Posh Corps!

So I wrote this post August 28, 2011 and it may or may not have actually gotten published on the blog, but for whatever reason, I can't find it.  So here it is:


Here's an interesting article that came in my weekly Google Alert for Peace Corps: Peace Corps vs Posh Corps.  It's written by a current Botswana PCV who is also/has been a writer for the Huffington Post.  I've been reading his entries and it's always interesting to hear what someone else's PC experience is, and how they relate that to the greater public (Peace Corps' famous Third Goal).

I thought it would be interesting to take the questions posed about Botswana in terms of my own PC service, especially since I had a very "stereotypical" Peace Corps experience (and wouldn't have wanted it any other way!).


What did the application process require for you?

I started my online application in November 2006, paused it for a few months while I freaked out about the 2 year commitment and finally submitted it on April 8, 2007.  A month later, I had my interview in Virginia, was nominated (though never told when, where, or what sector) and spent the entire summer going through the obnoxiously important medical and dental clearance, while working 2 jobs and experiencing the young adult life in DC.  I was cleared in late September (after getting 2 wisdom teeth removed), invited to Morocco in November (declined), re-invited to Senegal in early December, and started Staging on March 10, 2008.  All in all, 11 months from submission to plane ticket!

What did you do during your pre-service training?

Our PST was an 8.5 week exhausting and disastrous experience as PCSenegal transferred between two different training styles, from Center-based to village-based and my Stage (group) was stuck in the middle of the two.  The main goal of PST is to get Trainees/new PCVs capable of functioning in terms of language, safety, cross culture, and medical needs, plus some technical skills as possible.  From 8am-5:30 M-F and Saturday 8am-12:45pm we were in class, mostly language so it was myself, Chris, and our language trainer Fatou running Serere drills all day.  Med taught us how to take care of ourselves when we got sick and we also received some intro health education training for our sights.  

How was the housing situation?

Back of my hut when I moved out

During PST, I lived in a room in a house with my small host family.  For the two years of my Service, I lived in a 9 by 12ft clay and cement hut with a grass roof in a compound with 50+ people.  No electricity, no running water.  My headlamp, mosquito net, and private douche (pit latrine) were some of the best things about my hut (next to the bright colors and sunlight).  That and the 4 lucaena trees I planted when I moved and that quickly grew to be 15+ feet each (ok, one died as I was COSing).  My hut was my space and while I would occasionally invite the kids in to help with mosquito lotion or to color, or others to help with animal infestations and other such things, it was mostly a private space which I desperately needed with so many people running around our compound.  My family was awesome and took care of all of my meals.  Breakfast was usually millet and milk in my room, lunch was rice with peanut butter sauce with each side of the family, and dinner was millet with spicy fish water or leaf sauce with the family.

What were the food options for you? 

Oops, well I guess I already answered this, but I'll elaborate.  I mostly ate with my family.  Many PCVs do breakfast on their own, whether it be bean sandwiches down the street or in the road town, or oatmeal in their huts, my family had almost year-round fresh from the cow amazing milk which I LOVED, so I didn't develop my own breakfast habit.  Lunch was mostly rice with peanut butter sauce, but occasionally we would have a delicious onion sauce called Yassa or the national plate, Thieb u jen (rice and fish, a meal that was very rare in my village because of the rice and vegetables necessary to cook the dish).  Dinner was millet couscous (resembling wet sand) with some type of sauce, beit spicy fish water, leaf sauce, or a peanut butter bean sauce.  There wasn't much variety but being in the Delta we had more regular access to fish (even if it was tiny and not always that great) than people farther inland, so the protein was greatly appreciated!  I mostly loved eating with my family but would occasionally make an egg and veggie sandwich or cook some home grown zucchini to give myself a break and consume much-needed vitamins.  In Kaolack, I mostly subsisted on bean sandwiches for breakfast and fresh yogurt with bananas for lunch and dinner, with an occasional Senegalese-style hamburger.  My mouth is salivating just thinking about these meals, yum!

What did you do for transportation?

Around my village or to Djilor: feet all of the way!  I was known in the area as "fast walking Khady" because I could regularly walk faster than most people (except the teenage boys hurrying to Djilor so they wouldn't be late for 8am class...).  The path from Djilor to my village was deep sand 8 months of the year and flooded the rest of the time so bikes never made sense.  The vehicle of choice along the path was a donkey or horse cart called a sharet (which many will remember I took a terrible fall from one during my first 10 days in the village).  To my weekly market town and old post office, or to Kaolack, we would take an ancient overloaded bus type thing called a Diagan Ndiaye (or Alhum or mini cars, depending who you ask).

Did you get sick?

Yes, many a times and many strange things that weren’t necessarily illnesses but infections, parasites, or other things that just wanted to attack my body for all it was worth.  The PC Med Staff were pretty responsive and we were given medical kits with all sorts of meds and antibiotics for various types of illnesses, infections, and GI issues, so I was never that worried, though laying on my floor with a fever and serious diarrhea was always a terrible feeling, especially on major religious holidays in the vil.

How was the social life?

