As you may already know my wonderful American mother gave me life just a few days ago, March 7th. In past years my birthday has been spent at beaches, hotels, restaurants and college rooms usually with a significant amount of alcohol, food, cake, candy and whatever else one can associate with a birthday. This year I went against tradition. I spent my birthday in village with one other American and roughly 80 Toguenabbe (people of Togue). My only condition being that I get to swim/jump in some water.
I made sure to accomplish my only birthday wish by heading out to a nearinsh village, Kafori, where Jessica, a volunteer who came into Senegal with me, lives. From Kafori the waterfall is about a 30 minute hike. There you have two swimming holes, some little fish, and the occassional monkeys. Before starting or hike we bought some local bread (made in a mud oven), mangoes, cookies and cheese (not real cheese and imported from Kedougou). The day couldn't have been more relaxing and delicious. I swam and soaked and jumped off thing until I ran out of food, water and was tired. We spent roughly 6 hourse at the falls before heading back into town two purchase my present.
Kaforis has it's Lumo, market day, on Mondays and therefore Jessica and my plan was to go to Lumo and get some food to bring back to my village and feast. Really all we needed were two nice big plump chickens but first there was lunch to deal with. On our way back in we stopped at a local farmers house that Jessica likes and ate some corn cous cous with leaf sauce. However, Jessica's Senegalese mother had other things in mind. I received a call while I was in mid discussion about how much I was willing to pay for a chicken. Jessica simply said, "My mom wants you to eat lunch here." As a guest I as obliged to do so and honestly still a little hungry. So, I finished up my trasaction, settling for two chickens, the first costing 2,500 cfa ($5) and the second 2,250 ($4.75), and headed to Jessica's house. It's hard to describe my shock and excitement when I opened the lunch bowl expecting corn cous cous and leaf sauce but finding rice, meat, onions, and oil. We can just say that I didn't say much until the bowl was clean.
By this time it was getting dark and I needed to transport the squaking birds to Togue soon if I were to eat them that night. Jessica and I were off racing the sunrise back to Togue where my family and village was expecting and waiting to kill two chickens and have a wonderful meal. The meal was worth the wait as my Senegalese host mother certaintly can cook when given the proper and sufficient ingredients. My birthday dinner consisted of rice, oil, onions, garlic, salt, maggi (seasoning), and two chickens. I ate until I could eat no more and then went to bed (mind you that dinner wasn't ready till around 11:30pm). All in all, it was a wonderful and memorable birthday and I wish all of you who are reading this could have shared it with me.
I am now 23 with no immediate direction but that which is given to me by the day at hand. I don't think I would want it any other way right now. Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes via Facebook, text, email, and phone. You guys truly made me smile and feel special.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
A Long Time Over Due: The Day and Life of My Peace Corps Experience
While lounging today in the city of Kedougou I realized I hadn't written a blog post in quite a while. In fact, I think it has been almost 2 month now. Forgive me please as I know you are all hangin on by a thread to know what my next and every move is. Fortunately, we live in modern times in which cell phones, email, facebook, etc.... can compensate and keep you informed about my where-a-bouts without me actually updating the blog.
So, I guess I will begin in Febuary because I think that is where I left off.
