Independence Day!

The 4^th of July one of the holidays where you are almost guaranteed too see all of your PCV friends in one place. We have small get togethers for things like Easter, Christmas, and Cinco de Mayo. Usually these consist mostly of people within the same region as you and a couple outliers. The 4^th however, is held every year in Kedegou. This is in my opinion the most beautiful region of the country. I went down with 6 other crazy kids in a 12 hour or so sept place ride. The ride itself was an adventure. With some of my best friends we made this long usually uncomfortable trip a pre-party. This years celebration was especially important to my stage as it was the last time that many of us would all be in one place. (My stage begins COSing in August.) We arrived on the 2^nd ready for a dance marathon. It was great to see everyone arriving and sharing what we have been up to and where we are going. The day of the third I went with a bunch of volunteers to a hotel where they were staying which had a pool. It's so nice to be in a pool. I also managed to jump into the river, immediately, realizing it was deep and the current was fast. Luckily a guy had been watching me and was ready to pull me out and tell me how stupid I was in Wolof. It was a crazy day, but not as crazy as the 4^th.

The Kedegou crew did an amazing job at decorating and preparing lots of food! We had all sorts of dips, beans, and PIG! It was so delicious. We danced until the early hours of the morning. The were of course beverages aplenty. The infamous Royal Dutch, the cheapest and most disgusting beer on the plant was bought in a large enough amount for a small army. Which is not far from what it was destined to serve. They also made a delicious local concoction called G-sap. Gin Bissap. It's really sweet and until you have a few bags there is no telling how strong it is. I believe my dance moves and level of voice showed it to be far stronger than I had anticipated. This wonderful evening included a mud fight, paint fight, glow stick breaking, fireworks, and lots of smiling faces :)

The day of the 5^th there was defiantly an air of “we need to rest”. In true form after sleeping in a bit, we all helped clean up and got back to celebrating. There were some great instrumentalists there, and we took turns singing if we knew the words. There were also a couple groups of people who went on little expeditions. Some of my friends went on a river float, but as I had scared myself in the river I chose another course. I went with a group to hike to one of the amazing waterfalls. It was a bit of a hike and when I got back I was soaked. It was absolutely gorgeous and one of my favorite places in country. I believe from my site mate the phrase “Kraused” was coined on this expedition. I have a tendency to do my own thing, so when I disappeared it was strange to those who didn't know me. Even stranger yet was when I popped out of the woods next to term after bashing open a termite mound to see the different castes inside. I had a great day! I am sure the phrase means something along the lines of my enhancement of any and all experiences.

The next day it was time to go home. We counted our losses, (for me sunglasses and a skirt), and said goodbye to our friends. Some of them for the last time in Senegal. I'm sure many of us will see each other again in the states. It was an absolutely fabulous time. The ride home was horrible and it took me 2-3 days of recovery at the regional house before I dared go back to site with my newly acquired wounds and skin infections (see the Frog Blog). I wish I could come back next summer to do it again, but then it wouldn't be the same without all the people who came in and will leave the country with me.

The rains are HERE!!

In Senegal the dry season is just that, dry. It is hard to find water for animals and gardens. If a village only has wells all of the water must be drawn. In villages which have advanced slightly, pipe systems exist. Water must still be filled into bucket or large pans and carried to the desired location but it is surely easier than pulling from a well. My grandmother has permanent scars on her hands from pulling so much water. Very few people own a water hose. They are not of high quality, are hard to attach to the spout head, and are generally only for large scale farms. I am lucky to be in a village with a water system. This ensures our water to be cleaner and provides easier access.

Its a great relief when the rainy season comes. Though it does not come soon enough for all. The vegetation is greatly reduced until the rains start. My area looks like a desert and many of the domesticated animals die. It only takes one or two big rains before everything bursts to life. Animals have water, large scale grain and bean fields are planted, and millions of insects and other creatures begin to reveal themselves. One day while jogging I had to stop to photo a group of frogs that had gathered in a large pot hole in the road. They were just doing there thing, and being very noisy about it!

I love the seasonal pools and rivers that form. In these you can see animals coming for a drink, birds coming to eat all the insects that have gathered, and more often than not a lot of naked kids having one of the best days of their childhoods. It's a beautiful sound to hear all of the kids laughing and playing in a resource we take for granted at home. It's also really nice to have them out of my hut haha. These seasonal water holes can be troublesome. Last rainy season my site mate and I had to walk through one to get to her village. When it starts to get over your waist and you can't see to the bottom, you really begin to wonder what else is in there with you. I personally recall the movie Anaconda. I'm lucky to be next to what is considered a pretty good road. In the rains it is unlikely that I'll be stuck at site. I may occasionally be stuck in a mud hole, but I must say the guys here are great about getting out and pushing. I have only had to push one car, and I chalk it up to an experience I would never have had in an American road.

I also enjoy not having to water my garden. If it goes more than 3-4 days without rain I will do it. The months of July to September generally have rain often enough that I can be a little lazy. The constant high humidity helps keep the ground from drying out too fast. I have tried to show villagers this is especially true when garden beds are covered in peanut shells. The shells are often not used for anything and they improve the soil quality. Every once in a while a peanut plant grows. I consider that a plus as well as it can serve as a trap crop for nematodes, that would otherwise go after my vegetables.

