is still lots of free time.  I spend some time each day gardening (I’ve got basil, sweet potato, cucumber, and squash started with tomato, lettuce, eggplant, and pepper on the way) and I started practicing with the village soccer team every afternoon.  I’m still abysmal at soccer but all the running is a good workout and people here really get a kick out of it (pun intended) when they see me try.  

The talk of the town is that the forage (water tower), an NGO project that was underway until they ran out of money, is being resumed.  Meaning, si Allah jabi (if God agrees), in the next few months houses in the village will have taps of running, safe, drinking water.  Tied to the forage is a plan to start a massive community garden.  Gardens in the past have been relatively unsuccessful because of high labor costs.  However, with the need to pull water from wells eliminated, hopefully this time will be much different. 

I think that catches us all up.  Thanks for reading and I’ll update again as I can.  Happy Trails!

Fourth of July, Ramadan, and Just a Little Bit of Work

This year has marked many first for me.  As you can imagine, the past few months have been full of even more new experiences.  Among many others, this year I was out of the country on July 4^th for the first time, I am observing Ramadan (sort-of) for the first time, and I’ve been doing a lot of work that I never expected to be doing. 

Peace Corps Volunteers in Senegal has a strong tradition of celebrating the Fourth of July together in true American fashion: way too much food, fun, and fireworks.  Volunteers from all over the country gathered in one of Senegal’s southernmost regions (still a 9 hour station wagon ride from my region), called Kedougou, to celebrate, sight-see, and do a little work along the way.  The volunteers in Kedougou organized a massive tree-planting project for the whole city of Kedougou on the 1^st and 2^nd of July to make use of all the volunteers that would be visiting for the party.  Then on the 3^rd, I took a short hiking trip to an amazing waterfall.  It was, without question, one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.  Naturally, I forgot to bring my camera but I will get some pics from a friend soon.  The actual Fourth, volunteers cooked up massive quantities of roasted pig (roasted overnight in pits in the ground… pretty cool), potato salad, cole slaw, French fries, guacamole, cookies, and brownies.  We had music, games, and fireworks.  It was a great time to meet new volunteers, catch up with my friends from training, and see a new part of Senegal.  

As fun as my trip to Kedougou was, after spending almost a week away from site, I was ready to get back to my village.  Before I left, I did my first work-like activity in my village and it went pretty well.  Six months ago the Kolda Region was hit by a Mosquito Net Universal Coverage campaign.  Every house in Kolda was given complimentary mosquito nets for every sleeping space in their house.  This program was facilitated by USAID and the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) in Senegal and Peace Corps volunteers were a big part of the on-the-ground effort to distribute nets.  Now, every six months, there is a monitoring and evaluation survey to see how people are using the nets and if they have been effective. There is a wide range of net usage throughout my village among men, women, and children.  Some people sleep under a net every night while some others think that it’s only important when mosquitoes are abundant after the rain.  Some make sure that their children are covered while leaving themselves exposed and I suspect that some others weren’t completely honest with me about their family’s net usage.  It felt good to talk to people about malaria and net usage, particularly in the weeks leading up to the rainy season when the incidences of malaria are going to skyrocket.  It was a good challenge for my language skills and definitely forced me outside of my comfort zone in my village. 

This month has definitely had a different feel in my village because most everyone is fasting for Ramadan.  Adults wake up at 5am to eat and drink water and do not ingest anything until 7:30pm.  However, the amount of work that people need to do each day hasn’t decreased.  Most men in the village are still spending the better part of the day working in the fields and women are still cooking meals for those not fasting (children, pregnant women, the elderly, etc.), doing laundry, cleaning, and having to prepare food to be ready at the earliest possible moment for breaking the fast and dinner at night.   In general people are more tired and there is much less activity in my village.  I’ve been joining the fast for the days that I’ve been in village (though drinking water in private) and it is definitely exhausting.  

I’ve actually found that Ramadan has been a good time for certain types of work (despite my additional exhaustion). I was able to work up the motivation to start a compost pile in my backyard (to be used for future gardening activities).  Other work however probably needs to wait until Ramadan is over.  For example, a baby weighing that my community health worker planned for a few of the surrounding villages was poorly attended last week.  Don’t worry though, there were still a lot of mothers who came with their children.  I even got peed on while picking one baby up from the scale… 

This week, Ramadan ends and there is a large celebration called Korité.  I’ve also made plans with a few other volunteers for work projects.  I’ll be planting Moringa (a very fast growing tree that produces highly nutritious leaves) at a nearby health post and we’ll be setting up a booth in one of the local markets to talk to people about malaria and net care and repair.  