The shortest month of the year proved true to its name and just flew right by. I was in village for maybe half of it as WAIST (West African International Softball Tournament) fell right in the middle of the month. I had enough time to plant some beans, corn, and moringa in my garden and then jet off to Koalack to view a master farmer site (a PC inspired program inwhich highly motivated farmers are given the materials needed to improve there fields witht their promise being that their fields will be used to demonstrate the techniques PC is trying to implement). The Master farmer's field was awesome complete with the begginnings of live fencing, a beautiful pepinere (tomatoes, basil, lettuce, onions, etc..), a moringa intensive bed, and all the works one could say. I also travelled into Koalack to view a "reading room." Essentially a room that is stocked with books and supplies to allow whom ever to study while school is out of session. I thought it might be a good idea for my village as most of the kids do attend school but don't have a place to study in peace. Talks are in the works but I'm not too sure it'll pull through for a variety of reasons. Anyway, my Koalack trip ended at a friends site for fun. I was treated like a Pular king there as the village spoke Wolof and I made friends with the only Pular family. In two days I think I gained 10 pounds as I was expected to eat three meals and drink teat twice a day with two seperate families. The second day I puposely didn't go to the Pular Family's lunch because I was soo full so, they just saved some for me and had one of their sons deliver to be eaten at my descretion. To tell you the truth I waited for my stomach to digest a little so I could atleast taste the meal I was given. Of course it was delicious but I was full to the point of vommiting so I donated it to some of the local children who were more than willing to devour it. Needless to say I feel like this paints a pretty good picture of the type of life and welcoming spirit that I encounter the majority of the time.
My journey continued to Mbour and another volonteers site right on the ocean. This time I was there only for the water, fresh fish, shrimp, and clams and to have a good time. I think I could live in Mbour. Seriously. It's a beach town that is bombarded with tourists and greasy white people but the locals a beautiful. They pull nets all day long, cook and sleep on the beach, and for the most part seem willing to better their situation on a whole. It's hard to describe the many different levels of Mbour you'll have to take my word for it when I say I want to live there to mena that it is pretty cool.
Next stop was WAIST. The Kedougou and Tamba regions were themed as cops and robbers. Yes, that means we wore costumes and no, you probably wouldn't want your kids to see us in character. WAIST is a 3 day event in which volunteers from Senegal, Mali, Cape Verde, Gambia and others come to drink and play. Ofcourse, there is a legit tournament going on but we only participate in the "social" league where the refreshments are a dollar. You could say we were all well hydrated through out the 3 days of softball and night time activities. I had an amazing time, meeting some really interesting people, eating atleast 4-5 bowls of raisin bran a day (at my wonderful American homestay house, Thank you Devlins) and only swinging the bat once. All in all, it was a great escape that made returning to village life a bit more difficult.
To the present we go. I was greeted by my village with lots of bowel movements, lacking/slow language skills, and a half eaten garden (screw grass hoppers). Those first four days were rough because I had lost moment on anything that I may have had going on before I left. I compensated by reading my current book, Life of Pi, and by focusing on my garden. Little by little my routine started up again and I was feeling better about my life in village. Not too mention I have two wonderful neighbors who are willing to listen, share, and help me out in any rough time. I'm back in Kedougou now to watch the Arsenal Barcelona game (I had a little bet with one of the teachers near my village) and to get some work done. However, I would like to take the time now to break down my daily schedule in village so that you guys can maybe gain a small grasp on what being me is.....(If you've made it this far into this post you are trully a good person).
My Daily Routine
6:45 - 7:30 a.m. - Get up with the sun rise, poop, pee, drink water, begin and finish short work out, eat oatmeal with powdered milk and water plants in back yard.
7:30 - 8:30 a.m. - Off to the garden for maintenance and watering along with pumping a bucket of water for consumption during the day.
8:30 - 9:30 a.m. - Return to hut and leave to pump second bucket of water then, off to break fast with the family.
9:30 -11:00 a.m. - Back to the garden or someelse's garden or help Malal with what ever he is doing (currently its building a huts).
11:00 - 2:00 p.m. - Drink ataya (Senegalese tea lots of sugar), hang out under a mangoe tree to get some gossip, study language, study ag/gardening/Senegal, do anything that may be needed/wanted to my room, chat more with the locals, maybe go on a hike, essentially keep myslef busy until lunch is ready.
2:00 - 3:00 p.m. -Lunch (usually a leaf or peanut sauce with corn couscous), followed by digestion under the mangoe tree.
