Thanksgiving shots, in reverse order

A lot of people crowded around the small Kaolack living room.

Jaime with 2 of the birds. 3 turkeys and 1 chicken, but the meat was gone within minutes, lame!

8:10pm, time to eat!

Afternoon football at the high school

Chris, the top chef and Thankgsiving Master did a fabulous job with everything! Way to be Chris! (and Kyle and everyone else who played a role in the cooking)

Myself, I helped cut veggies for the salad, grill the sweet potatos, and clean a lot...plus the requisite taste testing. Delicious food and greet company!

On the Eve of Thanksgiving--Posted the Day After

I’ve been debating whether or not to update the blog right now as not much is really going on. My biggest news is that my vacation is 3 weeks away and I am just about to start the 7th and final Harry Potter book, one of the big goals of my PC Service.

So basically nothing of what I said would happen in my last blog entry occurred in the past two weeks. So Africa… I still haven’t heard official word about my grant, but unofficially that it’s a go…though it may take 4-5 weeks for the money to go through. Since I just received my 3 month pay, I may front some of the money and wait for the grant to come through, just so that we don’t have to wait FOREVER for the project to start, but whatever. Then again, maybe I won’t.

I did not wind up going to “Pulaar Land,” aka up north for Thanksgiving and am instead writing this from dirty ol’ Kaolack (much improved, however, with the dry season). There are about 25-30 Vols here and we are making Senegalese versions of the American classics (and some Vols’ kind family members sent over lots of cans of pumpkin filling and cranberry sauce). We have 3 turkeys and 1 chicken (please don’t think American sized turkeys or chickens…it would disappoint), a bunch of apple and pumpkin pies, stuffing, mashed potatos, etc. And an afternoon game of football planned in a nearby field.

Almost all of last week I spent prepping for my big village meeting when we were to create an Action Plan based on the major health and environmental problems of the village and thus focus my work the next two years. After the morning meeting, there was to be a nice lunch for the 35 or so participants and then an afternoon teacher training. The meal was perhaps the most dramatic part. Last Tuesday, I went to Foundiougne and bought 6kg onions, 4kg carrots, 2 kg navet (a root veggie), 6 heads of garlic (is that what they are called?), 6 hot peppers, and 3 green peppers. Thursday morning I bought 20 maggi cubes (large bouillon cubes, basically), a ton of pepper, mustard, random seasoning, vinegar, dish soap, drink flavoring, 2kg sugar (smuggled from the Gambia…), and 1/4kg tea. As I was heading back to my village from town Thursday morning, I was planning on going around to buy 15kgs of rice, 4L oil, and make sure the 5 chickens were purchased and procured. However, while planning, I received a text message from my APCD saying he had Malaria and wouldn’t be coming the next day anymore. I don’t blame him in the least—he was traveling around the country running these meetings the past several months and was worn out and such. However, it did mean that most of my planning and work of the week went to naught, and a lot of money was spent, which I may or may not receive back... I gave the veggies to my family and a few others in the village, kept the nonperishables to use when he does come, and begged my counterpart for the chicken money back.

The big achievement of the week however was starting my own garden in my backyard. My nearest PCV neighbor came by on Monday to help me dig space for the school veggie pepineer, which was a lot of work. We had to dig through 6-9 inches of hard clay before getting to soil (rectangle space about 1m x 2.5m or so), dig that up, mix in manure and fertilizer, and water. We wound up not planting the seeds for the pepineer since there still wasn’t official word on the grant, but I did spend the next few days digging up similar spaces next to it for my own garden. I planted carrots, green beans, zucchini, and pumpkins, and when the eggplant and green peppers are ready, will add those to the plot as well. It’s small because it was so much work to dig and prepare the space, but oh well. Until I talk with the teachers more about the garden and have a better timeline, I still can’t plant their veggie pepineer, unfortunately (don’t want them to be ready to be out-planted only to not yet have a fence or garden space prepared, etc).

Also, I took a TON of pictures this past week, of the people of the village, myself, my backyard, etc, so hopefully I will at some point have access to a good internet connection to upload more photos. My village has also started having weekly Saturday night wrestling tournaments. This past weekend it was Friday AND Saturday. They are an experience worthy of a good blog entry, which will come at a later point in time.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for this opportunity, to be here, serving, even though I do not always know what my purpose or work is, and experiencing a new way of life. I am thankful for my family in the village, fellow PCVs, for dancing, laughter, and having a hut to call my very own. Most of all, I am thankful for all of my loved ones in the States and around the world who have sent me mail, packages, thoughts, and most importantly, their prayers. Thank you for the support and encouragement. It means a lot, more than words can even begin to express my gratitude and amazement at all of the love, especially on the worst days, the best days, and everything in between.