So this question in the article seems to focus mostly on dating and relationships...A fair amount of PCVs date locals and there's typically at least one Senegal PCV in each Stage who marries a Senegalese by the end of her service (because let's be honest, they are almost all female PCVs who locals).  Peace Corps social life is full of scheduled holiday parties, Regional House social time, road town hangout (especially at Farba's after picking up mail in Djilor), or spending time socializing with the people in your community.  In my opinion, the social time with the people in my village was the most important and memorable, followed by hanging out with nearby fellow PCVs (but in a way where you are also hanging out with locals, so in the middle of your compound, at a school fete, etc).  The Sereres love to sing, dance, wrestle, and just generally celebrate life, so there was a plethora of social things to do, just perhaps not quite as "exciting" as college or big city social life, but whatever!


As for dating, check this out. Brand new, perfect timing! (Well, it was brand new when I first started this post a month and a half ago)

What did you do to communicate with people at home and were there any modern types of entertainment?

Mostly through email though my parents would call about once a week or once every other week via skype to my cell and a handful of friends figured out Skype enough when I was in a city with internet.  Gchat was awesome and I especially appreciated friends and family who sent care packages.

The HuffPost article talks about movies and movie theaters as modern types of entertainment.  Well, until after I COSed in May 2010, Senegal didn't even have a movie theater!  Ok, they used to in the 1990's in a few cities and then they fell into disrepair (the one in Thies in part due to Wade and politics).  In July 2010, Wade opened a Western style shopping mall complete with a bowling alley and movie theater that was showing Harry Potter the last weekend I was in country before flying back to America a few weeks ago.  There's radio and TV that work to varying qualities, and in cities students have access to internet and Facebook

How did you report the work you were doing?

We had things known as quarterly reports which were basically word documents we filled out about our work over a 3 month period and emailed to our supervisors.  As I was leaving, PC Worldwide was implementing digital reports but had some bugs.  I loved turning in my QRs because my supervisor would then give encouraging feedback and comment on my projects, and really I just liked knowing that someone knew what I was up to in my vil.

I must admit, if you read the original article, I feel like my service had more in common with the Bostwana RPCV from the 1960s than the current one, ha!  This post wasn't quite as interesting and insightful as I had originally envisioned, but almost 2 months later, it's time to finally post it.

Here's also a reality check on Why NOT to Join the Peace Corps

And a little side comment, stolen from a friend's facebook:
A man falls down a well and calls for help. A passing missionary hears his pleas and drops a Bible down the well. Next an aid worker stops and drops down some money. A Peace Corps Volunteer hears the man screaming, drops down a bag, then leaps into the well. “What are you doing?” asks the startled man at the bottom of the well. “I’ve come to live with you,” the PCV replies.

Jeudi Vert

aka Green Thursday, the day things changed in Senegal.

Things are calm and the curfew has been lifted, but obviously there are still tensions as the country waits for the President and the government to make the next step.  Peace Corps and the US Embassy continue to do a great job keeping us safe and informed on what is going on.

Training with Olympians

or Exercise à la Française et à la Sénégalaise

This is a blog post I first had the idea for while in my early 1990s era step aerobic class in Semur (and started the post in January...) and is now super long and perhaps not as comical as it would have been were I still in France, but alas.  Another long-awaited blog post finally finished up!

Zumba!



So anyone who knows anything about what I did during the Summer of 2010 knows that it basically revolved around 4 things: attending weddings (and wedding events), working at a coffeeshop, going to the gym, and wishing I was still in Senegal.  The daydreaming about Senegal was constant, but the wedding things were mostly confined to the weekends, leaving 5+ days a week to do nothing except sling lattes and go to the gym.  I became rather obsessed (with both things), doing what I could to work my café hours around my favorite classes at the gym and working my gym schedule around my café hours.  My days off from the coffee shop were somewhat confused and many times found myself going to the gym morning AND evening.  [Not to mention that days off were also kind of frustrating because I needed to earn money for all of the wedding events, but my gym pass was already paid off, so il faut profiter quoi!]

My favorite activities at the gym quickly became the various group fitness classes Healthbridge offers, especially Zumba, Body Flow, Body Jam, yoga, and Sh'Bam!  On the unfortunate days when my gym and work schedules did not match up, I would do cardio on machines and some lifting/toning.  I really wanted to try Body Pump but was always too intimidated by the sign-up list and intense middle aged women who would rush into the studio at the end of a Body Jam dance class to get an ideal spot before everyone else flooded in (20min before the class would start).  Granted, I also had my own routine and "preferred spot" for Zumba and the other dance classes (in front of the mirror, slightly to the left of the instructor, but with plenty of space to move).  I guess we all have our routines...

Suffice to say, I got my money out of my 4 month gym membership.  And then I went to France, to a teeny tiny little town without a modern athletic facility or regular aerobic dance classes, not to mention a very modest and fixed budget and no car.  What to do?

The answer came in the form of a brochure for the Maison Pour Tous (a quasi-rec center) and my new  expensive running shoes (bought for walking and rando exercise in the hopes there would be a gym in my town in France).  The MPT offered a weekly step aerobics course (as well as a "musculation" course I couldn't afford), and since they gave me the student rate, it was 65€ for the entire year, I signed up for step.  The last time I had taken a step course was in Total Body Fitness (yea TBF!) as a gym course in high school, and wasn't in love with the idea, but I knew that I would need something to get me out of the apartment to exercise, esp in the winter.  Step was every Thursday, 6:30-7:30pm, and insured that I would at least do something cardio once a week, even if the weather was bad or things fell through.