3:00 - 5:00p.m. -More ataya with Malal or the teachers at one of the schools, maybe a nap under or in a tree, any other messages, visits or "work" (by the American definition) that can be done with out too much exposure to the sun.
5:00 - 6:00 p.m.- Second watering of garden along with maitenance (mulching, pest managment, planting).
6:00 - 7:30 p.m./Dark- Usually soccer at one of the fields (Bambaya or Togue) or more studying of language and reading of my choice.
8:00 - 9:00p.m. - Showering, general hygien and doctoring of any damages to my body that have occurred over the day.
9:00 - 9:30 p.m. - Dinner (usually leftover lunch) and hanging with the family.
9:30 - whenever I get tired or Malal get tired - Drinking ataya, talking/discussin possible projects and life, admiring the stars, making jokes, learning Pular history/stories. Generally just hanging out and learning about each other.
10:30 - 11:00p.m. Bed time preparations, journal writing, some vocab studying, glass of milk with bread or cookies if available, reading and sleep.
And there you have it. The complete break down. Pretty exciting huh?
So, I guess I will begin in Febuary because I think that is where I left off.
The shortest month of the year proved true to its name and just flew right by. I was in village for maybe half of it as WAIST (West African International Softball Tournament) fell right in the middle of the month. I had enough time to plant some beans, corn, and moringa in my garden and then jet off to Koalack to view a master farmer site (a PC inspired program inwhich highly motivated farmers are given the materials needed to improve there fields witht their promise being that their fields will be used to demonstrate the techniques PC is trying to implement). The Master farmer's field was awesome complete with the begginnings of live fencing, a beautiful pepinere (tomatoes, basil, lettuce, onions, etc..), a moringa intensive bed, and all the works one could say. I also travelled into Koalack to view a "reading room." Essentially a room that is stocked with books and supplies to allow whom ever to study while school is out of session. I thought it might be a good idea for my village as most of the kids do attend school but don't have a place to study in peace. Talks are in the works but I'm not too sure it'll pull through for a variety of reasons. Anyway, my Koalack trip ended at a friends site for fun. I was treated like a Pular king there as the village spoke Wolof and I made friends with the only Pular family. In two days I think I gained 10 pounds as I was expected to eat three meals and drink teat twice a day with two seperate families. The second day I puposely didn't go to the Pular Family's lunch because I was soo full so, they just saved some for me and had one of their sons deliver to be eaten at my descretion. To tell you the truth I waited for my stomach to digest a little so I could atleast taste the meal I was given. Of course it was delicious but I was full to the point of vommiting so I donated it to some of the local children who were more than willing to devour it. Needless to say I feel like this paints a pretty good picture of the type of life and welcoming spirit that I encounter the majority of the time.
My journey continued to Mbour and another volonteers site right on the ocean. This time I was there only for the water, fresh fish, shrimp, and clams and to have a good time. I think I could live in Mbour. Seriously. It's a beach town that is bombarded with tourists and greasy white people but the locals a beautiful. They pull nets all day long, cook and sleep on the beach, and for the most part seem willing to better their situation on a whole. It's hard to describe the many different levels of Mbour you'll have to take my word for it when I say I want to live there to mena that it is pretty cool.
Next stop was WAIST. The Kedougou and Tamba regions were themed as cops and robbers. Yes, that means we wore costumes and no, you probably wouldn't want your kids to see us in character. WAIST is a 3 day event in which volunteers from Senegal, Mali, Cape Verde, Gambia and others come to drink and play. Ofcourse, there is a legit tournament going on but we only participate in the "social" league where the refreshments are a dollar. You could say we were all well hydrated through out the 3 days of softball and night time activities. I had an amazing time, meeting some really interesting people, eating atleast 4-5 bowls of raisin bran a day (at my wonderful American homestay house, Thank you Devlins) and only swinging the bat once. All in all, it was a great escape that made returning to village life a bit more difficult.
