Jan 29 2007

This has been a fairly eventful week for me. When I was in Kaolack last time we had a good time celebrating birthdays by eating good food and having a couple of beers. My stomach had some trouble but that just comes with the territory. When I went back to the village my brothers were eating a small animal which turned out to be a squirrel. They caught it out in the bush and roasted it over an open flame. It actually looked alright but I did not eat any. I have hear stories of other villages where they regularly eat rats. It is a good source of protein and there are a lot of them around.
One morning I was sitting around at the water tap while the women were filling up their tubs for the day and there was a big fight between two women. I dont know what it was about but they started by yelling at eachother. Then it progressed to a little shoving and then slapping, hair grabbing (there were extensions lost) and wrestling. One of the fighters had her small child on her back but fortunately one older lady was able to free the kid while others were pulling the fighting pair away from one another. It was pretty intense the kind of fight in the states where the police would have been called and some one would have been arrested. People just kind of laughed about it. I wish I knew what they were fighting about. Oh well, it all seems ok now.
One evening, I was sitting around the compound and one lady yelled for my dad. He went out and then everyone else followed so I got up to see what was going on. The faucet on the water tap had busted and water was being sprayed all over. Women had their buckets out trying to collect what they could. The village has to pay for the water it uses so we didnt want to waste the water. Well they tried for a while to turn the knob to shut the water off completely but that was not sucessfull so one of the me ended up hammering a stick into the pipe. It did the trick for the night and I guy came out the next day to work on the problem. But we couldnt use the tap so we rigged up the pully system and pulled water from the well. the water table is deep about 30-40 meters and you only pull up about 15 liters at a time. It is a lot of work to get the water...I know I did it a few times--really good work out.
The day when we had well water the village was busy. See they think the well water is better then the tap water for certain things like laundry and making clay bricks. Plus the water from the well is free so if they have the energy they can use really as much as they want. The women brought their laundry out to the center of town and the men started digging clay for bricks. The sun wasnt out that day either so it wasnt too hot. everyone was out and about so it was pretty fun. The next day the tap was fixed and everything was back to normal. I cant quite figure out why they dont just continue pulling water if it is free and supposively better than the tap water. My guess is they have to pay a certain amount for the running water regarless if they get water from it or not.
Last Friday I went to visit a friend in another village. We had fun chatting and walking around the village. I met with the nurse from Peace Corps on Saturday. She came to my village for a routine check in. then I rode in the fancy Peace Corps Land Cruiser back to Kaolack. I am off to Thies for training again on Wed. I will be on the internet a lot up there so write some emails and tell me exciting stories from the states. Ok got to run!

marriage

Well I am back in Kaolack to celebrate several birthdays of volunteers. Should be a good time but the house will be packed. Everyone is coming in for the celebration. There are technically only beds for 10 of us to sleep but there are mattresses that we can put on the floor too. I will let you know how I fair.

Well let me tell you about my morning. Everything was fine and dandy, cooked breakfast, swept the hut and finished packing for the weekend. I found a horse cart out of the village with a couple of other men from my village. (side note- horses are much faster and less stubborn than donkeys and have now become my prefered method of transport from my village to Kaffrine.) We made a stop at some other village and were sitting around for you know about 2 seconds before I got another marriage proposal. I blew him off and said he was ugly. but then a guy on my charet said to the other guy "I will sell her to you." I was livid (and a little happy because i understood what he said). I told him off and said that i was not his to sell and called him rude (which is a pretty good insult in Wolof) and he just f***ing laughed. I fumed the whole ride into kaffrine. I have since let it go because i vented to another volunteer and now to you but I was pissed.

On top of this I had one 51 year old in the village want to marry me yesterday. I threw him everything I had but he just didnt get it. I told him that in America the dowery for a wife is really expensive and he wouldnt have enough money, that he was old, that he needed to understand english...even tried telling him I already had a husband and didnt want another one. It got really old after a while. I just tried to laugh but at times it was really frustrating. He said at one point that I would have to marry him if he asked my (senegalese) dad. I again tried to explain that no one can just give me away unwillingly. I guess sometimes here you can be given or sold a wife so it is really hard for me to explain to them why that is so wrong. Something to work on as my wolof improves.

Ok well thats about all that I have for you now. Should be back with a birthday bash update later this weekend. I hope you are all doing well. I miss you and love you!

some weird senegal stuff

Last time i babbled on about development so now I want to update you more on stuff that I have observed in the past couple of weeks or so.

