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!

America Day!

I had the brilliant idea to fulfill my Peace Corps Goal of sharing American Culture by having a few hours dedicated to our food music and sports. My friends came from far and away to help me. We baked cookies of many sorts, banana bread, and cornbread. I also gave a lot of candy that my family sent me. I mean I didn't really need all of it for myself though it was a tough choice lol! They went a little crazy as they always do. They even fought over the foods they didn't like just because they were crazed and wanted something free. Lauren and I had enough for everyone but I think a lot of people didn't get any because they were shoving and yelling and stealing from each other. It made me mad in the end and I yelled at them for being impatient and pushy and gave the rest to my family.

My fellow PCVs Andrew and Kourtney made a music display showing that some of our roots in music came from Africa and that we have a lot of singers of African origin. He also talked about Bob Marley and the Beatles. We had a portable speaker blasting the good tunes the whole time.

Finally Amy and Albert played sports with the kids. They had football, baseball, Frisbee, and a basketball which we didn't really use. Some of the kids were really good! I let them keep the Frisbees and gave away squirt guns. I had them do a race for the last one and one very happy little girl got there first. I'm glad she didn't get hurt, like I said when free things are involved they go crazy. It was a lot of fun! Thanks to all the other PCVs who helped me out!