WAIST pics

Team Pyramid

Sarah, our star pitcher

Action shot

Fatou, my Serere language trainer was there as well. We beat her team. It was great!

My neighbor Marc taking a swing

Marc and our team captain, Jared

Team MacKaolack!!!!!!

I hope you like the plaid! Our team's theme was Braveheart (think kilts and plaid...and some blue faces), and we frequently referred to ourselves as MacKaolack (or the Cesspool as we lovingly refer to our nasty city). It was a lot of fun and we took 3rd place, with a trophy and everything!

Blogspot is being weird, so I can't describe the pics right now. I will try and post more later, I do actually promise!

side note

In response to Jodi's comment on my post against pregnancy...you are correct. It is culturally taboo for people to talk about pregnancy before a baby is born. (Kind of a "don't count your chickens thing..."). It is also bad to count your children for fear that evil spirits will take one if you give them a number. As a Health PCV, I have to ask tough questions and encourage talk on these issues...plus, women do talk about them in private a little. They all know when someone else in the village is pregnant but then are absolutely shocked when I catch on. I do my best to remain as culturally sensitive as possible about asking my sisters if they've gone to the clinic for a prenatal visit or to see their health visit card and other stuff in private so as not to embarrass them but also let them know that it is important to talk about and deal with these issues--for their health as well as the health of the unborn baby. Joking about pregnancy, such as "who would win a running race?" (the current joke among several pregnant women in the village), is mostly done between the women and myself, but can be in larger groups.

I'm alive

I know it's been awhile and I've been in an area with electricity and typical modern comforts without an update apart from my facebook status--it's coming...maybe tomorrow or the day after. I'm in Dakar, headed back to Thies in the morning (I'm not going back to the village for quite awhile still...). I'm staying with an awesome family in Dakar (thanks Alexis for hooking me up!) which has perhaps the most comfortable (guest) bed in existence. Seriously, it's amazing and I find it difficult to pull myself out of it.

Oh yea, and I took the GRE this morning. Taking the GRE in Africa is 159% different from taking any standardized test in America, hands down. Not even the same playing field. People walked in 30 min late (Africa Standard Time), there was a demonstration just a few blocks away with burnt tires (we didn't see it, just knew it was going on), we all sat at one table facing across from each other, ate raw peanuts at the break, and other randomness you would never see in the States. That, and it was fascinating to see non-Americans (Senegalese, etc) who weren't raised on US standardized testing trying to follow the rules for filling in circles and numbers and names, etc. The group of PCVs definitely realized that we were at an advantage just from being familiar with the format of the test. As for the (paper-based) test, yea...it was rough. We all walked away exhausted, comfortable with the writing section but questioning our own knowledge of the English language after the vocab section. Hence, we sooooo deserved our giant N'icecream icecream cones after! I'm so glad to have that behind me.

Ok, more later on W.A.I.S.T., etc, I promise. I need to pack and want to read in the incredible bed for a bit.

Quick Note

Hey. I don't really have a lot to say right now, though I just hit the 11 months in Senegal mark. Weird, huh? Tomorrow I am going to Dakar for the West African Invitational Softball Tournament (W.A.I.S.T.), which will be a chance to see other PCVs from my Stage, meet PCVs from other countries (and reconnect with a Brussels buddy from Mauritania), and eat hotdogs. Not even kidding.

Thies has been good...general random Cross Cultural stuff in preparation for the Stage of new Health/EE trainees arriving in Senegal on February 28. I visited the Thies Dioufs a few times, with promises to come back the next time I am in town (which might be in a week or two, depending how things roll). Generally, I'm staying busy and don't seem to be stopping for anything, which is typical for me.

I love you and miss you all! Sorry for such a lame post, better stuff to come soon, Inchallah.

Pregnancy in the village, or at least my compound

As I mentioned, several of my sisters in the village are pregnant so this is a constant topic of conversation (not necessarily among them, but I bring it up...).

