pcvs like to joke when we go to dakar that we're actually leaving senegal and going to a whole new coutnry. in many ways this is true; dakar is the biggest city in west africa and has in some shape or form everything you miss about home. (except snow, cheddar cheese, spotted cow, family and friends...) but they do have a ton of restaurants (indian, chinese, brazilian, lebanese, vietnamese, etc etc etc) plus n'ice cream, a little slice of heaven offering over 30 flavors of ice cream everyday. so when pcvs come to dakar it takes us a little while to get used to things. (it would kind be like going from chugwater, wyoming to new york for the first time. a lot to take in for both body and mind.) and it's always weird because we tend to blend in better here. there is a huge expat community both american and other western countries, plus the tourists (though trust me, we AREN't tourists in dakar). half the time i don't think the majority of us know what to do with ourselves.
such as been the case for the last week or so i've been here. i had my mid-service doctor's exam (making sure everything is okay, and it is) this past week and so have been hanging out while a few friends cos (go home). we've done the usual; n'ice cream (obama cookies, chocolate pear, tiramisu, pistacio, yummmm....), happy hour, and food glorious food. but that's all good if you're here for a few days (for various reasons, one being that your gi system just got used to eating rice everyday, another, your bank account dwindles) if you're here any longer things start to get a little boring.
so a few friends and i decided to play 'tourist'. (like i said, we're not tourists. once people know we speak the local languages and refuse to speak in french we get treated as something better than a tourist (not getting ripped off big time) but not quite a local (paying the real price)). we went to the grocery store (yes, a grocery store with aisles and a frozen food section.) and bought goat cheese, brie cheese, bread, olives, and red wine (very pricey, but today we are tourists!) then we went to ngor island (where the rich have their second house) and ate our delicious food on the beach. (did i mention that it was alsmost two pounds of cheese?) there, looking out at the ocean and the beach we were struck with how different dakar really is from the village.
teenagers on summer vacation were on the beach playing without adult supervision and not a care in the world. i don't remember the last time my brothers, sisters and cousins got more than an hour or two off from working, chores, or helping in the fields. being able to go to the beach isn't free. it costs 500cfa per person (little over a buck) to get there, then you have to pay for an umbrella and spot. with 500cfa in the village the women buy everything they need for lunch and dinner that day (vegetables, oil, spices etc.) and that is a huge expense. people were friendly and left us alone. we didn't get hassled on the beach like we would if we went to a neighboring village.
as we sat there, we couldn't help admiring the lives the people around us had. after a while though, i began to think about my family back in diambo. how lucky i am to be able to come to dakar when i want to. i've seen so much more of senegal than anyone in my village and have lived in way more comfort. how different life is back in the village where a trip to the weekly market is the big occasion. the disparity between dakar and the rest of senegal is so big. the more dakar seems to build (a new mall in 2010 for example) the more it seems that the villages get left behind. it's hard to take it in (is it just the way development goes? where is the money coming from? who is getting the money? why does over half the population still not have electricity and running water? why does the president need yet another house?)you get torn.
on the one hand i love dakar and everything it gives pcvs from food to company to a break from the stresses of the village and being in another country. but after looking out into the ocean i began to picture my river; the kids playing in it, the women doing their laundry, boats crossing and going to the fields, my dad bringing his horse down to water, maybe nessie in the background, and have realized that diambo and "the village" is senegal for me and that dakar really is a different country. one that i'm glad to visit from time to time but always happier to leave and head back up north.
cheers!
jaime
Friday, August 7, 2009
Friday, July 31, 2009
the apocalypse, babies, vampires, and nessie.
what do these things have in common? nothing really, but they've all never really happened to me in the village until two weeks ago. then diambo just starting getting jiggy with it.
