New Post, Finally!!!

Well, as seems to be the trend, I haven't written in my blog for a long, long time. I apologize to anyone that is anxiously waiting on the edge of their seat for the next exciting installment, but I have been really, really busy recently and the little free time I have I just like to hang out and relax. Nonetheless, as time has passed I've made a little outline of the important things that have happened, lest I forget them, and have finally found the time to go through and fill in the blanks. So here is the first bit, with more to come soon, Inshallah! Also, I put some new photo albums up on my Picasa account, so check them out if you want to see some corresponding visuals.

(Early November) : Finally, the cool season has arrived. Although it can still be in the upper 90's under the sun during the day, at night it gets quite cool and I've actually been wearing pajama pants and a tee-shirt to bed while wrapping myself in a bed-sheet. It's glorious! It's also quite amusing to see my family shivering, huddling around a fire when it can't be any less than 60 degrees out. They ask me if this is like America, and are amazed when I say that America is much, much colder. They're reactions are priceless that when I tell them that America is like the inside of a freezer. Although the cold air makes it tough to get out of bed in the morning (it's so comfortable I just want to sleep all day!) it also makes it much easier to go biking and do other outside activities. I have had the chance to make multiple trips back and forth from Kolda via bike, something that is nearly impossible during the hot season. Also, a Peace Corps friend of mine, Darren, and I took advantage of the weather to build a large, cement grill at the regional house. I must say, however, that even in the cool season mixing cement by hand with a half-broken tiny shovel is not easy work. I have a lot of respect for all the masons here, who build whole houses entirely by hand.

The cool season also means that Thanksgiving is coming. Our Country Director was kind enough to buy each regional house an American Turkey for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, our oven is nowhere near big enough, has little to no temperature control, and was needed to cook the various other Thanksgiving day treats, so we were obliged to deep-fry the turkey, along with a few locally bought chickens. It was no true Quinn family Thanksgiving feast, but I have to say it was quite impressive and delicious considering the circumstances. The other volunteers really become your third family here (after, of course, your real family and your Senegalese family) and we all get together at least once every couple months and treat ourselves to a little slice of America. After these parties you can go back to site feeling refreshed and ready, once again, to tackle Senegal. But the longer I've been here the more I realize that while I have become very 'integrated' (to use one of Peace Corps favorite terms) I am, and always will be, American. But as always, these short breathes of fresh air that one oftentimes finds himself daydreaming about while at site pass all too quick, and in no time it's back to business as usual.

This time, for me it meant the arrival of the computer lab project. After months of talking, planning, filling out paper-work and bugging people for money (thanks again!), the computers were finally on the boat and on their way to Senegal. This meant it was time to tell the greater public about the project, which until now had been kept between me and a few key players. So we had a meeting with representatives of the teachers, the parents, the quartier chief and many others to discuss how the project would be implemented. It very quickly turned into a yelling match, each group claiming the others were going to try and monopolize the lab. In the end we made sure that everyone understood that, above all, the lab was for the students and that the adults would be the secondary beneficiaries. Fortunately, on that point at least everyone was in accord. I left the meeting a little scared about the future success of the lab, as it seemed as though some people would rather see the project ruined than see someone else gain something that they are not, and would even go as far as to actively hinder it in spite. It's really disappointing, but I've heard many, many stories of just such a thing happening. Fortunately there is still time before the computers actually arrive in Velingara to try and figure this all out.

To continue on the somewhat negative note and get it all over with at once, there have recently been some troubles in Guinea, stemming from the military junta of Dadis Camara that claimed control of the country about a year ago and is now being held responsible for killing and rape of over 150 Guineans by the Guinean military at a pro-democracy rally earlier in the year. Since then, there had been an assassination attempt on Camara's life (yes, he has the same last name as me!) and rumors of mercenary groups entering the country from South Africa and Nigeria. In an attempt to prepare for a possible civil war (Guinea borders Liberia, which had a massively violent civil war in the 90's), USAID and World Vision are making plans and stocking up on resources to create possible refugee camp sites. If violence was to break out in Guinea, there would likely be a large flow of people fleeing the country, and they would end up right where I live. So lets all hope, for the good of everyone, that it doesn't come to that. (*Note from the future... it's been working out 'ok' in Guinea, at least well enough that no war has broken out*)

Now I will try to be a little more upbeat. Too often all we hear about Africa in the West are the terrible things that happen, which is a gross misrepresentation of the facts. Yes, terrible things happen, but on a daily basis it isn't like that (fortunately at least not in Senegal) and it's a shame that many of the normal day-to-day things happening are heard in the States. So on that note, my host father wants to create a little business to try and generate some extra income for the family. After talking through a few projects, we decided to mostly work on creating a small chicken farm with the goal of selling eggs. All of the eggs in Velingara come all the way from Dakar, which is absolutely absurd, and it is frequently difficult to find any at all. The demand is clearly here and the project has potential to be quite profitable, that largest problem is his lack of start-up funds, likely the most common impediment to would-be entrepreneurs in Senegal. So I helped him to make a financial plan, so that he could clearly see all the costs and the possible future rentabilty of the project. Also, this paperwork is necessary if he is going to seek out a loan from a bank in order to get the project started. At this point we are waiting on him to collect the 10% contribution that he needs to provide in order to receive the loan, a sum which, frankly, I have no idea how he will be able to raise. I really hope that this, or another project, works out for him in the future, because the family could use the extra income and he could use something to do!

