5.5 months in country and counting...

I know I have been slacking on my entries, what can I say other than Senegal happened; I will try my best to get at least one post a month up (I can be bribed by hand written letters, or emails, telling me what all of you are up to).

I have gone back and added some highlights from the past few months. I had some technical difficulties uploading photos directly into my blog, so I really have no idea how the layout will appear on your individual computers. I'm going to claim 'zoology science geek' with no html skills yet aquired.

I spent nearly 6 months in country and am finally starting to get my bearings. Here's a brief month by month recap:

End of September: staging in Philadelphia and arrival in Senegal

Oct-Nov: PST (Pre-service Training) in Thies focused primarily on the fun and exciting task of learning local languages, Senegalese culture, medical and safety, and some technical (agroforestry) training. (we stayed with host families in Thies to help the transition into the local culture)

December: First month in the village. I nearly burned my hut down in the first 20 minutes (combination of a hurricane lamp and rogue propane tank) – don’t think I’ll ever live that one down. With nowhere to go but up from there, I spent the most of December concentrating on acquiring the necessary tools to be an effective volunteer (namely: be able to communicate without relying entirely on a poor game of charades by learning Wolof). Everyone was finishing harvesting peanuts, hence I spent a fair amount of time in the fields. However, I was quickly ushered to the shade or assigned to pick up stray peanuts. Towards the end of the month, I went to Tamba for the holidays and then onto Niokolo Kobo National Park to be a tourist and see the wildlife.

Jan-beg of Feb: more getting to know community time. I spent much time hanging out in various compounds talking with women, and on the shade structures in the center of the village talking with men. I was taught how to pound millet, cook rice and mafay or fish, fetch water from the village robinet –I was even brought to a nearby village that still pulls water from a 50m well so that I could learn how to do that as well- wash laundry, collect monkey bread from baobab trees, play a number of games, etc. Much to the delight and amusement of my village friends, I never came close to mastering any of these techniques – except for maybe doing my own laundry. I walked around the fields and small-forested areas with various friends to learn about how local crops and trees interact, what trees they thought were important and what they used them for. Most trees/shrubs have an array of medicinal uses, including a local variety of viagra.

Feb-Mar: IST (In Service Training) back at the training center in Thies where we concentrated on learning technical skills for our work, and eating as much good food and speaking as much English as possible with our American friends we hadn’t seen in three months.

March: well, so far, I’ve had a pesky fever that’s not allowing me to jump into my work like I had wanted to. Soon, however, I will be working with Wilanene and surrounding villages to start tree nurseries. My village would really like another building for storing their harvest safely from fire and pests; I’m working on getting funding from World Vision for supplies in the near future. My girls’ clubs should be up and running soon, and we’ll see what other projects end up working out. ‘Ndank ndank’ (little by little) – I have to continually remind myself that I am living in a village and I have yet to see a fedex truck roll up to my mud hut with a same day delivery.