To the present we go. I was greeted by my village with lots of bowel movements, lacking/slow language skills, and a half eaten garden (screw grass hoppers). Those first four days were rough because I had lost moment on anything that I may have had going on before I left. I compensated by reading my current book, Life of Pi, and by focusing on my garden. Little by little my routine started up again and I was feeling better about my life in village. Not too mention I have two wonderful neighbors who are willing to listen, share, and help me out in any rough time. I'm back in Kedougou now to watch the Arsenal Barcelona game (I had a little bet with one of the teachers near my village) and to get some work done. However, I would like to take the time now to break down my daily schedule in village so that you guys can maybe gain a small grasp on what being me is.....(If you've made it this far into this post you are trully a good person).
My Daily Routine
6:45 - 7:30 a.m. - Get up with the sun rise, poop, pee, drink water, begin and finish short work out, eat oatmeal with powdered milk and water plants in back yard.
7:30 - 8:30 a.m. - Off to the garden for maintenance and watering along with pumping a bucket of water for consumption during the day.
8:30 - 9:30 a.m. - Return to hut and leave to pump second bucket of water then, off to break fast with the family.
9:30 -11:00 a.m. - Back to the garden or someelse's garden or help Malal with what ever he is doing (currently its building a huts).
11:00 - 2:00 p.m. - Drink ataya (Senegalese tea lots of sugar), hang out under a mangoe tree to get some gossip, study language, study ag/gardening/Senegal, do anything that may be needed/wanted to my room, chat more with the locals, maybe go on a hike, essentially keep myslef busy until lunch is ready.
2:00 - 3:00 p.m. -Lunch (usually a leaf or peanut sauce with corn couscous), followed by digestion under the mangoe tree.
3:00 - 5:00p.m. -More ataya with Malal or the teachers at one of the schools, maybe a nap under or in a tree, any other messages, visits or "work" (by the American definition) that can be done with out too much exposure to the sun.
5:00 - 6:00 p.m.- Second watering of garden along with maitenance (mulching, pest managment, planting).
6:00 - 7:30 p.m./Dark- Usually soccer at one of the fields (Bambaya or Togue) or more studying of language and reading of my choice.
8:00 - 9:00p.m. - Showering, general hygien and doctoring of any damages to my body that have occurred over the day.
9:00 - 9:30 p.m. - Dinner (usually leftover lunch) and hanging with the family.
9:30 - whenever I get tired or Malal get tired - Drinking ataya, talking/discussin possible projects and life, admiring the stars, making jokes, learning Pular history/stories. Generally just hanging out and learning about each other.
10:30 - 11:00p.m. Bed time preparations, journal writing, some vocab studying, glass of milk with bread or cookies if available, reading and sleep.
And there you have it. The complete break down. Pretty exciting huh?
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Going with the Flow.
Being in Africa over these past four months has really taught me one crucial point in life and that is to go with the flow. This was recently thrown in my face while traveling to and from Dakar. What should be a short 10 hour excursion from Kedougou took, due to some mishaps, bargaining, and consumerism, 15 hours. Truly it wasn't that bad but to try and explain this journey I must first try to paint a picture of what travel is in Senegal.
At the very basic levels there are what we call Alhums and taxis. Taxis are basic four door beaters that look to be dug out of a junk yard and welded together. In fact, most are just this having to be pushed started and not stop inorder to continously run. These are used to travel in the current city you're in and most trips around the entire city run a wooping five hundred cfa (equivalent to about a dollar). I know what you thinking, I'm paying good money for a taxi I deserve the best but be reassured most taxi drivers are nice and their cars get you to your destination most of the time.