There are some other major disadvantages to the season. Hand washed clothes may not dry. Things mold quickly. Fungus grows everywhere. On my bed, in my garden, even on my skin. Mites have infested my mattress and my whole body itches. I just put it out on sunny days and it seems to at least knock them down for a while. I am not fond at all of all the weird skin things. I have gotten used to them though. I know when a blister is from too much sun, a blister beetle, or the ones I get that go away after a week or so without much damage. I don't know what causes them but they are pretty harmless. I was afraid my chest was going to have permanent scars from a group of them, but after time and a little more sun the marks faded. The worst are the never healing wounds. We are slow healers here. Our immune systems are not quite up to par. I have seen some pretty bad wounds. My current ones really are nothing. It is well known among the PCV community that you take care of your wounds in the rainy season. I have to disinfect it daily and occasionally apply some antibacterial ointment. They can really get out of hand. This one is two weeks old, and much better than it started. I must say regardless of it all, I love the rainy season. It reminds me of home to hear the thunder storms, and fall asleep to the rain. (It's also a sign the food will get better soon!)

Latrine Project

So I'll just poo in the yard yea?

My village has about 1300 people. There were about 5 latrines that I knew of in the village. I am not a health volunteer, but I saw this as a major need in my area that I could help with. Through donations from my family and friends, The St. Paul's Ladies Sodality Club, and The New Alsace Legion I was able to give my village more latrines. I combined this money with a grant I wrote through Appropriate Projects. In total I was able to build 13 latrine and pay for 2 members of my community to go to a basic health and sanitation training.

The project was amazingly simple. I think was due to the genuine need of the community for the structures. I asked each family to dig the hole for the latrine and contribute a small dollar amount to ensure their commitment to the project. The money went towards paying the mason for labor. It went really fast. All of them were built in less than 2 months time.

People from the village often came to my room to thank me, even those who did not receive a latrine in their own home! I gave priority to the elderly and households with large numbers of children. My father was able to point these out to me and went house to house with me to collect the money and explain the project.

I would write another grant if I only had time. They do not build things in the rainy season here because it is too likely for materials to be wasted. For example, cement getting wet, or a hole that was dug filling with water. I hope my replacement does a couple rounds of latrines in their two years. If they did almost my whole village would have a clean place to use the bathroom. This would decrease the amount of fecal matter in the streets, the likelihood of it getting onto the food, and hopefully raise awareness of diseases vectored through waste.

This was one of my most fulfilling projects. It went smoothly, people were grateful, and I think it can help the long-term overall health of the village. I would recommend all volunteers in similar situations to take advantage of the available grants and to voice the situation of your village across the internet. This is a cause well worth contributing to and everyone comes out on top!

There are rocks over the hole to keep out mosquitoes

This is how we do it

I've had some requests for more of my daily life. Every PCV is different, but as a Sustainable Ag volunteer we all have some things in common. So this is how we do it :)

Wake up in the morning feelin' like P Diddy, grab my glasses I'm out the door, I'm 'bout to hit bush city, before I leave brush my teeth with a litre of salts 'cause the next time I'm in my hut there can't be no halts . OK thank you Ke$ha but really on to the story. (also that was a reference to diarrhea

PCV memory is like that of a person with Alzheimer's. There are those of us who manage without an agenda, and those of us who spend half our days looking for our keys. I'm somewhere in between. I have an agenda, but I also have 3 keys in random places to find at any time when I have lost (usually temporarily) my normal set. I write down everything from meetings to clean your room, to text Eric.

Generally, I am split between my village, my Master farmers village (not all PCVs have one, and some are in their own village), and the regional house. In village I wake up and greet my family as I get water. Then I go for a jog. Sometimes if I'm working at the Master Farm I'll just jog there, it's like 6-7 Km. If I stay in my village I will then either clean various things in my room, visit my counterparts, work in my garden, or like now write a blog which I will later post when I get to the city. I also take the hours of 12-3 for cooking my lunch, napping and listening to music with my brothers. Sometime I do non-sus ag stuff like go to the health post, or talk to families about malaria.

If I do go to the Master Farm I will help make vegetable and tree nurseries, survey for insect problems, and make future plans with my awesome site mates and Fatou. We spend a good deal of time there just talking and waiting for her delicious yet stomach breaking lunches.

This is us seeding her farm

After nap/music time, I will go back out to the fields. If I don't have field work I spend a lot of time chillin' with the ladies as they shell peanuts and gossip. Sometimes they gossip about me until I pick up on what's going on. I think it's there way of seeing if I am paying attention.

In the evening I enjoy holding Fatou my little sister or playing with her and Bussa my niece until one of my moms yells at us for too much giggling. Then I read until I am sleepy enough to pass out. As of late there has been a camel spider in my room. It will run up to the light crawl up my arms or legs and freak me out. They don't bite but they are fast and creepy looking. I killed one last night very gently so I could take pictures. I know I am an Entomologist after all right!