the rainy season has supposed to have come by now but is actually late. so one day, about seven o'clock or so i am taking my third bucket bath of the day before dousing myself in baby powder. seriously, heat rash could be the worse thing in the world. especially traveling heat rash. so i'm taking my bucket bath and notice some storm clouds moving. hurrying along i look up again and come face to face with a orange cloud. i can see the cloud moving. think of planet earth time lapse, but in real life. it moved that fast. and that is no lie. suddenly i hear everyone start yelling and shutters closing up. aka, everyone was hiding but me. so what do i do? dive (literally) into my room and start to wimper. the sky turned a rust color and the only sound was goats screaming. now, i've experienced sandstorms before but that one was really weird, terrifying, and awful. took me an hour to sweep out my room.
fourth of july came and went, and i spent the day celebrating in kedougou where the pcvs there hosted a fantastic party. the next day we went to a waterfall not far from one of my friend's sites (a little jealous, but he doesn't have nessie. keep reading...) when i got back up to site i greeted everyone and then sat down under the shade structure to hang out before lunch. after a while my tocara said "you haven't greeted binta yet, she gave birth while you were gone." this came as a shock to me. indeed binta, my younger sister wasn't around. i had noticed that she was pregnant when i came back home from the states, but i figured she had a few more months to go. not that she wasn't ready to give birth (who would want to be pregnant in 130 degree weather?) so i jumped up and ran to her room and sure enough, binta was laying there with a little bundle of joy, her son sinthian. i was so happy for her, and so happy that everything went well. she had the baby at the local health post, and he weighed in at almost six pounds. (which may sounds small but he is actually one of the healthiest babies i've seen. she took great care of herself during the pregnancy, partly because i kept feeding her extra goodies. to which my little husband is still bitter about). it's great having a baby around the compound. (the first in many, many years). my tocara just beams whenever she holds her grandson (the fourth grandchild, all boys) and it's the cutest things watching my little brothers fuss over the baby. he even likes me, which will probably change once he realizes that all babies six to fifteen months are supossed to be afraid of me. a week later, the village chief's wife who was also pregnant had her baby, another boy. they live right by my hut as well so now there are plenty of babies around. it'll be fun watching them grow up while i'm there. even the kids who were one or two have changed so much and have gotten bigger.
there are a few things me and my fellow northern pcvs are mildly obsessed with. for example; curry onion rings, dance parties, flour fights, bean burgers, and among other things... vampires. so marisa, a fellow volunteer from the north near ourosogui, was visiting my village one day and we got to discussing vampires. of course all my younger brothers were around watching us and so we asked them if they've ever heard of vampires. they said yes, there are people who live in the ground and drink blood. they're very very bad because drinking blood is wona lawol (not the way). my cousins also told me that if i see one they would kill it for ten mille (about twenty bucks). van helsing would be so proud.
finally, nessie. as you all know i'm a big fan of the river that is right by my village. during the hot season i would go swimming once or twice a day. however, now that the river has started to get cloudy and the current has picked up, no one spends any extra time there. everyone stays close to the shore and the littlest kids are washed at home. when i asked about this last year some friends told me it was because of the crocodiles and things that live in the water. they only come out when the river gets cloudy. well, there hasn't been a croc by my village for decades so i never took them seriously. then, everything changed.
i'm sitting in my hut with marisa (she had an eventful visit) and little sileye comes to my door crying. i let him in and he immediately crawls into my arms. he tells me that he's scared of the river and doesn't want to go alone (his mom is doing laundry there)so i carry him down to the river. as we get closer i notice that there are a lot of people on the banks and they're making a lot of noise. i get to a woman and ask her what's up. she points upriver and says a word i have no clue what it means. i look where she pointed and don't see anything. then, after staring at the water for a few minutes i see it.
these are the facts:
-the creature was large, blue-grey in color
-it glided UPRIVER like a whale and would occasionally surface for air
-what broke water was at lease five feet
-following the iceberg theory, there has to be much more under the water that i didn't see
-after interviewing several people i have learned that; it's very big, bites but does not eat people, lives in the water, is red and has boobs.
