Back to the Real World (about a month and a half belated)

(First of, I've skipped a description of my vacation, but will try to write something up about it and get it in soon. Until then... back to Africa!)

As the title of the post says, it's time for me to re-enter the 'real world' after my delicious, relaxing, well-deserved (ok, so that one's a matter of opinion) vacation. Upon my return to Dakar, I was instantly hit in the face by a wall of hot, humid air and surrounded by 1,000 people calling my their 'friend,' trying to grab my bags from my hands and carry them to a taxi for me for an exorbitant price. Welcome home...! I ended up having to spend a few more days in Dakar, doing paper work and getting my mid-service health exam. Lucky me, I even got my first cavity and filling! I assume that's thanks to the sugary tea and coffee that I drink far too much of here. Fortunately, I got a chance to go out 'surfing' (I use quotes because it mostly just involved my getting tossed by waves all day) with some other volunteer friends.

So after a few days of hanging out in the big city, I took the beloved 13 hour car ride down to Kolda (as usual, I was in the back, middle seat... they manage to make me take the worst seat in the car every time, not exactly sure how). It was a pretty average ride down, desperately trying to get some sleep in a seat that's so small my head is pressed against the roof at a 45 degree angle. It was, however, spiced up a bit when a bus hit our car around the Gambian border, taking off the back bumper and tail-light. I guess that I'm lucky that my first Senegalese car accident was so harmless (no-one got hurt), another volunteer had just the week before seen a car flip and roll, killing multiple people; and of course if you're the only white person around at the scene of the accident, people for some reason assume you know what you're doing and expect you to help all the injured people and officially declare the dead. Like I said, I'm lucky my accident was minor and no-one was hurt, her description of what she saw was pretty graphic, and even a month later she was scared to enter a car in Senegal. The Senegalese tend drive really crazy, the car's are usually about 30 years old, don't have seat belts and are made up of pieces of six different cars, so I dont blame her.

Upon my arrival in Kolda I spent a couple days getting back into the swing of things, walking around town practicing my Pular a bit (which fortunately was still there, I didn't lose too much of it over the course of the vacation) and getting ready to go back to site. At this point I was quite ready to get back, while vacation is great it can get tiring not being able to sleep in your own bed and living out of a bag for a month. I wasn't looking forward to the inevitable "Wheres my suriche (gift)?" question that I knew everyone in Velingara would be asking me, but I knew that would only last a couple of days. For some reason every (people I've talked to for a total of 5 minutes before included) thinks I'm going to bring them back cell-phones and other such gifts upon my return, and they act offended when I say I didn't bring them anything. I know, I'm so selfish. Here I am, so rich that I'm just rolling in the money, and I just keep it all for myself and never help anyone out (it's very nice to listen to people tell you that all day)! Fortunately my family knows I hate it when people ask me that, so they don't any more, plus they're they only people I actually did bring gifts back for, so that probably contributed to their praise and approval and lack of nagging. In the end, however, it was great to see my host family again. I had missed them and they had genuinly missed me. They all started singing and dancing: "Ahmed returned! Ahmed returned!" which is quite a welcome home.

There was, however, a big surprise awaiting me as well. My sister, who had gotten married right before I had left on vacation was back living in our house. Apparently while I was gone she had decided that she didn't like her new husband and didn't wish to be married to him; which is bizarre considering he wasn't even at the house with her the whole time, but in Dakar working. There was some small conflict and drama between the two families, whom have been friends since my parents were young, but in the end they decided to annul the wedding. While my parents were disappointed (and, understandably, somewhat angry) with my sister for waiting until after the wedding to declare that she didn't like her husband instead of speaking up before hand, the whole situation made me realize how reasonable and 'Western' my host father really is. Many, if not most, marriages around here are forced; usually involving the marrying off of a young girl, aged 14 years old or so, so an often much older man with no choice given to the bride-to-be. My father, however, has stated how he wants all of his daughters to be able to choose who they marry and to do so at a point late enough in their lives to allow them to finish school.

My sister is lucky to have a father who is as forward thinking as that, it's a rare trait here. I find it admirable that she had the guts to speak up and say that she didn't wish to be married to this man instead of living out her whole life in silent discontent, as many women do here. It's just too bad she didn't speak up sooner, for a family that already has difficulty simply eating each day and buying each child one pen for school, they spent A LOT of money on the wedding and strained the relationship between the two families. I just hope she can now find something good to do with herself, as she's no longer in school and is now a 'woman' after her wedding night, which her in Senegal means it will be much harder for her to find a husband in the future. As of now she pretty much just hangs around the house, yet another mouth for my father to feed which is quite a challenge in and of itself. We'll see how that one works out, only time will tell!

When I got back I also had a lot of work to do, which is good and makes the transition a lot easier. For one, all the money for the computer lab project has been raised! We thank you all again for your help, it's really appreciated! So the computers are currently on the ship and are due to arrive in Dakar around the first of December. Peace Corp has offered to ship the computers from Dakar to each of our sites, although the date for that is not yet definitively set. I plan on trying to go up to Dakar to see the computers before they are shipped down to Velingara and buy all the other needed computer accessories to have them shipped down to Velingara along with the computers. Hopefully all this will be happening around December 5-10; although this being Senegal I would not be surprised if that date gets pushed back. In preparation for the arrival of the computers, we have started getting the room ready, which has been keeping my busy to say the least. The chairs and tables are being built, the electricity and security (metal bars in the windows and a reinforced door) are being installed in the room, and the internet company is planning on bringing the line in soon. At this point it's a bit of a waiting game on the computers themselves. It's just nice to know that they're at least on the way... so even if it takes longer than expected they will eventually arrive.

Upon my return the school year had officially started as well. I say officially because while the schools had opened they have yet to really start classes. In most classes only a quarter of the students show up each day because their parents don't let them go to school until the majority of the crops have been harvested (which won't be until near the end of November). So the teachers and 1/4 of the students come in each day, just to be sent back home. Worst of all, some of these students are walking miles and miles to come in just to turn around and go back home. Also, in many classes the teachers are already on strike as the government has yet again failed to pay the teachers salaries on time. Oh well... at least the hundred-odd government ministers in Dakar (aka. friends of 'His Excellence, Master Abdoulaye Wade") are boosting the sales of expensive imported cars and boosting the economy!

The beginning of the school year also means that my classes at the CETF (Centre d'Enseignement Technique Feminine) are getting under way. I had worked all summer with one of the teachers from the school, Mr. Corea, giving him personal business classes and creating a curriculum that will span three years. Each grade, therefore, will have 2 hrs of class time a week, thereby giving me some structure for at least three afternoons a week. This combined with the preparations for the computer lab and my work at World Vision with 'The Grandmother Project' is doing a good job of keeping me very busy.

Being back in Velingara, I can really tell that I was due for a vacation. It was exactly what I needed: I came back feeling refreshed and ready to go. It's nice to have a clear 'half-way done' divide like that as well. I can already tell how different this second year is going to be from the first. I'm used to being here at this point, each day seems pretty normal instead of something wildly different and unpredictable, thereby making being here simply life as normal. Plus, I now have a level of French and Pular that allows me to communicate without much difficulty. Most importantly, however, I now have more direction in terms of work and how I spend my time. Instead of aimlessly wandering around town trying desperately to find places where I can help out, I know have stong connection with many people and concrete projects on which to work. This leaves me with more of a 9-5 type schedule which is actually quite nice after a year of ambiguity. All this with the fact that it is the beginning of the cool season (Alhumdoulhilai!) means that I am ready and happy to be back.

Here's to one more year!

Vacation Time!

Before I start the 'Vacation Time!' Entry, I just want to say that all the money needed for the computer lab project at Ecole 4 has been raised! Thank you all so much for your support, it honestly wouldn't have been possible without you. Everyone at the school and I are really excited that this is moving forward without any hang-ups (as of yet, knock on wood)! I will keep everyone updated as the project moves along. Now to the entry...

(Nov. 1)

So it's been a year and it's vacation time! I'm actually in Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris writing this while I wait for my parents plane to arrive. Before setting out on vacation however, there was the end of Ramadan and the ensuing holiday, Korité. At the end of the month of fasting, Senegalese Muslims celebrate by eating all day. That's basically it, but it's certainly a great thing to be able to eat and drink during the day after a full month (about 20 days for me, I took a break from fasting when I was in Kolda and not Vélingara) of abstaining. Once again, I joined everyone in the communal morning prayer, basically just imitating whatever the person next to me is doing: kneeling, touching your forehead against the ground, getting back up and repeating. It's amazing how open they are about their religion that they would allow someone such as myself, who is clearly not Muslim, join in on the prayers. They actually want me to pray with them all the time, but I politely decline. The holidays are good enough for me!

The day after Korité I left site and headed to Kolda to officially begin my vacation! The past month or so I had been in somewhat of a funk, just kind of floating through the days. I think a lot of the excitement that came with the first months in Senegal had largely worn off, and now some of the monotonous aspect of life in a developing country was starting to wear on me. Needless to say, I was ready for a little break: a breath of fresh air. And what better way than to go see my parents in Europe?!?! I spent a few days in Kolda, hanging out, watching movies and soaking in the glory of knowing that I was totally free for the next month! I started eating some pasta in order to get myself ready for the upcoming days in Italy; going from fasting all day and only eating white bread and white rice to rich Italian food was going to be a challenge and I felt as though I should prepare my body as best I could.