My father is not the only burgeoning entrepreneur in the family. My sister who had lasted about 1 month in her marriage and is now back home is also looking for something to do. Now that she is no longer in school she basically just sits around the house, does some laundry and cooks, and that's it. Clearly not the most exciting life for a 20 year old. She has said that she wanted to start her own little business. She wants to buy a freezer and make these little freeze-pop type treats that people sell around here. So my first question was how did she plan on buying a freezer? To this she had no good answer, so I encouraged her to find people in town, mainly single men (teachers, etc.) for whom she could do their laundry. Clearly not the most glamourous job, but for someone in her situation it's pretty much her only choice. If she did this, I said I'd pay her to do my laundry as well, and I'd take the money she earned each week and save it for her so she wouldn't 'eat it,' as the Senegalese saying goes. In the way, after a few months of doing laundry she could buy a freezer and start selling the crèmes. As with my father, I wish her the best of luck... there are far too many people around here who sit around doing nothing all day and if they can gain any job, no matter how small, it's for the betterment of everyone. As I've said before, the one person with a job ends up being obliged to buy food for the other ten people in their family who do nothing, and never have the chance to ameliorate their own situation. They're stuck and therefore the society as a whole is often left in the same position: stagnant and in a cycle of dependence.

My work with World Vision has also continued. I have been recruited as their unofficial marketing guy and have been helping them to make a year-in review booklet for the 'Grandmother Project.' Basically this involves me going out to the villages with them for their various forums where they discuss the loss of traditional culture and problems currently facing women in the society, and I take a lot of pictures etc. I then took the photos and quotations and made this booklet (there's a French and a Pulaar version) which has since been printed out hundreds of times and distributed to all the surrounding villages. I've enjoyed working on it, as it is a large change of pace from my other work. I get to just sit in their office and mess around with Photoshop, so it's a nice break from the normal running around.

There is also a large mosquito net distribution project that is being planned for the department of Velingara which will involve Peace Corps, World Vision, Tostan (another large NGO presence in the area), the local Health System, and Malaria No More, an NGO from the US. It's the biggest ever done in Africa, and is going for a new approach to fighting malaria known as Universal Coverage. Basically, in the past nets have been given mainly to children, the elderly, and pregnant women: the people most susceptible to the malaria infection. The idea with universal coverage, however, is that by giving nets to everyone, you not only keep them protected but destroy the vector that spreads malaria. Basically, a mosquito needs to bite someone that already has malaria, and then bite you, in order to give you the infection. If no-one around you has malaria, however, you can get bit by mosquitoes all day and you won't become sick. So the hope behind giving 75,000 mosquito nets to cover every single bed in the whole department is that the malaria vector will be completely wiped out. It's a bit of a test, and if it is successful will be repeated throughout all of Senegal and then most likely all of Africa.

I must admit that I've been a little skeptical as to the long-term efficacy of this project, particularly as I tend to be wary of large-scale handouts, except for in real emergencies. It doesn't seem like a very sustainable approach to solving a problem. What happens in three years when the nets are all ripped and broken? I would prefer to see a system set up where Senegalese sell nets in the area, creating not only jobs and income but a durable system of distribution (plus, people will take much better care of nets they spend their own money on). Yes, this means not everyone will have one, but with this large scale handout, anyone that tried to sell nets will now be out of business, and in three years there will be nowhere for anyone to get nets in the area unless another huge handout is undertaken. There never seems to be any completely right or wrong solution to these types of problems, so many interconnected factors that play a large role in the outcome. As to this project, though, I hope I end up being wrong and that it ultimately saves a lot of people lives, in the near future and long term. So wish us luck!

The project is also funny because it is one of the ones that apparently gets a lot of media attention in the states. You know how there is always some actor or musician saying we all need to save the poor, suffering people of Africa (which, by the way, while well intentioned is a very one-sided and narrow view of what life is actually like here), well this project is being largely funded my Ashton Kutcher and something he did with Twitter, as well as Yousou Ndor, the most famous Senegalese musician in the world. It's funny, after seeing all those ads and benefit concerts, etc. in America, to actually be the person who physically hands the mosquito net over to someone in a village here.

So there is a lot more coming, this is only up to around the beginning of December, but I will try to get in up as soon as possible. A lot of it is already written, I just need to fill in the gaps! Also, go check out my picasa site, as I have put some photos up on-line... some of them having already been explained here and some others that I have not yet talked about here, but will shortly, si Allah jabbi!