The regional house is where we go to use the internet, have meetings, get supplies in the surrounding city, and socialize. There is also an office in Kaffrine which is closer to me. I find that some visits to the house end with me getting a lot of work done while others end with having only done the socializing aspect. I write it off as necessary for mental health. It is so nice just to talk to other volunteers about what they are doing and brainstorm what we can do together. It's also been the location of some pretty sweet stress relief sessions that carry on to the wee hours of the morning.

This lady is the JAM! She is a bouncer/bartender and protects me from all of Kaffrine ;)

There are days when as a volunteer with more time on the clock I go to other volunteers villages and help them give trainings. I have done this with Lorraine in January which I wrote about and again just this week. I have a new site mate named Ann. She asked me to come and help her get a garden going. We showed her family some techniques and planted a nice vegetable nursery. As a health/ environmental education volunteer the garden should be very useful to her.

AND THAT'S HOW WE DO IT!

Senegal to Americ and back

I had not initially planned on a trip to America during my service. So many things were happening in my family in the month of May that I simply could not resist the use of my vacation time. Thanks again to mom and dad for fronting the travel costs! I was very excited to go as I made my reservations. I looked forward to my cousin Lea's wedding, Sara's 16^th birthday, my mother birthday and mother's day, as well as Memorial day weekend. Though as the time approached I got a little scared. I hadn't been home in over 600 days. Just under 2 years, and I wasn't sure if I was going to be the same person. Would I randomly talk in Wolof, eat with my hands, or make an off color comment? When I finally saw American soil though all my worries were gone and I was glad to be home.

Miss these guys every day!

While I was there I went to the above mentioned events as well as so much more. I talked to elementary, middle and high school classes, went 4-wheeling, canoeing, shooting, boating with dad, 2 concerts (one at which I crowd surfed to the stage!), and so much time with family and friends. It was so great to see my brothers and sisters and how much my nieces and nephews had grown up. I caught up with my cousins, and spent a lot of time with Sara. I also got to see my best friend Jess who flew in from Portland just for me :). The ease with which people can travel was refreshing.

I had some great days working with my dad and seeing wildlife. Everything was so green! My family vacation to Lake Cumberland was also a highlight of the trip I won't forget. We went out on the lake and saw Mammoth Caves. We also stayed out late to see a moon-bow over a waterfall. It was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen.

I relished as much meat and cheese as I could. I even took time to cook some Senegalese food for my family. I finally had Penn Station and Skyline, omg soooo good! I got to eat at some other great restaurants too, and was fully satisfied by the time I had to go. I was there for a whole month and it was just enough time to see almost everyone. I did miss my friends and family in Senegal though.

I knew my friends were waiting for me here and that my family was hoping I would actually come back lol! I had some trouble getting back home but I'm not even getting into that until it is resolved. There will either be a future posting of Peace Corps caring for its' volunteers, or how little they really care, we will see. When I finally got here I was so happy to see my friends and it was so great giving gifts to my family. It is so cute to see my little baby siblings in frilly American dresses. Kids are still coming to my hut this day asking for more toys. I have some hidden in my trunk that I'm waiting to hand out so they aren't too overloaded. I also stocked up on some goodies for my friends and I, so don't worry I'm not starving yet!

There were a lot of feelings I had in America that I hadn't expected to have. For example, I was really annoyed when people asked about the animals in my area. Yes, I live in Africa. No, there are not large animals like lions and elephants here. They are all being wiped out. Habitat loss and poaching are clearing the plant of these mega charismatic beasts. I was shocked to find that people had no idea that many of these animal aren't just endangered but some of them are down to less than 100 individuals in the wild. 100 individuals is considered to be the bare minimum of animals needed to continue a species due to the need for genetic recombination.

I was also disgusted by the wastefulness. Half full plates being thrown away, gigantic portions well beyond what is necessary to survive, or even to live healthily, and all of the plastic. There is so much excessive packaging on everything. Why do all the fruits and veggies need containers? I hope I find a nearby farmers market when I get home. The first and only trip I took to the mall I almost had a panic attack. The consumerism is disgusting and so many things are completely unnecessary. They seemed to me the perfect symbol of American laziness. Why is America obese? Maybe because we have machines to do everything for us so we have more time to watch TV. I'm sorry, but seriously after a week I wanted to throw the TV off the roof. There is so much out there and so many things to do. I don't understand watching a box for 4-6 hours a day. I didn't own a TV in college and now I'm glad I didn't or I may have become just as addicted.

I was also appalled by the excessive use of energy. Lights left on during the day, TV's an radios on that no one is listening to, car rides just out of boredom, and I know this is crazy but it seemed weird to me all the fuel used to keep the yard “pretty”. I don't mean to rip on my homeland, but I hope when I return I keep the ideals I have learned here and don't abuse the resources we have such easy access to at home just because I can. People in Senegal have a minimal trash system and no recycling. I recycled everything at home and see no excuse for people who don't. I want to enjoy a good quality of life while I am alive and I don't mind working a little to ensure that future generations can have that too.