The fact that even the change to Western food kind of scared me is a strong indicator of how I felt towards returning to the first-world. I had gotten so used to living in Velingara, that the thought of such big cities, huge crowds of clean, white people and hot showers kind of intimidated me. Maybe that was yet another good sign that I was ready for a vacation? Even Dakar, where I haven't been in over six months was overwhelming, so I could only imagine what Rome and Paris would be like. Well after a few days in Dakar the day finally came where I went to the airport to start my trip.

On the plane I was very excited to get going, but at the same time I found myself thinking about my Senegalese family. It made me realize that the next time I would be boarding a plane in Dakar would be for my trip home, for good, which is going to be a very difficult moment for me. Even though I was so ready for a break, I started missing my host family already and knew that in a year's time it would only be a hundred times harder. It's then that it really hit me how lucky I am to be able to be doing what I'm doing, and while I'm now going to go ahead and enjoy my vacation, when I get back I need to make the most out of every last day. Before I know it, I'll be back in the States, stupefied out how fast two years could pass.

More coming... I have three posts to put up at the same time, but the next two aren't done yet!

Rainy Season Fun

I want to apologize for how long it's been since my last entry (not including the one describing the computer project it has been a couple of months!) And yes, I am still here in Senegal: alive and well. I will continue to write about my adventures in this blog post, but first need to make one more desperate plea. I have received many well-wishes concerning the computer project, and they are greatly appreciated. Thank you all. However, I have not received many donations and still have a long ways left to go in order to get these computer shipped to Senegal. About $650 of the $2000 needed has been raised and I want to thank everyone who contributed. I understand that most everyone is having some economic troubles back home now and it is not the easiest time to share what is left, but I can assure you that a little money can go a long way here (and believe it or not the economic problems hit Senegal as well... when you're already unable to eat every meal and the price of rice, oil, and gas drastically increases it hits hard).

So please visit the World Computer Exchange website - (http://www.worldcomputerexchange.org).

1. 
   Click the "Donate Now" option from the top navigation bar
   
   
   
2. 
   Click on the "Donate Now through Network for Good" button
   
   
   
3. Specify “PCV Michael Hebert - Senegal” as the designation, and your donation will be applied to the Senegal shipment for Ecole 4, Vélingara.
   

Even $5 would be a great help. The grant I applied for in conjuncture with the WCE computers should be going through any day (it received positive remarks from my superiors) and will be paying for everything needed besides the computers themselves. So the project is waiting and ready to go as soon as the computers can be shipped! Thank you all once again and I'll stop this shameless begging and continue on with some stories. And for anyone who is interested, here is an article that appeared in our Hingham paper, describing my project in further detail: http://www.wickedlocal.com/hingham/news/education/x488842557/HHS-grad-wants-to-bring-computers-to-Senegal.

I suppose I left off right before the Fourth of July, so I will start there. Now you may want to settle in and get comfortable for this entry, it's going to be a bit long! To celebrate our national holiday, a bunch of volunteers went down to Kedegou to celebrate. I went a few days early with friends to check out some of the local waterfalls that Kedegou is known for. Upon arriving in Kedegou we biked about 40km on dirt trails out to the village of Segou. There we then left the village and biked into the woods on a small dirt path surrounded by palm trees, bamboo, huge red-rock cliffs and monkeys yelping. It was definitely a cool bike ride! Eventually the path ended and we had to hide our gear and lock our bikes to a tree and started hiking along the rocky, slippery river bed. It felt like being in an Indiana Jones movie and was a nice break away from the normal day to day life in Senegal. After about an hour and a half of walking we finally made it to the waterfall, which, to our surprise, was almost completely dry! The rainy season had started, but I guess we needed to wait a bit longer before the full brunt of the rains could feed the waterfall. At least we got a few rocks showered down on us from some monkeys above.

That afternoon, after a little swim in the waterfall pool and refilling our water bottles, we headed back to where we left our bikes and set up camp. We spent the night camping, nestled between bamboo chutes and giant termite mounds while listening to the baboons howling all around us. Pretty cool... and we didn't run into any poisonous snakes or scorpions, which was a plus! At this point all of our diets have changed quite substantially, and we can survive miles and miles of biking and hiking across a few days on a little bread and some sardines. It's amazing what you can get used: mentally, socially and physically. So after getting a little sleep (can't lie, it's a little hard to sleep by yourself in a tent when baboons sound angry at you for being in their territory... and they can travel in packs of sixty plus and are aggressive) we got back on our bikes and went to another village, Dindephelo, to see yet another waterfall. Fortunately, this fall was fed by an underground spring, so there was actually a substantial chute and a large pool of cool, clear water in which to swim. There were also some groups of young Senegalese people there, who had come to the village for a party, dancing and rapping under the falls. It was quite hilarious. Finally, that afternoon, we biked back to Kedegou to get some rest and regain our energy for the Fourth of July, which was only 2 days away.

When the Fourth finally arrived, there were about 50 Peace Corps Senegal volunteers in Kedegou. Some of the local Kedegou volunteers had organized a morning 5k memorial run that was open to volunteers and the Senegalese public to celebrate our nation's holiday and better inform the public as to exactly what Peace Corps is and does (plus it was fun). The race essentially ended up being between all the military and police forces of Kedegou and a bunch of Peace Corps Volunteers who had partied a little too hard the night before. Needless to say, my fellow volunteers were crushed (I didn't run, I was 'helping' work the race / I didn't feel like trying to run in 95 degrees after getting only a couple hours of sleep). It was quite a sight, however, to see a bunch of white people running through the town, some with American flags as capes, getting confused looks from all the local Senegalese. The first place prize was three live chickens, tied by the ankles and handed to the winner at the podium. The other prizes were various articles American paraphernalia that you can find in most any market here: Barack Obama hologram belts, 'Barack and Michelle in Love' slow-dancing t-shirts and World Trade Center sandals. Meanwhile, great American classic 80's music was blaring from speakers lent from the local radio station, most likely doing a better job of scaring people off than attracting them. Oh well, we were all having a great time!

When the race was over it was time for the real party to begin. The Kedegou Crew does a great job getting ready for the party, which is the second biggest Peace Corps gathering off the year, after WAIST. We had large speakers rented (and stole the power from next door to use them), two large party tents, some games reminiscent of college, freshly made honey wine, a piñata full of goodies, more than enough to drink and two pigs to eat! Basically we all just enjoyed ourselves celebrating the great country that we are fortunate enough to have been born in. At night we even shot off a few fireworks, which some Senegalese people apparently mistook for something blowing up (there had been some fairly intense riots there a few months before). All in all it was a good time and gives me something to look forward to the next 4th of July.

After the nice break for the Fourth, it was back to day-to-day life in Vélingara. Now that we are in the rainy season and school summer vacation, my schedule has changed slightly. One of the main projects I've been working on (besides the computer lab project) has been continuing work with the Girl's Technical School. In the spring I gave entrepreneurial classes at the school to the girls who were about to graduate. This, however, is not incredibly sustainable as I will be gone in a little over a year and won't be able to teach the course. Throughout the summer, therefore, I have been working with one of the school's teachers, Mr. Gaspar Korea, on the class. I have been teaching him all the business basics while we simultaneously create a curriculum for the school to use, complete with tests and homework and all. Mr. Korea is a great guy and one of the few Catholics in town, so it's been quite humorous the few times he's wanted to have a glass a wine after lunch, and he asks me in a low, secretive voice if I know what wine is. To his surprise, I do! Senegal being a mainly Muslim country, the Christians who are here tend to be discreet when enjoying an alcoholic beverage. He also has more of an entrepreneurial spirit than most Senegalese (possibly to be attributed to his religion... it seems that the average Christian is a slightly more successful business person than their Muslim counterpart) and a great person with whom to work on this project.

The plan is to teach the class together the upcoming school year, work out any 'bugs' in the curriculum next summer, and then he can continue teaching the course once I return to the States. I'm a huge fan of the project because it is directly applicable to the students real lives, and isn't just an exercise in theory. During the last year, the students will spend half the year working to plan their proper enterprises. They will then graduate with a micro-loan from a local credit mutual and have the plans for their business already worked out. In this way the young girls can start working and making money right out of school. This will also help to get the women out of the house, where they are often stuck doing all the work. People here often complain that there isn't enough work. They will sit around construction sites and hope someone will pay them $2 a day to move cement. Otherwise they spend 75% of their time sitting around the house talking about how there is no work. Apparently the idea of creating their own enterprise and job is one that doesn't cross many people’s minds, and leaves the local economy stagnant and heavy in unemployment. Hopefully this course can improve the standard of living for these girls and their families and prove that with a little entrepreneurial spirit and effort there is work out there. Inshallah.