Before I paid my precious 65€, Monika and I went to a trial class to see what it was like.  Basically, it was a basement room with a small mirrored section, a class of 40 or so 30-40-somethings, myself, and a few teenage girls, small black steps circa 1991, and a tiny French step instructor armed with 1970's-90s American classic pop music she couldn't actually hear the beat of the music to choreograph to.  Well, maybe she just didn't know how to choreograph, but the dancer in me left the first trial class, and every class after, laughing with horror at her inability to follow the beat, tempo, and flow of the music with the steps.  She would change pace every few minutes and we would do the same choreography over a 2+ month period.  And then there were the other participants...those ladies!  They were funny and French and for the most part, super out of shape, and so would need a water/chat break after absolutely every song.  Really!  I guess it just wasn't my Zumba class, where Stephanie the instructor would keep us energized, heart rates up, the entire hour+ and only minimal water breaks (3?).  In other words, the class was NOT very intense at all and I hated feeling like a step robot and would sometimes find myself dancing along to the music instead of the choreography (like Footloose!).  My dancing tendencies were increased in part due to the fact that Wednesday nights I would watch Glee and thus be in a dancing/singing mood all day Thursday.  I did LOVE the way the instructor would bounce around (she was only like 5' tall), calling out franglais "Faites un kick, kick!" and attempting but failing to go along with the music.

Since step was not as intense as I needed and I lived at my school and thus wasn't moving around much, I realized that I had to do something else.  I went on long walks but since my town was so small, there were very few different routes to take and things got old fast.  I decided to start run-walking (ok mostly walking) around when it wasn't too cold or snowy, but the size of my town also meant I would run across it and feel like I had done a lot, but was only out for 12 minutes!  Despite the frigid temperatures and snow, I went out a few times a week in November and December, but had trouble getting into the running mood after Christmas break and thus found myself instead going on 5km round trip walks to the next to next village a few times a week.  Through my step class, I learned that a lot of French women (or at least women in Burgundy) don't really enjoy sweating, so there were never many runners in my town.  Perhaps a handful on the walking/running path, but rarely enough to intimidate me.  When it was really cold, I would work out in our hallway/stairwell (in the abandoned school building we lived in), running up and down stairs, taking out the trash, doing jumping jacks on each landing, and then lifting my like 2kg handweights.  It wasn't much but it helped me feel better about things (like bread, cheese, salad, and wine as regular dinner staples).  Also, while on two different day trips to Paris, I found discounted/free Zumba France classes to try, which were super fun though also of varying intensities.

When I returned to Senegal, I was excited about the idea of once again being able to walk everywhere, especially the 20min walk from my home (at the Training Center) to my office, not to mention the market and everywhere else in town, as a way to get back in shape.  I quickly realized though that I wanted, er needed, to do something else.  Thies has a few "gyms", ie rooms with old weight machines and hundreds of body building Senegalese dudes, ie not for me.  Young Senegalese men love running in Thies, any time of the day, and it's somewhat very intimidating.  They run for hours, never stopping, in flip-flops, jelly sandles, and occassionally tennis shoes.  The days here are hot and it doesn' cool off until night, which means that evening is full of even more male runners and not a good time for a single white chick to go out running.  This left the mornings...ah the mornings!  I did a few short AM neighborhood runs but never really felt comfortable until another PCV said that he was going to try out the nearby track.

The track?  Eh, I don't know...that sounds kind of boring and reminds me of high school gym class--plus it's not just a track, it's part of a national sports training center.  I'm talking about the place where the US NBA/WNBA comes to do yearly basketball training camps, where male and female athletes from across West Africa train to become the Champion of Africa in whatever their event may be (track and field, wrestling, etc), where Lisa met and started working with what may be the national gymnastics team, and where Olympic hopefullys from across Africa come to train for summer Olympic trials.  No, seriously, it's an intense place and I don't classify myself as a runner or even much of an athlete, just someone who wants to be healthy and in shape.  And the track, like everything else in Senegal, is sand rekk, just sand.  Do you know how difficult it is to run on sand?

Well, whatever, fine, I'll try it.  Having another PCV there (though we didn't run together, I'm far too self-conscious about my running to do that) gave me the courage to try it out, then I discovered that another female Thies PCV also goes there almost every morning.  She told me if you go between 7 and 8:30, there's no one using the track and usually very few creepers.  Sweet!  I've been running there since April, about 4-5 times a week depending on my work schedule.  While I don't run incredible distances, I do well for myself and that's what matters, and I've beaten my personal bests.  I still walk, but only very short distances and try to push myself further and further.  Sometimes I just do a handful of laps, sometimes I go much farther, depending on the already intense morning heat and how tired I am.  I still won't call myself a "runner" but the PC staff have started calling me la grande sportive (basically the great/big/intense athlete) because they see me going out almost everyday to run and I am always finishing up my post-run stretches/arms/ab work when they arrive in the morning.  It feels great and has been an invaluable addition to my morning routine, even if it means I rarely get to my office before 9:30, whatever.

Will I keep running when I return to America?  Perhaps.  I would absolutely love to run a 5km someday soon (I would LOVE to do a full or half marathon but don't actually have the desire to be that serious about running).  The house I am moving into in Baltimore is near the JHU Homewood campus which has a track that's open to the public, but I also will probably join the student gym either on the Med Campus (where Bloomberg classes are in East Baltimore) or pay a little more for the Homewood campus gym closer to home.  Or maybe I will just look for a local dance studio offering African dance and Zumba, or somewhere else.  However, I will def be borrowing my parents' Healthbridge guest passes during the 5 days or so I am back in CL so I can once again take one of Stephanie's Zumba sessions and do some BodyFlow!