Overall, I feel I must end with this; Despite the things I don't like about America I still can't wait to get back.

So you Think Monkeys are Cute

As you know if you have been reading my blog, one of my main projects is to work with a woman named Fatou Willane. We have had a very rocky relationship. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that we did not choose to work with each other but were told to work with each other by Peace Corps. She is part of the Master Farmer Program. The objective is to give her everything she needs to have a beautiful and prosperous field that will serve to show other farmers in the area technologies that they may incorporate into their own farms to increase productivity. In some ways the program works. We have demonstrations in vegetable crops and open field days in the rainy season showing some of the best ways to take care of field crops. This includes things such as spacing, thinning, weeding, and pesticide application and alternatives.Although  no farmers could actually afford to do what she does on the large scale, just parts. 

It has also shown many volunteers that even with seemingly endless funds there are problems here that just cannot be solved. Farmers in Senegal have been burning their fields since their great grandparents time and before. It is nearly impossible to convince farmers that this is not the best practice. I cannot for the life of me get it into Fatou's head why this is bad. It removes the vegetation that could be reincorporated into the soil as nitrogen and each year villages or parts of them are burnt down due to out of control fires.

An unusual problem I had was a monkey. This is not unusual to the Senegalese these animals have always been pests. I had never seen one near my village but they appear to be coming back. My site mate saw a whole troop of them the other day. Fatou and I had a beautiful field going. We had inter-cropped eggplant with corn; as well as having cabbage, hot pepper, and jaxatu (Google it). This was all planted inside the drip irrigation system we had installed to preserve water. Then the monkey came. It would pull of ears of corn, squash tomato, takes bites out of the eggplant and then toss one and move on. It also chewed the water cans and the very expensive drip irrigation. I had no idea how to get rid of a monkey as I had no firearm.

We tried a scarecrow. Nothing the monkey was not that stupid. We tried putting poison in a bucket of water. We assumed it was there for water as much as food, but alas it was too smart for that too. Finally, one of her employees borrowed a rifle. He was a poor shot and I really wish I could have done it myself, bit PCV's are forbidden to handle firearms. If we could you see, all the taxi and moto drivers would be dead (they are the scum of Senegal). I thought though maybe the sound of being shot at would do something. It didn't the monkey just kept on coming.

While I was at home I thought maybe I could hang aluminum foil or pie pans to scare the monkey and was ready to try this upon my return. When I went to visit Fatou the first time I was shocked. Her field had nothing left but trees. I asked what had happened. She said the squirrels had come too and were chewing the drip irrigation and since everything was getting ruined she decided to stop everything till I came back.

Back to square one. We have made a new vegetable nursery and seeded our millet and sorghum crops. When things begin to fruit I honestly don't know what we'll do. I'm in favor of hiring one of the French men who frequent the nearby bush hotel for hunting and have them kill the little buggers. I'm open to any other suggestions anyone out there may have.

The Election and Associated Riots

When a developing country comes to a point where the constitution dictates the time has come to have an election all hell breaks loose. This is what happened from January through March of this year in Senegal. The people of Senegal were angry and willing to point fingers in any direction. I will say before I go on that no PCVs were seriously hurt due to the civil unrest. I experienced three events in this time which served as visuals of this unrest. The first was the riot in Kaolack when the late President Abdulaye Wade came for a visit. People were running like crazy throught he streets. The police came and fired gas at them. I got the shot below from the safety of the roof of the Kaolack regional house. When the presidential candidate left things immediately calmed down.

After this event I knew it would be better to stay in the bush, but I didn't. One day I decided to go to the market. I smelled smoke and saw policeman and knew I needed to get out of there. I called our security director and he told me to get back to the house. I followed his instructions almost exactly. I had to take a little peek as I found a taxi. It turns out either by "electrical failure" or malintent the front 1/3 of the market had been burnt down. This was a major blow to the cities economy. My favorite seed store happened to be in this area. Lucky for me they were able to relocate.

The last experience I had with the riots before I literally stayed in village only until it was over was a bad one. We were driving down the road one morning on the way to the market to get some veggies. A group of outraged teens started throwing bricks into the road just ahead of us while others started rollingin tires. This is what they use to start fires. Our cab hit it in reverse and we got out of there. Unfortunately on the next road was yet another fire. We turned down a third street and were almost back to our house when another driver waved to us. He told our driver there was another fire just ahead. We turned and took yet another street before finally getting back to our house. It was scary and I can't say I have ever experienced anything like it.

When it's all said and done, the good guy won, the old guy accepted it, and the country calmed down. I am now safe to travel, go to the market, and live the way I had the previous 15 months.

Trips to Gambia

Over the course of my service in Senegal I have done quite a bit of traveling. Before my site mate left she decided to introduce me to the country inside of Senegal, Gambia. After going with her I have been a couple of more times to enjoy the culture and scenic beauty the country has to offer. Kourtney and I just went for a night. It's about a 30K bike ride from my house, so we went out into the forest and camped. In the morning we biked out to the river for our breakfast.This was in the town of Kauur. Then we turned around and went home. It was a short sweet trip.

