This entry has been more difficult to write than I first imagined because of the nature of Peace Corps rules of blogs and written material. As the nature of this particular entry involves past security concerns regarding the area immediately surrounding my old village I wish I was capable of giving you all a very frank assessment of both the nature of the concerns themselves as well as the way in which the entire situation was dealt with by Peace Corps staff, but I have determined a public blog is not the appropriate medium in which to share such information. If you have any remaining questions after having finished reading the entry I can always be contacted personally, but will not be answering any questions left in the comment section. Again, I apologize of the following seems overly vague or trite. I also didn't bother to edit this out of laziness so blame any errors on lack of sleep and for having cracked this entry out in 15 minutes.
Approximately 8 months ago after having just returned to my regional house in Kolda from an agriculture sector work summit I received a phone call from my host brother. At the time my language was not where it currently stands, and I ended the phone call with the impression that he wished me to return to the village immediately. In fact, as it was the middle of the day, my brother had been encouraging me NOT to return to the village until later in the afternoon when things had cooled down and more people used the bush path out to the village. As I biked the 8k to SG two men, who presumably had been waiting hidden in the woods for any travelers came tearing out of the bushes screaming, “Halt/stop white person” while waving machetes in the air. I turned in my bicycle seat as I had just blown by the two men, realized they held machetes and dug down on the pedals and raced like hell back to my village 3k away. The men gave chase but being on foot did not chase me for very long. I discussed this matter with the PC Safety and Security Coordinator who is an amazing individual, and we agreed upon certain travel precautions for future trips to and from the village. The Safety and Security Coordinator had my safety in mind first and foremost throughout this entire process. He even went so far as to travel from Dakar to Kolda in order to assess the situation himself and speak with the local law enforcement. We both were under the impression that it was perfectly fine for me to stay in my village.
Fast forwarding to approximately two and a half months ago I traveled to a city near the Gambia border with the intent of purchasing a horse. I was traveling with one of my host brothers and my friend of whom I have written about in the previous blog post entitled David and his Splendiferous Garden. We were unsuccessful in our attempt to buy a horse and returned to Kolda very late at night. The three of us spent the night in Kolda, but while the two young men returned to the village the following morning by bike, I decided to return that afternoon on foot. Upon reaching my village later the next day I was met by my brother and our friend racing out of the village with the intent of finding me. A situation had occurred on the path to my village that morning involving my brother, our friend, and masked men. Both were extremely lucky and escaped the incident unharmed but the matter was serious enough and involved me in such a way that I immediately notified my Safety and Security Coordinator. I left the village the following day unsure of when I would be returning, but confident in knowing that PC staff would handle the matter professionally and responsibly.
As time passed multiple assessments were made, visits to Kolda and local law enforcement performed, and my father, the chief of the village brought into the loop. I wish I could say that I handled the waiting with patience, but it really began to drag on me after about six weeks out of site. During the time spent away from SG I traveled around most of Senegal visiting various sites and staying with various volunteers or in regional houses checking out their projects and collaborations, but ultimately was very bummed to be away from MY village and MY work. At the end of approximately 8 weeks from leaving site I made up my own mind that I was not willing to return to site and would consider taking an Interrupted Service or Early Termination. I went so far as to meet with my Director to discuss things face to face, but it wasn’t until a very forthright conversation with my parents that I realized I was acting stupidly to have considered leaving country simply because I was not comfortable with the situation regarding my old site. I think it was my mother who asked me point black if my motivations for staying in the Peace Corps were based upon the assumption that I could only be useful and help people in SG or rather if I thought I was capable of helping people elsewhere. This question and the realizations it caused made me realize I was acting childish, and rather than running away from a country because of an unpredicted snag, should instead focus on finding a new site and new projects with which to work with.
Ironically, it was only a couple days after this conversation that PC Admin determined that the situation regarding the area immediately surrounding my village was such that they would not be allowing me to return to SG as a Volunteer even if I wished it. They simply needed more time to assess and move resources in order to absolutely secure the site, and knew that I couldn’t stay in limbo forever. At this point meetings were held and I was given options as to where my new site would be located. We ultimately worked together and reached the conclusion that I could potentially accomplish a lot in the city of Kounkane Kolda. I am currently writing this entry from that city in my lodgings here in town. I have been living here for a little over a week now, and as much as I miss the friends and family I had while in SG, my new setup has several advantages that I did not have while living in the village. In the next installment of this blog (coming soon Si Allah Jaabi) I’ll describe the new site and the work I hope to be doing here over the next year or so.
Love you all, and missing friends and family like crazy,
David
Monday, September 27, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Part 1 of 3 catching ya'll up to date.
Pt 1 of a 3 part blog series, Pt 1- trip to America and realizations, Pt 2, Security issues with Saare Gagna/new Site, Pt 3, Description of new work and site while in Kounkane, Kolda.
Where to begin, where to begin? I realize I haven’t posted a blog entry since late May, but as delayed as this has been, I think as you read onward you’ll be able to afford me some slack for my tardiness.
My last blog entry was written and posted while in America on an absolutely glorious vacation of great food, amazing friends, and tons of quality time with the family. As my 3+ week stint back in America came to an end I realized a couple of really important things about myself: 1-- I ate way too much, but enjoyed absolutely every second of it. 2-- I was extremely motivated to return to Senegal after my vacation not only because I missed my host family and friends in the village, but because the break recharged my batteries and allowed me a lot of time to reflect back on my reasons for having joined the Peace Corps in the first place, and how much had changed during my time spent in Senegal. In order to cut this blog down to under 50,000 words I’ll recap my thought process on these two points as succinctly as possible.