Well, that's an update on some of my out-of-work activities.  If you made it this far, FELICITATIONS!!!  Sorry it was so long and not nearly as humorous or insightful as the entry I had originally planned in my head in January in France.  Had a great run today which has put me in an awesome mood even if I have a long day in the office ahead of me!

Can Someone Find My Motivation for Me, Pretty Please?

More Pictures!

Started last week

My dream job, in a perfect world, would be to be a National Geographic photographer...to be able to travel the world, be brave/bold with my camera, and (in theory) not be too intrusive into people's lives but tell a story through pictures?  Yes please!

Or I would be a singer/dancer in a chorus in Broadway musicals, but I don't have the dancing or singing skills for that, so NG, while way far out there, is more realistic.

In this age of blogs, facebook, and Twitter, everyone and their brother has a blog and feels the need to share about their lives with the rest of the world, warrented or not.  My sister introduced me to a foodie blog that I've been reading daily, out of a mixture of curiousity, repulsion, confusion, and amazement.  Through that blog I discovered that half the world appears to have food/fitness/life blogs, which is kind of overwhelming.  I am pretty sure that the other half of the blogging world has travel blogs.  And EVERYONE uses their blog as their own personal soapbox for whatever social justice/environmental/development/political/religious issue they want to press at the moment.

I do the same, I know.

I would LOVE to have a successful travel blog, full of gorgeous pictures I've taken in France, Morocco, Mali, Senegal, DC, wherever.  For that you need three things, ideally: a good camera, writing skills, and motivation (or at least, not laziness).   I have an old "Peace Corps mostly indestructable" camera that has become so scratched from my purse and travels that the screen is next to impossible to view anything through, but it can still take decent pictures when it wants to (or when I put the effort in).  I can write: I was obviously never an English major, but when I put forth the effort to think in only one language (it took 3 attempts to write this sentence without using French), I like to think I can write decently.  So, when I want, I have two of the three things necessary, but I frequently lack the motivation, or just suffer from unfortunate blog laziness and it's something I am actually quite ashamed of.  I know that if I put in the effort, I could have a freakin' awesome travel blog, but alas.

Frequently, as I am doing something, or right after, I find myself composing great stories and humorous blog entries in my head.  Then when I get to a computer, I lose focus, forget, or just don't want to type a blog entry.  It's sad and comes from the same place that my procrastination in high school and college came from.  I have discovered that I work best under pressure, or at least I can best focus on the tasks I have to do when I have an impending deadline, or several other activities to do at the same time.  I am the same way with my work here in Senegal.  That's how it goes with my blog entries: I start but don't finish them, ideas pile up, I avoid writing, and when I realize that it's been a month or so, I scramble to finish and publish them all.  But the quality is missing.

The effort is missing to create an awesome and fresh blog design that reflects my personality.  Sometimes I have wondered if I should just forget the blog and get rid of the cloud that hangs over my head telling me to write (or more so, the constant task in my planner that just says "BLOG!"), but I bully myself into considering that quitting, which is something I do NOT do. [Note: it took A LOT of mental work to make myself cool with leaving France early to return to Senegal and not feel like I had "quit".]

I want to share things with the handful of readers I have living vicariously through my silly and exciting adventures, so it's time to stop being so lazy!  I have 5.5 weeks left abroad and I need to maximize them without feeling tied to my computer or feeling the guilt of not posting either...time to find some balance!


Update: Spending two hours last week revamping the look of this blog has made all of the difference in the world!  It's still not perfect, but putting it together was just the creative outlet I had been craving and now I find myself excited to finally finish all sorts posts I started ages ago, or planned to start and still haven't.  We'll see if this trend continues...

Get Ready for Me, Hollywood!

er Paris?


How about La Belle Bourgougne?

Ok, fine, Thies!

So a few weeks ago (err 2 months ago now), I was at my office and totally bored to death and frustrated by the lack of anything to do while awaiting two sets of needs assessments in the field.  I was flipping between my gmail, BBC news, and various blogs (I blame Katie!) without purpose until an interesting email from the PC Training Center manager (and former Safety and Security Officer) mentioned something about a film being shot in Thies and in need of “European” extras!  Yes please!  I didn’t know any details, except there was a scheduled fitting in a few weeks, so I called the number and signed a few fellow PC people up!

A little info on the movie:

The film is a "tele-film," or TV movie, entitled “Les Pirogues des Hautes Terres,” about the pre-colonial railroad strikes that took place in the Thies area from 1938 and 1947 and affected the Dakar-Bamako train line.   It is loosely based on Ousman Sembene's book God's Bits of Wood (or Les bouts de bois de Dieu en francais), which I am just starting to read.


For the francophones:
Le 10 octobre 1947, les cheminots de l'AOF (Afrique Occidentale Française) et en particulier ceux de la gare de Thiès, deuxième ville du Sénégal, cessent le travail. Les responsables blancs du chemin de fer, accompagnés de leurs vigiles armés, ont beau ordonner la reprise immédiate du travail, les hommes refusent de regagner leurs postes. La grève durera cinq mois et dix jours. Cette grève est racontée à travers l'histoire de Pierre Marie, un jeune médecin militaire fraîchement affecté à la régie des chemins de fer, et la liaison amoureuse entre Sokna et Abdou.  
from Casting info

More info en francais: Character Info


And the facebook page: Click Here, I think




This film was honestly one of the coolest/most random things I have done in recent memory and so.much.fun!  (ew, I can't believe I just used a period as emphasis...time to go back to school!)  Anyways, I had never ever been part of the filming of a movie and have only by accident seen rando filming (Transformers and some Jen Aniston movie, both on various trips to Chicago), so it was freakin' cool to be apart of the experience.  We were just the little people, just the extras, but we still had costumes, hair, makeup, directions, and a small per diem!  Whoa! 