Thanks. Merci beaucoup. Njookoonjal. Jeregeenjef.

Peace Corps Expansion

I wanted to include this link to a petition to President Elect Obama about his promise to double the Peace Corps. As any fellow PCV around the world would say, our budget needs o be doubled first before a surge of new Vols, but really any extra support for the Peace Corps is appreciated. If you are interested, sign this. Thanks.

http://www.petitiononline.com/morepc/petition.html

My new daily life

So last Wednesday was officially my 6mos at site; meaning, 6months after a white Peace Corps SUV drove me to my village, we danced a little, unloaded my stuff, and then drove off. It was a moment that I dreaded 9 months before I even left for Senegal—I remember reading a PC story one slow summer evening at MT that talked about such a dreadful moment—something many would liken to “abandonment.” This post isn’t about how I’ve grown and moved on from that fearful day, not at all. While it was not nearly as bad as I had long imagined (I didn’t burst into tears when Demba and Laura drove off in the PC car, leaving me behind), I am glad it is behind me. (I actually went along on an Install this past Thursday and was surprised how calm and excited the new Vol was, rather than coming across scared or nervous. She has a great attitude and will be awesome at her site!)

So, back to Wednesday: I actually forgot that it was my 6 months in Senegal until around 6:45 that evening, while taking my bucket bath in my family’s bathing area, as my area is still out of commission…stupid fence! Instead of really celebrating that day, I had a very typical “This is Africa” day and I thought it might be interesting to reflect on that in terms of what happened during the day, the abbreviated version. (I hope that the grammar tenses are not too out of whack, I was sick and exhausted while typing it, so I apologize)

7:45am: pull myself out of bed. It had been a cold night and I was wrapped in long sleeves and pants, plus my thin fleece blanket. I made some porridge (another PCV sells it for her women’s group) with banana and fake coffee with powdered milk. I spilled powdered milk and hot water over most of my table, so things had kind of cooled down by the time I sat down to eat myself, while reading Harry Potter 5.

8:15: a parade of people starts coming to my door that lasts for at least half an hour. Why they chose this particular day to interrupt me constantly so early in the morning, I don’t know, it was rather out of the ordinary. Included in this group is my sister Ndeye and her formerly malnourished baby (he’s getting chubby!), another sister asking what I do when I go out of town with my trees (ie who waters…no one so far—Again, why this was necessary before I even stepped foot out of my hut to greet people, I don’t know), and a sister offering me breakfast of millet and milk (a full two hours earlier than it was offered the day before).

9:30: I drag myself from Harry Potter to the clothes that are sitting and soaking in my large bucket of water in the backyard. My enthusiasm for hand washing laundry has considerably decreased in my 8 months here and I now barely put enough energy into it to get the smell out. I am fine with the fact that almost all of my clothes that have come to Africa will die here as well.

10ish: while stuff is still soaking, I do a brief morning greeting tour of the compound, though not many people are around as they have already headed towards the fields. Return to my hut and put the laundry on the line to dry, wash some dishes, and water my trees and recently planted flower, pepper, and eggplant seeds. Read some more Harry Potter while I wait for the kids to get out of school for their morning break.

11: Head to the school to pick the teachers’ brains about the school garden grant I’m working on. I learn a lot of things, about the garden plans, poverty in the village, and much more. And a political debate begins as well (one teacher is a Bush/McCain fan while the other is hardcore Obama). Take some pictures of where the garden will be and head off when the kids come back from the break.

Noonish: Attempt to visit counterpart as well as Sally—neither one are at their respective homes…typical. On my way from my counterpart’s to Sally’s, I greet some of the older men who are laying under a tree in the center of the village (what they do everyday…). One asks me if I have medicine for old men or just for the kids (I later realize he was talking about the vaccine drive I went on in June giving kids deworming vaccines and Vitamin A). Then he informs me that my bro Coly is looking for a 2nd wife and really likes me. They have apparently been offering other women to him, but he really just likes me. Awkward. I insist that is not good because he is my older brother and while the agree, they still maintain that my bro wants to marry me. Anyway, I head back to my hut with a horrible headache and lay down, only to be awoken a half hour later by the sound of something crunching in my backyard. The sheep have broken through and are back eating my trees again. Grr! I spend the next half hour chasing sheep and goats out of my backyard, attempting to sleep, chasing them some more (running around with a piece of millet stalk in my hand!), and then storming out into the compound looking for rice sacks or anything to repair my fence, exclaiming to the compound how annoyed I am at the animals. Everyone insists that when my bro Lamin gets back from the fields, he will fix it. Yea…