-it has been confirmed by the french speaking people in my village that it is not a hippo or crocodile.
conclusion: nessie got lost and wound up in senegal.
further action: will try to get her on camera but as we already know, she is very elusive. but if there is anything i've gained in this country it's patience (just try getting villagers to wash their hands... one year of service right there) and i got another nine months.
but i'm staying out of the river for now.
cheers!
jaime
the rainy season has supposed to have come by now but is actually late. so one day, about seven o'clock or so i am taking my third bucket bath of the day before dousing myself in baby powder. seriously, heat rash could be the worse thing in the world. especially traveling heat rash. so i'm taking my bucket bath and notice some storm clouds moving. hurrying along i look up again and come face to face with a orange cloud. i can see the cloud moving. think of planet earth time lapse, but in real life. it moved that fast. and that is no lie. suddenly i hear everyone start yelling and shutters closing up. aka, everyone was hiding but me. so what do i do? dive (literally) into my room and start to wimper. the sky turned a rust color and the only sound was goats screaming. now, i've experienced sandstorms before but that one was really weird, terrifying, and awful. took me an hour to sweep out my room.
fourth of july came and went, and i spent the day celebrating in kedougou where the pcvs there hosted a fantastic party. the next day we went to a waterfall not far from one of my friend's sites (a little jealous, but he doesn't have nessie. keep reading...) when i got back up to site i greeted everyone and then sat down under the shade structure to hang out before lunch. after a while my tocara said "you haven't greeted binta yet, she gave birth while you were gone." this came as a shock to me. indeed binta, my younger sister wasn't around. i had noticed that she was pregnant when i came back home from the states, but i figured she had a few more months to go. not that she wasn't ready to give birth (who would want to be pregnant in 130 degree weather?) so i jumped up and ran to her room and sure enough, binta was laying there with a little bundle of joy, her son sinthian. i was so happy for her, and so happy that everything went well. she had the baby at the local health post, and he weighed in at almost six pounds. (which may sounds small but he is actually one of the healthiest babies i've seen. she took great care of herself during the pregnancy, partly because i kept feeding her extra goodies. to which my little husband is still bitter about). it's great having a baby around the compound. (the first in many, many years). my tocara just beams whenever she holds her grandson (the fourth grandchild, all boys) and it's the cutest things watching my little brothers fuss over the baby. he even likes me, which will probably change once he realizes that all babies six to fifteen months are supossed to be afraid of me. a week later, the village chief's wife who was also pregnant had her baby, another boy. they live right by my hut as well so now there are plenty of babies around. it'll be fun watching them grow up while i'm there. even the kids who were one or two have changed so much and have gotten bigger.
there are a few things me and my fellow northern pcvs are mildly obsessed with. for example; curry onion rings, dance parties, flour fights, bean burgers, and among other things... vampires. so marisa, a fellow volunteer from the north near ourosogui, was visiting my village one day and we got to discussing vampires. of course all my younger brothers were around watching us and so we asked them if they've ever heard of vampires. they said yes, there are people who live in the ground and drink blood. they're very very bad because drinking blood is wona lawol (not the way). my cousins also told me that if i see one they would kill it for ten mille (about twenty bucks). van helsing would be so proud.
finally, nessie. as you all know i'm a big fan of the river that is right by my village. during the hot season i would go swimming once or twice a day. however, now that the river has started to get cloudy and the current has picked up, no one spends any extra time there. everyone stays close to the shore and the littlest kids are washed at home. when i asked about this last year some friends told me it was because of the crocodiles and things that live in the water. they only come out when the river gets cloudy. well, there hasn't been a croc by my village for decades so i never took them seriously. then, everything changed.
i'm sitting in my hut with marisa (she had an eventful visit) and little sileye comes to my door crying. i let him in and he immediately crawls into my arms. he tells me that he's scared of the river and doesn't want to go alone (his mom is doing laundry there)so i carry him down to the river. as we get closer i notice that there are a lot of people on the banks and they're making a lot of noise. i get to a woman and ask her what's up. she points upriver and says a word i have no clue what it means. i look where she pointed and don't see anything. then, after staring at the water for a few minutes i see it.
these are the facts:
-the creature was large, blue-grey in color
-it glided UPRIVER like a whale and would occasionally surface for air
-what broke water was at lease five feet
-following the iceberg theory, there has to be much more under the water that i didn't see
-after interviewing several people i have learned that; it's very big, bites but does not eat people, lives in the water, is red and has boobs.