We spent one afternoon, a few days before fiming, have costume fittings (and Mike got a free haircut) and I must say, all 4 of us PCVs just had the biggest, stupidest smiles on our faces as they gave us silk slips, vintage dresses, old shoes, and fun bags to try on and then get our pictures taken for the director.  We were such huge dorks and loved every minute of being part of a "period film."  [Being an extra in a period film is so much cooler than a modern-day film because you get fabulous vintage clothes and the crew yells at you to take off any piece of jewelry or anything that is not "authentic" to the period!]


We shot 3 scenes over 2 days.  The first day had a 5pm call, meaning we were filming until 4am (!) and we shot a party scene.  For the party scene, there was a reception, discussion, and dancing, and we all had to learn to "faire la poisson", meaning look like we were speaking French without actually making a sound, yet also look believable like we were at a party and enjoying ourselves.  Hysterical!   Unfortunately we forgot our cameras for the party scene or I would have shots of the beautiful colonial house (the old governor's house?) and enormous spreads of mini fruit tarts and pastries and "wine" that we had to consume as part of the filming.  The second day had a noon (or 1pm?) call and we shot until after 10pm, filming a scene celebrating the arrival of the train inspector and another celebrating Christmas Eve mass inside the Thies Cathedral.  There was a lot of waiting around, refilming, and "Bienvenue! Bienvenue Monsieur!" that we had to exclaim.  Then there was an awkward and quasi-chaotic dinner break that found the Americans (and some Frenchies) accidently showing up at the fancy dinner for the cast and crew instead of the sandwich dinner for the extras.  Oops, but it was delicious and no one asked us to leave!


Here are some pics to enjoy!

 Getting ready for the first night of filming: the party scene: Claire getting dolled up, Eric and I showing off our nice party clothes!

 Claire and Eric before we head off to film the party scene at night (cameras were sadly left in the dressing room so we don't have any shots of the beautiful house).  Then Claire and I showing off our fabulous hats and hairstyles before the "arrival" scene.  The director LOVED the way we look and said that we were basically cast as "sisters" in the movie, hence why we were constantly dressed similiarly, haha.  Everyone else laughed at the giant hats :)

 Day 2 Crew: Claire, Mike, and I, waiting at the church to film the arrival scene

 Filming the arrival, complete with a band!

 A great French-Senegalese cast and crew!

 Everyone ready for Christmas Eve!  Our new French friends, Klara and her mother

 Klara, boy whose name I forget, and Elodie, then Ann Sophie getting a scarf touch up during mass filming.

There are no words to describe how much Mike loved his safari-esque costume!



And there you have it, time for me to get myself an agent!  I'm ready for my close-up!

Democracy in Action

I am going to try and make this entry as non-political as possible and just informative about the current situation in Senegal as I am neither a political scientist nor at the front lines of what is going on, plus part of the Peace Corps and thus I cannot be politically involved in anything.  Nothing whatsoever.


So as you all know, 2011 has already been a heck of a year for dictators, tyrants, and long-standing presidents in the Middle East and North Africa.  From January on (ok December if you look on wikipedia), we've watched as the Arab Spring, with the help of Twitter and Facebook, has unseated many of those in power while others are barely hanging on by a thread (and using their last bits of power to unhinge the entire country and tumble into civil war).

The Arab Spring has made dictators and other "Big Men" the world over nervous for what could happen in their countries and Senegal is no different.  The President, Monsieur Abdoulaye Wade, was elected in 2000 in a remarkably peaceful transition of power known as the Alternance.  He served a 7 year term and then a 5 year term (the Constitution was changed to make 5 years the term) and announced a few months back that he was going to run in the next election on February 26, 2012.  This has been a very controversial announcement as Senegal has a 2 term max for president, but Wade and his party has announced that since the Constitution was changed to make 5 years the standard term, Wade has only served one 5 year term and is thus eligible for a second 5 year term.  This was met with anger and protests by a country that increasingly sees the President as corrupt, too old and ill to run a country, and completely out of touch with his people.  People are upset about constant energy cuts, the high cost of living, and the way the infrastructure in the rest of the country suffers so that Dakar can have a new mall, movie theater, and the African Renaissance statue, among other things.  [I have a lot of personal comments and thoughts here, but I will keep those off the record.]

April 4, 2011 was Independence Day (51 years from France!) and Wade also used it as a huge celebration of the Alternance to try and regain some support in the face of the Arab Spring.  It didn't go as well as he had hoped and after he decided to divide up some of the local government structures and de-seat leaders who are not part of his party [enough here, inappropriate comments are on the tip of my tongue].  Anyways, in another play, he introduced a new bill to the Assemblee Nationale to create the seat of Vice President and change the mandate to be elected president without a run-off from 50% of the popular vote to 25% [yea, I know...].  Both of these measures were widely viewed as attempts to guarantee his victory in February 2012 and then place his son in the position of VP (he is already a "super minister"), and met with anger and frustration in streets in cities across the country.  For weeks, Senegalese have talked about nothing else, and yesterday, as the ammendment to the Constitution was announced, all hell broke loose.