I think I gained about 25 lbs during the week before and time spent in Americaland. Yes, this is absolutely disgusting, and probably more than a little dangerous for my body/sanity, but I have absolutely zero regrets. I came into Senegal last August weighing in at 252lbs give or take. Having gorged on cheeseburgers, pizza, and beer during my 4 years at UR I knew Senegal would double as a fat camp of sorts. During my Pre Service Training of 8 weeks I lost about 40 lbs then would cyclically lose weight while sick, slowly regain it while healthy, then lose more while sick or doing a lot of biking. When I came back for my vacation I weighed approximately 60-65lbs less than where I had started. I knew that my lifestyle in Senegal would allow me to lose any weight I gained, and quite eagerly stuffed my face each and every day while home. Returning to Senegal with an extra 25lbs packed on and back up to around 210lbs wasn’t a lot of fun. I was out of shape, felt bad, and was always tired no matter how little physical activity I exerted. Fortunately, however, the extra weight disappeared in under a month. Due largely to the events of the last 2-3 months, this weight further dropped to my current total of around 175lbs. I don’t have an ideal weight in mind, but would prefer just to be as healthy as possible. Hopefully in the near future I can get the weight loss to flat line and instead focus on building up muscle/endurance.
I tried to spend as much time with my family as possible while home in America while also seeing friends from UR, LHS, and work. It was fun to just sit and relax on the front porch with my parents, drinking a beer with my Dad, or talking about the agricultural practices of Senegal with my Mom. As many of you are aware, my life prior to Senegal involved very limited travel. I spent the majority of my college life only 45 minutes away from home, and have never been West of Kentucky. Being in Senegal was originally a huge culture shock and gut check in terms of homesickness, but slowly but surely I began to fall in love with this place, its people, and the overall idea of travel and expanding one’s horizons. This is a far cry from my mental state when I first applied for the Peace Corps. Yes, I have always had an interest in helping others and seeing new places, but as many of you know a big reason for me having joined the Peace Corps involved the urge to just simply get away from America and memories of a really amazing relationship with an ex girlfriend that fell completely and utterly apart. I don’t know exactly when it happened during my service, but while home on vacation I was finally able to vocalize that my reasons for staying in the Peace Corps were now entirely in line with what I consider “legitimate” motivations. I realized I was over the idea of Senegal as a chance to “get away,” and instead embraced it for what it is, as the opportunity to learn a lot about myself and my limitations while also doing my best to improve the quality of life of some of the people who need it the most in this world.
Somewhere during my service something just clicked, I picked up the language, made friends for life, stopped listening to sad bastard country music, became more confident in myself and my limitations, and was finally able to realize that happiness in life isn’t predicated upon how you are treated by others, but rather, by taking personal responsibility and initiative. I learned my own happiness was furthered by helping others, and no longer bitched and moaned as much about the little snags in life, but instead embraced the simple pleasures of life such as a cold water bucket shower, the first fall harvest after weeks of waiting, or the bi monthly skype calls from home. I’m just now starting to realize happiness means good food, country music, a fridge full of something cold, family, faith, and above all else, the ability to never, ever, take yourself too seriously. I got back on that plane headed for Dakar with a level of excitement that wasn’t present when I had first arrived. I had new work project ideas floating around in my head, the ability to harass the guys standing outside of the airport in their own language, and the confidence that I had made the best decision of my life to have joined the Peace Corps in the first place, albeit for maybe the wrong reasons initially. Although I won’t absolutely set it in stone (nor am I officially able at this time), but I would love the opportunity to extend my service here in Senegal until at least the end of 2012.
To be continued…..I promise the next 2 entries won’t be as cliché. Love you all. P.S., check out my facebook as I’ve updated a lot of the pictures I had taken over the last year.
Where to begin, where to begin? I realize I haven’t posted a blog entry since late May, but as delayed as this has been, I think as you read onward you’ll be able to afford me some slack for my tardiness.
My last blog entry was written and posted while in America on an absolutely glorious vacation of great food, amazing friends, and tons of quality time with the family. As my 3+ week stint back in America came to an end I realized a couple of really important things about myself: 1-- I ate way too much, but enjoyed absolutely every second of it. 2-- I was extremely motivated to return to Senegal after my vacation not only because I missed my host family and friends in the village, but because the break recharged my batteries and allowed me a lot of time to reflect back on my reasons for having joined the Peace Corps in the first place, and how much had changed during my time spent in Senegal. In order to cut this blog down to under 50,000 words I’ll recap my thought process on these two points as succinctly as possible.
I think I gained about 25 lbs during the week before and time spent in Americaland. Yes, this is absolutely disgusting, and probably more than a little dangerous for my body/sanity, but I have absolutely zero regrets. I came into Senegal last August weighing in at 252lbs give or take. Having gorged on cheeseburgers, pizza, and beer during my 4 years at UR I knew Senegal would double as a fat camp of sorts. During my Pre Service Training of 8 weeks I lost about 40 lbs then would cyclically lose weight while sick, slowly regain it while healthy, then lose more while sick or doing a lot of biking. When I came back for my vacation I weighed approximately 60-65lbs less than where I had started. I knew that my lifestyle in Senegal would allow me to lose any weight I gained, and quite eagerly stuffed my face each and every day while home. Returning to Senegal with an extra 25lbs packed on and back up to around 210lbs wasn’t a lot of fun. I was out of shape, felt bad, and was always tired no matter how little physical activity I exerted. Fortunately, however, the extra weight disappeared in under a month. Due largely to the events of the last 2-3 months, this weight further dropped to my current total of around 175lbs. I don’t have an ideal weight in mind, but would prefer just to be as healthy as possible. Hopefully in the near future I can get the weight loss to flat line and instead focus on building up muscle/endurance.