-it has been confirmed by the french speaking people in my village that it is not a hippo or crocodile.
conclusion: nessie got lost and wound up in senegal.
further action: will try to get her on camera but as we already know, she is very elusive. but if there is anything i've gained in this country it's patience (just try getting villagers to wash their hands... one year of service right there) and i got another nine months.
but i'm staying out of the river for now.
cheers!
jaime
Sunday, June 28, 2009
a good village read...
during the hot season one has more free time than usual so you get a chance to do a lot of reading. i mean you can only nap for so long during the day...so to kill time i do a lot of reading in my spare time. so what's makes a good page turner while living in a village? a couple of pointers...
-do not read anything that involves vivid descriptions of food. the last thing you need is to read a paragraph on a summer picnic full of brats, burgers, corn on the cob, fruit, salad, cheesecake, etc etc etc when you know that you will have rice for lunch rice for dinner and rice again and again and again.
-avoid subjects such as isolation, lonliness, etc etc. epsecially when you're already having a bad day.
-anything magical is awesome and you will have multiple long discussions with other pcvs about the mythology of such magical topics and apply them to current life situations. my patronus, camel. i'm also a pub owning hobbit who entertains friends.
-period piece books are more entertaining when read in accent.
some of my favorite reads are; jane austen's (try the accent), harry potter (though explaining it in pulaar is kinda hard), angela's ashes...appeals to the irish catholic in me, the brother's k (to be read during baseball season), and a few others.
the first of many mosquito net distributions were this past week. this one was a national distribution sponsored by usaid for children under 5. it's goal was to provide complete coverage for senegal. and overall, it was very successful. i helped out at a few different villages distribute nets. the distributions that i'll be doing in a few months will be a great compliment to this distribution. it's pretty exciting to be able to make such a huge impact against malaria.
cheers!
jaime
-do not read anything that involves vivid descriptions of food. the last thing you need is to read a paragraph on a summer picnic full of brats, burgers, corn on the cob, fruit, salad, cheesecake, etc etc etc when you know that you will have rice for lunch rice for dinner and rice again and again and again.
-avoid subjects such as isolation, lonliness, etc etc. epsecially when you're already having a bad day.
-anything magical is awesome and you will have multiple long discussions with other pcvs about the mythology of such magical topics and apply them to current life situations. my patronus, camel. i'm also a pub owning hobbit who entertains friends.
-period piece books are more entertaining when read in accent.
some of my favorite reads are; jane austen's (try the accent), harry potter (though explaining it in pulaar is kinda hard), angela's ashes...appeals to the irish catholic in me, the brother's k (to be read during baseball season), and a few others.
the first of many mosquito net distributions were this past week. this one was a national distribution sponsored by usaid for children under 5. it's goal was to provide complete coverage for senegal. and overall, it was very successful. i helped out at a few different villages distribute nets. the distributions that i'll be doing in a few months will be a great compliment to this distribution. it's pretty exciting to be able to make such a huge impact against malaria.
cheers!
jaime
Monday, May 18, 2009
what do you do when you having stopped sweating in two weeks? the hot season is back...and quite frankly it sucks. for a number of reasons. number one it's hot, like 120 degrees or more everyday. so everything that you normally do during the you still have to do but in the baking sun. number two, because it's so hot you only have about 4 or 5 hours of the day to actually do work (everyone rests between 12 and 5. and i mean rests. i tried getting up to go to work at 4 and my host mother sent me back to my room and wouldn't let me out until it got cooler. yea, i'm an eight year old.) it's hard to get any sort of work done because everyone is fitting in there work at that time. so if i want to do a causerie or a demonstration i have to compete with pounding rice, laundry, dishes, fieldwork, etc. number three, you have a constant battle of staying hydrated and cool. within three days of staying hydrated i upped my water intake from 3 liters to seven. and i'm swimming in the river or taking a bucket bath at least twice, usually three times a day.
there are a few tips i've gathered to help me cope and survive until the rainy season comes.