2pm: After getting harassed for sleeping midday and explaining I have a headache, it’s lunch time with both sides of the family. One side had oily rice and chicken, however the 90 yr old man kept most of the chicken for himself and after eating a few small pieces that were offered to me, I get up because I was sick of coveting the rest of the chicken in his hand. The other side of the family is still out of rice and thus had millet with some peanut sauce and the same unknown animal meat we had been eating for every meal the past few days. Head back to my hut, headache still, and read an OK! magazine that Jodi and Kurt had sent me, while trying to gather the energy to harass Lamin about a rice sack. He of course had returned to the fields by the time I come back out, however a little bit later my dad the chief comes by with rice sacks and helps me fix the gaping hole in my fence (I had been reminding them that I want to start my garden next week and things better be fixed before then!).

4:30ish: Realizing that the kids never went back to school after lunch, I head to visit the teachers again, making sure I had everything that I needed for the grant. We sit around, though the conversation quickly turns into a political/gender/racial debate of which I am already more than sick of. One teacher makes a comment pro-polygamy about all of the work for women and I had it and walk out, saying I am over this debate. They thought I was joking, but it was freeing to leave. I then head back to Sally’s compound. Sally and the rest of the women are behind their compound with many other women from the village, pounding and separating pieces of the millet stalk, under a mango tree. They start drumming and singing as I approach, so I dance for them a bit. A good time was had—they are all funny and silly—and after asking Sally some questions for the grant, I head back to my compound to bathe.

6:30: while pulling water for my bucket bath, the rope slips a lot and I am convinced that I will either lose the entire rope/bucket combo in the water again this week (I had been after since arriving of slipping and letting the thing fall into the well and it finally happened) or lose a finger trying to prevent it from happening. As I am bathing, I realize it’s my 6 months and how my day has consisted of laundry, marriage proposals, sickness, bad food, political debates, sheep, and kids (the cute, the dirty, the sick, and the screaming to my annoyance “Khady Toubab!!!!” or “White Khady!!!!”) and how this is all normal in my life nowadays. Weird huh?

8:00: send texts to fellow Vols about my 6 mos and congratulating others on their’s as well. I sit with family members, drink some bissap (hibiscus) juice and chat about random stuff. I tell them that I am going to Pulaar Land for Thanksgiving and they are utterly shocked that I would go so far away randomly (or not so randomly). Just wait until they hear that I am going to Europe for vacation in another month... The moon is full so everything is super bright (seriously, it seemed more like daylight than night, it was fabulous--if you have never experienced the full moon away from the city lights, do it! Its incredible!) and I was full of energy. Before heading to bed around 9:30ish, I have a dance party with myself in the brightness of my backyard and then curl up with Harry Potter again, thinking that it was a pretty decent and relatively normal day in Senegal.

Oh life!

6mos

Last week I celebrated 6months at site and a post is coming on that, but it might be another week. Let's just say it was a very typical day in Africa for me.

Ive been in Kaolack updating and editing my grant proposal, and suffering another round of this stupid cold that has been harassing me. I would stay in town another day, but I just heard my APCD is coming on Friday, so I need to get to the market in Passi tomorrow and buy some supplies and get out the word for a big community meeting and lunch. And rest...

This week I hope to plant my garden and start pepineering the school garden (in hopes that the grant goes through). The following week I will be heading up North to the land of the Pulaars to celebrate Thanksgiving with a bunch of other Volunteers.

That is all for now. More later.

Welcome to the Family!

The inside of the Ambassador's residence, taking the oath.  The whole place was very patriotically decorated and BEAUTIFUL!!!

The whole group after Swear In (and the ,ini burgers, but before the brownies and cream puffs!)

Yesterday, 40 new Peace Corps Senegal Volunteers swore in.  As the Ambassador reminded us, it was the same oath that Obama will take in January (with the exception of 2 words, though we dont know which those are).  They are in the programs of Small Enterprise Development (SED), EcoTourism, Agroforestry, and Sustainable Agriculture.  Welcome to the fam!