So on a day-to-day basis I have mostly been working on that project, teaching excel classes to people that work at the IDEN and doing any more work needed to get the computer project going strong. From time to time, however, it proves necessary to head out of Vélingara for a day and visit another volunteer; enjoy a change of scenery and company. While I like it here in Vélingara, it can be a very repetitive life (something I was partially hoping to avoid by coming to Senegal in the first place!) and a slight change of pace can be refreshing. Plus, it's always a boost of self-confidence to visit a volunteer in their village. When meeting people for the first time they are always amazed that you can speak Pular, while the people you're around everyday can tend to focus more on what you cannot yet understand. This is mainly due to the fact that with new people I just go through introductions and basic conversations that I have down pat in Pular, while with your own host family there tend to be more in-depth and complicated conversations that test your language level.

So on one of these days I went to visit my friend, Anika, in a village about 20km down the road. Very similar to my computer lab project, Anika worked in cooperation with a mosquito net distribution NGO and donors from home to bring over 650 mosquito nets to her village and the surrounding village. On this day she was distributing the nets to one of the surrounding villages while also doing a malaria 'info-session' to inform the public how to avoid catching malaria, how it's spread, etc. So I came to help carry the nets by bike from her village to the distribution village and, unexpectedly, to give a presentation in Pular on how to detect and avoid malaria. It was interesting being put on the spot in front of thirty women and told to do this presentation with Anika with no prior preparation. It's surprising, however, how well I was able to explain things through broken speech, some hand motions and a few animated demonstrations. It's also interesting to work a bit in another field, specifically health, as most of my work has to do with business and computers. Malaria is a disease that gets large international coverage and for good reason: it kills a lot people here every year, mainly children and elderly. The worst part about it is that someone can be completely healthy, a day later they have incredible hot sweats and are hallucinating in agony, and the next day they are dead. It's hard to get medical attention for such an affliction when your village is 25 km from the nearest health post. A teacher at the Girl's Technical School had recently fallen ill to malaria and couldn't so much as speak, never mind get out of bed. Fortunately he got the medicine in time and appears to be on the mend, but it just goes to show the problem malaria poses.

Being on this subject, it's interesting to note the difference in attitudes towards death between Americans and Senegalese. When someone died recently in the neighborhood, I asked my brother how or why. He looked at me with a face of amused confusion and said: "What do you mean how did he die? He just did, God willed it so." Of course I wanted to know if it was malaria, an infection that had spread, a car accident, anything! But to him it seemed a completely ridiculous question... people just die sometimes. Whether it's a child, adult or elderly person, it just happens. Back home we like to find the exact reason why a death occurred, oftentimes find someone to blame for it, and do everything we can to prevent it from happening to someone again. Quite a different attitude towards the one thing that we all, as human beings, have in common: the inevitability of death.

I was going to mention this later on, but I might as well get all the gloomy stuff out of the way all at once. Recently a 14 year old girl in Vélingara died while giving birth. Fortunately her baby daughter survived. I mention this as it is all too common here, especially in the southern sections of Senegal. Girls here tend to be far too young when they quit school and start having children, whether in wedlock or out. In the villages it is common for a girl to be married at the age of 14 to a man who's forty years old and already has two wives and ten children that he cannot adequetly support. I suppose the idea is that it's better for a young girl to become pregnant under these circumstances than young and unwed, however neither seems all that appealing. Fortunately the girls in town are often given more of a chance to attend school and hold of on having children than their village counterparts. My father here is good about insisting that all his daughters finish school just like the boys, but still uses marriage in an interesting way to avoid the girls getting pregnant. My one cousin, for example, tends to spend a little more time out roaming the streets at night than a 13 year old girl should. After not listening to her families warnings and continuing to go out, my father solved to the problem the best way he knew how: by marrying her off. The way this works is that the actual marriage will not happen for at least a few more years, probably depending on how she does in school and how demanding her husband to be is. In the meantime, the mariage promis will, theoretically, stop her from putting herself in the position to get impregnated by another man. An interesting solution and one that seems absurd given the way we view maraiges (true love, free choice, etc.), but given the culture and circumstances there are, at the very least, worse ways of dealing with this issue.

Ok, so after that I'll now try to lighten it up a bit. We're deep into the rainy season now, a fact that drastically changes life here in Senegal. For one, everything is green where it used to be sandy and dry. Seriously, no exaggeration, everything is green, including most of my possessions. Due to the extremely high level of humidity most everything has a thin layer of mold growing on it. My clothes, shoes, bed etc. are all finely coated in a thin layer of green. Smells great! The rainy season, as the name indicates, means there is a lot of rain. The storms, unlike at home, appear very quickly. One minute it's sunny out, the next you are hit in the face by a wall of wind and sand which is immediately followed by a downpour. Fortunately, the storms often leave as quickly as they appear, although sometimes they can be more reminiscent of New England rains by simply drizzling and keeping the skies grey for a few days. Here in Vélingara, the rains turn the roads into little rivers, sometimes forcing you to wade up to your knees in flood water, disgustingly dirty flood water, just to walk next door. As there is no trash collection system the water in the roads is stained brown by the run-off dirt and mud, the animal (and likely human) feces which covers the roads and all sorts of trash which was not fully burnt away. I make sure to do a good job washing off my sandals and feet after a walk around town.

The coming of the rainy season also means that it's time to work in the fields. Almost every Senegalese person has at least one field, regardless of their profession. Even in town, every square meter of free space within the compounds is used up with miniature corn fields. I enjoy riding my bike through the fields and watching everyone working, hacking away at the ground with a crude hoe, planting their livelihood. It also makes me glad that I'm not an agriculture volunteer, it looks like backbreaking, hard labor. Even the kids are involved, and they can commonly be seen working all day, leading donkey's with plows in tow or hanging out in the fields over-night warding off hungry monkeys; troops of which are know to eat entire fields in one night. It's a beautiful, although wet, time and while I enjoy it I'm also looking forward to it ending. Every small cut or scrape, even ones that are so small you couldn't see them, somehow get infected and turn into large sores lasting weeks at a time. It's a good thing Peace Corps gave me a whole briefcase full of meds upon my arrival in Senegal!

Recently we celebrated the marriage of one of my sisters, Hadji Camara. She has been 'promised' / engaged for a while, and hardly knows her husband as he lives and works in Dakar, but the two family compounds know each other well. Senegalese weddings tend to last a couple of days (they love their parties) and involve overwhelming amounts of people hanging around the house. Much of the celebration is only for the women. In the morning, about fifty women descended on the house and starting preparing the food together. Preparing a feast for 100 plus people without any modern equipment takes a while, so it makes sense that all the women come and prepare the meal together. They prepare rice, meat (a treat!) and sauce for the main meal and make packets of salt as a traditional gift to all the visitors. For me, being the unofficial camera-man of the whole celebration, it was somewhat overwhelming: being surrounded by a seemingly endless number of women yelling at me in Pular from all sides to take their picture, and then demanding to know when I'm going to print everyone off copies and deliver them! Some of the pictures, however, are quite funny. I wasn't able to figure out exactly why they do this, but as part of the celebration, the sisters of the bride dress up as men and pretend to hassle the bride. Like I said, I'm not exactly sure why but it's funny! After an afternoon of picture taking, I used the incoming rain storm as an excuse to sneak back to my compound and room and catch a breather.

Later in the night, the party was moved from the house to the local 'hotel.' This is the nicest place in town, but would be at about the same level as a Motel 8 without cleaning maids. Here was the celebration for the younger people (no children and older adults allowed) which impersonated the type of wedding celebration we all know at home. This part of the wedding is, as far as I can tell, fairly new and not generally found in the villages, just the 'hip' town kids. It involved the cutting of cake which the bride and groom then fed each other, arms crossed. They also shared the first dance, while being encircled by all the bride's maids and best men. The weird part is the giving of gifts. Each guest has to come up one by one, kiss the bride and groom on the cheek and pose for a picture while handing over the gift. That way everyone gets to see who gave gifts and how many! After all of this is some excessively load music and dancing. My family, particularly my sisters, have been bugging me to come out and dance with them at some point and I usually turn them down... I don't think it's really necessary for me to go to parties with a bunch of teenagers. So I agreed to dance with them at the wedding, and after all the build-up and hype there was only music and dancing for about 15 minutes. I couldn't believe how worked up they could get for those 15 minutes! (Check out my picasaweb account for pictures from the wedding.) All in all it was a fun day, a nice change from the ordinary, and made for quite a few funny pictures and memories.

This past month has also been the month of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting for the Muslim faith. This means a lot of praying, reflecting on how you live your life and, of course, fasting. The rule is that you can't eat or drink anything during the sunlight hours. So every morning we wake up a 5am and eat a little bread and drink some coffee. My family members then go and pray at the mosque, and I go back to sleep. Most people end up sleeping half the day away, trying to conserve energy, while others take the philosophy of working away the hunger. I've found that I can agree with both schools of thought. Some days I go out and work all day and am able to, for the most part, forget my hunger and thirst. Other days, however, I simply sleep most of the day away then watch movies on my computer or read. Overall the fasting is not nearly as bad as I had expected it would be. It being in the mid-nineties every day the whole no-drinking part is a little tough, but it sure does make that first sip of water and bite of bread taste great when you break the fast at around 7:15 pm! Most people here appreciate it when I take part in the fast. Most people tell me "No, you're not fasting, white people can't fast." But then my family members defend me and say I actually am and the person usually ends up looking pleasantly surprised. There are also the people that have been vehemently trying to convince me to pray with them and I just respond that I will not say something in pray that I don't understand. This led to a few small attempts at learning some basic Arab, which will unlikely go anywhere as my head is already full with two new languages. Plus, Arab would be much harder to learn than French or Pular as a whole new system of writing is involved and the pronunciation is just plain crazy. Ramadan will be over soon, though, and I can get back to my normal eating habits... that is if my stomach lets me! At this point a little bread and a cup of water and I'm pretty much full.

