The Rehr View: 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!