Me and Kourt by the Gambian River

After

The next time I went I was accompanied by two great friends. I met up with Jason in Koungel where we stayed with a friend. In the morning we took a bus down to Wassu. It was a luma day and the streets were busy. Spencer met us there and we embarked on our mission. It took us a little while but eventually we found Fatou Cisse. She may be old and a little blind, but she gives great Pulaar scars. These are ethnic scars created by cutting the skin and rubbing in ash.  We all got them on our chests and I also had them done behind my ears. It was a dirty process but the final product is like a tattoo.

Before

After our fun scarring experience we went to the local bar and drank cashew liquer. That night we took a horse cart back into Senegal and spent the night in Spencer's village. It was nice and they fed us a good dinner we were all hungry for. In the morning Jason and I returned to our respective regions of the country. It was this trip that made me realize how easy I could get from my site to Kolda. So, a month later I embarked on another adventure through the Gambia with three other girls and our friend Mike.





This turned out to be a long adventure. Amy and I left Kaolack and went to Kafffrine where my bike was. Yasmine, Emily, and Mike met us there. We then biked to my village to spend the night. We made ourselves some dinner hung out with my brother and got a good nights rest because we knew we had a few long days ahead of us. We woke up and got an early start biking south to Nganda. We stopped here for breakfast. From Nganda to Kauur we passed through a small national forest. The same one Kourtney and I had camped in. Mike had some bike troubles but was able to make it to the river town and get it fixed. I fell off my bike once. The road was sandy and rough. A real workout. We hung out in Kauur and went swimming in the river. Once we were cooled we continued on East. Although we had lost Mike somewhere we weren't really worried. He's a big guy and speaks like six languages. We figured he'd catch up. We set up camp under a tree in the bush. Passed around a bottle to congratulate ourselves on reaching our destination for the day. I thought from where we were at this point it was about 50K to Wassu. It was 50 miles. This made for a long morning. We were all exhausted by the time we got there. We scored free lunch at the bar, maffee (peanut sause on rice). Then we went to see ancient rock circles from 600 AD. I went in and touched the rocks, took pictures, and checked out the museum. These circles were made for religious beliefs. Often the are in some relation to astrology. There are stories that these circles were made for burials, and for human sacrifices. It was very cool. Then Yasmine and Emily got Pulaar scars. Mike finally caught up to us and we moved on South in the heat. Mike got a flat tire and we ended up stuck in a village waiting on him for a while. We had meant to make it to Pata in Senegal this night but we only got as far as the Gambian river. We crossed the river in a boat at sunset. It was amazing. An absolutely gorgeous site. We biked across some rice paddys which was something I had never seen before, and set up camp. In the morning we biked further South into Brikima Ba. The group stopped for breakfast but I moved on as I didn't like biking in the afternoon. I biked a long time by mysekf and in Soulabali. Here I ended up sitting with Pulaar children for five hours. I leaned a little Pulaar though! At this point The girls caught up with me, but Mike had jumped in a car and given up. Amy, Yasmine, and I finished the trip alone. It was at this point a monkey ran across the road! In all it was 240K. We were all sore but not too tired to eat lots of chicken, re-energize, and dance, for a friends passover party. We had made it!! We decided to take a car home after a few days of abusing a nearby hotels pool :)

This is the ferry we took on the way home.  They put on all the cars and people and cruise across.

IST- In service training

This year I was invited to teach the incoming trainees at their in service training (IST). Compared to the previous training, this time it was after they had been to and seen their sites. This changed things as they knew more about what they were doing here. My talks focused on pest identification and how to slove pest problems. It was great to see the newer volunteers and hear how they were liking their sites. It was also more challenging for me as they had a lot more questions. The days went too fast and I felt that I didn't get much time with some of the people from other regions, but overall it was a success. Trainings are structured so that the days are full of sessions on different topics. When I wasn't teaching, I went to sessions other volunteers were leading and gave any input I could. The evenings were free time for volunteers to network with each other and discuss what they had taken in. This was a great time for socializing both with the new volunteers and PCVs from my stage who I didn't see often. This fall I will leave country before the new stage arrives so I won't be involved with either PST or IST. It was a lot of fun and I have always enjoyed teaching. I hope my presentations helped the new stage and that the rest of their service is awesome!

Keep those Seeds!

My site mate and I decided to do a training in her village on seed storage. We did it in January. It was a little late to do give the talk, as they had all harvested between October and December. The need to keep their seed until next rainy season was none the less a very important topic to discuss. We discussed multiple technologies and pesticides that are generally used here. We also taught new and safer technologies that they can adapt if they so choose. Some of the methods we taught will not only be safer but are cheaper as well. This allows the farmers in the community to protect themselves and have a higher amount of usable seed for the next year. The village was very interested and asked a lot of questions. It felt great to be discussing  topic that the community felt was of importance. It went very well over all, and I think the community got a lot of information out of it. This is definately a training session that I would do again. I hope to do a pre-harvest talk in my own village next year before I head back to America.