It was great being at Swear In to witness the arrival of the new Stage into the Peace Corps family.  The Country Director Chris spoke, 3 new Vols gave speeches in local languages (Maggie who gave the Mandinka one was especially awesome, though maybe 3 people in the whole room understood what she said), the US Ambassador spoke, as did someone representing Wade (the Prez here).  At night the whole thing aired on national Senegalese tv (your's truly made an appearance there too) and the event was rounded off with a party and yummy food--important for Americans as well as Senegalese

The Ambassador left us with an inspiring quote from an email:

"In 1955  Rosa Parks sat,

In 1963  Martin Luther King Jr walked,

In 2008 Barack Obama ran,

so that one day my kids may fly."

Cool, huh?

Working on slowly getting photos updated when I have time and good internet connections.  Back to the village in the am, until Thursday or Friday, Inchallah.

The Morning After

"Well, its good to be from Chicago, eh?"
--Rithvik, another Kaolack Health PCV via text


Exhausted. Lasted until 2am. Am very glad that Katie called me to let me know the results. Thanks again!

Election Edition

This afternoon, while walking to a boutique down theroad from the training center, a Senegalese man greeted me, I responded, and then he automatically asked if I voted, I responded, and then he went on lecturing how he hopes I voted for Obama blahblahblah. I walked away, letting him yell after me in Wolof.

Senegal (and most of Africa and the Peace Corps for that matter) has caught Obama fever. In my true fashion as an Independent, I usually play devil's advocate no matter which side the other person supports and I do the same here. That, and I refuse to tell anyone in my village who I voted for. While I know that most Senegalese would give me their undying support if I told them that I voted for Obama (which I did), I also dont want to fuel their fanaticism for him. Most people here support Obama not for his political views but because he is part black. Simple as that. Most people ask me, if Obama doesnt win, is it because he's black? It is very frustrating that almost every conversation about Obama here is fueled because of his skin color. People also do not seem to understand that people vote for McCain not because he is white, but because they like him and his policies. There is obviously more behind both of these men (and their running mates) than skin color or even gender. They are peoplewith ideas and policies, and none of them are perfect. It is very frustrating. However, it is good to know that if Obama wins, he will have a lot of international support, but I have to constantly tell people here that he wont be the President of the World but the President of the USA. Most do not get that, especially those in the village.

I will also say that I remember, 4 years ago, watching the last election in the 7th floor McD suite and making the prediction with a few others that in 2008, it would be Obama on the Democratic ticket. While we predicted Edwards as his running mate and that obviously didnt happen, it's still cool to see the prediction come around.

SO I am inThies, watching the election on CNN via satelite with other PCVs and trainees at a hotel in Thies. People areplanning on being here all night. I am not since I have a nasty cold or something and like sleep, however I hope Obama pulls ahead significantly before I head back to the training center. One of the teachers from my village did, however, promise to call and tell me the results at 4am or whenever things are figured out (6am or later...). I said I would probably hang up (not true if you do call me and let me know).

And that is all I will say about the candidates and whom I support. I am not a political analyst nor do I want this blog to be of a political nature. My only political message is to love each other. That, and don't be stupid.

Our Peace Corps Senegal Country Director, Chris, was just on tv, being interviewed at the Obama Viewing Party in Dakar. We were channel surfing and came across RFS, the national radio station, and were all "wait a second! we know that guy!" Yay Chris!

Going back a little, even though I did vote, I am one in the population of disenfranchised voters. 1, I'm registered in IL, a state that always goesdemocrat plus Obama is our Senator, so it's really no contest. 2, Absentee ballots are only counted if the election is close, so yet again, my vote doesn't really count. 3, The absentee ballot arrived in the mail in late September,at the end of the Rainy Season and at the height of humidity. That being said, the envelope I was supposed to return my ballot in had self-glued itself shut before I could put my ballot in. I pried it open and attempted to reseal it shut, however it looks pretty obviously tampered with and would thus be thrown out even if my vote was otherwise going to be counted. Meh, still voted, but it would be nice if those of us American citizens working for the government in tropical climates had more reliable and effective ways of absentee voting.

Ok, that is all for now. We'll see what happens overnight.

i dont really know what to call this, so back in Thies

yep, in Thies again. I am excited to be here, though also kind of mixed feelings, but it is now the last week of training for the new stage. They swear in on Friday, officially bumping my Stage into our sophomore year...err 6mos. Actually, it's almost 8 months incountry...another 12 days or so.