Dakar, in pictures

These pictures are kind of intense, but I promise that Peace Corps and the US Embassy knows what they are doing and are keeping us informed with text messages and are following the procedures we are all briefed on during PST.  We are told to avoid crowds and downtown areas, and we do!  Yesterday I just stayed in my office while protests and other things happened downtown.  Plan also followed safety procedures to avoid the crowds and demonstrators, and protect it's property, and everyone is fine.  Wade quickly removed the 25% electoral need from the bill, but people still protested the VP position (since Senegal is based off of the French system, they do not need a VP and instead the presidency passes to the head of the Senate until elections can be organized).  The altered ammendment did not pass and there was a collective sigh of relief across the country as people walked around listening to the radio and gathered around TVs to listen to the follow-up political commentary.  This has been regarded as "a victory for democracy" in that the leaders saw the reactions of the masses (the opposition, civil society, and religious leaders, not to mention other nervous governments) and responded in their favor.

Things have calmed down a little, but Wade is expected to address the country today and no one quite knows what he will say or what the reaction is.  We were all told to avoid Dakar, so I have had a last-minute change to my weekend plans and need to find something else to do this weekend.  Don't worry, we are all safe and accounted for :)

BBC Info

Synthese, en français

I realize that the US is mostly unaware of what is going on in Senegal and I may be unnecessarily worrying those who would have never heard anything about this.  The story is on the front page of rfi.fr but on BBC you have to click on the Africa page to get anything, and it's nowhere to be found on the Washington Post or Chicago Trib.  I am just trying to share a bit about Senegal with the handful of readers I have out there.

On verra.

Ch-ch-changes!

Again!

Finally time for a new look to this guy!  I'm still messing around with things, but after being conveniently distracted by many a beautiful blog at work, I'm finally inspired to improve this one.  However, it makes me wish I knew a little something about website and blog design so that I could do something a little more fun...and I wish I had a nice camera to take some beautiful shots to display here.

Hopefully I will finally finish a few more entries this weekend so this blog can finally be back in action!

Working in "The Field"

 and I don't meet the peanut or millet fields!

A youth group in an old Serere village near Thies (that no longer speaks Serere...)

My life as a Response Volunteer here in Senegal is very different from that of a regular PCV in many ways, not the least because I have to use phrases like "sur le terrain" or "in the field" to refer to visits outside of the office, whether to other cities or small villages in what PCVs commonly refer to as "the bush" or "en brousse."



The Senegal RPCV, my counterpart,
and myself

A few weeks ago (ok, by now the end of April), I had my first major voyage sur le terrain, working as a translator for a few visiting NGO workers.  I translated for a Senegal RPCV (from the Casamance) in country with the NGO Freedom From Hunger to do a financial literacy needs assessment for the youth in Plan's Youth Economic Empowerment program.  Translating, ok, that's fine.  French or Serere I can usually explain what's going on.  Oh, you want word for word direct exactly what's being said in French AND Wolof?!  That's a different thing entirely...

I feel like this post should have a reference to Stuff Expat Aid Workers Like and I am sure there's a post, or several about working "in the field," or "sur le terrain."  Truth be told, being more of an NGO worker than a traditional PCV has been an unexpected adjustment in itself, especially during the months of April and May.

A group in the suburbs of Dakar
learning to be tailors

Anyways, the visiting NGO was doing this needs assessment in financial literacy (think saving and spending habits) with the youth currently involved in our Youth Economic Empowerment program, who will also be part of my Life Skills program.  The Senegal RPCV from Davis, California (Yea Hershbergers!) was leading the team with a Senegalese/Malian FFH worker who conducted the focus group discussions and questions with the youth in Wolof.  My job was to translate their responses into English for the RPCV (she served in the Casamance and thus speaks Diola instead of Wolof) who was tape recording and taking notes.  I tried to get what I could, but know that I missed a lot of finer details elaborated in Wolof that the Senegalese/Malian facilitator had to catch after the sessions.  It was a long  and difficult 4 of 5 days (8am-8pm usually), but always interesting to spend time in the field and getting to meet more Senegalese.  Not to mention I found myself at great ease the moment we arrived in a village setting instead of the urban settings we were in the first two days.

I also got to experience some new "perks" of being an NGO worker instead of just a regular PCV: namely being put up in a nice hotel in Dakar for a night, and having lunches (and a nice dinner) and transport paid for by the organization.  Pas mal.  Or at least an experience that I wasn't totally comfortable with, but appreciated and took as an interesting learning experience.

I think these girls thought it was
funny that I speak Serere or something

On a more serious note, there were several aspects of the Needs Assessment that I did not support/feel comfortable about because they are mostly against the Peace Corps way of doing development: namely not spending time getting to know a community before conducting interviews and basically "testing" them on certain things, then handing out money or boisons (soda) to the group for their time, and perhaps "wasting" copious amounts of money on various things a PCV would deem unnecessary (like the hotel and nice dinner).  We drove into a neighborhood, community center, or village, spent two to three hours with them, grilling them about their spending habits (getting some truthful answers and a lot of "correct but not true" answers), talked at them a lot, handed out money or soda, and sped off to the next meeting.  This is what many PCVs HATE about NGOs that don't spend time getting to know a group or community (the argument could be made that Plan already works with these groups so they kind of knew of us but didn't actually know us).

