As of March 9th, I've been in Senegal for a whole year, and it's all gone by in a flash. The wonderful 2nd-year volunteers of Linguere who showed us the way as newbies are on their way out, and their replacements are in training. The hot season is creeping in, and Senegal is starting to feel like home.
The last month has been full of (mostly) great stuff:
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| Laundry day with my favorite nieces Ndeye and Codou helping out |
The middle school students from my neighborhood organized themselves into a group for village development, complete with officers. They are meeting every Saturday morning to sweep and rake up trash, no parents in sight. I've been totally amazed at their initiative; they're a great group of kids.
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| Doundodji Parba cleanup day one at the mosque |
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| Sweeping outside the back of my compound. |
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As a part of the Linguere-area AIDS initiative that Ann Marie, Kim, and Emily have been working on for the last few months, there were AIDS testing days in 3 villages- I made it to two of the events to help out. Over 60 people were tested in each of two sites, and 101 in the third. Each day had film screenings, skits, music, speeches, and goodies for everyone who got tested. The project has been a lot of work for the volunteers, but is so inspiring and has been a huge success.
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| Watching skits at Kim's testing day in Diagely |
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| Beignets and juice for the brave testees |
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| There was no shortage of help at the snack station |
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| Some of our new friends who showed up for the entertainment |
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| Mac got tested |
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| The Diagely crowd |
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| Watching skits... more fun than herding your cows |
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| Manning the tech station during Barkedji's testing day |
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| Barkedji skits under their enormous neem tree |
All of us Linguere-area volunteers got together in late February to do a tour of our villages to spread the word about moringa, the miracle tree. It was a lot like our malaria tour in August- we did skits, danced, and gave out prizes to people in 15 different villages.
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| The wonderful Jonno Larson came down from the north to help us out- he was indispensable and even put in overtime in getting baobab fruit during our picnic between presentations. |
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| Thicogne, a pulaar village outside of Doundodji |
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| the future moringa gardeners of Linguere |
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| Doundodji's audience |
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| Explaining ways to plant moringa to the people of Doundodji |
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| Dancing in Doundodji |
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| Mac in Xol Xol |
A few of us went down to Tambacounda in the first few days of March for a Peace Corps half-marathon, 10k, and 5k run to support girls' education. Linguere was well represented in the races: I petered along in the 5k, Kim and Justin (in flip-flops, no less) ran the 10k, and our very own Emily took 2nd in the women's half-marathon. The event was lots of fun and a huge success, raising $3,000 for our girls' scholarship program.
The beginning of March also brought some sad news. My host sister, Mbayeng passed away after a long illness. From the very beginning of my service, she was nothing but wonderful- I have great memories of chats with her, laughing about the shenanigans of her 3-year-old daughter, Codou, the birth her baby who she named after me, and her warm giving spirit.