As illustrated in my last entry, the maps at the school are basically done. i say basically becausse i want to do a little mor eoutlining with black marker on the world map and need to add the new region of senegal. however, i am considering them done. they were a lot of work and i am glad to move on to a new activiy (and the nurse is ready for me to finally repaint the sign outside the health post, which i have been delaying due to the maps). school started about 2 weeks ago, just a little over a week and a half after it was supposed to start. my village is still waiting for another teacher to come, but that may take months. hopefully not though. ive already started talkingand working with the teachers and am really excited for my apcd to come in november and meet with the teachers to better figure out what my work here can be with them and better explain the pc approach to lesson plans. actually, i have been very impressed with my school this past week. i started talking with the director about a school garden and thenext day he broughtme a huge Projet d'Ecole in which they detailed exactly what the problems of the school are (specifically low retention rates and poor math a science scores, among others). also included in theProjet was an action plan and budget for addressing the problems, through the creation of a school bookstore (to provide low cost school supplies to all students,a big issue here), improved teachertraining and qualifications, and a school garden (nutrition and practical application of MULTIPLE shool lesson, including math, science,vocab, health, etc). I basically translated and rewrote the garden part of the Projet into anapplication for a Peace Corps grant to help fund it. I spent the better part of lastweek handwriting, typing, and running around trying to find a computer andprinter with which to print it up on. My apcd turned it in for me, so now we just wait. The school andvillage is very excited about the prospect of having a garden at the school for teaching and the vegetables to be given to the students at the lunch canteen (which will also help them improve wih their school scores through improved nutrition). Think good thoughts!

Other village updates: 2 baptisms two weeks ago, only went to one, but gotsmoe Sereer dancing in, which was fun. Now everyone is in the fields, bringing in peanuts, processing millit and corn, and whoknowswhatelse. Friday was a bit of a dramatic day in the village however. A healthy baby was morning in the early morning (delivered in town,at the health post!) and the mom is a first time mom. i sat with her and some of the older villge women a bit, talking about breastfeeding and stuff (they were shocked that american women breastfeed...). however, the afternoon was when the drama happened. a 15 year old boy the next village over was climbing a tree (getting fruit or leaves for dinner), fell, cracked his head open, and died, just an hour or so after school let out for the morning. around the same time, in my village (but the adjacent one about half a km away from themainpart), a 5 year old girl died of malaria. i did not go to either funeral (i dont think anyone wanted me to go and visit the grieving like they did), but saw the village men carry asmall wrapped in fabric body past our backyard as iwas pulling water. what is extremely sad about both is that they were both so young and these things could have been prevented (malaria more sothan the fall, but still).

that evening, one of my youngger sisters stepped on a nail or smoe otherpiece of rusty metal. another sister brought aburning stick to her mom, who proceeded to hold it up to the injury as my sister moaned in pain, which is what alerted me to the entire incident. what followed was a bit of an argument between me, her mom and dad, andthe village relai who was siting there the whole time, not really saying anything. her mom said the wood "takes out the tetanus,"to which i had to disagree as the shot is the only thing that can really help after such an injury. it turned in to a passionate argument on my side and abit of a nervous joke for my brother (her dad), him talkingabout how the shot is exensive theywouldsee how she is in the morning andmaybe takeher,etc. ikept maintaining how my brother has money bc hehas 2 cell phones, lots of animals,and wants a 3rd wife (this comment got a hysterical risefrom my sisters/his 2 other wives). it was frustrating after the2 other deaths of the day, knowing that they had no intention to take her to the healthpost to get the shot unless she was dead or almost the following morning. iguess i will find out whathappened in aweek. grrr... another reason why my village needs a health hut, it will help get rid of the excuses no to go.

on a sidenote, the 90 yr old wasslightly redeemed inmy eyes after some teachers enlightened me about smoe of the really good and honorable things he has done in his past. he also has been a big supporter this week of me writing this school grant and one of the fewwho seemed to understand what i was doing. that, and pre-foot drama friday night,he also was lecturing/encouraging a younger bro of mine who wants to quit school because he didnt pass an entrance exam last year. he kept saying how he needs to go to school if he wants tobe important and help hisfamily, etc, even as the younger bro was saying he couldnt. idont know what the outcome of the lectuer wassince it went on for like 2 hours, but school starts at the middle school on monday, so hopefully he will bethere. dontworry, i still dont want tomarry the 90yr old man. nochance.

ok, time to get out of here and visit the Thies Dioufs again. thanks for reading this random post. and no, the maps were not free-handed--i had stencils.