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.