It felt great to share our knowledge. It was particularly satisfying to correct misconceptions attendees had about pesticides. This was one of the few trainings where we combined community interest, a need for information, and we felt satisfied at the end of the day. Nothing is quite as nice as feeling like you're doing your job, and doing it well.

Tamxarit- New Years December 6th

This is the holiday celebrating the Muslim New year. It is celebrated much like other big holidays here with abig oily dinner and lots of tea drinking. There was one big difference though. Everyone under 25 or so cross dressed. Yea, it was amazing! My brother wore a bra, girls tank top, and skirt. My sisters wore various mens clothing and used ash to make beards on their faces. After getting all dressed up it was time to parade around town in their costumes while of course beating a drum. It was the first time I staed up with my family after midnight. I thought the whole thing was especially ironic as homosexuality is illegal here. I also couldn't figure out why the tradition had started in the first place. Unfortunately I had no camera at the time so you will all just have to use your imagiations!

Just another Saturday

What do your Saturdays consist of? My are never the same. For example in early November I went to visit a volunteer (Spencer Macklin) in his village. I had no idea what we would be doing but I expected we would mix in some work with our visit so I didn't have to take vacation time. It's not that I didn't want ot do work, but digging garden beds and discussing soil erosion gets old. However, I was in for a pleasant surprise. Spencer frequently works with his village doctor. So we woke up a little early went over to the hospital and found that we would be giving polio vaccinations to the kids in his village. It is a three dose vaccine. Children who had gotten it once immediately recognized our coolers and ran screaming. Usually a father or older brother would bring them back laughing. It was just an oral vaccination so I was able to administer it myself. It made me feel like I was doing something important, something worthwhile, something that I thought I would be doing when I joined the corps. It's just a difference between the instant gratification of knowing a child is now protected and the long wait to know if an agricuturte demonstration was effective. It was a great Saturday.


Like I mentioned not all my Saturdays are the same. Another Saturday I spent with my Master Farmer. A farmer chosen to demonstrate and explain new technologies to locals. We planted a vegetable pepiniere, contacted a mason for repairs, and then had a nice lunch. In the afternoon I had to fix the lock on my door, clean my room, do some laundry, and read some Stephen king. That was a really productive day.
Yet another Saturday consisted of me going house to house to check on farmers I had worked with. Working on the report I have to do for seed extension, and doing pedicures with my moms and sisters. It's never the same here. Life moves on in whatever direction it can take. It does make time management difficult but I like it. I have the freedom to decide if it is a Saturday for Ag, for cleaning, for writing reports, or as last Saturday for celebrating a friends birthday. I often forget what day of the week it is here, but Saturdays will always stick out they are special whether its a work day or a fun day, and usually I get reminded by other volunteers or people at home. Imagine if your Saturday's weren't always days off. There is no hump day, no end to a week, just times when you work, times when you don't, and times when the work is so satisfying it makes you feel guilty to call it work.

You ate what?!

The title implies another story of me eating an animal we do not consider edible at home. However, I had my thanksgiving dinner in Dakar at the home of the new Senegalese American Ambassadors. Yea. It was so nice. As volunteers we rarely take off our sandals and put on our classy attire. Some of us actually don't have any. There was a lot of borrowing and sharing going on before the day was over! The food was AMAZING! There was everything Thanksgiving should have. The pumkin pie, the turkey, the dressing (which I didn't get any of....), and the mashed potatoes. There were also many non-traditional dishes that volunteers put together. Just by looking at some of the food you could tell it was made by a PCV and not one of the Expats or PC staff. I personally made fruit salad and brought it in tupperware. Sorry mom, I tried to be classy it just didn't work out. The food did get eaten though!! A favorite moment of the night was seeing a fellow PCV bringing over a plate full of chocolate cake, various pies, and excessive amounts of whipped cream. Classic. Another volunteer was talented at the piano and even busted out the mario brothers :) The party was nice but being the youngsters we are we had to go out for more! Karoke! I think that's how you spell it. If not let me explain. In front of a bunch of people me and new friend Lisa belted out Whitney Houstons' "I'm Every Woman". It was a great night. After all the festivities were over we slept in and took our time getting to the Artisinal Festival. There were many hand made super awesome things there. All very authentically made in Senegal. Yes family I got you stuff! There was jewelry, wooden carvings and masks, baskets, purses, and even clothing. One volunteers tailor was there to make sure it really was the perfect fit. Dakar was great but travel is always rough, so on the way home I took a pit stop in Kaolack. Then I found it time to go back to my meager little hut and chow on millet :)

Tabaski 2 and Cold season begins!