Now that you've all been staring at your computer screens so long that you've had out and vamp up you eyeglass prescriptions, I'll try to wrap it up. As of September 10th (today), I've officially been in Senegal for a year. I know it's cliché to say, but time is flying by! I'm in Kolda, at the regional house, for a good-bye party. A group of my fellow volunteers are leaving and a new group is going to arrive any day. Believe it or not, I'm a 'junior' in the Peace Corps world. Pretty soon it'll be me who is coming home. While I'm starting to realize how much I will miss being here when my time is up (and its half-way there), I'm also starting to realize how much I miss being home. Much of the excitement surrounding my that came with being in a new environment has, at this point, largely been lost as I am used to living here now. This makes some of the repetitive aspects of life in Senegal wear on you over time, and recently I've been a bit out of it. I guess that's the real trick of life, viewing each day as new and exciting, even if it's almost identical to all the days prior. Fortunately, I'm about to go on vacation and see my parents in Europe for a couple weeks. Getting this break a year in is perfect. It will let me get a taste of life in the first-world, which, frankly, I'm a little afraid of at this point. Upon arriving in Senegal I remember thinking all the volunteers that had been here a little while were a little weird or off. I'm sure that's me and this point, I just hope I can still function in 'toubab' society! Upon returning to Senegal I will know that each day that passes will be one day closer to me coming home for good, so I better enjoy the time while I have it. While I miss home, I know I will miss Senegal as well. Life here sure is something else...

Computers for Ecole 4, Velingara

Hello everybody! So I haven't written in a while, as is per usual, but this time I'd like to talk a little about one of the projects I'm working on (I'll tell you all about the 4th of July, etc in the next post). One of the projects I am currently working on, in collaboration with The World Computer Exchange, aims to bring used, discarded computers from America to “Ecole 4: Thierno Souaïbou Souaré,” an elementary school in Vélingara, giving students and the local community access to technology. The school draws students from surrounding rural areas, as education in the villages only exists for the elementary level, if at all. Currently, there are no schools in all of Vélingara with properly functioning computers, leaving most students completely ignorant as to their use and potential.

I has observed that education in Vélingara faces many obstacles. Only a small minority of students earn a high school degree. For most families, simply buying the 50¢ notebook and pen required for class is a struggle and a decision to go without a meal. The school has only a few books which must be shared amongst the students. They are treasured to the point that they are never allowed to leave school grounds. A typical classroom consists of 30 plus students per class under a tin roof in a concrete room with outdoor temperatures over 100 degrees. Needless to say there are no fans or air-conditioning. Some temporary classrooms are simply grass-reed structures which are cooler, but more distracting as teachers have a hard time being heard over the din of the adjacent class.

The biggest challenge for the students, however, is simply a lack of access to information. As Director Baldé states, “We don’t even have adequate textbooks with pictures, so how can we explain things such as mountains, the ocean, and islands to students that have never seen them?” This inspired me to start this campaign to bring computers to Vélingara. Computers would give the students access to an incredible amount of information, where currently their education only consists of copying word-for-word passages their teachers write on the chalkboards. It would allow them to see images of the world and its peoples, read innumerable historical accounts previously unavailable, and grant them access to the wealth of knowledge that we take for granted in America.

I believe that one of the main purposes of education is to open the student’s mind, imagination, and interest to the wider world around them. Bringing computers to this school will provide that window to the world for its 866 students and the community at large, granting them access to more information than any other medium can provide. This would effectively allow the students to discover interests and be well equipped to pursue them: broadening their horizons beyond their current view of the world, which is limited to the 10 miles they know between Vélingara and their village of origin.

In the United States, most companies update their computers every couple of years and end up filling the landfills with fully functioning computers that could be put to good use somewhere else. I am aiming to bring twenty computers to Vélingara to build a computer lab for the students and the community at large. I will be in Vélingara for another year and a half with the Peace Corps, so I will be able to train the teachers and create a curriculum for the school. Outside of school hours the lab will also be open for community training -- educating the general population while simultaneously providing income for the school to maintain the computer lab. An overriding goal of the Peace Corp is to provide technical knowledge and sustainable assistance and, in setting up a technology program that also generates income, I hope to fulfill this goal.
The Vélingara School has also expressed interest in setting up an electronic exchange program with a Hingham School with their new email capabilities, so any Hingham teachers out there if you're interested, once the lab is all set-up, I will be looking for some partner classes! Note: they don't speak English, just poor French!

The computers are available through World Computer Exchange, but I need to raise enough money to fund shipment to Senegal. This cost will be approximately $2000. In addition, I am applying for a Peace Corps grant to fund installation costs (electricity, internet, fans, tables, etc).
If anyone is interested in helping to provide financial support for the project, donations can be made through the World Computer Exchange (www.worldcomputerexchange.org). By clicking on the “Donate Now through Network for Good” button and specifying “PCV Michael Hebert - Senegal” as the designation, funds will be applied to the Senegal shipment. Additional information and my complete project proposal is also available on the Senegal page of this site under “Ecole 4: Thierno Souaibou Souare de Vélingara”.

Also, check out my photo album dedicated to the Ecole 4, Vélingara school at http://picasaweb.google.com/MichaelHebert. Please send any questions, comments, or simply small talk to me at MichaelTHebert@gmail.com. Thank you all very much for keeping up with my blog and tendency to rant (including this entry, which those of who live in Hingham will notice is almost exactly the same as an article that should be appearing soon in the Hingham Journal). Thank you again for bearing with my little promo here and I'll start writting interesting things again next time, Inshallah. On jaaraama buy!!!

Bassari Festival and Ligge, Ligge, Ligge!!!

On jaaraama buy sahelbe-an fof! Right after my last journal entry I left for Kedegou to see the local Bassari festival. After a full day of sitting, waiting in garages and sept-places, I finally got to Kedegou to find many of my good friends from my stage already there! In general, you see the people that live around you a lot more frequently than the other volunteers in country, so I hadn't seen many of these people in months. Needless to say, it was nice to share a few drinks and stories and catch up.

The next day we all set off from Kedegou to go out into the bush where the festival is taking place. Kedegou is a very pretty place and much different than the rest of Senegal in that there are actually small mountains instead of being completely void of any change in elevation; and like the Kolda region, it is far more forested than any place in the North. So although it is the end of the dry season and hasn't rained in at least six months, hence leaving the landscape rather dried out, it is still quite a beautiful site. So to get back on track, we all got in this giant, open-sided tour bus to get out to the campsite. As is typical with traveling in Senegal there was a huge number of us shoved into the bus, which was driving about 100mph on dirt roads, and which practically flipped on many occasions while on the real rough trails (the Senegalese guys sitting on the roof even had to jump off a few times). We did, however, finally make it to the campamment (group of huts rented out to tourists) to find that all the huts were already full. So we, about 40 of us, just set out our mats under this one big open-air shade structure and slept 3 or 4 to a mat. One good thing about the Peace Corp is that you know all the other volunteers around you are used to living in villages too, so everyone lowers their standards (as far as comfort, sanitation, eating with hands, etc...) to the level we are used to here, which can be quite comical when taken out of perspective.

That night we headed up the mountain and hung out in the village with all the locals: drinking palm wine, eating rice and bush meat, and simply having a good time. One of the great thing about hanging out with the Bassaris is that they are animists, not Muslims, so they will actually have some drinks with you and share in the merry-making (sometimes a little too much!) In typcial Senegalese fashion, someone called us over and gave us a giant bowl of rice to eat: that's one lesson I hope I never forget, there's always enough to share! The next day was the 'coming of age ceremony' for the young men of the village. This consists of the older brothers dressing up as their ancestral spirits, dancing around all morning, and then culminating in some hand to hand combat. Unfortunately, women and cameras were off limits during the fighting, so I don't have any pictures; but at least I was allowed to watch! Check out the picasaweb account for some pictures, they're costumes are great! I can only imagine how long it took some of the women of the village to make them.

After returning from Kedegou it was back to business as usual in Vélingara. I went on another weekend forum trip to the village with World Vision (check out the photo album Sare Thierno Demba). I basically act as photographer at the actual forums themselves and don't give too much other input, but it provides me with a greater understanding of what the organization is doing as a whole so I can work more effectively on other aspects of the project, such as hopefully creating a book of traditional Pulaar stories and proverbs.