I tried to spend as much time with my family as possible while home in America while also seeing friends from UR, LHS, and work. It was fun to just sit and relax on the front porch with my parents, drinking a beer with my Dad, or talking about the agricultural practices of Senegal with my Mom. As many of you are aware, my life prior to Senegal involved very limited travel. I spent the majority of my college life only 45 minutes away from home, and have never been West of Kentucky. Being in Senegal was originally a huge culture shock and gut check in terms of homesickness, but slowly but surely I began to fall in love with this place, its people, and the overall idea of travel and expanding one’s horizons. This is a far cry from my mental state when I first applied for the Peace Corps. Yes, I have always had an interest in helping others and seeing new places, but as many of you know a big reason for me having joined the Peace Corps involved the urge to just simply get away from America and memories of a really amazing relationship with an ex girlfriend that fell completely and utterly apart. I don’t know exactly when it happened during my service, but while home on vacation I was finally able to vocalize that my reasons for staying in the Peace Corps were now entirely in line with what I consider “legitimate” motivations. I realized I was over the idea of Senegal as a chance to “get away,” and instead embraced it for what it is, as the opportunity to learn a lot about myself and my limitations while also doing my best to improve the quality of life of some of the people who need it the most in this world.
Somewhere during my service something just clicked, I picked up the language, made friends for life, stopped listening to sad bastard country music, became more confident in myself and my limitations, and was finally able to realize that happiness in life isn’t predicated upon how you are treated by others, but rather, by taking personal responsibility and initiative. I learned my own happiness was furthered by helping others, and no longer bitched and moaned as much about the little snags in life, but instead embraced the simple pleasures of life such as a cold water bucket shower, the first fall harvest after weeks of waiting, or the bi monthly skype calls from home. I’m just now starting to realize happiness means good food, country music, a fridge full of something cold, family, faith, and above all else, the ability to never, ever, take yourself too seriously. I got back on that plane headed for Dakar with a level of excitement that wasn’t present when I had first arrived. I had new work project ideas floating around in my head, the ability to harass the guys standing outside of the airport in their own language, and the confidence that I had made the best decision of my life to have joined the Peace Corps in the first place, albeit for maybe the wrong reasons initially. Although I won’t absolutely set it in stone (nor am I officially able at this time), but I would love the opportunity to extend my service here in Senegal until at least the end of 2012.
To be continued…..I promise the next 2 entries won’t be as cliché. Love you all. P.S., check out my facebook as I’ve updated a lot of the pictures I had taken over the last year.
Monday, May 31, 2010
What exactly is the "work" I do here in Senegal?
So I'm home on a vacation in America and this is the number one question people seem to be asking me. If you're interested in things I've done up in this point in Senegal you'll have to read past entries, but looking into the future this is what I've got for ya.....
I wrote this a while ago when I had just been officially notified about having my Volunteer site and counterpart selected for this newly introduced joint project of Peace Corps and USAID, but never quite got around to posting it until now. Hopefully it gives the few of you still following my blog a good idea of the primary focus of my work in the year and a half remaining on my Peace Corps service. Take what I have written, as everything written in the blog for that which it is….ONLY MY OWN OPINIONS AND IN NO WAY REFLECTS THE OPINIONS OR OFFICIAL POLICIES OF THE U.S. PEACE CORPS. Glad I got that disclaimer out there, it was a mouthful.
I also want to be clear ahead of time that this is not, “my” project, but rather a large scale initiative that, if anything, is the project of my host brother and friend Toumani. I helped him with the initial budget proposal, but the actual work and trainings associated with the project will be a shared experience among Toumani, myself, Anna (closest PCV to my village) and a handful of other interested Volunteers in the region as well as possibly one or two Senegalese workers to be chosen by Toumani at a later date. We’re all going to work, sweat, and generally beat our heads into a figurative brick wall until this is made a complete success one way or another. Failure is not an option.
This Peace Corps/USAID project involves the selection of highly motivated and skilled farmers scattered across Senegal and seeks to bolster country wide advances in rural agriculture through the development of large scale demonstration plots. The prevailing mentality behind this slight shift in rural agricultural development is in part due to concrete data that has in recent years proven that cooperative farming is less efficient in promoting new farming practices in rural Senegal/West Africa than an individual based model. The policy of this project is therefore to promote the good work of a few hard working and highly respected locals in order to have their work copied through both basic mimicry and routinely held demonstrations/field classes.
In the first batch of selections, of which my host brother and I were fortunate enough to be a part of, 8-9 local farmers throughout all of Senegal were chosen as local ambassadors of agriculture but backed by the funds USAID and training support of Peace Corps staff here in Senegal. Titled the, “Pilot Farmer project,” or initiative, or something equally fancy, these 8 men and 1 woman were rewarded for their hard effort and community leadership with a three day initial training in Thies and access to serious cash on the part of USAID (disbursed via Peace Corps administration), in order to build and maintain a large demonstration site for the purpose of promoting --by both example and routinely held meetings various agricultural practices, techniques, and technologies. The long-term goal for these sites is to have them set up as de facto field schools whereby farmers of both sexes can travel to and live on (for upwards of a week at a time) in order to attend and participate in various demonstrations and classes to be led by the “Pilot Farmer” and assisted by Peace Corps Volunteers.
In my particular case, my host brother Toumani and I received approximately 6,250 USD in order to develop a site of 100x100 meters. Within the site’s newly purchased chain link fence we will demonstrate agricultural practices, both new to and already proven worthwhile throughout Senegal, in the areas of; field crops—millet, corn, sorghum, rice, sesame, and beans, large scale gardening---anything you could possibly think of growing efficiently for both nutrition of cash crop capabilities, and tree cultivation/maintenance---bananas, avocados, oranges, mangos, acacia, ziziphus, and an additional 5-10 varieties I can’t think of at the moment. Mixed within these three overarching categories the site will also act as a demonstration of such techniques and technological advances in areas such as wind breaks, live fencing, foot treadle pumps, drip irrigation systems, small scale perma-gardening, natural pest management, composting, manure teas, nitrogen fixing varieties, shade crops, etc. The approved initial budget of this project includes a line itemed list of somewhere around 30 items ranging from chain link fencing and well digging costs/materials to the more mundane costs associated with seed purchases, and materials such as rakes, shovels, wheelbarrows, watering cans, and a hammock. Just kidding on the hammock part, that was just a test to see if you were actually reading instead of just skimming my terrible writing :)
The bulk of the work related to field crops will take place in the rainy seasons from year to year and will involve the latest varieties of seeds developed by a Senegalese governmental agency by the name of ISRA. At planting we will promote via example improved spacing, weeding, and pest management practices. During harvest we will perform yield calculations in order to give feedback to the agency in order to further their mandate to constantly adapt and produce seeds with improved vigor, as well as hold routine demonstrations on seed selection and off season storage practices for nearby farmers.