One sister (Diboor) is in her 7th or 8th month and hadn't yet been in for a prenatal consultation (not the fancy American ones, or anywhere near that) b/c her husband (Lamine) didn't yet have any money for it. Annoyed with Lamine but not wanting Diboor (his 2nd wife) or the baby to suffer his irresponsibility, I gave her the money to go. A ticket for a prenatal consultation costs 200CFA (50 cents) and then it's a few dollars for shots, iron pills, and malaria prophylaxis. I gave my sister the equivalent of $4 to cover it because her husband didn't have that--or at least claimed he didn't.She didn't ask me for it nor have I ever given money for anything besides my food, this just seemed too important. She went and will probably have her baby in early March!

Lamine's first wife, Khodya is also extremely pregnant (end of her 8th month probably). She showed me her consultation card last night and she is having twins! She also only went for 1 consultation, in which the nurse told her to go to the regional hospital to have a sonogram done, suspecting twins. The sonogram picture isn't anywhere near the quality in the US, but I could clearly see there are 2. She already has 6 kids (that I know of) and she's only 35... Khodya's exhausted, giving birth almost on the clock ever 1.5-2 years, and her body will continue to have difficulty recovering after each birth without necessary time to rest. Another sister, Rhoky (bro Ibou's 2nd wife), is still breastfeeding her daughter who is almost 2 and can't yet walk (bigger problem there) and is pregnant as well. She is only 2 or 3 months, but looks 4 or 5...more twins? And Ibou wants a 3rd wife. He already has like 10 kids--he's the one who can't afford to give his daughter a $1-$2 tetanus shot but wants another wife. Yea...

This brings me to my main decision of the week: if you can't afford to send your pregnant wife (wives, in Lamine's case) to get the necessary 4 (or even 2 or 3) prenatal consultations, let alone health services after the child is born, maybe you should stop procreating. Just my opinion.

As a cultural note about Senegalese, they are not comfortable talking about pregnancy. To most it's taboo. Mothers and fathers also don't like to count the number of children they have for fear that will jinx one of them. With the exception of Rhoky, my sisters denied their pregnancies, asking who told me. "I have eyes, I can see..." "No, this is just from the millet and rice, I ate a lot." This goes for one of the teachers as well. However, as a Health PCV, one of my jobs (I guess) is getting people to talk about stuff like this, at least so they understand the importance in acknowledging the pregnancy so they can take proper care of themselves and their unborn babies. My family is getting used to me talking to them about it, though I try to do it just with the woman or women in a smaller setting. Women outside of my family are still somewhat shocked when I bring it up or make a comment about someone being pregnant, always denying and asking how I know, feigning shock and awkwardly laughing. [Note: I only bring it up when I am 100% sure] However, the most recent joke with the pregnant teacher and my sisters is talking about who would win a running race between them, someone always adding the name of another pregnant woman in the village to the mix. Humor is at least one way to start addressing it. Currently, Fatou (teacher) thinks she could win, but says Khodya would be close. Of course, super competitive Diboor thinks she could take them all (still while denying being pregnant, even after showing me the card from her prenatal visit). Ondang ondang.

Khodya asked me two days ago and again last night "if I could take her stomach for her for the next month or so." Sadly for her, I cannot (nor would I want to at this point in my life), but I promised to help after the birth by carrying one on my back. haha. I also made the family promise to call me when she delivers. My sisters have a habit of delivering their children (baby Ibou, Amy Na) while I am away from the village for an extended period of time, which is kind of sad. Actually, all I really care about is a safe delivery of the baby and the health of the mother. Prayers for my sisters as they get ready to deliver, especially Khodya, please.

Yesterday, I fell into the well...

Thankfully that did not actually happen, but everyday when I am pulling water, I wonder "what would happen if I fell into this well?" A week or two after my May charrette accident, I lost my balance as I was pulling water (no pully, no pump, just my sheer strength...lol) and the fear of falling into a well came into my head for the first time that I can remember. Now it's a constant fear.