-dunking your clothes in water works as laundry and ac
-it's okay to have little siblings follow around you with a fan
-working yourself to the point of exhaustion helps you sleep at night
-perfect the ultimate 'hot season cleanse' so you can make a diet book deal when you get back.
-biking 10 k for ice is okay, you'll even become the village ice cream truck
-embrace the heat happies (uncontrollable giggles that occur between 2 and 8 pm)
despite the heat i have been pretty busy the last two months since being back. i've successfully completed building mud stoves in my village for each kitchen area. mud stoves are a more efficient way of cooking (faster, cleaner, safer) and uses less wood than the open camp fires that most people cook over. living in the sahel where there are less and less trees these are a great way to save firewood. i think the stoves were a good idea. as soon as i made them the women started cooking with them, despite the fact that they needed to dry out and sun bake for two weeks. however, i'm taking the fact that using them instead of just letting them sit there shows how much they wanted them. so, a success.
thanks to all who have donated money towards my mosquito nets. because of the overwhelming support of donors in the states peace corps and usaid are doing a massive net distribution throughout senegal. after this distribution children under five will be completely covered by nets with about 50,000 other nets going to peace corps villages. it's pretty exciting to think about how much this could possibly help fight malaria in senegal...it's by far one of the biggest distributions ever done...so thank you! with any luck we'll have the nets by august and distributed within the month. i'll be posting pictures and video of the distributions as soon as it happens. so be on the look out.
cheers!
jaime
there are a few tips i've gathered to help me cope and survive until the rainy season comes.
-dunking your clothes in water works as laundry and ac
-it's okay to have little siblings follow around you with a fan
-working yourself to the point of exhaustion helps you sleep at night
-perfect the ultimate 'hot season cleanse' so you can make a diet book deal when you get back.
-biking 10 k for ice is okay, you'll even become the village ice cream truck
-embrace the heat happies (uncontrollable giggles that occur between 2 and 8 pm)
despite the heat i have been pretty busy the last two months since being back. i've successfully completed building mud stoves in my village for each kitchen area. mud stoves are a more efficient way of cooking (faster, cleaner, safer) and uses less wood than the open camp fires that most people cook over. living in the sahel where there are less and less trees these are a great way to save firewood. i think the stoves were a good idea. as soon as i made them the women started cooking with them, despite the fact that they needed to dry out and sun bake for two weeks. however, i'm taking the fact that using them instead of just letting them sit there shows how much they wanted them. so, a success.
thanks to all who have donated money towards my mosquito nets. because of the overwhelming support of donors in the states peace corps and usaid are doing a massive net distribution throughout senegal. after this distribution children under five will be completely covered by nets with about 50,000 other nets going to peace corps villages. it's pretty exciting to think about how much this could possibly help fight malaria in senegal...it's by far one of the biggest distributions ever done...so thank you! with any luck we'll have the nets by august and distributed within the month. i'll be posting pictures and video of the distributions as soon as it happens. so be on the look out.
cheers!
jaime
Friday, April 24, 2009
Super Troopers
i'm back into the village life routine after a vacation to the dairyland and a trip around senegal with my parents. i can't tell you how proud i am of them. for two people who have never left the states to go to a third world country as their first abroad experience, they were amazing and handled every situation that arose like champs. we were able to spend two days in saint-louis before heading to my village for a few days. the village part of their visit was by far my favorite for a number of reasons. my folks got to meet the people i'm constantly talking about, see where i live, look at the work i'm doing that's making a difference. my village got to meet my family that's always calling me, learn some awesome campsongs, and meet my family.
when we arrived in diambo the whole village came out to greet my folks, the women danced and gave my mom her very own grand boubou which she was able to rock later. i felt a million of emotions the whole trip but in my village i felt how loved i really am. i was surrounded by people who truly cared about me and showed that by the way they welcomed my folks. i've said it before, but i'm saying it again and will keep on saying it; i am so lucky to have the village i do. like i told the villagers, i have one family in america and one in senegal and my parent's visit made that into one family.