First my ride to Kaolack on Monday. It was the first time I made it here all by myself. I got a taxi and navigated around kaolack on my own. I will have to do it again today and the Kaokack garage is much bigger and more stressfull than Kaffrine but I think I should be fine. I am feeling more independant and that is making me happy. So i got in the taxi on my way here and waited for it to fill up with people and waited for the goats to be piled on top. yes there wer about 3 goats on the roof. fortunately my window was stuck closed so during the ride when the goat decided to go to the bathroom non landed on me. It has been known to happen to other volunteers because windows are open or the roof has a leak. I was lucky this time. It was also a funny ride too because every once in a while little goat pellets would roll down the windo right outside. you have to laugh about it.

Other stuff I have learned sort or rules maybe tricks of living in the bush... If you get stuck in the bush at night sleep under a tree, the heat is trapped under them and it is much more plesent. Dont worry I havent been stuck in the bush over night but I was walking after dark and made this observation. Second if you are out in the bush during to day stand sunny side down fron anyone because that little bit of shade fron their shadow really makes a difference in keeping you cooler. Speaking on heat...there is a thermometer at the house in Kaolack and yesterday in the afternoon(around 430) in the shade it was 89 F. I was not hot. This morning around 830 it was 70 and i was a bit chilly in shorts and a long sleeve shirt. I guess i am adjusting to the heat.

One more interesting thing. I have learned to look at the stars and tell the time. Ok not really but i sit around with my family after dinner in the same place every night and I know when orian gets so high above this tree that it is time to go to bed. usually around 830-9.

Ok now on to business. I have been asked to create a list of things that would be good to send in packages. First I have a new address for packages. the post in Kaffrine charges way to much to get boxes so any boxes should be sent to me here in Kaolack
BP 325
Kaolack, Senegal
West Africa.
Large/padded envelopes and regular letters are ok to send to BP 51, Kaffrine, Senegal.

Sorry to be so confusing but the post is just one more aspect of senegal that is corrupt.

Ok good things to send:
dried fruit- i like pineapples, apricots, peaches, cranberries
nuts- anything but peanuts!
beef jerky
drink mixes-crystal light on the go, hot chocolate etc.
candies- chocolate has made it over fine, i really like sweet tarts and starburst, mambos whatever.
mac and cheese- if you can find just the sauce packets that is great because i can get pasta here.
cake mix or cookie mix or bisket mix- there is an oven here in Kaolack
pepperoni
spices-packets for tacos or asian stuff
magazines- PC give us a subscription to newsweek so not that
any books that you think are good-used is fine
DVDs - if there are any new releases that are good and you can make a copy

I dont know it is hard for me to think of things right now because you have all been so great and i have a lot of stuff already. A side note of what not to send- cherry or grape flavored stuff i dont like it (but others will eat if sent). With all that said it is great to get anything from home just letters are wonderful because i like to hear about what is going on in your lives more than anything. You have all been so great already with the packages. Thank you so much.

Well I am off for lunch- Think I might get a burger. yum. Love you and miss you!

a more productive couple of weeks

I have heard from my family that i have quite a few readers and have to admit that i am slightly nervous now to write. I want to give you some good stories and not make too many spelling errors. I am just telling it as I see it...he good and the bad.

Ok the past couple of weeks have been much more productive. To start I met with a fomer PCV who now works with Trees For the Future. He took me around to a bunch of villages and we met with some farmers and saw some of their tree work. I have to say the trip was not highly motivational. It is not easy to plant trees in a desert that is constantly being grazed by goats, sheep and cows. He was telling a story of a planting project in my village that he did early in the 2000s and there was zero survival rate of the trees. I am trying really hard to look past the tree planting part of my job because i am starting to realize that the overall success rate for trees in the desert is not so good. I will have some sucess but it will just be one more baby step towards development and environmental preservation here.