The next most common and even cheaper form of travel is the Alhum (short for alhumdullilah "Praise be with Allah" ). These 30-60 seater vans, depending on how many people are sitting on the roof or hanging off the sides and back, travel to and from villages for an average fair of roughly 200 cfa depending of course on the distance traveled. If your lucky you'll get the bonus of sitting next to a large Senegalese man or woman who will proceed to sleep on you through out the trip before wanting to frantically depart the van at her stop. Their departure obviously is dependent on how fast you get out of their way and into another persons lap before they pick up to much momentum and squash you. Fortunately, there isn't much room for them to run so you usually have enough time to get out of the way. Never the less the Alhum is a good ride for the price if you are travelling a short distance between cities.
Next there is the ever popular sept-plus (named after the amount of people it is legally allowed to drive at one time)(note that this does not include babies). Sept-pluses are usually taken from major city to major city due to their cost, ability to carry baggage, and speed. However, these cars again are beaters and due to the drivers want to get to his destination as fast as possible, the sept-plus often breaks down or has some sort of delay during travels. Sept-pluses are often avoided because of the new buses that are cheaper, run the same routes and are less troublesome.
Now, to begin traveling in Senegal one either knows a driver, as was in my 15 hour case, or has to travel into the garage. Upon arriving at the garage one must know the price of where he or she wants to travel to avoid the inevitable opportunity of being ripped off. After establishing a price one must discuss baggage price. This is often the most troublesome problem because there is no set pricing for baggage and the drivers and garage men see it as an opporunity to fatten their pockets. Again, this can usually be avoided by calling a driver or renting out a whole sept-plus, though these techniques are not full-proof.
My trip began at 7 in the morning when our driver arrived at the regional house to pick us up and take us to Tamba, our first stop before Dakar. We had seven people and there fore rented out the entire car. Of course the driver asked fro baggage fees but we brushed him off and away we went with a decent car and a good price. Unfortunately about 2 hours into a 3-4 hour journey we had our first flat. No big a quick change of tires and we were off again in roughly 20 minutes only to be brought down by the same tire 20 minutes later. Now, we were almost 2 hours into the trip and stranded on the side of the road waiting for another car to help or transport us to where we wanted to go. After waiting another hour, I napped under a tree, our driver was kind enough to put us into a Alhum and paid our way. Our Alhum trip lasted 45 minutes before they decided we needed to get back into a sept-plus and continue on to Tamba. 5 hours for what should have been a 3 hour journey sounds terrible but really I got to take a nice nap (which I needed) and we arrived safely. Things could've been much worse.
The only bad thing that happened was our numerous delays put us into the Tamba garage at lunch time (11-3) and we ended up having to wait for everyone to come back to work before beginning to travel again. We ended up needing the extra time to bargain the price of the trip and our baggage fairs. Again it sounds terrible but fortunately this bargaining can be done by one person while the other, i.e. me, go off to find delicious meat sandwiches. Just going with the flow. After chatting it up with some local people for a few hours we were on our way to Dakar and with a General.
The trip to Dakar was nice due to our friend the General who made the numerous check points easy to pass with a simple wave of his hand. Usually these check points are to check the driver's papers and to sometimes withdrawl a briber for an infraction. Unforunately the General liked to stop and buy things so, we probably made just as many stops as we would've even with out the General in the car because he wanted bananas, a soda, peanuts, and the list goes on. I'm not going to lie so did I and I enjoyed to little butt stretching breaks that the General's stops gave us.
Long story short we arrived in Dakar about 8.5 hours later. But the moral of the story is that life will throw small and big curves the point of them is to find the good and push through. Somethings will go perectly as planned but most won't and for me those that don't usually end up being alot more fun and rewarding. I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and wish that atleast once this year you explore and enjoy the unplanned, unexpected, and just go with the flow.
At the very basic levels there are what we call Alhums and taxis. Taxis are basic four door beaters that look to be dug out of a junk yard and welded together. In fact, most are just this having to be pushed started and not stop inorder to continously run. These are used to travel in the current city you're in and most trips around the entire city run a wooping five hundred cfa (equivalent to about a dollar). I know what you thinking, I'm paying good money for a taxi I deserve the best but be reassured most taxi drivers are nice and their cars get you to your destination most of the time.