The gardening work will be slightly less structured in the design of the project as gardening practices vary greatly from one region of Senegal to the next, but needless to say that as my site is located in Southern Senegal and my counterpart is the most motivated Senegalese I have yet met…we will have our hands full year round in attempting to plant anything we can get our hands in order to achieve the highest outputs possible for both consumption and sale. The techniques and technologies previously listed will all be demonstrated as part of this gardening component.
The tree work will be divided among fruit tree cultivation for consumption and sale as well as the promotion of thorny species, nitrogen fixers, and shade varieties throughout the interior of the demonstration site as well as all four 100 meter borders. Prior to joining the Peace Corps I knew very little about trees beyond the fruit trees of my house in Virginia. Although I will participate as much as possible in this component of the Pilot Farmer site, the vast majority of the Volunteer driven work and expertise will come from my closest site-mate Anna who serves as an Agro-forestry volunteer in a village approximately 6k away from the site. I wish Anna was the one who had written this past paragraph as she knows about 100 million times more information than I could profess about all things trees and shrubbish. Side note, if shrubbish isn’t a word, and spell-check is claiming this to be the case, it should be made into one asap.
Once again I’ve cranked out a blog entry in under 20 minutes, but I’m sure I forgotten a ton of pertinent information so if you have any questions just leave them on the comment section below. And lastly…….I checked the map thing located on the side of this blog and for the first time realized just how many places my blog is being accessed from. You all out there in such exotic places as Costa Rica and Alaska should feel free to chime in any time in the comment section.
Peace,
David S.
I wrote this a while ago when I had just been officially notified about having my Volunteer site and counterpart selected for this newly introduced joint project of Peace Corps and USAID, but never quite got around to posting it until now. Hopefully it gives the few of you still following my blog a good idea of the primary focus of my work in the year and a half remaining on my Peace Corps service. Take what I have written, as everything written in the blog for that which it is….ONLY MY OWN OPINIONS AND IN NO WAY REFLECTS THE OPINIONS OR OFFICIAL POLICIES OF THE U.S. PEACE CORPS. Glad I got that disclaimer out there, it was a mouthful.
I also want to be clear ahead of time that this is not, “my” project, but rather a large scale initiative that, if anything, is the project of my host brother and friend Toumani. I helped him with the initial budget proposal, but the actual work and trainings associated with the project will be a shared experience among Toumani, myself, Anna (closest PCV to my village) and a handful of other interested Volunteers in the region as well as possibly one or two Senegalese workers to be chosen by Toumani at a later date. We’re all going to work, sweat, and generally beat our heads into a figurative brick wall until this is made a complete success one way or another. Failure is not an option.
This Peace Corps/USAID project involves the selection of highly motivated and skilled farmers scattered across Senegal and seeks to bolster country wide advances in rural agriculture through the development of large scale demonstration plots. The prevailing mentality behind this slight shift in rural agricultural development is in part due to concrete data that has in recent years proven that cooperative farming is less efficient in promoting new farming practices in rural Senegal/West Africa than an individual based model. The policy of this project is therefore to promote the good work of a few hard working and highly respected locals in order to have their work copied through both basic mimicry and routinely held demonstrations/field classes.
In the first batch of selections, of which my host brother and I were fortunate enough to be a part of, 8-9 local farmers throughout all of Senegal were chosen as local ambassadors of agriculture but backed by the funds USAID and training support of Peace Corps staff here in Senegal. Titled the, “Pilot Farmer project,” or initiative, or something equally fancy, these 8 men and 1 woman were rewarded for their hard effort and community leadership with a three day initial training in Thies and access to serious cash on the part of USAID (disbursed via Peace Corps administration), in order to build and maintain a large demonstration site for the purpose of promoting --by both example and routinely held meetings various agricultural practices, techniques, and technologies. The long-term goal for these sites is to have them set up as de facto field schools whereby farmers of both sexes can travel to and live on (for upwards of a week at a time) in order to attend and participate in various demonstrations and classes to be led by the “Pilot Farmer” and assisted by Peace Corps Volunteers.
In my particular case, my host brother Toumani and I received approximately 6,250 USD in order to develop a site of 100x100 meters. Within the site’s newly purchased chain link fence we will demonstrate agricultural practices, both new to and already proven worthwhile throughout Senegal, in the areas of; field crops—millet, corn, sorghum, rice, sesame, and beans, large scale gardening---anything you could possibly think of growing efficiently for both nutrition of cash crop capabilities, and tree cultivation/maintenance---bananas, avocados, oranges, mangos, acacia, ziziphus, and an additional 5-10 varieties I can’t think of at the moment. Mixed within these three overarching categories the site will also act as a demonstration of such techniques and technological advances in areas such as wind breaks, live fencing, foot treadle pumps, drip irrigation systems, small scale perma-gardening, natural pest management, composting, manure teas, nitrogen fixing varieties, shade crops, etc. The approved initial budget of this project includes a line itemed list of somewhere around 30 items ranging from chain link fencing and well digging costs/materials to the more mundane costs associated with seed purchases, and materials such as rakes, shovels, wheelbarrows, watering cans, and a hammock. Just kidding on the hammock part, that was just a test to see if you were actually reading instead of just skimming my terrible writing :)
The bulk of the work related to field crops will take place in the rainy seasons from year to year and will involve the latest varieties of seeds developed by a Senegalese governmental agency by the name of ISRA. At planting we will promote via example improved spacing, weeding, and pest management practices. During harvest we will perform yield calculations in order to give feedback to the agency in order to further their mandate to constantly adapt and produce seeds with improved vigor, as well as hold routine demonstrations on seed selection and off season storage practices for nearby farmers.
