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!