quick geography lesson. northern senegal is part of the sahel of africa, a band of semi-desert that goes from the antlantic to indian ocean. the sahel is very end of the sahara desert to the north before you get to some pretty awesome jungles and plains. for the most part the sahel is dry and arid and hot, aka the "hell" part of sahel. when i came to senegal everyone kept talking about this rainy season where the sahel grows grass and becomes a savanna, aka the "sa" in sahel. last year during our rainy season i went nuts because it turned green. but by green i mean that it turned puberty green. just a little peach fuzz to show off to your friends. after spending what seemed like an eternity in nothing but sand just this little green was enough to make my day.
this year the rains came late. at first i figured that this meant that it wasn't going to rain as much and that we were going to have a drought. well, the opposite happened. they were late, but man they raged. as i've been told by many reliable pulaars this is the worst rainy season in ten years. it never just rained. it rained, sandstormed, and winded (is that a word? wind blew i what i meant) all at the same time almost every three days for about two months. lesson: be careful what you wish for. i wanted the rain to come and yea, it came.
the river where i used to play and swim and frolic is now a deadly torrent of brown sludge. the bank which used to be thirty feet to the water is now almost overflowing. though watching my bros do backflips into the water is pretty cool. the rice crops were heavily damaged and so the harvest this year is in peril and we're talking the only income many families make (reminicent of wisco's crop loss these past two years). my hut, my poor precious paradise has been beaten badly but is however, still standing (thank god!). although my roof is now sporting grass which is kinda cool. flooding is everywhere and because of standing water the mosquitoes are extra bad this year.
and the bugs. or should i say, the plague of bugs. ever wonder what it's like to have thirty grasshoppers, all about four inches long, dive at you? or look at the floor and suddenly realize it's moving with thousands of beetles? or to put up your bed at night only to be overcome with hundreds of moths, beetles and other critters who find your headlamp irristable? yea, it's sooo much fun. i just love bugs. and i really did until they came in ginormous number.
but it's not all bad.
because of the awesome generosity of family and friends my net distribution is being put to excellent use. my village is putting their nets up early and using them religiously (that's a big alhamdoulillah!) my friends walter, shermann and lilypad are back and they brought two new lizard friends, smithers and gernonimo. hehehe, no more bugs in my room! my tree nursery and trees that i've given out to the village in the past year are growing like crazy. and there is grass...wonderful grass. like full on grizzly adams beard grass. it's so great; the cows and goats are healthy and are able to eat and eat and eat, and the sahel is beautiful. it really is the "sa" in sahel. so right now, i'm enjoying the greenery while it lasts because i know the cold season is coming!!
on a different note. i would love to announce the news that i'm now a grandma. my goat, clementine, has delivered a healthy baby boy, citron. so i'm officially a herder with my own herd of goats. both dam and kid are healthy and will be returning from the island as soon as the river goes back down and is safe to cross.
have a beautiful and wonderful fall, i'll be enjoying the sahel's own metamorphosis.
cheers!
jaime
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
access camp and mosquito nets
these past two weeks have been two of the busiest of my service and two of the most rewarding. so to sum up...
access is a program through the us embassy that teaches english to middle school and high school kids. there are a few programs in dakar, one in thies, and one in zuinginchor. during the summer the embassy puts on a week long camp for each class the peace corps volunteers run along with the access teachers. me and three other volunteers helped out at the thies camp.
the whole week long we did a number of activities to help kids learn english in a fun way. we taught a number of different songs (head shoulders knees and toes, the hokey pokey, if you're happy and you know it), and new english lessons (who am i, songs lyrics, american slang). the kids had only been learning english for a year or so so their level of english was low so at first they were a little shy but after a day or two they really got into the camp and had a lot of fun. it was a great week; it was so much fun teaching kids new games, see them having fun, watch the girls have a confidence those in my village don't have, and have fun myself doing games and the like. i'm really glad i was able to do the camp and i think the program itself is great. it teaches kids english (and very well too, the kids who've been in the program are able to speak much much better than those who simply take english in school). and it is also a way to further the teacher's education as well (many of the teachers get to attend english programs in the states which also helps them get better jobs later in their life).