I have also continued my work at the girl's technical school. I gave my last two classes of the school year, and had them create 'fake' businesses and describe their product, market, etc... Basically the 4 P's of marketing. Unfortunately I think some of the students didn't really understand what I was looking for and basically just copied my example, but there were definitely at least a few that had a good grasp on the material. Now that those classes are done for this school year I can look ahead to next year. I hope to work directly with another teacher next year so that when I return back to the US the classes can continue and become a permanent part of the curriculum. This summer I will likely work one-on-one with one of the teachers to provide a basic business training. After which we will create lesson plans and teach the classes together next year. Here's to hoping!

I, and another volunteer, Colleen, also painted some murals at the girl's school; which was a lot of fun and a nice small project that shows concrete results! She has been going around most all Senegal painting various health and education related murals, and so when I expressed interest she stopped by and helped me out. We wanted to do some murals that expressed the subjects the girls were learning in school (cooking, sewing, gardening, etc.) but also wanted to show a certain professional or entrepreneurial aspect to it. In the end we decided to paint a few designs (will put pictures of them up asap) so we did the outlines and had the girls at the school paint in the colors. Overall it came out pretty well, and the girls seemed generally pleased to play a role in beautifying their school a bit.

After all this I had to head up north to Thies for two days of a Small Enterprise Development training. Unfortunately it's a lot of traveling for only a few days of work, but Peace Corp said they'd pay for the transport and I can order good food up there (chicken!!!), so I figured it was worth it for that if nothing else. And yes, to answer your question, it is worth 25 hours (round trip) shoved in the back of a broken down old car on broken roads for chicken. The 9 hour plane ride home at the end of service is going to seem like a living in the lap of luxury!

After the training, which also offered another good chance to hang out with some old friends, I went to Dakar for a few days to hang out. I didn't really plan on spending those couple of days there, but one thing you learn quickly here is that things hardly ever go as planned in Africa. It's amazing being in Dakar... somewhere where I can simply walk down the street and walk into a mini 7-11 type store. The options are seemingly endless. There's real restaurants, that serve meat, and so many countless things that it is overwhelming. I can only imagine going back to the US at this point... everything you could want in easy access! The funny thing is that I have found my desire for many of these simple creature comforts diminish. So while it was great to see them available, I hardly ended up buying any of it. At one point while in Dakar I stopped by the zoo, which was easily the most depressing zoo I have ever been in. All the animals are in these tiny little cages alone; and while it is neat to be able to get so close to them you can practically see them losing any and all spirit they may have had. I even got hit by a rotten apple that an unhappy chimpanze threw at me!

So to continue on another one of my excessively long entrees... I finally came back down to good old Pular-land (Pulars are soooo much nicer and more laid back than Wolofs!) and have had a lot of work to try and organize within a week before heading out again. The Directrice of the girl's school, whom I give personal computer lessons, just gave birth to her fourth girl! Therefore, I attended my first Senegalese baptism this week (they do the baptism one week after the birth). It's yet another celebration centered around food, which is always ok with me! After a lot of dancing, the Directrice came out all done up in Senegalese fashion (basically that means totally over-done with makeup etc. to the point that they look like crazed monsters), and did a bit of a model runway type tour around the celebration's attendants. Unfortunately my camera's batteries were dead, so I wasn't able to take any photos, but I'm sure this will not be the last baptism I go to here in Senegal.

Well that's basically it. I will write another entry soon describing the new project I'm working on in detail. But until then, Jamtun!

Fun in the (115 degree plus) Sun

So I gave my second lesson at the Girl's School and it went reasonably well. There are some girls in the class you seem generally interested and a few who could care less... same as teenagers in the states I suppose. I decided to start with marketing instead of accounting / costing as it is much less technical and (hopefully) will catch their attention better than the other subjects. Of course when I say marketing, costing, accounting I am talking really basic stuff: "Qu'est-ce que c'est une client?... Ko hundon woni 'client'? (What is a client?)" I do the class in French, but have to speak really slow as even my French is, amazingly, far better than most of the girls in the class; but I also find myself repeating some key phrases in Pulaar when I can. I think the hardest thing for the students is to understand how to take these ideas and apply them to there real lives. They think of business as buying something in bulk, sitting in the market next to all the other people selling the same good, and selling it for the same price as everyone else. What I'm trying, therefore, to get across in my course is not so much a lot of technical information, but simply trying to get them to start thinking like entrepreneurs with an eye for competition. It's the only way that a sustainable business with prospect for any growth will ever happen.

This brings into question some personal problems I've had with people thinking solely with a capitalistic frame of mind that plagued me before leaving America to joining the Peace Corps. The Senegalese are incredibly community focused and help out their neighbors, friends, extended family (usually these groups are all one in the same) without a second's thought as to what they are giving up. This is a trait I feel as though we've lost in the States, where everyone seems to look out for themselves and immediate families only. On the other hand, when your society expects you to support everyone around you regardless of the cause of their problems it creates a situation where all too often the one motivated, productive individual is held back by the large number of people who are dependent upon him or her, leaving no room for growth and hence an overall stagnant economy and a country with little hope of development. In the end I think that both cultures can ultimately learn from each other: yes, competition is good and drives progress but it wouldn't hurt if we looked out for each other a little more. I mean people here are giving food to each other when they themselves haven't eaten and at home we second guess helping someone in need because we are saving up for a nicer car. So, as I said before (in another of my little philosophical/sociological rants... I think it helps to clear my mind sometimes if I write it down), I think we in the States could learn from the Senegalese: help each other out a bit, and realize that we really do have it pretty good (I know I'm not home for the big economic crisis right now, but I doubt anyone reading this is missing meals); and maybe the Senegalese could learn that a little competition could help 'whip them into shape' a bit and the people that are motivated and hardworking here would be allowed to flourish and develop their country.

One day I also made my first attempt at making 'Neem Cream' at my house. There is a tree that grows around here, called Neem (in Pulaar maybe... not sure what language that name is in), that has certain properties which deter insects. It's therefore used in agriculture to ward of pests that eat crops, and can also be made into a type of insect repellent. Basically you just boil a bunch of the leaves in water for a while, whittle up a bar of soap, and mix it all together with some oil. Then you get a cheap, homemade insect repellent. The idea is that people can make this in their village and get bitten by mosquitoes less frequently, leading to less malaria and infected mosquito bites. Of course my family thought I was crazy for using perfectly good cooking oil and a bar of soap for a purpose other than what they're intended for. Soon (the rainy season should be starting within this month and is strongest June - August, bringing not only a lot of rain but A LOT of bugs as well) we will find out how well it works and just maybe they will actually want to make the next batch themselves! Here's to hoping...

This past month some of the volunteers and I also had another one of our sex ed meetings at the school in Diaobé; this time it was actually the students presenting what they had learned from us to their classmates. This consisted of two days of work, the first being a day of planning with the students, helping them to make lesson plans out of the information they learned and letting them practice presenting one time before having to do it in front of their peers. The topic chosen to start with was 'Grossesses Précoces et Non-Desirée' or Premature and Unwanted Pregnancies. Then the next day the students presented to their classes while the other volunteers and I walked between classes to monitor the talks and add little tidbits in when deemed necessary, sometimes trying to steer the direction of the conversation a little. It went well over all, the students were very interested, but some pretty amazing cultural differences shone through in the course of the classes. The relation between women and men is much different here than in the states and some of the classes turned mainly into a discussion between girls and boys (the girls being vastly outnumbered as so many have quite school by the age of 14... hence why we're trying to have them talk about premature and unwanted pregnancies!) Also some people mentioned how people will purposely cut the tips of condoms to purposely impregnate / get impregnated to force a marriage, how it is 100% impossible for guys to resist a girl if she says she wants to have sex without a condom and it is totally her fault for the lack of protection (apparently guys just can't say "no, I'd rather use a condom"), and some other really unique statements I've never heard before. In the end the talks should help, if nothing else they now at least know they can get condoms from their classmates without having to go to the med hut to ask for them where everyone in the village with know they're searching for condoms: blush, blush. It worked last year in another village, so hopefully the talks prove effective in Diaobé as well, Inshallah.

Well, since this was a two day event I got to spend the night in Kounkané; giving myself time to go swimming in a local river. I had heard mixed reports about crocodiles and hippos but when it's 105 in the shade and you're biking in the sun it's hard to resist. I even got some nice photos with a local fisherman, who then told me there are crocodiles, so that ended that swimming session. I'll just have to wait to go to Kolda again and swim in the pool! Before heading back to Velingara I went to the large market in Diaobé with my Senegalese Mother. She used to buy stuff in bulk here (mainly this type of cooking oil they use in almost every sauce here) and then sell it back in Velingara for a pretty good profit. But, as I had mentioned, my host Dad has been having trouble with money recently as the government here simply will go 9 months without paying people while the bosses are visiting France and Dakar... so my family spent all the capital my mom uses to buy the goods on food that we ate. So I went with her and bought all the stuff she sells just to get her doing something again other than just sitting around the house with no way to make any money. This way she can sell it all, give me back my investment (theoretically) and keep the profit she makes until my dad actually gets paid.