The gardening work will be slightly less structured in the design of the project as gardening practices vary greatly from one region of Senegal to the next, but needless to say that as my site is located in Southern Senegal and my counterpart is the most motivated Senegalese I have yet met…we will have our hands full year round in attempting to plant anything we can get our hands in order to achieve the highest outputs possible for both consumption and sale. The techniques and technologies previously listed will all be demonstrated as part of this gardening component.
The tree work will be divided among fruit tree cultivation for consumption and sale as well as the promotion of thorny species, nitrogen fixers, and shade varieties throughout the interior of the demonstration site as well as all four 100 meter borders. Prior to joining the Peace Corps I knew very little about trees beyond the fruit trees of my house in Virginia. Although I will participate as much as possible in this component of the Pilot Farmer site, the vast majority of the Volunteer driven work and expertise will come from my closest site-mate Anna who serves as an Agro-forestry volunteer in a village approximately 6k away from the site. I wish Anna was the one who had written this past paragraph as she knows about 100 million times more information than I could profess about all things trees and shrubbish. Side note, if shrubbish isn’t a word, and spell-check is claiming this to be the case, it should be made into one asap.
Once again I’ve cranked out a blog entry in under 20 minutes, but I’m sure I forgotten a ton of pertinent information so if you have any questions just leave them on the comment section below. And lastly…….I checked the map thing located on the side of this blog and for the first time realized just how many places my blog is being accessed from. You all out there in such exotic places as Costa Rica and Alaska should feel free to chime in any time in the comment section.
Peace,
David S.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Update + Helping Senegal Connect 4 Style.
And. I’m. Back.
After an extended blog hiatus due in part to lots of travel and work in the village, but primarily because of extreme writers block……I have returned. In the following blog I’ll try to catch you all up on the random daily goings on of the village, my sister Catherine’s visit to Senegal, my work failures and successes while also interspersing the occasional anecdote to try and keep it all interesting. The following entry is less so one cohesive entry, but rather a series of shorter entries which do not necessarily follow one another in a particularly cohesive manner. Lastly, I am absolutely in love with Senegal. Well, okay, that is a huge exaggeration, but I am very happy here, and increasingly motivated by both ongoing and future projects in the village. It is my hope that such feelings are reflected throughout the following post.
1) My last blog entry left off with the construction of my demo garden and the eventual planting of my seed potatoes and assorted other vegetables. In retrospect my potato project was as much for my personal sanity as it was to benefit my village and those immediately surrounded it. I genuinely believed that potato extension could in effect double as both as cash crop as well as provide sorely needed vitamins particularly to the village’s youth population. While I still believe in the complete awesomeness of potatoes, my potatoes which initially had close to a 100 percent germination rate are now 100 percent dead. Partially this is due to the fact that I planted later than I wanted to and we experienced a couple weeks straight of 120+ degree heat (in the sun), and partially because when I left site for IST (In Service Training), the two younger guys I was working with accidently water shocked the plants by watering during the hottest part of the day instead of waiting until the afternoon.
Needless to say, when I got back to site after IST to discover my potato graveyard, I was feeling pretty down. When the project first began I had sworn to myself that if it was to end in complete and utter failure I would probably Early Terminate my service. Currently such thoughts could not be further from my mind. The potato project and demo site set up, when combined with several important external factors pertaining to the village’s shortage of cash from outright field crops, has caused the number of gardens in Saare Gagna to have jumped from 3 legitimate gardens (at the start of my service at site) to 8. People are starting to ask questions and seek answers both through myself and independently. The two young men I was working closely with throughout the potato project have successfully planted and maintained vegetable beds of carrots, onions, tomatoes, and eggplant. They now fully understand some of the inherent risks of gardening, but are quite adamant about how much they want to continue with such work.
As low as I was feeling upon first realizing the potatoes project was a “complete failure” I have never been as excited during my service in Senegal as the day both of these men approached me independently and asked if we could try again with potatoes this coming Fall. Not only will we give potatoes one more shot, we are going to do a much better job having gained a lot of useful experience from the first attempt. I feel like the potato project will always be a personal reminder of how the best intentioned development projects can fall flat, while also serving as a gauge of how much more mature I have become since my instillation in the village. There was a point when I was motivated to accomplish all sorts of new projects in the village at the expense of flexibility and catering to the actual wants of my villagers. As my language and patience have developed, however, I am now much more in tune with the expressed needs of the people with which I work with on a daily basis--which I believe in turn has made me a much better Volunteer.
Furthermore, in the past when I was still constantly nervous and unsure about my service in Senegal an event such as walking into the potato graveyard would have caused me to run for the hills (i.e. the USA), but now such setbacks only serve to make me grit my teeth, learn from my mistakes, and adapt accordingly. In summation—Senegal has been very good for me.
2) The often over quoted Robert Frost is probably best remembered for his famously penned stanzas about taking, “the road less traveled,” and how upon taking this literal and figurative road, “less traveled by,” it has, “made all the difference.” Well let me tell you……Robert Frost never traveled in Senegal. I’d go so far as to say that Frost never had the exhilarating, adrenaline pumping, stomach spasm inducing joy of suddenly finding himself on the wrong bush path, or been stuck several miles away from purified water, or being chased after by two angry Guinea Bissauans wielding machetes. No, I’m fairly certain he has never experienced any of these delights because if he had his poem would have been more along the lines of, “taking the road less traveled by is an amazingly thought provoking metaphor for person growth and attitudinal change, but this concept is entirely devoid of real life practicalities, especially when serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal.” Yes, I realize this doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as the original verse, but it is oh so much more fitting.