I’ll be in Kolda for about another week and a half before I go back to Thiès for another two weeks of training and a summit for all health volunteers.  I am excited to get the second part of my training because I think it will help me get a better idea of what’s possible over the next two years however I am really not excited about being away from my village for more than two weeks (or the 12 hour car ride between here and Thiès).  Either way, I should have more to report soon.  Happy Trails! 

Mangoes, Attaya, and Mi Famaani: My first 4.5 weeks at Site

Hello World (i.e. the 6 people who have continued to read my blog)!  I have emerged from my village cocoon a beautiful volunteer butterfly, fluent in Pulaar and able to cure the sick children of Senegal.  Ok, obviously not really but I did cut off most of my hair and grow a pretty solid beard.  My first few weeks at site were amazing.  As you can imagine, it’s next to impossible to hit the ground running with work in village; I’m not very confident in my language, I can hardly remember anyone’s name, and there are still a lot of people who have no idea why I am here in Senegal, let alone their fairly remote village.  As a result, I spent a lot of time greeting the different families in my village (there are about 400 people in 30 compounds), getting to know the people in live in my house, reading, sitting, and asking questions.  

I have my own hut and live with the village chief and his (relatively) small family.  He has one wife, five children, three nephews, and one grandchild that live in a 6 hut compound.  There are also 33 cows and an assortment of other livestock that live with us.  Most of the week, two of my brothers and my three cousins spend the nights in Kolda with other family members and go to school.  They are all pretty well educated and three of them are in their final year of high school and will hopefully be going to university in Dakar next year.  They come back to the village on the weekends but most of the time, it’s just me, my host-parents, and one brother and sister in my compound.  I can’t even begin to explain how much I enjoy the peace and quiet with this family compared to my huge family at training.  My family is incredibly nice and generous and it seems like they are excited to have a Peace Corps Volunteer living with them. 

My first few weeks were filled with lots of mangoes, attaya (tea), and miscommunications.  Every time I visited a new compound and introduced myself I left with a bag of mangoes and having drank at least one cup of tea.  My family also has three mango trees of our own.  Mangoes are the best snack ever.  On a hot day, sitting under a mango tree and enjoying the juicy goodness just makes everything feel easier.  The skin is also high in fiber (a serious necessity when enjoying the rice-heavy Senegalese diet).  In my first few days, I also averaged about 9 cups of tea (small, but high in sugar) a day.  I have cut back a lot since then (mostly for the sake of my teeth) but sitting around and making the traditional 3 cups of attaya once or twice a day with my family or other friends in my village is a great way to start conversations and get to know people.  

There were also quite a few misunderstandings due to my limited Pulaar.  I can feel myself starting to understand more and more every day but it’s just going to take a lot of time.  In most cases, when I am directing the conversation and asking questions I can have a good talk with people in my village but if I am trying to understand a conversation between two Pulaar speakers, I am generally lost.  The Pulaar phrase I used the most was probably “Mi famaani” or “I don’t understand.” 

The most frustrating part for me is how similar some words are.  For example, the words for “lightning” and “to lose” are pretty much the same.  Now, I know what you’re thinking.  “Nathan, shouldn’t it be easy to figure out which one people are saying based on context?  What’s wrong you, idiot?”  Normally, I would agree but one day in my village I was having a debate with a young man in my village over which was scarier: climbing on a homemade bamboo ladder or flying in an airplane (don’t worry Mom, I didn’t climb the ladder).  I thought the kid was saying that planes are scarier because of the lightning in the sky.  Turns out he was talking about the plane that was lost on the way to Malaysia.  Congratulations, lost airplane, you have now merited two mentions in my blog and I still have no idea what happened with that story.  

This week, I am staying in Kolda with five other new volunteers for a Pulaar language seminar.  It is nice to have a teacher going through lessons rather than trying to absorb language from the people in my village.  Unfortunately, we are staying at the Kolda regional house.  The house is nice and has running water and internet (sometimes) so I really shouldn’t complain but it is a little crowded with so many people here right now.  I can also honestly say that I miss spending time with my village and with my family.  I go back tomorrow and right after that one of my neighboring volunteers is having a Senegalese style wedding to her fiancé who is visiting for a few weeks.  I will take lots of pictures! 

Sorry about the long post.  Thanks for reading and happy trails!