This year we once again celebrated the life of Abrahams son Isaac. I think. Well we killed three sheep and wore our fancy clothes. No pictures this year though :( It's too bad because my little sisters hair was so cute! The celebration was on the 7th, however we began preparing on the  6th. Meaning the late night drumming, high energy children, and dancing had already begun. This continued to the 9th. I wore Senegalese clothing all day the 7th and on the nights of the 8th and 9th. My clothes this year were hot pink :) My sister goes to a school in Dakar for design and she really like my outfit. My dad said he liked it but I thin khe was just being nice. My mom cane to me mid day on the 7th and put half a heart and part of a sheep leg in my hand and was like "cook this" then we'll have 2 more lunches! It was a lot of eating. The meat I cooked was delicious thanks to my knowledge of cooking deer meat, I was able to prepare myself a tasty treat in my hut. I didn't enjoy cutting off the fat and removing the bone, but it was nice for those things to not be in the final meal for once. Finally, the night of the 9th as I'm trying to study for my GRE my family announces there is going to be a few more days of celebration becasue my sister is getting married. This I found odd as she already has a kid, and claimed to have a husband in Dakar. Confusing, I think my dad was just really desperate to get her out of our house. I decided it was in my best interest not to tell her new mother inlaw even though the results could have been interesting.... Due to the importance of my exam I chose not to stay in village for another few nights of drum pounding into the morning hours. I know my sister will be mad, but there wasn't really any other option in my mind. Meantime, in Kaolack the new volunteerss have installed. It is a time for me to share my great knowledge of culture and technical work with them. It's so funny to hear people saying what I was thinking a year ago and how some of it hasn't really changed.It's cool enough I need to wear a shawl at night all the way down to 70! Still gets up to 100 in the afternoon though. This requires careful layer planning for going out. It reminds me a little of fall in Indiana. I bet I'll die of cold when I go back there! New season means new work. I plan on completing an insect guide for volunteers as well as doing some small trainings in my village and demonstrations with my master farmer. she is getting better all the time. This season she started her vegetable nursery all on her own and even used ash and manure to boost the soil, go Fatou! Hopefully I will get my camera fixed soon and have some pictures to put up here.

Breakin in the Newbies

The first week of October I had the pleasure of hosting a brand new volunteer. She had been in country for a month at her training site. I was happy to show her how the next two years of her life were going to be travel and food wise. It was fun bc I had forgotten so many of the things that the PC doctors and security had told us not to do. I'll explain them as I go. First, we went into Kaolack from Thies. Then I took her along with many others to one of the few restaurants in town that are decent. She later told me this was the best meal of her time with me lol :) Then it was to the garage and I didn't think about the fact that she had never been to a Senegalese garage. She handled the men screaming at us and filthy conditions quite well. Then we were off to my village. We just had time to settle our things and shower before a dinner of millet and milk, one of the best things I ever get to eat at site. Then she reminded me we aren't supposed to eat milk because it's not pasturized and can transmit tuberculosis. We continued eating anyway. The next day I attempted to take her to see her village which I had only been to twice. Only one from my village and I got lost that time. This time we didn't get lost but we did have to walk through a seasonal river. This is when she reminded me that the freshwater could harbor schistosomiasis and other parasites. On we went. Finally, we reached her village and after not having breakfast we were happy to have maffe for lunch. It's white rice with peanut sauce. She will probably eat it every day like my family does. Then we tried to make it home before dark but we weren't fast enough. We got stuck in my master farmers village and she let us shower there. We didn't have any other clothes though so we slept in our sweaty river water clothes. She did have a nice dinner of millet and beans in peanut sauce. I thought it was great anyway. My visitor was too hungry to complain much. We started out the next morning and were able to catch a car to my village after taking a look at the farm. Then I wanted to show her her master farmers village and let them meet. We got my bother to hook up a horse cart for us and he drove us there and back. We both got sunburnt and were so tired by the time we got back we slept through lunch. After we had rested I showed her 2 of the fields I'm doing research in and then we got some nice showers and clean cloths right before dark. My family then gave us a dinner of millet with an eggplant from my garden on top. We had paid them extra for food so I was kind of mad. Then my mom brought in milk! and it was sour! She spit it out and I quuickly returned it to my family. So I can see why the restaurant was her best meal. The next day I took her to my road town and we saw what will be the sub region office ina month or two and most importantly THE BAR! We hung out till after lunch, we were full from bean and egg sandwiches and then went back to Kaolack. In the city we showered again and put on our dancing shoes. There is a club in Kaolack and I was up till 5am. Great night for the end of the trip. I did end up sick a couple days later with a fever and headache who knows from what, but I think she is as ready as she can be for bush life.

Field work galore!

I knew the rainly season was going to be busy and it is! Everyday I'm in a different feild noting current practices such as planting space and manure application, while I give advice on potential ways to increase the yield. It's been really hard to keep track of so many farmers. I have Fatou in Katakel and I usually see her twice a week. Her farm has improved greatly and it makes me so happy. It is a lot of work and data collection, but I feel she might be starting to see why I am asking her to do these "crazy" things. We are having an open field day in Octoer and I really hope it goes well. Other than that I have a few random farmers in Ndioudiene who ask me to look at one problem or another in thier vegetable gardens. I am only too willing to do this as I really want ot promote everyone to have rainy season veggie gardens in addition to thier field crops. Then I have 17 farmers whom I have given seed to and must collect data on for a research organization called ISRA. It's nice for the farmers to get free seed, although I'm not sure how sustainable it is. After I leave it will be difficult for them to get the seed without me. This is why I'll be stressing proper seed storage over the next month. I hope at least a few farmers get some tips that help them improve their yields and make a little mopre money for themselves.
I've outplanted a lot of trees and I have 7 papaya growing in my garden maybe the next volunteer if there is one will get to see the fruits of that work. My dad has been lazy about transplanting the trees I raised for him so they probally won't make it, but I can't force him. Either he wants fruit trees, alley cropping or live fencing, or her doesn't. My garden is so great! I sold 17 kilos of eggplant the other day. I wish my camera hadn't broke so I could show you them. they looked so nice. It has tired me out but I feel I had a successful season so far and I hope I can carry on to the end and get some farmers to really stick woth the new technologies.

