Sworn In

We finished up training in style by making beignets with moringa for our host families in Mboro then PC threw a fabulous party for them at the training center. There were speeches, musicians, delicious food, and lots of dancing. Swearing in was the next day in Dakar- we all got dressed in our lovely new Senegalese outfits and headed to the Ambassador's house for a ceremony and hors d'oeuvres on the lawn.

 Makin' beignets

 Host family reception

 Fancy new outfit... with my host sister Kine

 Dancing!

 Swearing in  with our country director Chris Hedrick

Linguere volunteers 

Chatting with the Ambassador

I'm getting installed in my village this afternoon- the PC car will drop me and my gigantic pile of stuff off at my little hut... and leave me to fend for myself. Our country director has challenged us to spend 5 weeks without staying a night at one of the 13(?) regional houses. We can also look forward to a party at his house if we succeed... I'll be there. Until then, I'll be in my village without electricity save for the occasional day trip to our apartment in Linguere. The thermometer says 115, here goes...

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.

Hot cabbage and a funeral

Village life has evolved over the last two weeks – we took two trips to the beach and discovered where to buy fresh fruit, ice cream, and most importantly… cold beer. It’s no easy task to learn a new language and culture and lots of tech stuff, but things are coming along. 

I returned to Mboro, had a peaceful dinner, a night filled with chanting broadcast from the nearby mosque, animal noises, and some sleep. In the morning upon my arrival at language class, I discovered that the director of the school where we built our garden had died that morning. So, instead of a productive day of planting and learning, we went shopping at the market for skirts and scarves and drove on over to the funeral. The men and women were in separate groups under a tent in the front yard, prayers were being done in the side yard, the widow was in the house having her braids taken out, the body had been taken to Touba for burial, and food was being carted in every direction. Having never met the guy, it was awkward… we called it an opportunity for cultural exchange and went on our merry way. While I tried to have sympathy for the people who were affected, I also became increasingly concerned about the smell growing in my room. The school being closed, we couldn’t plant the vegetables we’d brought… most were fine, the hot cabbage was not. We finally got the saggy plants in the ground after about a week when we’d tracked down the guard and the key.

Gardening was a refreshing break from all the language sessions. With the help of some neighborhood kids, we planted 2 kinds of eggplant, lettuce, bissap, okra, cucumber, peppers, carrots, turnips, moringa, lucaena, cashew, and of course cabbage. 

 Decked out for the funeral

Our garden after planting.

During the second week, we ate exclusively intestines for dinner. On the first night of said week, the power was out and I began merrily eating until the light caught something that looked like a saggy sheet of rubber being stretched up out of the depths of the rice. I good-naturedly ate a bite when it was thrown in my section of the bowl, but upon swallowing, immediately lost my appetite, told my family I was full, and retired for the night. On the subsequent nights, we had power and I ate around all the suspicious wrinkly chunks. 

Some family dynamics were clarified, I discovered 4 new siblings, one of whom I thought was my niece. The ages of my host siblings range from 17 to 40-something. I’m learning more every day. 

Back at the center, we’ve had lots of tech sessions, and our permanent sites will be announced tomorrow! With a camera crew present…

6 days in Mboro

After dropping off several other apprehensive volunteers, we arrived at my host family’s house last Monday afternoon to a bustling confusion of people, languages, and nerves. After staring at each other with nothing to say for a good 10 minutes, I got out my crayons and started to draw with the kids. It was a great success – I learned vocabulary - chicken, horse, car, etc. and we all got a good laugh at the drawings which only loosely resembled the things they were intended to portray. Afterward, I moved on to helping my sisters peel potatoes and wash lettuce for dinner, activities that have no language barrier. I got a new name – Kine Lô. It’s strange to be called by another name, but nice to feel that much more like a member of the family.

In the morning, I went to the market with my sister-in-law to get the fixins’ for ceebu jen (rice and fish, the national dish of Senegal). The market scene was so beautiful I had to choke back tears as we were walking through the winding paths, up and down narrow uneven stairs, and buying the fish and vegetables amongst so many other women. At nearly every vendor, I met a relative or family friend who was excited to meet me, and most spoke very slowly and enthusiastically. I did a lot of smiling and awkwardly making noises that were intended to resemble some sort of greeting. The market is full of life, beautiful fabrics, vegetables everywhere, fresh fish laid out on low improvised tables of plywood and cinderblocks, endless spices in tiny plastic bags, the sounds of purchases being made, tailors sewing clothes, donkeys and horses trotting by, car horns honking, and so many smells. I have nostalgia after just a few visits. 

