Demystified

Lots of things have been happening...

With much fanfare, including blindfolds and being led around on a giant map of Senegal, I got my permanent site assignment. In about a month, I'll be moving to a little village called Doundodji near Linguere in the Louga region. It's the desert and its gosh darn hot, but I'm from New Mexico so it's all gonna be ok.

I took a short trip to my training village, got a strange virus that made my head feel like it was going to explode, then took another little trip to the cushy med hut in Dakar. After 2 nights there with lots of sleeping and pain killers, I was back to normal in time to visit my future home.

For what is referred to here as volunteer visit or demystification, I took a 6-hour car ride up to Doundodji with the 5 other trainees going to nearby villages. I had a 4-day visit with my ancienne Brian (the volunteer I'm replacing) and got oriented with all the latest and greatest of Doundodji. We toured around the 6 quartiers, did some meeting and greeting, visited 7 local gardens, held events to teach women's groups how to make mosquito repellent and plant trees, did a village cleanup, went running at sunrise, and slept under the stars. Also included in our activities were: hours and hours of sitting in any available shade which was still 90 or 100 degrees in the afternoons, Brian killing a mouse and a scorpion in his hut and carrying rocks to fend off wild dogs on our runs, waiting 2 hours after meetings were supposed to start for people to show up, making a toddler burst into a terrified crying fit at the mere sight of me, and best of all listening to the calls to prayer. While my site is lovely, it has one little problem - a mosque right outside my compound:

This is a view across my family's compound from my little yard. Allow me to direct your attention to the loudspeakers pointed directly at me and to note that the first of five daily calls to prayer is at 5:30 AM followed by no less than 45 minutes of singing, also over the speakers. I will be using earplugs.

I have a brand new hut with a little yard and my very own shower/toilet (a hole with walls around it). I really love my little hut and have grand plans for interior decoration and establishing homeyness. If you block out the sounds of children tormenting chickens, donkeys braying, dogs barking, and mosque-related noises, it really is lovely to sleep out under the stars. The sunrises are also beautiful and have a very "National Geographic" quality to them. All in all, I'm happy with my site and it was a real gift to be able to spend a week with Brian getting oriented.

 The short-lived scorpion visitor

 My brand new hutsky.

I had to add this picture too - one of the neighbors' little girls strolled into the compound while everyone was sitting around shelling and sorting peanuts one afternoon in this little getup. She was completely adorable, utterly absurd, oblivious to the humor, and blankly stared at everyone as they rolled laughing. I told her she looked beautiful, which was also received with a blank stare.

We got back to the training center yesterday, spent a lovely day in Dakar today touring all the important sites- PC offices, downtown, an ice cream shop (!!?!??!?!!!), and the America club for lunch and lounging by the pool. It was beautiful. 

Tomorrow it's back to training villages for a week.