Moringa Madness!

This last week the volunteers in my area made an enormous effort to visit about 20 villages in a week and educate them on the uses of moringa powder. Moringa olifera is a tree which has highly nutrtious leaves. It is very hardy and grows fast. We often eat the leaves in a peanut sauce over millet for dinner. This method decreases the aount of vitamins in the leaves as they are cooked. Moringa has an unimaginable amount of vitamins. For example in one kilo of powder that has been dried and crushed there is more vitamin C than  7 kilos of oranges. We began by visiting the villages and planting intensive beds. These small beds have about 100 trees in each dependig on the size of course. After a month the trees can be cut and the leaves harvested. The tress then grow back more bushlike. We taught them to plant and harvest the beds. They can also use individual trees that grow in the village. After this portion of the program we waited a month before returing to do the second part. This involved going village to village teaching them to make the powder without reducing the vitamin content. Then we showed them how they can add it to certain foods to increase the nutritional value of their diets. We specifically made a type of porridge which is easy to feed to children who are malnourished. There was a range of interest from village to village. Some people were very interested and I feel they are likely to utilize the technique. Others became aware of the importance of nutrition. I had a few people asking me about the nutritional value of certain vegetables in my village. There are always those who miss the point and wer asking me to make them more porridge. Sigh. Overall I think the program was very successful!

Travel

It is hard to travel in Senegal. There is always a fight over the price first of all. I want to pay the same as everyone else on the bus. No I will not pay extra for my bags and no I will not pay for two seats so we can leave sooner. The transport is based on a when the car is packed and everyone is uncomfortable we will go system. In the rainy season this gets even worse. People don't want to open their windows. Drivers want to wait longer. The roads disappear. A couple weeks ago a guy driving a sand truck wasn't paying attention and hit my bus. All the volunteers agree that everytime we get in a car we risk our lives.

This is the road behind my hut when it rains. The kids like to swim in it :) I really do love how all my little brothers and sisters just run around naked in the rain it's so funny :) Sometimes in the big storms we can't go outside though. The wind is so strong and it blows everything all around. Also this time of year a lot of huts fall down. I have informed my family of the anger I will feel if my hut falls. My brother promises it won't....

Rainy Season Work, is working!

Thus far in the rainy season I have raised almost 200 fruit trees and am giving them to villagers to plant in their homes and feilds. Hopefully this will become a food and shade source. Some of the trees will also be used in live fencing to keep the millions of goats and sheep out of my brothers and dads field. I hope other people see them and take initiative to do it themselves next year. Thats asking a lot, but a very smart woman told me once never to lose hope. I have my garden all planted. The eggplant and green pepper are fruiting and the okra is flowering. I just got my melon and suash seeds in the ground I don't actually want the fruits coming up till the rains are infrequent. They just rot otherwise. I have successfully transplanted papaya and some other trees I don't know how to say in English. I have also been busy distributing seed to farmers and giving them advice on planting, spacing, fertilizing, and good old bug killing! This has been keeping me really busy and it's probally better that I don't have a computer of my own to distract me or draw me into the city. I am also very very very happy to say that me and my master farmer have formed an alliance. She will do what I ask as long as it's actually her idea and she gets frequent compliments. She is like an old car. She needs to be sweet talked and babied. My normal attitude of brutal honesty does not mesh with the cultural norms here. I feel like we have a good working relationship now though. Last time we were woring in the field she found a hedgehog! It was so cool! I also saw a goat give birth to twins. Not that you can't see that in Indiana but it was cool anyway. I am also very happy to have made good relatioships with some farmers who I think will be very good at helping me and the next volunteer share our knowledge. The guy below is Samba Dieng I am recommending him to be the next volunteers counterpart. He is so openminded and that is really important in our work.

He is farming beans for me and we will probably do some pesticide application demonstrations. So overall the rainy season while busy has been full of work. I am currently doing a moringa tournee with the other Kaolack volunteers. Check back soon to see how our nutrition trainings go!

Everything is Breaking

Senegal is not very kind on electronics. In June my ipod screen broke, July my computer began having difficulty turning on, August computer now completely broken, and camera having trouble turning on. I think it's all the sand. The house computer is also broken now which means I am relying on my fellow PCVs to let me use their computers until another PCV comes back from America with my new one. Which will break in approximately one year. I hope my camera makes it. I can't afford another and it would be horrible not to get pictures of the waterfalls in Kedegou, or me and my friends having a night in Dakar. Senegal appears to be harder on electronics than people. Although I feel like I am breaking I know I'll make it back home!