My host mom Awa is a tall thin woman in her 50’s. She is a widow and sells potatoes and onions at the market along with many local women. I have two sisters around my age, Kine (my namesake) and Aminata, both have young daughters. My brother Goro and his wife Joor live there with their two sons, as do another brother, his wife, and their baby girl. Also in the house are my nephew Babacar, the most adorable toddler I think I have ever seen, and an endless stream of people coming and going. I’m sure I have other siblings, but it’s all still a bit confusing. 

The next 6 days passed quickly, but with no shortage of misunderstandings, frustration, information overload, and in the Senegalese spirit of life… laughter. We had language and culture classes for 3-6 hours every day, met with local teachers, built a garden at the nearby primary school, and visited and got a run-down on the health post. Language learning is happening fast, but is also very frustrating at this point; I can only communicate about very basic things with my family. My smatterings of French have come in handy, but are by no means enough to get to a normal level of communication. 

There are lots of current and former volunteers around the training center to help us absorb all the information we need to navigate the onslaught of changes. My language group is 4 people and we have an LCF (language and cultural facilitator) all to ourselves 24/7 for formal lessons and endless questions. 

I’m headed back to Mboro tomorrow afternoon for a 2-week visit.

Outside the compound

For our first couple of days here, we were basically locked in the safe, secure, Americaville that is the PC compound in Thies. Yesterday was our first real trip outside to take a guided walk through the market, see the sites, smell the smells (!) and get a beer. Unaccompanied wanderings were allowed today - a morning run at the nearby stadium/athletic facility, another walk through the market to buy seriche (gifts for our host families - I bought tea and sugar), and a visit to another local bar for a relaxing sit under a mango tree.

After much anticipation, we found out about our language and pre-service training homestay assignments this morning. There are 5 or so local languages and several sites around the area where trainees will be staying with host families for increasing amounts of time over the next 9 weeks. The first visit starts tomorrow afternoon and lasts 6 days. I'm learning Wolof and am staying in Mboro, which is reportedly a good sized town not too far from the beach! My training group has 4 people in it, and we will have an LCF (language and cultural facilitator) staying in the town with us and helping with all the inevitable questions, awkward moments, and "cultural exchanges" that we are bound to encounter.

So all in all, things are fabulous thus far, although they are about to get a lot more challenging. We shall see...

Finally Here!

40-something of us (47, 48?) arrived at the Dakar airport this morning after an uneventful 7 1/2 hour flight, and now have some down time to enjoy the lovely business center/grass hut at the PC compound in Thies. Dakar was hectic and full of people, sights, animals, and lots of smells... Outside the city, there are more gardens and open space, less of the city sights. The compound is really beautiful - dorms, meeting rooms, gardens, a volleyball court, and greenery all around. We were greeted by the staff singing, dancing, and drumming- wonderful! We're staying here for about 4 days, then it's out to the real Senegal with host families.

Staging in DC was also very nice; we stayed in Georgetown and had some time to wander around, eat, and chat with our fellow volunteers. The actual staging part of staging was about 7 hours of icebreaking, getting to understand expectations, and reviewing the rules, regs, and logistics. The big surprise was a CNN film crew at the hotel and airport gate - so look for me in the background if you get a chance to watch the show, which apparently airs in about 2 weeks.

The hard part starts tomorrow!

Unemployment and other happenings

So this is it, my first Monday with no work! The next month of my life is one long weekend, and I anticipate enjoying it very much. Friday was my last day, and it was grand. It included a delicious lunch followed by a beautiful wonderful fabulous going away party complete with my favorite berry cake from whole foods, cookies, generous gifts, and so many of the people I will miss. Friday night was continued in style with friends, food, beer, and a great show by the guys of the Honey Gitters.

Lots of other things have happened since I last wrote, not all of them exciting, but there were a few highlights. Staging was moved from March 9th to the 7th and from Philly to DC, so I have a couple fewer days in the US lap of luxury. I also made a crazy small world discovery that two people I went to high school with are currently in Senegal serving with the Peace Corps, and doing environmental ed/health no less. That's got to rank up there with the best coincidences. I'm looking forward to there being a couple of familiar faces when I dive into life on the other side of the world.