Whatever, it was a learning experience that served to educate and freak me out about the Needs Assessment I had to do just a few weeks later in life skills, but that will be the subject of a future blog post, Inchallah.

Greetings World: A Self-fulfilling Prophesy?

So with as much work as I have to get done right now, after working for several hours straight, my focus has disappeared and I decided to start prepping myself to return to the blog world (for all 6 or 7 of you who still read this).

So I have been back in Senegal for just over 2 months, if you can believe it.  It feels like I've been here forever (or really, never left) and yet it also feels like I just left France.  Had I not returned to Senegal, my position in France would have finished well over a month ago already and I would have been traveling/going broke, unemployed, or back serving suburban coffee (sorry CL but it's not as fun as DC coffee).  Needless to say, I am happy that this opportunity presented itself and I am "back where I belong," as people told me upon my return to Senegal and Peace Corps.

I have been admittedly pretty terrible with updating and for no good reason, so sorry about that!  My parents have gotten spoiled by my sister's relatively recent (a few months) re-entry into the blogging world and she posts regularly and very interesting posts, and then there's me...


.....


crickets



.........

A few weeks pass and they ask me to post something...




...



A few weeks later I finally get around to finishing a bunch of posts I started several months prior.  And I get maybe one or two comments per post because people have totally forgotten that I am still alive, abroad, and have a blog.  [Can't to say I blame any of them!]  That doesn't necessarily encourage me to keep posting, or at least not frequently.


And then there's the fact that I feel the need to change the look and layout of this blog.  It was very African, now it's very European, but I need to change it to meet where I am in life: back in Senegal, preparing for grad school in the fall, and an unknown and exciting future in the field of public health.  Basically the picture of the towers in Semur holds me to the past instead of enjoying the present and looking forward to the future.  Time for a new look!

Any suggestions or design ideas for this computer design illiterate?


btw, check me out!

Same Country, New City

Whoa, back in the Peace Corps already!

Perhaps it's time for a post on what I am doing and where I am living back here in Senegal?

I have been delaying this post basically because I keep forgetting to take pictures of the front of my office and my home here in Senegal...oh wait, I'm still at the Training Center (er, back at the Training Center).  Whatevs, I am in Senegal and thus happy!

So, about my job...

I am working with Plan International in Senegal on their Youth Economic Empowerment Program.  It's basically a program involving youth village savings and loans groups (a type of micro-finance project-ish).  The groups have been in existence for awhile now, but Plan wants to add specific financial literacy and Life Skills program to improve the activities of the group and make sure that their work lasts longer than the length of time agents spend in the field.  The NGO Freedom From Hunger is in charge of the financial literacy program development, while Peace Corps (me currently) is in charge of the life skills component.

Now what is Life Skills, you ask?
   Well, it's an education program aimed at youth (but able to be used for any type or age of group, in school and out, old and young) that means to give people the skills necessary to improve their lives.  These include skills in communication, good decision making, promoting gender equality, developing and maintaining relationships, resisting peer pressure, self confidence, and avoiding risky behavior.  The original idea is that once armed with these skills, or abilities, they will lower their risk for unwanted/early pregnancy, forced/early marriage, drugs, alcohol, and STIs (especially HIV/AIDS), among other things.

How am I supposed to do that?
  Well, Peace Corps has an excellent and comprehensive Life Skills training manual (which I used in Djilor a little with my peer educators) that is serving as the basis for the curriculum I will be developing, with the assistance of some documents Plan Senegal already has at their disposal.  Plan Niger worked with Peace Corps Niger to develop a document last fall that I am using as a guide, but adapting to the needs of youth in Senegal.  To begin with, I had to do research and plan what is known as a needs assessment (the subject of a future post).  Upon completion of the needs assessment in the field, I have to analyze the results and translate them into certain themes and "modules" that I will use to develop a curriculum to be used during a Training of Trainers (TOT).  The goal of the TOT will be to train agents who will then facilitate the Life Skills curriculum with our youth groups over a period of 6 months.  Eventually youth leaders will be trained and the information will be spread across all of the Plan groups over the next few years.  My work is just up to curriculum development and planning the TOT, then my replacement Lisa steps in for the next two years.  I know it's complicated, but this is the simplest explanation I can give right now.

Sadly, Thies is not a Serere town (and the Serere communities nearby are such a different dialect that it's a different language), so the lingua franca is Wolof.  Though many people at Plan speak a little English (and many Plan donors are North American or Northern European), the office functions in French and Wolof.  After my 6 months in Semur, I'm not super keen on turning my French back into Fr-olof, so I'm not necessarily working hard to develop my Wolof skills.  I understand a lot, and yes it's tough to be in the field and not really communicate with the youth in their language, but it's nice to continue to use my French for my work and notice the great strives my language skills have made in the past year(s).

I do miss speaking Serere though and love being able to talk to some of the Serere PC staffers here in Thies.

Quite the change from my bush village in the Delta, I now work in an office (with occasional A/C and water) on the Route Nationale in Thies.

My desk: that's my chair and my
counterpart is usually on the other side
plus the new PCV is on the edge.
That's right: 3 people, one desk

The beautiful view outside my office
(sarcasm)

Lisa, the new PCV who will work with me
and then take over when I leave in August.

My Plan mattress, broken up
table, bag of winter clothes,
and random other stuff
waiting for a new house.