Only a couple of weeks after installation I was biking back from the regional house to catch up on protein intake and catch up on emails when I found myself headed down a bush path towards Guinea Bissau. This misadventure had all started when my closest Volunteer neighbor Anna and I were discussing how I had absolutely no clue which bush path extending out from the city of Kolda was the appropriate path to take directly to my village. I determined that rather than taking a wild guess and possibly biking 8k to my site, I would ride with Anna to her site 10k away from the regional house, then ask villagers to show me a supposed 6k trail that eventually would intersect my village. Things were going well early into the trip up until the point Anna and I took a wrong branch of her trail and ended up getting lost. Out of water and with what I thought was a totally busted bike chain I ended up walking about half of what turned out to be a more circuitous 13k route to her village. In no way to I blame Anna or myself for this mix-up. It was early in our service, all the roads were still unfamiliar to us, and frankly the Casamance region of Senegal goes from looking like something out of Jurassic Park during the wet season to National Geographic Africa (sans lions) once the rainy season ends which can throw off anyone, Senegalese included.
Upon reaching Anna’s site we said our goodbyes and I (bike chain now back in place) set off to my own village. Things were going well for about the first 2k into the trip when I reached an actual crossroads of donkey/horse cart paths. I was actually so stunned and fatigued I stopped by bike at the intersection and had a 10 minute internal monologue/crisis as to which of my three choices I should take. Had the villager I spoke with a Kilometer back said take the right at the intersection? Take a left? The path straight ahead more comparatively less overgrown….did that mean it led back to the city of Kolda rather than occasional villagers traveling back and forth from our two Volunteer sites? Due largely in part to exhaustion, lack of water, and the fact it was starting to rain I opted for the rightmost path…….that’s right, the road less traveled by.
Unfortunately, however, after another 5k down this path I ran across a very startled illegal charcoal burner who after initially trying to whip his donkey cart away from me, realized I was white (and therefore no real threat), and informed me I was heading into Guinea Bissau. The correct path to my village had actually been the path MOST traveled. Damn you Robert Frost. I backtracked to the original crossroads, proceeded to get lost yet a third time later in the day, but eventually made it back to my village whereby I proceeded to sleep for the next 10 hours. Looking back to that day I can barely remember how scared, frustrated, and dehydrated I was, but none of this really matters. What matters is that I now am absolutely, positively, 110% certain of which bush path will take me into Guinea Bissau, and am therefore 110% sure which path I will never take again during my service here in Senegal.
3) As an extension of my previous story about getting lost and almost accidently heading into a country plagued by political upheaval and daily violence, here are another three quick comments about general travel in Senegal.
A- I don’t’ recommend talking on the phone while trying to bike a bush path. Bad things usually happen. While talking to my friend Kevin from back in the states I actually crashed three times during the course of the conversation, the last crash was particularly bad and had my friend completely confused as I laid there next to my bike mumbling curses in the general direction of my cell laying in the dirt near my head.
B- Never travel during the middle of the day to my village. Over a month ago (sorry I didn’t tell any of you about this until way after the fact), I was recently back from Tambacounda for a general Ag sector meeting when my host brother and counterpart called me to ask where I was. The phone conversation was somewhat garbled because of the connection but I thought he was asking me to come home to the village right away rather than wait until the day cooled off and biking was more manageable. Turns out he was actually warning me not to come back right away and was encouraging me to cool me heels for 3-4 hours before getting back. Whoops. Long story short, what ended up happening was just after the halfway point from the Kolda regional house to my village I heard shouts and loud sounds of movement from the woods to my left.
Luckily I was going down the path a lot faster than I usually do because right as I passed a very slight curve in the road two men with machetes came tearing out of the woods hell bent on stopping me (or maybe they just wanted to have a friendly chat). I started biking faster and they very quickly slowed down to a jog and then a walk. I couldn’t understand what they were shouting at me, but it really doesn’t matter. What is most important is that 1- I set a new land speed record to Saare Gagna via bike, and 2- The safety and security coordinator in PC Dakar is an amazing guy who followed up on my situation and found out that several Bissauans had been arrested shortly after my encounter for robbery and attempted robbery along the same trail. I know feel totally safe biking to my village, but in the future I will only do so during the early morning and late afternoon hours when foot and bike travel is relatively heavy and therefore safety is guaranteed.
C- And lastly, never freak out while traveling in taxis or sept places in Senegal. My sister Catherine visited Senegal a little over a month ago and turned out to be a complete trooper the entire time in country. I think she realized without having to be told that freaking out or becoming anxious about travel arrangements in this country serves little purpose other than to make yourself less happy. In Dakar after picking up a taxi from the sept place garage, we got the joy of experiencing the wheel of our taxi flying off from under the car while on the interstate. Had this been America I might have blinked, but because it is Senegal nobody in the car even flinched. Amanda, another Volunteer from Kolda actually calmly said, “I think our wheel just came off” right before the wheel actually rolled in front of the taxi and our axle sparking against the road brought us to an abrupt stop.
4) So my sister Catherine visited Senegal in early January. To this day I’m still not exactly sure how much she enjoyed the experience, but my villagers at least will never forget her. I could write all about how awesome she was for bringing all sorts of delicious food products from America or spending 5/6 days in my village, but instead I’m going to write about her lasting legacy……Connect 4. Yes, you read that correctly, My sister single-handedly brought the game of Connect 4 to the Casamance of Senegal, and although initially hesitant, everyone in my village is now intensely in love with this game. I’m seriously considering writing to Hasbro for a possible donation because after my sister and I explained that Connect 4 was a “thinking” game that was good for mental development, adults and children alike got on board quickly.
Now that physical labor has evaporated with the oncoming hot season, men and women constantly drift in and out of my compound and take turns playing the game from 10am to 3pm every day. Sometimes the games get heated and words are exchanged, but more often than not two men or women will be playing with a crowd of 5-10 others loudly groaning, hissing, or clapping depending on their particular opinion of a previous player’s move.