This week I also had a meeting with the womens group in my village. We sat down and had a little chat one afternoon while shelling peanuts (i can almost keep up with them now). The meeting was half a sucess and half not. Come to find out they are very interested in money (mainly how much i can hand over to them,this was the half bad part because they know i am a volunteer and i am not going to give them money...they were pushing my buttons) and coming to America(go figure they all are). Again i am trying to look past this and on to the things that i can help them with. They do want to work on a garden where they will raise veggies to sell. I can help them do this and they if is goes well they will all have a little more money. It is all about money. It sucks but i guess thats how the world works. here and in the states we base our lives around it. Here they need it more so they can feed themselves but let me tell you some times they will buy that new outfit instead of putting food in the bowl. but then again some NGO will make sure they dont starve. It is frustrating because some people here have been handed everything for their whole lives by an NGO so if they do have extra money they will buy the clothes because food will be given to them by somebody. they whole thing is very interesting but I will not babble about that anymore.

ok this week I also went to visit another PCV in his village with my dad because he is working on organizing a tree group for our locality. That was fairly good and i think could work out well if all the players stay involved. we'll see.

Ok i am running out of time but as for me I am still here. the answer to the wolof greeting Maangi fii rekk(I am here only) has more and more meening to me. I am surviving but keeping more and more busy. I am still battling with my ideas of development but have been discussing development in general with other volunteers and we all seem to have the same internal conflicts. Just taking it day by day and in baby steps. i am looking forward to traing in Feb. Ok thank you all for you support. I have gtten a bunch of packages and appreciate the american food, candies and magazines. love you!

jan 5

Well there isnt too much new going on but while I as here I thought I would say hi. I have had a pretty relaxing couple of days where I watched a couple of movies and ate some good food.

Today I find myself not too excited about going to the village. There just isnt a whole lot to do. I have made a list of things to do though and will start attacking it ASAP. I have decided that i am ready to figure out why they want me there. It is a big deal for a village to get a volunteer and right now I have really no idea what they need help with and where i fit into it. I am going to figure it out this month. Well thats really about all. talk to you in a week or two.

How many days does it take 9 people to eat a sheep?

3.5 when you eat some meat for breakfast lunch and dinner. We killed the sheep on Sunday for Tabaski and we finished it today at lunch. Keep in mind we dont have electricity in the village so there is no refridgeration. I didn't go crazy and eat a lot of meat the last 2 days for this reason. But I do have to say they do cook the food for a long time over a hot fire and in lot of oil. I am still crossing my fingers that I dont get sick again from the food the past few days but right now I feel great. Tabaski has been interesting. The kids are out of school for 3 weeks so that makes the town a little more crazy and I have girls coming to my hut all day long. I am thinking this is the perfect time to do a project with them.

Lets see...day one I sat around with the women and helped them prepare lunch. I cut up onions and potatoes with a very dull knife and no cutting board so I have yet another blister on my finger. My hands will be tough when I get back thats for sure. Lunch was really good. We had onions, potatoes and meat all cooked in lots of oil. it was a heart attack in a bowl. we scooped up the oily mess with bread. It was tasty. We ate that stuff for a couple of meals. other then the food not much was that different. We did get dressed up and all the women have fake hair. It is so weird to see them with hair. I had my hair braided which i have to say I think it looks funny but my mirror is about the size of m palm so i cant really tell how I look. Any way... last night there was a 'ball.' The boys(teens and 20 somethings) built this fenced in area in the center of the village and had a DJ come with big speakers and a generator. They went to Kaffrine and got cases of soda to sell. I got a written invitation in an envelope. Thats a big deal these things are not cheap. it was free for women to get in but the men had to pay 300cfa (less then a dollar). I went aroun 930 and there were still a bunch of young kinds dancing so i danced with them for a bit. Slowly the older kids were coming in all dressed up. The girls in senegalese clothes and most of the men were in western clothes. It was kind of like middle school where the boys were in one area and the girls were in another and whenever a girl and boy danced for even a second the girl would run back over to her friends and whisper something. It was so funny to see. Relationships here are so taboo. You would never know who was dating who because it just isnt taked about and there is no PDA.

I didnt last very long at the dance. I went outside at 11 and talked with a couple guys who I tried to convince I would be a bad wife. There was an influx of men into the village for the holiday (they all live and work in other, larger, towns) and with that came an increase in marriage proposals. My wolof for fighting off men has improved greatly.

So now i am in Kaolack again. I was bored in the village. It is a dust bowl there with the wind and the sand you have to stay in your room all the time anyway I figured why not. While i am here i do have plans to do some work. I have to research wind breaks for my training in Feb. And now that is right around the corner. BTW Happy new year 2007! I hope you all had fun. I was dead asleep by 11 but I was awake for midnight on the east coast of the US. I hope all is well!