Well this entry is going to be another long one, sorry, but I've been going a month between posts and I'm actually a little more active now. Since I've gotten to Velingara my family has been saying I need to visit this village called Lenkering where some family friends live. So one weekend I just called up my Dad's friend, Sadio, (he's like 60 but really nice) and told him I was coming for a few days. The village is farther south, approaching the border of Guinea, and is beautiful! The farther south you go the more trees there are, so it's not quite so sandy there even though we're in the driest part of the year right now. I spent a day walking all around the town with a friend and neighbor of Sadio, including visiting a really cool community garden they have fenced in where there are a lot of grafted mango trees and vegetables. Ohhh ya, it's mango season now and for the next couple months, which here in the south of Sénégal basically means I get to eat as many free, freshly picked mangoes as I want, which is awesome and simply delicious.

I have also been battling wing Senelac recentely, which is the the Senegalese power company. I have been trying to get electricity installed in my hut, which is no small feet. Basically they are waiting for the bride that I'm resisting giving them. Anyways I have been stopping by there most everyday hanging out with the workers there, trying the build enough trust for them to give me my counter before I leave in a year and a half! It's to the point where the "patron de base" is sick of seeing me, so hopefully I will win soon. Inshallah, I will win without paying them they're extra money soon; we exchange knowing, smiling glances each time I pay them a visit.

In the meantime I have been continuing the classes at the girls' school and recently showed a video aimed at improving girls rights in the area. The movie encourages Senegalese girls to leave the house and aspire to achieve their personal dreams: outside of playing the typical culturally appropriate role of house maker (and not the only the only house-maker, but one of many at that). So we are giving out scholarships to girls in volunteer communities throughout Sénégal, encouraging them to continue their education beyond an elementary level, which is very lacking here. People here can't so much as buy a single notebook or pen, so it's great to know a few girls will at least be able to pay their school dues and get the utter basic supplies.

This past weekend I went on some village visits with World Vision and The Grandmother Project, who I work with. We had these forums with grandmothers and others from the villages and talked about reinforcing traditional values while ending female genital cutting, etc. My 'job' for the day was photographer, so I got to take a lot of photos (check my picasaweb account, a lot of new pictures are up, haven't had time to comment them yet though!) It was a fun weekend that included a lot of dancing with really old Senegalese women, some interesting car rides including one in the truck bed on dirt roads with about 50 plastic chairs and 8 elderly African, I had two grandmother's sitting on my lap as we drove through the bush!

Finally back in Kolda though, been a month since I was last here! So I'm more than ready for the break and to speak a little English. I'm going to be going to Kedagou soon to see a local Bassari animist festival, then back to site to continue working. Missed a bunch of stuff again but this is already a long enough post. Although it's now 115 degrees every day, it is at least mango season, so I can fight the heat with as many fresh mangoes as I want! Jamtun and more soon, Inshallah!

What happened to the last month?

Well as before I haven't written in a while as time is starting to fly by and my life here becomes just as normal my life at home ever was. It's amazing how a month will just fly by without even realizing it... I'm going to be home in no time! I forget exactly where I left off last time (I'm writing this from my father's house where there is electricity for my computer but no internet to see my last entry), but I believe it ended right around St. Patties day. I will tell you now, since I'm looking at my calendar of what I've done this past month, this entry will be a bit long! Bonne chance!

When I returned to sight after the holiday I cooked my family an 'American Meal': Beef Stew, as it's easy to cook for a lot of people and whatever I made would have to be able to be eaten out of the communal bowl. In the morning I went shopping with two of my sisters, who were cracking up seeing me interact with people in the market. They see me at home all the time but rarely in public and they got a kick out of some of the sarcastic responses I have to stranger's ridiculous questions. That night I made a really think stew, which as a whole they liked ("Ahmed, no weeli kono a fotti beydu Magi seeda!" : It's delicious but you should add more Magi bullion cubes). I think it was the richest thing they've ever eaten, a heck of a lot heavier and more substantial than the normal white rice, and they all fell asleep almost instantly with heavy stomachs! For once I wasn't in bed far before everyone else.

Later in the week I went out to a nearby village with some people from World Vision, where I'm working to help them with some of the technical aspects of their "Grandmother Project" campaign aimed at ending negative traditions, such as female genital cutting and premature forced marriage) while reinforcing the good traditions such as the importance of family and community. This was a great example of how long it takes to do most anything in Senegal. We spent the morning doing introductions and giving the assembly of local teachers (about 20 of them) these little children's booklets that had traditional Pulaar values in it and asked them to outline the values and how they could incorporate them into class and into which academic domain. Then we left them until the 1pm lunch break, ate, then reconvened. At this point they presented there findings, which were simply things like: "In the [CHILDREN'S!!!] book it described the value of grandmother's wisdom to new mothers and wives. This could apply to language skills." That's it! A whole day for TEACHERS to say what was in an children's book they've already read, and they didn't even do the most important part of the exercise: which was to describe how they could incorporate the lessons into the class. I ended up giving a basic example like having the children go home, ask their grandparents to tell a traditional story, write it down, and then have them present it in class; hence practicing their listening, writing, and presentation skills. That's one of the big problems here, for the most part it takes a LONG time to do even basic things.

It also made me realize a few things about our education system in the US. I'm not sure if this has more to do with the fact that Senegal uses the french system of education, which is already extremely focused on brute memorization, or if it has more to do with Senegal itself, but there are some big differences between the education here and ours at home. In the US we learn not only memorize certain information (multiplication tables, dates in history, etc.) but we also learn and are encouraged to think critically about that information and try to draw our own conclusions. Here I have never seen anything even closely resembling that second part of the learning process. They will memorize word for word a page about an event in history, but if you ask them (most any student) a question about the event that isn't worded exactly like the paragraph they freeze and can't answer the question, There's no 'big picture' behind it... just memorize specific words. Once again I believe a lot of that comes from the French system of education which has been installed here, as I've heard the schools in France operate similarly themselves. Our system is also far more integrated with information from health to the arts. In our elementary schools, for example, you do not simply memorize grammar rules, but read a book that describes some sort of value, like being generous to others, and then talk about the grammar. In this way you are actually learning a technical, grammatical skill while simultaneously improving moral values, general health knowledge (it's good to brush your teeth every day!) instead of simply memorizing all the rules of the past tense.

Another interesting handicap that the Senegalese have as far as education is concerned (one of the many), is that they are not learning in their native language. Imagine going to school and have to learn everything in Japanese. Granted you would take Japanese courses at school from a young age, but it is a language that you would hardly ever use at home or in the town, only at school. In this way it is hard for students to express themselves with a rich understanding of a language which is needed to form and convey complex ideas. This language barrier simply makes it harder for students to learn and more time is lost in the schooling process. Add to that lack of ability to buy supplies, the high drop out rate, the constant teacher strikes (they're not getting paid right now!), illness, etc and it's no surprise hardly anyone ends up with a high school level of education. From my viewpoint it's a shame, because it would be of great economic advantage to the Senegalese if they all spoke a language that is known on the international level, but at the same time nobody wants a world that has killed the vast variety of cultures and languages currently present in favor of one homogeneous group. Unfortunately (and yet in some ways, fortunately... it's a tough question to decide on a concrete answer, whether it's good or bad and how the benefits from both sides can be achieved without hurting the other!) the world seems to be moving exactly towards that end, one giant, homogeneous, capitalist, English/Spanish/French/Mandarin speaking population.

Well I could philosophize on that subject for a while or simply end it with: "I don't know" and move on... I have also since given my first business class at the girl's school. Of course the day before I came down with strep throat, so I was giving my first class in 105 degree weather with a 102 temperature and a throat so swollen I could hardly eat. Needless to say, I took a lot of ibuprofen before going to that class! Overall it went well; at first the girls were a little shy and hesitant to talk, but after I kept insisting I wanted it to be a discussion class and not a lecture class (plus cracking a few jokes with them to lighten the mood up a bit) they started to open up a bit. So the next class is coming up tomorrow (after the schools took 2 weeks of Easter vacation) and I'm excited to continue with the course. The next morning after the class I went to Kolda where I got some penicillin for my throat and a few days later was feeling great again. It seems like I get reasonably sick about once a month here! At this point, being 85% healthy has moved to being 100% healthy.

At Kolda we had the COS (Close of Service) party for a group of volunteers who had completed the 27 months and were getting ready to head home. It's crazy to see these people leave as your fellow regional volunteers become your family in country (that means I have three families now: my family in the states, my Senegalese family here, and the other Kolda Volunteers). The next night the new group of volunteers came down for site visits. They still have another month of training to go but this provides them an opportunity to really see what a Peace Corp Volunteer's life is like, as life at the training center is much different. There are three new volunteers and I'm excited to have the new editions to the Kolda group. It's weird not being the 'newbie' any more! I guess I actually have been here a while now. The trainees coming to visit also helps one to realize how much they really have learned over the past six months. Sometimes, on a daily basis, it is very hard to see progress made; but when I look back at where I was six months ago I realize that I really have come a long way. Like I said, life here seems normal now and if I go back and look at some of my first blog entries it's really interesting to see what I used to think was so bizarre that would now cause me to not so much as blink an eye. In a week or two the new volunteers will be moving down here for good!

