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!