I pull water for my garden which is progressing despite termites eating my green beans at the roots, the pumpkin fruits not responding well to salt water (the plant has grown everywhere, but each little pumpkin gets to the size of a newborn's fist and decides to rot), and some weird creepy black bugs totally taking over my eggplants (and spreading to the zucchini and pumpkin, boo!). I've harvested 6 or 7 zucchinis of varying sizes, cooking them up with (expensive) olive oil, onions, garlic, pepper, and salt. I made it for my family in the village a few times and some of them actually seemed to enjoy it--and everyone was surprised that no bouillon went into the dish (they use it in everything!). I also have some carrots growing and planted another zucchini plant and a spaghetti squash too. The green peppers are starting to grow, so hopefully there will still be some when I get back in a few weeks and the eggplants were starting to bud, though I'm not sure how this bug infestation will affect them. I also think rats are working their way through my garden (and my hut), so I'm trying out different organic methods to keep pests away. I spend every afternoon from 6-7pm in the school garden as well, meaning gardening now occupies more time in my day than just generally sitting around under a tree doing nothing--quite the progress from the summer! I look forward, in my future years (ie after grad school, when I have a family), having a simple garden wherever it is I'm living (thanks to Urban Ag PCVs, I know that you can grow veggies in everything from tires to plastic bottles, so I don't even need a huge yard to do it). It fun but a lot of hard work in my village, so I look forward to the advantage of having running water (and not such weird pests) for future garden ventures.

In all, this week was quite busy and for sure a roller coaster of things. Highlights include:

--Cursing out men at the garage in Passy and the Djilor garage (last Saturday and today, respectively). They were lying to me about cars leaving for my destination and about how much it would cost, being super aggressive and in my face, so I responded. I'm sure people found it more funny than anything, watching the silly white girl snap in front of everyone, yelling, and storming off, but snapping actually made feel better than just sitting, following the lies they tell me, and hating them under my breath. Yes, Africa has brought out a different side of me, lol.

--Visiting the entire village to talk about getting a latrine project going, along with Marc's village (and other PCVs in our region). I was tentatively saving latrines as a project for next year, but the opportunity has presented itself and my village needs latrines. We need about 37, some replacement ones and some for families that just go out to the bush to relieve themselves. The school and the teachers' compound are also included. More details on this project will probably follow in a few weeks.

--Jaime and I have been trying to start a girls' group at the local middle school with some of the teachers and the first meeting was this week. It wasn't quite what we had predicted/envisioned, but the teachers were adamant we address premature sexual activity and how it hinders girls in school, so we did. Overall, the session (which served more like a sex ed class than a girls' group) went pretty well. A lot of teachers and the local nurse (my counterpart) showed up and the girls were asking questions. The downfall? It was mostly in Wolof so I didn't understand a lot of what was going on and would thus say a few random things in French that would be translated since the girls had a low French comprehension, so I felt kind of useless (and Jaime wasn't there either). Oh well, if the girls took some important points away from the session, that's what matters.

--Went to town to buy supplies for a new latrine for my hut (since there's a hole and it's going to fall in...). Some drama was involved regarding an evil brother-in-law I hate (mainly his obsession with wanting my money, jerk!), but I explained some of my annoyances to a good bro (Coli) last night and he said he would talk to him about it. They are going to start on a new latrine while I am gone.

--Lots of good conversations regarding hygiene, nutrition, family planning, and the importance of prenatal visits and maternal health. Work is random, but definitely coming together.

I had also wanted to visit another middle school and talk to the English teachers about starting an English club since the school Jaime and I work with is ALWAYS striking, but didn't have time. That will have to wait a few weeks since I'm now in Kaolack, on my way back to Thies to do some Cross Culture prep work for the Stage of new trainees at the end of the month, then it's to Dakar for the West Africa Invitational Softball Tournament (W.A.I.S.T.), an All-PCV Conference, and the GRE. Lots of work, but that's the way I like it!