Originally I was considered some sort of Connect 4 oracle in my village because I simply did not lose, but increasingly this reputation is becoming harder and harder to maintain. Although I shudder what will happen when they eventually start to routinely kick my butt, I still consider the game to be one of the greatest things that I could have introduced to my village during my service. It helps them think strategically and therefore to plan one move, two moves, or ten moves ahead, while it also provides a captured audience. As much as the men of my village want to strangle me when I casually (but repeatedly) bring up the topic of how bad mono cropping nothing but peanuts are for the village’s economy, when they are absorbed into a marathon session of Connect 4, they can’t very well get up and walk away, can they?
This blog is now going to come to an abrupt halt because I have been feeling under the weather and writers block has struck once again. But I promise in the very near future I’ll post another entry completely catching you up to the current. Topics will include In Service Training, attending the new group of Volunteers’ Pre Service Training, The Pilot Farmer project, my impending vacation to America, and thoughts of possibly staying in Senegal beyond the 27 month mark.
Love you all. Keep the messages coming!
After an extended blog hiatus due in part to lots of travel and work in the village, but primarily because of extreme writers block……I have returned. In the following blog I’ll try to catch you all up on the random daily goings on of the village, my sister Catherine’s visit to Senegal, my work failures and successes while also interspersing the occasional anecdote to try and keep it all interesting. The following entry is less so one cohesive entry, but rather a series of shorter entries which do not necessarily follow one another in a particularly cohesive manner. Lastly, I am absolutely in love with Senegal. Well, okay, that is a huge exaggeration, but I am very happy here, and increasingly motivated by both ongoing and future projects in the village. It is my hope that such feelings are reflected throughout the following post.
1) My last blog entry left off with the construction of my demo garden and the eventual planting of my seed potatoes and assorted other vegetables. In retrospect my potato project was as much for my personal sanity as it was to benefit my village and those immediately surrounded it. I genuinely believed that potato extension could in effect double as both as cash crop as well as provide sorely needed vitamins particularly to the village’s youth population. While I still believe in the complete awesomeness of potatoes, my potatoes which initially had close to a 100 percent germination rate are now 100 percent dead. Partially this is due to the fact that I planted later than I wanted to and we experienced a couple weeks straight of 120+ degree heat (in the sun), and partially because when I left site for IST (In Service Training), the two younger guys I was working with accidently water shocked the plants by watering during the hottest part of the day instead of waiting until the afternoon.
Needless to say, when I got back to site after IST to discover my potato graveyard, I was feeling pretty down. When the project first began I had sworn to myself that if it was to end in complete and utter failure I would probably Early Terminate my service. Currently such thoughts could not be further from my mind. The potato project and demo site set up, when combined with several important external factors pertaining to the village’s shortage of cash from outright field crops, has caused the number of gardens in Saare Gagna to have jumped from 3 legitimate gardens (at the start of my service at site) to 8. People are starting to ask questions and seek answers both through myself and independently. The two young men I was working closely with throughout the potato project have successfully planted and maintained vegetable beds of carrots, onions, tomatoes, and eggplant. They now fully understand some of the inherent risks of gardening, but are quite adamant about how much they want to continue with such work.
As low as I was feeling upon first realizing the potatoes project was a “complete failure” I have never been as excited during my service in Senegal as the day both of these men approached me independently and asked if we could try again with potatoes this coming Fall. Not only will we give potatoes one more shot, we are going to do a much better job having gained a lot of useful experience from the first attempt. I feel like the potato project will always be a personal reminder of how the best intentioned development projects can fall flat, while also serving as a gauge of how much more mature I have become since my instillation in the village. There was a point when I was motivated to accomplish all sorts of new projects in the village at the expense of flexibility and catering to the actual wants of my villagers. As my language and patience have developed, however, I am now much more in tune with the expressed needs of the people with which I work with on a daily basis--which I believe in turn has made me a much better Volunteer.
Furthermore, in the past when I was still constantly nervous and unsure about my service in Senegal an event such as walking into the potato graveyard would have caused me to run for the hills (i.e. the USA), but now such setbacks only serve to make me grit my teeth, learn from my mistakes, and adapt accordingly. In summation—Senegal has been very good for me.
2) The often over quoted Robert Frost is probably best remembered for his famously penned stanzas about taking, “the road less traveled,” and how upon taking this literal and figurative road, “less traveled by,” it has, “made all the difference.” Well let me tell you……Robert Frost never traveled in Senegal. I’d go so far as to say that Frost never had the exhilarating, adrenaline pumping, stomach spasm inducing joy of suddenly finding himself on the wrong bush path, or been stuck several miles away from purified water, or being chased after by two angry Guinea Bissauans wielding machetes. No, I’m fairly certain he has never experienced any of these delights because if he had his poem would have been more along the lines of, “taking the road less traveled by is an amazingly thought provoking metaphor for person growth and attitudinal change, but this concept is entirely devoid of real life practicalities, especially when serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Senegal.” Yes, I realize this doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as the original verse, but it is oh so much more fitting.
Only a couple of weeks after installation I was biking back from the regional house to catch up on protein intake and catch up on emails when I found myself headed down a bush path towards Guinea Bissau. This misadventure had all started when my closest Volunteer neighbor Anna and I were discussing how I had absolutely no clue which bush path extending out from the city of Kolda was the appropriate path to take directly to my village. I determined that rather than taking a wild guess and possibly biking 8k to my site, I would ride with Anna to her site 10k away from the regional house, then ask villagers to show me a supposed 6k trail that eventually would intersect my village. Things were going well early into the trip up until the point Anna and I took a wrong branch of her trail and ended up getting lost. Out of water and with what I thought was a totally busted bike chain I ended up walking about half of what turned out to be a more circuitous 13k route to her village. In no way to I blame Anna or myself for this mix-up. It was early in our service, all the roads were still unfamiliar to us, and frankly the Casamance region of Senegal goes from looking like something out of Jurassic Park during the wet season to National Geographic Africa (sans lions) once the rainy season ends which can throw off anyone, Senegalese included.