after the village visit we spent the remaining days back in saint-louis where we relaxed on the beach, took in the sun shine, and hung out in the second coolest city in senegal (the first being diambo or course). we went on an excursion to the langue de barbarie where we saw hundreds of birds, got a boat ride, and a private lunch on an island which was fish caught moments before we ate them. it was the perfect trip for them- we got to see the senegal that i know and love as well as relax enough were we didn't feel rushed. i was sad to see my parents go but so proud of how they were able to handle the heat, hustlers, foreign languages, among a whole slew of other things. i'm sure they have plenty more stories to share with you, if you ask. (according to joeber that's all they talk about. sorry bro). dad's also put the pictures he took of the trip on my photo site. some shots of my village are incredible, especially the ones of things that are so unique and different that i've taken for granted. the bird park ones are also awesome. so check them out and enjoy!
on another note and soap box. during my vacation many of you asked what you could do to help me. well here it is: a group of about ten volunteers (me included) are doing a mosquito net distribution throughout senegal and are currently raising funds for nets (about 6500 total). malaria is one of the top killers in africa, and the number one killer of children under the age of five in senegal. i'm raising funds for my village as well as the other two diambos next to me. i hope to get enough funds to completely cover these villages aka have enough nets so that every man, woman, child, and donkey (not really donkeys) is able to sleep under a net. the costs of the nets is very inexpensive- each net is only $2 so any contribution goes a long way. the website is
www.AgainstMalaria.com/PCVs6500
from that site you can find my specific donation site or you can donate directly to the cause. either way you're still helping fight malaria in senegal.
my specific site is www.AgainstMalaria.com/jbodden
donating at this site will go for nets that my village will receive.
the rainy season aka mosqutio breeding time is quickly approaching (although it's hard to imagine it with the heat) so the quicker we raise funds the quicker we're able to distribute nets to the villages.
thanks so much!!! cheers!
peace,
jaime
when we arrived in diambo the whole village came out to greet my folks, the women danced and gave my mom her very own grand boubou which she was able to rock later. i felt a million of emotions the whole trip but in my village i felt how loved i really am. i was surrounded by people who truly cared about me and showed that by the way they welcomed my folks. i've said it before, but i'm saying it again and will keep on saying it; i am so lucky to have the village i do. like i told the villagers, i have one family in america and one in senegal and my parent's visit made that into one family.
after the village visit we spent the remaining days back in saint-louis where we relaxed on the beach, took in the sun shine, and hung out in the second coolest city in senegal (the first being diambo or course). we went on an excursion to the langue de barbarie where we saw hundreds of birds, got a boat ride, and a private lunch on an island which was fish caught moments before we ate them. it was the perfect trip for them- we got to see the senegal that i know and love as well as relax enough were we didn't feel rushed. i was sad to see my parents go but so proud of how they were able to handle the heat, hustlers, foreign languages, among a whole slew of other things. i'm sure they have plenty more stories to share with you, if you ask. (according to joeber that's all they talk about. sorry bro). dad's also put the pictures he took of the trip on my photo site. some shots of my village are incredible, especially the ones of things that are so unique and different that i've taken for granted. the bird park ones are also awesome. so check them out and enjoy!
on another note and soap box. during my vacation many of you asked what you could do to help me. well here it is: a group of about ten volunteers (me included) are doing a mosquito net distribution throughout senegal and are currently raising funds for nets (about 6500 total). malaria is one of the top killers in africa, and the number one killer of children under the age of five in senegal. i'm raising funds for my village as well as the other two diambos next to me. i hope to get enough funds to completely cover these villages aka have enough nets so that every man, woman, child, and donkey (not really donkeys) is able to sleep under a net. the costs of the nets is very inexpensive- each net is only $2 so any contribution goes a long way. the website is
www.AgainstMalaria.com/PCVs6500
from that site you can find my specific donation site or you can donate directly to the cause. either way you're still helping fight malaria in senegal.
my specific site is www.AgainstMalaria.com/jbodden
donating at this site will go for nets that my village will receive.
the rainy season aka mosqutio breeding time is quickly approaching (although it's hard to imagine it with the heat) so the quicker we raise funds the quicker we're able to distribute nets to the villages.
thanks so much!!! cheers!
peace,
jaime
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