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!