the loudest of the loud

The loud music/yelling/noise that started around noon yesterday for no apparent reason proved to be our source of amusement for the rest of the day...

First, we were annoyed

Then, we wanted to know why it wouldn't stop

After that, we asked nicely for it to end

We were ecstatic when the electricity went out

...but then they got a generator, and the noise continued until 4AM.

Thanks to Justin and Ann Marie for the lovely videos.

I'll take the blaring mosque right outside my compound in Doundodji over this any day... back to village.

'Tis the season for mural painting

In order to break up the endless sitting, napping, staring, resting, hungry, thirsty, tired hours or Ramadan, Mac and I decided to go on a muraling tournament. We started in Doundodji, where my elementary school director requested a big map of Africa on one of the buildings. I was most excited about painting the latest-and-greatest South Sudan.

Doundodji pre-mural

Mac, ready for both mural painting and hunting season.

There were a lot of letters involved.

Look, we did it!

nephews/audience Abdou, Cheikh, and Mor, up to no good.

In our downtime, I documented the termite damage on my bed so I can send in the insurance claim.

After 2 days in Doundodji, we hopped on our bikes to go to Linguere, then on a bush taxi to go to Mac's village, Xol Xol.

Mac documented this lovely bag on the bush taxi to Xol Xol: "Yogurting endlessdreams" I have no idea, and neither does the person who owns it. 

We decided to paint a sort of Senegal version of Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy - a "you are here" mural.

Xol Xol pre-mural

Paint-fume induced delirium

Still cheerful, I don't know how she does it.

You are in Senegal, and Senegal is in Africa, and we're done!

Delicious yassa, special because: 1, it's Ramadan and Mac's family fed us lunch anyway, and 2. There were no Senegalese people around, so we lefties got to eat with our left hands.

Other notable events during my 2 days in Xol Xol included: 4 babies born, 2 baptisms, and twice being pooped on by birds. Village life was all in order.

I made it back to Linguere this morning in a chock-full bush car, which is quite a site to see: a little beat-up pickup truck with 7 adults (including me) and 2 kids in the cab, 10 in the bed, and 5 or 6 more on top of the cab/roll-cage over the bed, along with baggage and a few sheep and goats.  This afternoon we're being graced by over 4 hours of full-blast loudspeaker mosque chanting/singing/noise, and asking dear Allah to make it stop. I'll be back in Doundodji tomorrow for the last week of Ramadan before the end-of-fasting celebration, Korite.

Green!

Everything was brown and dead, and people were starting to get worried, but then my fellow Linguerian, Mac, did a rain dance with her village out in the bush and saved the day. It involved lots of singing, dancing, chanting, costumes, and dragging people in the dirt. Details here: http://macmacmacafee.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/rain-dance/. That very afternoon, the rains started and we haven't had a day without rain since. Now, Doundodji looks like this:

After one of the gully-washers, I went out into the bush with my sister-in-law and niece to wash laundry in the huge lake that suddenly appeared. There were so many frogs thrilled to be there, it was hard to have a conversation.  

My moringa trees grew like crazy, so I harvested the leaves, made some leaf hammocks out of a wrap skirt, a pillowcase, and my dirty laundry bag, and dried out the leaves. Once it's not so humid, I'll pound them up and have lots of leaf powder to nutritionalize all our food.

 

The rest of my garden is growing too, and all the neighborhood kids get excited about coming out to help harvest veggies (and pull weeds!), who knew kids would be so happy about turnips and okra. Eating them is another story.

Malaria Tourney

So far, I've spent a few days of Ramadan in Doundodji not fasting, and when the lunch bowl came looking like this:

... I wished I was fasting. So that's the plan as of tomorrow, or I'll be pretending to fast and eating delicious America snacks in my room. Anything to avoid the greasy rice bowl with gelatinous cow parts and dried fish hidden inside. Yuck.

In other news, all of team Linguere has spent the last week visiting each of our villages to do presentations, skits, and demonstrations on malaria prevention. All in all, over the course of 4 days, we visited 11 villages and spoke to about 1300 people. Every village had a great turnout and everyone was enthusiastic about the whole thing. We also had a really fun time making total fools of ourselves... for entertainment and education value of course.

Mboula - Emily talking about mosquito nets

back-of-the-truck mango eating by Mac

Ngaraff - Making neem lotion

Doundodji - there was dancing!

Doundodji - Abby and my counterpart's little sister got the crowd going

Doundodji - a little theatre by Ann Marie and Justin

Mac and I perfected our Pulaar squat and taught the crowd that drinking too much milk may give you gas, but it sure doesn't cause malaria.

Doundodji - the crowd under a neem tree

Linguere - Abby, Ann Marie, and Emily even did a radio show to talk about our project.

Xhol Xhol - Team Linguere with our Peace Corps driver/helper extraordinaire, Tidiane

Xhol Xhol - record attendance

Neem lotion - it may look delicious, but don't eat it...

Between stops, Justin was our tour guide

Diagely - the men were front and center

Diagely - Abby took the stage between skits dressed as a mosquito caught up in a net.

Diagely - Kim ran the show in Pulaar.

...then the storm rolled in

and we celebrated the coming of the rains

did a rain dance

and called it a day.

Goodbye IST, hello Ramadan

In-service training (IST) was full of lots of informative sessions, some not-so informative sessions, and a ton of time spent with all my fellow March staigaires. I failed miserably at documenting the whole thing, but my lovely friend LaRocha did an excellent job, so instead of stealing her photos, I'll direct you to her blog: http://thissenegaleselife.blogspot.com/.

After 2 weeks of IST, I headed to Dakar for 3 days. I had a few med appointments (don't worry, no infectious tropical diseases) and some more time with some of my favorite people. I ate delicious ice cream, thai food and pizza, went to Casino, a real live grocery store with air conditioning and aisles, and enjoyed the luxury of the climate-controlled med hut with hot showers and comfy beds.

4 of us from Linguere got back yesterday afternoon just before 5 after a 6-hour ride in a 7-places car. Our month 8 (Islam's month 9) welcomed us with lots of hungry people. Ramadan, bismillah. If you're interested, here's an article about Ramadan: http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/practices/ramadan_1.shtml. If not, the basic idea is this: During the whole month, one lunar cycle, Muslims fast from the first prayer of the day until the main evening prayer around 7:30. It's sort of like lent- people also refrain from sinful behavior and read the Koran as much as possible.

Lots of volunteers fast with their families; I've decided to give it a try, but I'm not in it for the long haul. My older sister is pregnant and not fasting, so I'm counting on her to cook us delicious lunch every day. I'm headed back to the village this afternoon. We'll see how it goes.