after the camp, i raced back up north for my village's mosquito net distribution. me and lauren hosted nine volunteers from england who helped raise the other half of the nets. (if you remember, i was raising funds for nets that were two dollars. the nets were actually five (with shipping costs) and a another organization, price waterhouse coopers, raised the shipping costs.) the volunteers came to senegal to help out with the distribution and to see where their nets are actually going. they stayed for four days and three of them were able to stay in diambo with me. they helped out at my distribution and then three others that lauren organized.
the distributions went awesome. we gave out almost one thousand nets to four villages completely covering those villages (aka every one will be able to sleep under a net) the volunteers really enjoyed visiting the different villages and got to experience many aspects of pulaar culture. i really enjoyed having them visit. the kids of course loved them, they got to see a scorpion in my room, dance, eat the local delicacy (rice rice rice) and live like a volunteer. i hope they had a great time and enjoyed being in senegal and my village as much as i enjoyed hosting them.
it's been a busy couple of weeks but like i said earlier, it's been extremely fulfilling. i feel like i've been able to do a few very concrete things and see the effects right away. so much of what i do is hard to actually see the results of so it's difficult to think i'm doing anything at all. it makes me excited to think of what else i can do for the next eight months!
cheers
jaime
access is a program through the us embassy that teaches english to middle school and high school kids. there are a few programs in dakar, one in thies, and one in zuinginchor. during the summer the embassy puts on a week long camp for each class the peace corps volunteers run along with the access teachers. me and three other volunteers helped out at the thies camp.
the whole week long we did a number of activities to help kids learn english in a fun way. we taught a number of different songs (head shoulders knees and toes, the hokey pokey, if you're happy and you know it), and new english lessons (who am i, songs lyrics, american slang). the kids had only been learning english for a year or so so their level of english was low so at first they were a little shy but after a day or two they really got into the camp and had a lot of fun. it was a great week; it was so much fun teaching kids new games, see them having fun, watch the girls have a confidence those in my village don't have, and have fun myself doing games and the like. i'm really glad i was able to do the camp and i think the program itself is great. it teaches kids english (and very well too, the kids who've been in the program are able to speak much much better than those who simply take english in school). and it is also a way to further the teacher's education as well (many of the teachers get to attend english programs in the states which also helps them get better jobs later in their life).
after the camp, i raced back up north for my village's mosquito net distribution. me and lauren hosted nine volunteers from england who helped raise the other half of the nets. (if you remember, i was raising funds for nets that were two dollars. the nets were actually five (with shipping costs) and a another organization, price waterhouse coopers, raised the shipping costs.) the volunteers came to senegal to help out with the distribution and to see where their nets are actually going. they stayed for four days and three of them were able to stay in diambo with me. they helped out at my distribution and then three others that lauren organized.
the distributions went awesome. we gave out almost one thousand nets to four villages completely covering those villages (aka every one will be able to sleep under a net) the volunteers really enjoyed visiting the different villages and got to experience many aspects of pulaar culture. i really enjoyed having them visit. the kids of course loved them, they got to see a scorpion in my room, dance, eat the local delicacy (rice rice rice) and live like a volunteer. i hope they had a great time and enjoyed being in senegal and my village as much as i enjoyed hosting them.
it's been a busy couple of weeks but like i said earlier, it's been extremely fulfilling. i feel like i've been able to do a few very concrete things and see the effects right away. so much of what i do is hard to actually see the results of so it's difficult to think i'm doing anything at all. it makes me excited to think of what else i can do for the next eight months!
cheers
jaime
Friday, August 7, 2009
a day away in senegal
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
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, 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
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