Bed, food bucket, and suitcase/trunk

I'd post pictures of my housing, except I'm still somewhat "in transition."  I've been saying "homeless" but that's not really true.  I'm staying at the same place my Senegal journey began over 3 years ago, and my second job site during my Service: the Peace Corps Thies Training Center.  I was temporarily housed in a couple's house in Thies, mainly to host Lisa for a week while she learned about her new assignment, but it wasn't the best arrangement and so PC told me to come back while they find me something else.  In that time, I've been all over the place doing my needs assessment, meetings in Dakar, and breaking into the movie biz.  It's actually not a bad arrangement: a 15 min walk to the office, 5 minutes from a track I can run on (before 8am), 15 min to the market, plus running water (even when the rest of the city's water isn't running), electricity (through a backup generator), a fridge for my mangoes and yogurt, and internet.  And friends here, even if I can't really unpack/decorate yet.

It's not my village, mais c'est pas mal!

Back to the Village, 11 months later

[Note: this post was originally started in early April...]

The back porch I worked so hard to
make sure my replacement had to enjoy!

So when I wrote that emotional blog post 10 months ago about leaving Ndiomdy, I knew I would be back to visit, I just didn't think it would be within a year.   Maybe a few years: enough time for the children to have forgotten me as a specific person, someone other than the train of foreigners continually living at the house (what? white people aren't all the same?).  But to be able be back in time for the kids to be slightly confused about my name but still remember the fish faces and Macarena dance moves I taught them and too see mothers still breastfeeding and carrying the same babies on their backs that they were before I left, was INCROYABLE.

Ndeye, Baby Ibou's mom, at the school well in Ndiomdy.
It should be noted that Ibou DID remember me!

I left Thies for Kaolack Friday late afternoon and I practically ran from the Plan office to the garage (in part because I waited all day to leave but could have left early in the morning and gone the entire way).  I arrived in Kaolack just before dark, in time for an evening bean sandwich with old and new friends, and to be able to enjoy the newly cleaned regional house.  I left the house at 7:30 Saturday morning to get to the garage and hop on a car to Djilor as soon as possible.  Since it was Passi market day (and thus cars to Djilor are few), I was mentally prepared to ride to Passi and walk the 12km to Djilor and then on to Ndiomdy.  Fortunately, I got the first car to Foundiougne AND we took the bush road, completely bypassing Passi and arriving in Djilor within 45min (as opposed to the 1.5hours it usually takes).  I was in Djilor by 9, in time for breakfast at Farba's and lunch with my family in the village.  I'll be honest, I nearly had tears of excitement as we approached Djilor...


I'm coming home, I'm coming home!

Ibou and Seynabou hard at work on
a new project in the women's garden.

Going to Mary's wedding was special and was going home, but I hadn't made it to my village or seen everyone.  This trip was to see my family, friends, hut, existing projects, and to see how my replacement has turned the village into her own.

At the school garden

There are fewer "big kids" at the
school this year so they had to scale
back a little, but it's still be successful!

It was eye-opening, emotional, and a lot of fun to just be able to hang out with friends and family, not worrying about work projects or meetings or anything.  I was able to sit with friends I haven't spent time with in ages (even before I left) and just enjoy the conversation and laughter.  The villagers were just as happy to see me as I was them, old men and young children alike!  It was so fun and I know I saw more than a few tears of happiness and disbelief in people's eyes.  I was worried about people demanding gifts, and there were a few normal requests, but I had bought a kg of cola nuts and just passed those out and people were happy.  There were requests for my picture, so I will come armed with images of myself for the next visit.

Ibou next to a mango tree I
planted in the school garden.

I took far too few pictures, and basically none of people (fail!), which was super disappointing, but promise them when I next go back for a visit in a few weeks.

I did take some pictures of projects I was involved in that are still going (namely the gardens) and some trees (known as “Khady Diouf mangoes”) that are thriving and will hopefully be fruiting within a few years.

One of the Khady Diouf Mango
on "main street"!

People were genuinely upset that I was only there for a brief weekend visit, all expecting I had at least a few weeks and begging me to come back.  I will be back, but I have to balance my desire to go back (which I would do every other weekend if I could) with respect for my replacement's need and new authority in the village.  Ndiomdy will always be my home village, but it's not my Peace Corps site anymore and I need to let my replacement do her thing, which means I need to give her space.  The vil doesn't really understand that, but hopefully I will be able to make it back a few more times before I head out in early August!

Kids representing the Red Cross of
Senegal

I was also in town for the 51st anniversary of Senegalese independence and so watched the celebrations with Farba and family in Djilor.  Nothing big ("no money" according to the State) but lots of kids and some cool performers.

Hard to believe this is where I used to
live yet it was still home, even with a
crazed dog!

Where my bed, bookshelf,
and gas stove used to be

Her (my old) bed where I
used to keep trunks and the
bookshelf where the bed
used to be

My replacement has made her mark on my old hut, namely rearranging the furniture in a very space effective way (whoa it looks huge!), having a friend paint the inside, and adopting a cat (takes care of the little critters) and a dog (who destroyed the beautiful screen doors).  I loved the way my hut looked, but still took some pictures because I was quite impressed with what she had done with it.  My hut was my safe space, my sanctuary from the adventure that was life in a small but lovely bush village, and it appears to be the same for her as well.




More Ndiomdy pics to come in a few weeks, a fellanga Roog!