Upon reaching Anna’s site we said our goodbyes and I (bike chain now back in place) set off to my own village. Things were going well for about the first 2k into the trip when I reached an actual crossroads of donkey/horse cart paths. I was actually so stunned and fatigued I stopped by bike at the intersection and had a 10 minute internal monologue/crisis as to which of my three choices I should take. Had the villager I spoke with a Kilometer back said take the right at the intersection? Take a left? The path straight ahead more comparatively less overgrown….did that mean it led back to the city of Kolda rather than occasional villagers traveling back and forth from our two Volunteer sites? Due largely in part to exhaustion, lack of water, and the fact it was starting to rain I opted for the rightmost path…….that’s right, the road less traveled by.
Unfortunately, however, after another 5k down this path I ran across a very startled illegal charcoal burner who after initially trying to whip his donkey cart away from me, realized I was white (and therefore no real threat), and informed me I was heading into Guinea Bissau. The correct path to my village had actually been the path MOST traveled. Damn you Robert Frost. I backtracked to the original crossroads, proceeded to get lost yet a third time later in the day, but eventually made it back to my village whereby I proceeded to sleep for the next 10 hours. Looking back to that day I can barely remember how scared, frustrated, and dehydrated I was, but none of this really matters. What matters is that I now am absolutely, positively, 110% certain of which bush path will take me into Guinea Bissau, and am therefore 110% sure which path I will never take again during my service here in Senegal.
3) As an extension of my previous story about getting lost and almost accidently heading into a country plagued by political upheaval and daily violence, here are another three quick comments about general travel in Senegal.
A- I don’t’ recommend talking on the phone while trying to bike a bush path. Bad things usually happen. While talking to my friend Kevin from back in the states I actually crashed three times during the course of the conversation, the last crash was particularly bad and had my friend completely confused as I laid there next to my bike mumbling curses in the general direction of my cell laying in the dirt near my head.
B- Never travel during the middle of the day to my village. Over a month ago (sorry I didn’t tell any of you about this until way after the fact), I was recently back from Tambacounda for a general Ag sector meeting when my host brother and counterpart called me to ask where I was. The phone conversation was somewhat garbled because of the connection but I thought he was asking me to come home to the village right away rather than wait until the day cooled off and biking was more manageable. Turns out he was actually warning me not to come back right away and was encouraging me to cool me heels for 3-4 hours before getting back. Whoops. Long story short, what ended up happening was just after the halfway point from the Kolda regional house to my village I heard shouts and loud sounds of movement from the woods to my left.
Luckily I was going down the path a lot faster than I usually do because right as I passed a very slight curve in the road two men with machetes came tearing out of the woods hell bent on stopping me (or maybe they just wanted to have a friendly chat). I started biking faster and they very quickly slowed down to a jog and then a walk. I couldn’t understand what they were shouting at me, but it really doesn’t matter. What is most important is that 1- I set a new land speed record to Saare Gagna via bike, and 2- The safety and security coordinator in PC Dakar is an amazing guy who followed up on my situation and found out that several Bissauans had been arrested shortly after my encounter for robbery and attempted robbery along the same trail. I know feel totally safe biking to my village, but in the future I will only do so during the early morning and late afternoon hours when foot and bike travel is relatively heavy and therefore safety is guaranteed.
C- And lastly, never freak out while traveling in taxis or sept places in Senegal. My sister Catherine visited Senegal a little over a month ago and turned out to be a complete trooper the entire time in country. I think she realized without having to be told that freaking out or becoming anxious about travel arrangements in this country serves little purpose other than to make yourself less happy. In Dakar after picking up a taxi from the sept place garage, we got the joy of experiencing the wheel of our taxi flying off from under the car while on the interstate. Had this been America I might have blinked, but because it is Senegal nobody in the car even flinched. Amanda, another Volunteer from Kolda actually calmly said, “I think our wheel just came off” right before the wheel actually rolled in front of the taxi and our axle sparking against the road brought us to an abrupt stop.
4) So my sister Catherine visited Senegal in early January. To this day I’m still not exactly sure how much she enjoyed the experience, but my villagers at least will never forget her. I could write all about how awesome she was for bringing all sorts of delicious food products from America or spending 5/6 days in my village, but instead I’m going to write about her lasting legacy……Connect 4. Yes, you read that correctly, My sister single-handedly brought the game of Connect 4 to the Casamance of Senegal, and although initially hesitant, everyone in my village is now intensely in love with this game. I’m seriously considering writing to Hasbro for a possible donation because after my sister and I explained that Connect 4 was a “thinking” game that was good for mental development, adults and children alike got on board quickly.
Now that physical labor has evaporated with the oncoming hot season, men and women constantly drift in and out of my compound and take turns playing the game from 10am to 3pm every day. Sometimes the games get heated and words are exchanged, but more often than not two men or women will be playing with a crowd of 5-10 others loudly groaning, hissing, or clapping depending on their particular opinion of a previous player’s move.Originally I was considered some sort of Connect 4 oracle in my village because I simply did not lose, but increasingly this reputation is becoming harder and harder to maintain. Although I shudder what will happen when they eventually start to routinely kick my butt, I still consider the game to be one of the greatest things that I could have introduced to my village during my service. It helps them think strategically and therefore to plan one move, two moves, or ten moves ahead, while it also provides a captured audience. As much as the men of my village want to strangle me when I casually (but repeatedly) bring up the topic of how bad mono cropping nothing but peanuts are for the village’s economy, when they are absorbed into a marathon session of Connect 4, they can’t very well get up and walk away, can they?
This blog is now going to come to an abrupt halt because I have been feeling under the weather and writers block has struck once again. But I promise in the very near future I’ll post another entry completely catching you up to the current. Topics will include In Service Training, attending the new group of Volunteers’ Pre Service Training, The Pilot Farmer project, my impending vacation to America, and thoughts of possibly staying in Senegal beyond the 27 month mark.
Love you all. Keep the messages coming!
Friday, January 29, 2010
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