The next most common and even cheaper form of travel is the Alhum (short for alhumdullilah "Praise be with Allah" ). These 30-60 seater vans, depending on how many people are sitting on the roof or hanging off the sides and back, travel to and from villages for an average fair of roughly 200 cfa depending of course on the distance traveled. If your lucky you'll get the bonus of sitting next to a large Senegalese man or woman who will proceed to sleep on you through out the trip before wanting to frantically depart the van at her stop. Their departure obviously is dependent on how fast you get out of their way and into another persons lap before they pick up to much momentum and squash you. Fortunately, there isn't much room for them to run so you usually have enough time to get out of the way. Never the less the Alhum is a good ride for the price if you are travelling a short distance between cities.
Next there is the ever popular sept-plus (named after the amount of people it is legally allowed to drive at one time)(note that this does not include babies). Sept-pluses are usually taken from major city to major city due to their cost, ability to carry baggage, and speed. However, these cars again are beaters and due to the drivers want to get to his destination as fast as possible, the sept-plus often breaks down or has some sort of delay during travels. Sept-pluses are often avoided because of the new buses that are cheaper, run the same routes and are less troublesome.
Now, to begin traveling in Senegal one either knows a driver, as was in my 15 hour case, or has to travel into the garage. Upon arriving at the garage one must know the price of where he or she wants to travel to avoid the inevitable opportunity of being ripped off. After establishing a price one must discuss baggage price. This is often the most troublesome problem because there is no set pricing for baggage and the drivers and garage men see it as an opporunity to fatten their pockets. Again, this can usually be avoided by calling a driver or renting out a whole sept-plus, though these techniques are not full-proof.
My trip began at 7 in the morning when our driver arrived at the regional house to pick us up and take us to Tamba, our first stop before Dakar. We had seven people and there fore rented out the entire car. Of course the driver asked fro baggage fees but we brushed him off and away we went with a decent car and a good price. Unfortunately about 2 hours into a 3-4 hour journey we had our first flat. No big a quick change of tires and we were off again in roughly 20 minutes only to be brought down by the same tire 20 minutes later. Now, we were almost 2 hours into the trip and stranded on the side of the road waiting for another car to help or transport us to where we wanted to go. After waiting another hour, I napped under a tree, our driver was kind enough to put us into a Alhum and paid our way. Our Alhum trip lasted 45 minutes before they decided we needed to get back into a sept-plus and continue on to Tamba. 5 hours for what should have been a 3 hour journey sounds terrible but really I got to take a nice nap (which I needed) and we arrived safely. Things could've been much worse.
The only bad thing that happened was our numerous delays put us into the Tamba garage at lunch time (11-3) and we ended up having to wait for everyone to come back to work before beginning to travel again. We ended up needing the extra time to bargain the price of the trip and our baggage fairs. Again it sounds terrible but fortunately this bargaining can be done by one person while the other, i.e. me, go off to find delicious meat sandwiches. Just going with the flow. After chatting it up with some local people for a few hours we were on our way to Dakar and with a General.
The trip to Dakar was nice due to our friend the General who made the numerous check points easy to pass with a simple wave of his hand. Usually these check points are to check the driver's papers and to sometimes withdrawl a briber for an infraction. Unforunately the General liked to stop and buy things so, we probably made just as many stops as we would've even with out the General in the car because he wanted bananas, a soda, peanuts, and the list goes on. I'm not going to lie so did I and I enjoyed to little butt stretching breaks that the General's stops gave us.
Long story short we arrived in Dakar about 8.5 hours later. But the moral of the story is that life will throw small and big curves the point of them is to find the good and push through. Somethings will go perectly as planned but most won't and for me those that don't usually end up being alot more fun and rewarding. I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and wish that atleast once this year you explore and enjoy the unplanned, unexpected, and just go with the flow.
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