To keep moving on this excessively long entry... April 4th is the Senegalese Independence Day and they celebrate in much the same way as we do at home, with parades (minus the beer, BBQ and fireworks)! I was able to get a seat up on the main platform with all the Velingara 'notables,' apparently I'm important enough here to deserve such treatment (... although I was in the back..)! The parade was fun and reminiscent of a local town level parade at home. The various schools had groups of students walk by, as well as karate and sports clubs, the local military and police, the public transport, and a representation of the 'common man' in the form of fishers, chicken raisers, farmers, etc. A few days after the Independence Day I was looking a little shaggy and went in for my first Senegalese haircut. You should have seen the expression on the barber's face when he say all my hair and I said I wanted him to cut it, not shave it (every male shaves their head here). He didn't even have a pair of scissors and had to search, and eventually find in the roofing, the clipper heads. About 20 talibés were in the hut watching in amazement the whole time; but in the end he ended up doing a decent job. I figure I can just keep going to the same guy throughout my time here as he at least kind of knew how to cut my hair. That was followed by a nice relaxing day of watching Star Wars: A New Hope with my family on my computer... they obviously couldn't understand a word that was said as it was in English, and I'm not totally sure they understood that it took place in space, but they got a kick out of Chewbacka and basically love anything with action and flashy effects.

The next weekend, constantly on the lookout for a day to leave Vélingara and get a change of scenery, I went out to the village with Amadou and Ouseman on a donkey charet to get a bed which we brought back to sell in Vélingara. I really look forward to days such as this were I get to see a bit more of the villages and relax all day while still getting the feeling that I accomplished something. I even got to drive the donkey charet for a while and ride a horse a bit. Apparently I needed to beat the donkey harder, because my friends kept saying it would only go slow unless I hit it with a little more force. Ohhh well, guess I'm just not as used to being around work animals like they are. When I go somewhere new I always get a lot of compliments on my Pulaar, which is another plus as that is a constant difficulty; although certainly much better now than before. (... been saying that for a while!)

Finally, and yes I swear this is the last paragraph, I went into Kolda for Easter. Ended up taking it easy there, as usual, and spent three days in a row sitting by the pool at the local nice hotel. Basically feels like your on vacation in some tropical island, and nothing is greater than a pool when it's 105 plus degrees out! Unfortunately we were having power/internet problems at the house and I wasn't able to get on the internet as usual, but overall it was a nice break. Even had Chili Cheese Fries for our Easter meal! Well I will let you all get on with your lives now, I'll be updating photos as soon as I can... I have to start taking some more as well! Jamtun and enjoy the Spring!

Les Preservatifs, Entreprenuriat, St Patties Day et les Elections!

Hello everyone,

I think it's been about a month since I have last written and that is for a few reasons. First off, my schedule is actually starting to get a little more full, which is good as I was starting to go a nuts from all the free time. (Sounds crazy, I know... but I am theoretically here to do work, not just sit around drinking tea, speaking like a three year old in two languages that I have adequately butchered and sweating profusely.) Also, I've started to realize that my daily life here has become increasingly normal to me, so that things that once would have seen incredibly foreign and bizarre now appear to be nothing special, making it harder for me to find things to write about on a regular basis.

But as I mentioned I do actually have some more work to do now, such as the Sex Ed trainings I did with some other volunteers at a CEM school in Diaobe (Middle/High School). Diaobe is a large market town which gets visitors from all over Senegal, Mali, Gambia and Guinea. With so many people coming in and out and the town being completely packed every Wednesday for the weekly market, a small prostitution problem has developed there. Also, as is true with the rest of rural Senegal, there is a huge problem of girls getting pregnant around age 15 and therefore not being able to finish school. It was these main two problems that we aimed to address. I friend of mine and fellow volunteer, Laura, did these trainings last year at her local CEM and this year led the expansion to two other schools.

Basically each school picks fifty students and ten teachers spread across three grades to come to this 2 day training and learn all about STDs, unwanted pregnancies, the menstrual cycle, etc etc. It is then the job of the students to go back to their classes and give trainings on the material to their classmates. The idea being that since it is peer education it will break down many of the social and cultural barriers that usually make it hard for students to discuss such subjects (remember, this is a Muslim country!) The Peace Corp volunteers are also going to go to the schools twice a month, once to help the students plan their lesson, and the other to 'supervise' the lesson and help out if questions are asked that the student relays can't answer or to steer the discussion in a more apporpriate direction if it starts to go awry (it is likely that things such as "If a girl gets pregnant it's her fault" or "Wearing a bin-bin..." essentially a rope around the girls waist that is blessed by an imam, "... will stop pregnancy" will be said).

I had a great time at the initial trainings (I even got to explain some fairly graphic preventitive measures to a roomful of Senegalese teens who didn't get it, rather interesting) and I'm excited now to have at least two days a month scheduled where I get to make day trips out of site. It's nice to break it up and bit and move around... staying in the same place all the time can get a little tiring. My computer lessons at the Inspectors Office are also continuing. Those are nice because it also adds something concrete to my schedule, but explaining five hundred times how to change the font size, etc. is a little trying of my patience. Fortunately for me if there is one thing that I have learned since being in Senegal it is patience.

I am also going to be starting classes at the girls school in Velingara. It is a lot like a technical school in the US, and teaches girls who have mainly dropped out of regular school. It teaches them the basics, such as math, literacy and french. But the girls also learn to cook and/or sew. The school has a restaurant and tailor shop where the girls put their skills to practice. The money the girls gain while in school is put into a collective account at a microcredit bank. This way, when they graduate they already have a "Groupement Interet Economique" with capital available at the bank, allowing them to start their own little businesses immediately upon graduation. This is great as it not only generates income for their family's, help them with the starting costs which is often times the biggest obstacle to starting a personal business, but it also gets the women out of the house and empowers them as a whole. It's been started numerous times that the key to effective development is empowering women, and the longer I'm here the more I can see why that is true. It is the women who are more likely to go out of their way and bust their but to make some extra money for the family, when oftentimes the men don't have the motivation or determination to do so.

So I showed up at the school and said I could offer basic business classes and the directrice's face lit up. She said that is a component they have desperately wanted at their school but haven't been able to provide. Later today I will go and present my lesson plans to her and start next week with the classes themselves. I will also likely by helping teach the directrice and assistant directrice to use their computers a little better, help with the accounting at the school and it's restaurant / tailor shop, and basically anything else I can find to help with there. I'm really excited to get going... and it's yet another thing to fill up my schedule.

This past week was also St. Patrick's day, and yet another fine excuse to go to Kolda for a few days and relax (maybe play a little poker and have a few drinks!) Of course I had the bright idea of riding my bike to Kolda as the last time I tried I got an exploded back tire within 5 miles. Unfortunately, it's starting to get hot now, with temperatures over 100 degrees every day. So me and a fellow volunteer, Kelly, set off for the 85 mile bike ride. Needless to say, by the end of the trip we were quite exhausted and had gone through all of our water; I think I drank over 7 liters throughout the course of the ride. Unfortunately for us, the last 10 miles before Kolda is void of houses along the road, so we weren't even able to go and use some random person's well. I think we barely made it without passing out, but now I know I can do it! I'll just wait untill the next cold season to try it again...

After finally making it to Kolda I spent a nice long three and a half days there relaxing. I got my computer! Which I'm now using to write this unnecessarily long entry. For St. Patties day we killed and ate a pig, fresh pulled pork... yum yum yum! Me and some Peace Corp friends also started a fantasy baseball draft, they were laughing at my strategy of drafting almost exclusively Red Sox players. All in all it was a good time in Kolda, as always! And now I'm back at site, electricity is almost finished be installed, and soon I should have a fan, can't wait for that. Won't have to sweat myself to sleep every night, Inshallah.

In the wake of our own elections in the US, today is the local elections throughout all Senegal. Of course this means that people have gone running around in large groups yelling god knows what, climbing 100 people on a mini-bus and driving around town blasting load music, and stopping cars on the road and banging on the windows. I don't know about you, but having my travels delayed by mobs and being woken up in the middle of the night by load reggae music makes me want to vote for the candidate they represent. Fortunately, it is not only discouraged, but forbidden for Peace Corp volunteers to have anything to do with politics, so we stay away from all of this. Considering there have already been deaths in Senegal related to the elections (not to mention the fact that 3 countries surrounding Senegal have had military coups within the last six months) the farther away I stay from the excitement the better.

Politics work a little differently than back home, although Senegal is one of the best African nations as far as democratic liberty. It has reasonably free press, although there is only one TV station, which is government run, and spends have the news program simply playing speachesdelivered by President Wade. Also, since they have been freed from colonial French control, whichever candidate has been elected by the people has taken power without much struggle; something that isn't common on this continent. Overall there's a pretty good political situation here, but I'd still prefer to stay out of it.

More to come... including pictures. I think I missed some things, but I write everything down in my calendar so I can go back and check it out. Sorry for the grammatical mistakes! I think my English is going downhill being here...

IST and WAIST

So it's been a while since I've written as well as a while since I have been at site. This past month I have been at my In Service Training in Thies followed by the WAIST softball tournament in Dakar; which means I have been speaking far too much english, having a lot of fun and spending the majority of my mandate.

After the 12 hour ride in the back of a sept-place it was a great relief to show up at the Training Center in Thies for IST. It is so dusty now that we're well into the dry season and the roads are so bad that you have to cover your mouth, nose and eyes for most of the ride due to the extremely fine sand that is everywhere. I was almost entirely orange/red upon showing up in Thies... fortunately there are real running showers there! At first I felt out of place using running showers, sleeping on a real mattress and other such comforts that I didn't previously realize how much I had become used to doing without. Being around so many other Americans and speaking english was also slightly uncomfortable at first, a problem that is now reversed after a month of being surrounded by toubabs!

IST mainly consisted of classes all day, focusing on the technical aspect of our work. We spent a lot of time discussing how to give business trainings and sharing experiences and ideas concerning work opportunities. We had class all day Mon - Fri and half-day Saturday, a very structured schedule that I was not used to at all. It is quite the opposite of the no-schedule, do what you want when you want style that defines the Peace Corps. Each afternoon we were bussed back out to our original training homestays only to return to the center each morning. Staying with my original host family again was interesting and relaxing. Unfortunately I still couldn't speak to most of them as they, for the most part, don't know French and I had learned some Pulaar while they speak Wolof. This schedule, however, left only about 2 hours of free time a day, and I think we were all quite exhausted at first. We got our chances to relax and go out and get some drinks on the weekends and share stories of our first three months at site, which is time highly relished by a group of recent college graduates.

We also managed to make a few site visits during training. One day we all went to an French Catholic Monestary where a group of Senegalese monks are able to be completely self-sustainable by making and selling goat cheese as well as fruit from their sizable orchard. It was quite an experience to see a Senegalese monestary, with painting of a black Jesus, where most of the country is Muslim. Also, the goat cheese and fruit was delicious! We also visited a town that makes these very interesting baskets out of reeds and old prayer rugs which are being sold abroad with the help of some PCVs. While IST was fun and a nice little taste of civilization, by the end of it I think we were all ready for it to be over so we could: 1) go to WAIST! and 2) return back to our sites and previous schedules which we had all grown to love.

So as soon as IST ended we all went into Dakar where we were given homestays in Ex-Pat houses for the week. I stayed with a National Guard Major with three other volunteers... and he had hot water! It was the first hot shower I had in 5 months and I think I stood under the water for about 30 minutes. All the volunteers from Senegal (about 150), most Gambia volunteers, as well as some Mauritania and Guinee volunteers all converge on Dakar for this tournament. It basically consists of everyone dressing up in absurd costumes, drinking copious amounts (having that many 20-somethings in one place who are all used to living in villages is a dangerous/fun combination), playing softball all day and going to parties at night. Needless to say it was an extremely fun time and a bit of a release for everyone. Now I just have to wait an entire year for the next WAIST!

I'm now back in Kolda trying to get myself organized to go back to site. It's been so long and I feel as though I have gotten so used to certain comforts that returning will require a bit of re-adjustment. Plus the fact that at this point I have practically forgotten how to speak French and Pulaar. Oh well, it's going to be nice to get back to site and resume my service. I just need to enjoy these last couple cool days... the hot season is rapidly approaching! A few more weeks and it should be topping 100 degrees daily, yay!!!

Celebrations, Loss and The New 'Patron du Monde'

So it's been a fairly exciting last week in Velingara prior to my leaving for a month to attend IST in Thies. I went to a celebration at friend's house who had just finished studying the Koran. Three kids (two boys and one girl, all about 18-20 years old) were celebrating together and there was a huge party. Basically their compound was just completely full of people sitting on mats like sardines packed in a can, leaving only a tiny path to walk through to get from the house to the edge of the compound. Finally the Imam came out and read some passages from the Koran, as well as the three new 'graduates'. It was after the scripture readings that things got really interesting and presented some interesting paradigms in the Senegalese culture (some that I believe also exist more generally in the African culture as a whole).

It is customary for the family to feed everyone who comes to the party. So out came the plates of Ceb and everyone gathered around for their bit. After this, however, some of the older men who seemed to be running the celebration were handing out Kola Nuts and little bags of biscuits (the kind of thing you'd see in an elementary schooler's lunchbox) to everyone at the party. Apparently some people felt as if others were getting served twice and worried they may not receive some themselves, so they started fighting with each other very loudly, pushing and shoving, and simply grabbing bags of biscuits from the men, tearing open the big sack. It was incredible, a group of grown men fighting like children over little bags of biscuits. I just decided to avoid any possible trouble and threw my bag into the middle of the fray.

This illustrated perfectly an interesting paradigm in the Senegalese culture that I have noticed quite a few times now: they are an extremely community-based and share almost everything (especially in the family) and yet expect, and fight over, handouts. Everything from the way they pray together, to the way they dish parts of the dinner into passing Talibes' cans even though they're not eating enough themselves, and the way they don't understand the concept of private time or property within the family structure. All of these things points to a society that thinks for the greater good rather than to personal gain (unfortunately a trait which doesn't help development). At the same time, upon seeing a white person they expect to be given a handout. When talking with many volunteers, the Senegalese (some, not all) have shown reluctance to actually work for their own benefit and simply expect the capital to be given regardless of their commitment (it's always the lack of money that's to blame, never the lack of work!) Half the reason they attend parties is for the free food, which they end up fighting over. It's clear that this dichotomy comes from their conflicting history, that combines the collective thinking of rural Africa and the communal praying of the Muslim faith with the past experiences of colonization followed by the modern times where the only buildings bigger than a shack are the NGOs. Ohhh Senegal... it makes one realize how complex, and oftentimes contradictory, constructing social and economic change really is.

Well back to my life here... the other day I visited another volunteer who lives nearby to me (I biked 45 miles in one day, great way to kill a lot of time without having to strain to think in another language and simultaneously feel like you accomplished something!) for no real reason other than to make a day trip and see how her work has been going. While we were hanging out in her hut we suddenly noticed everyone outside start panicking and a thick wave of smoke coming over her hut. When we walked outside we noticed her neighbor's hut was on fire, not 50 ft. from her hut. Since the roofs of these huts are made from dry straw and there is a lot of wind now, it is really easy for these huts to go up in flames. They're basically like the tinder for a camp-fire, even set up in a conical shape, and its not rare for entire villages to be burned down (just recently 50 huts were razed and two people died in a village not too far off).

Everyone around, myself included, started running back and forth from the wells with buckets trying to put out the fire. There was also a lot of wind blowing straight from the fire towards her hut, and so people started preemptively dowsing her roof with water to prevent it from spreading. Another hut within her compound did start up a bit and we all rushed water to it as quickly as possible while the family members were running in and out frantically trying to get all their belongings out of the room in case it was completely burned down, which was now evident was the fate of the first hut. Fortunately the hut in her compound was saved due to the literally 100-200 people that came running to help. The other hut, unfortunately, was a huge loss for its owner. He had two computers (with the intention of going up to Dakar to study at University), a peanut harvesting machine and lots and lots of sacks of rice and millet. All in all he lost over 3 million FCFA worth of items... an amount that is nearly impossible to save here.

So now this poor guy who has likely been spending his entire life working and saving above and beyond his peers, and finally was about to go to University in Dakar, lost everything. I mean everything... there's no insurance here, if your stuff burns down that's simply it. And the fire was started by a bunch of kids who were doing something stupid that involves breaking open a car battery and placing the acid in a fire to make some firecracker type effect! Genius, on so many levels, I know. But this is where the communal aspect of the Senegalese culture shined... everyone rushed to the help of this man. Partially because there are no official firefighters and they didn't want the fire spreading to other houses, but also because they realize that he is loosing his whole life. You could tell they really sympathized with his plight.

Finally, as you all know, Barack Obama became our next President this past week!!! And it was really interesting to be here in Senegal while it happened. Everyone here is so excited that a black man was elected head of the US (which they constantly refer to as 'Le Patron du Monde' (or Boss of the World). They genuinely seem to love the United States and everything it stands for (not just that fact that we have a lot of money, although they like that as well!) and believe that by electing Obama we are changing the entire world... giving everyone an equal voice. I was actually in the market when the inauguration started and wasn't going to be able to make it to my neighbor's house to watch it. So as I was passing a random tailor's shack I noticed they were watching it (as everyone with electricity and a tv was) and I stopped and poked my head in. When they noticed I was interested in watching so they invited me in, gave me the best seat as they always do here, and I watched the whole thing dubbed in French with a group of Senegalese people I've never met before.

It's another example of the strong sense of community and sharing in Senegal... they don't think twice about inviting complete strangers into their houses, giving them food, and then wishing them peace as the head out. At home we spend most time in public completely ignoring everyone around us. If you went up to some random person and said hello they'd think you were crazy. Here, on the other hand, people enjoy taking the time to simply share greetings with everyone as they walk by. This week my family has been pressed for money so their neighbors will send over extra bowls of rice at dinner time. Yet these are the same groups of people who will fight over a little pack of biscuits. Senegal makes so much sense some days and is completely incomprehensible other days. Well, it's certainly interesting. Until next time, when I'll be back up in Thies, Jamtun!

(Check webshots from time-to-time as well, trying to get more photos up)