Hi there everyone,
So now the sheep has been eaten, reports written, goodbyes said and all of a sudden I find myself sitting in my parents living room a little confused, a little overwhelmed, and wondering where exactly the last two years have gone. It's a pretty surreal feeling being back home, at times I'll find myself going through my old routines like I never left and then I'll snap out of it all of a sudden and realize how weird it is to be microwaving leftovers or watching movies on you tube. That being said those things both are super sweet as are burritos, skiing, and couches. I don't want to sound overly dramatic or oppressed by our world and culture, but I'm definitely realizing that it might take a little longer to adjust than I originally anticipated.
As for the last three months in Senegal, it was a whirlwind, emotional at times, a little stressful, but tons of fun and a pretty good way to go out if I don't say so myself. Finishing up projects, or at least getting them into a state to be picked up by my replacement, took a decent amount of time and effort. Due to goats getting into the nursery, the womens' garden got off to a bit of a late start but was in full swing and not far from the first harvest when I left. We also have a "guarantee" from one of the nearby mining companies to buy any and all of the vegetables the women are willing to sell. This is a pretty major development from last year when the company would ask for specific amounts and we were also dealing almost exclusively in onions. So it will be really interesting to see how this relationship continues to develop and will also hopefully be one of the primary projects my replacement works on early in his service.
Other than vegetable production, some of the other volunteers from Kedougou and myself did a tour of villages throughout the region to promote both summer camp and girls scholarship applications for the coming year. We also showed a documentary made by previous peace corps volunteers which followed the lives of four Senegalese professional women as they told their life stories. It was designed with the intention of showing school age girls the range of possibility open to them and to motivate them to stay in school. The documentary is called 'Elle Travail, Elle Vie" and at least parts of it may be available online if anyones interested in checking it out. We had some pretty great discussions with a number of different student groups and along with the camp and scholarship presentations it turned out to be a pretty eye openning and inspiring tour both for the students and us as pcvs.
I did also manage to take a sweet little trip to Guinea with Leigh and our good friend Dan. It took us two full days to bike and hike across the border, about an 80k trek altogether from Kedougou, and climbing about 4,000ft over some pretty challenging terrain. Once we got to Maliville (yeah weird name seeing as its in Guinea) we took public transit around a lot of the northern part of the country, meeting up with and staying with Guinea pcvs along the way. It was a pretty unbelievable place, similar to Senegal in many ways, but also much greener, more mountainous, and with a culture dominated by Pulaars and Malinkes, vs. the Wolof dominated senegal, the general feeling and character were more mellow and less aggressive. Managing to get a few great days of hiking in the "grand canon of Guinea" before making our way back, it was a pretty active and wonderful trip. I was also so glad to finally get to the country on whose border I'd been living and into whose mountains Id been looking for almost two years.
I also spent much of my final months just hanging out with folks in Khossanto. I drank a lot of tea, took a lot of pictures, and tried to soak it all up one last time. We had some pretty good times. My last night in the village we had a huge party in my family's compound, i bought and killed a sheep, and we danced the night away. Then my boss came in the peace corps car the next morning and I was out.
Not sure I was ready to jump right back into life in the city I headed straight to truckee upon my arrival for a few days of skiing and mountain air. It wasn't a bad way to come home. And now I'm back in the city, reconnecting with some buddies, and getting ready for the next adventure here. Leigh will be coming out to San Francisco in a little more than a week, and after spending a little time around here we're gonna start making our way up to Alaska. We've got a job working with the park service for the summer and then we'll see where we go from there.
So there it is. I can't really explain the mix of emotions it is for me to be back here, but all in all I gotta say I'm feeling pretty good. I really want to thank you all for your love and support over the last two years. I honestly wouldn't have made it through without it. Like I said I'll be back and forth between the city and the sierras for the next few weeks and as I haven't gotten around to getting a cell phone yet give a call at my parents house at 415 242 1999 or up in Truckee at 530 550 8067 anytime.
Thanks again to everyone and much love
willie

Hello Friends,
Many apologies once again for my completely failed attempts with my blog specifically and communications in general over the last few months. I have feeble excuses but won't bore you with them so lets get on to some of the fall/winter highlights.
The biggest project of my fall and one of the most time consuming and yet uplifting and inspiring experiences of my service was the lleadership camp I organized and ran along with several other PCVs in early October. We spent 7 days in the Village of Dindafello, a beautiful site just at the base of the Guinea plateau and only a few kilometers from the border. With about 20 kids, 4 Senegalese counselors and a number of enthusiastic Peace Corps volunteers the camp was an enormous success. As a number of you know from emails and previous blogs on top of a variety of sports and initiative games the kids completed a project designed both to teach them conservation techniques along with entrepreneurial skills; essentially learning that your reforestation efforts can also be a source of income and provide helpful health services. They began by learning to both create and outplant a tree nursery, they then proceeded to take leaves of the same species of tree (neem) make mosquito detering lotion and then, after learning some basic marketing practices, they sold the lotion in the weekly market. It really was amazing how incredibly excited the kids were with each step of the process, and wonderful that they were able to actually leave with modest profits and the knowledge to recreate this process in their home villages. Plans are already in the works to expand both the length of the camp and to increase the number of students for next year. Honestly it was just completely awesome, and a wonderful balance of technical skills teaching, leadership and team building, and just good camp fun. If you're at all familiar with Aim High, NAL, Mountain Camp II you would have seen aspects of all of them firmly integrated into our first year of camp. For those of you who helped us out by making donations to our Peace Corps Partnership fund I can't thank you enough. At risk of sounding too cheesey this really meant the world the the kids who participated and I really believe it had and continues to have a dramatic impact on their lives.
Anyway so that took up a lot of my August and most of my september and early october planning, programming, buying materials, working through applications, etc.
The second half of october I spent in the beautiful island nation of Cape Verde with my girlfriend Leigh, and despite being robbed at gun point in the capital early in our trip, it was one of greatest vacations ever. The place is unbelievably beautiful, sheer mountains rising right out of the ocean, covered in moss and vines, fairly Jurassic Parkesque, the perfect break. We ate delicious seafood, hiked all over the place, drank lots of Ponche (grogue, the national drink essentially sugar cane alcohol, super foul, but when cut with honey and sometimes tamarind delicious). It was a great trip.
Flew back to shouts of "Obama!" in every city and town in senegal. People here are mighty excited about our new president. November we welcomed a new set of PCVs to the kedougou region, teachers trickled back into Khossanto and we barely had time to get classes going before Tabaski. The holiday was wonderful, full of eating sheep and oil mostly, colorful clothing and good cheer. Shortly thereafter I came to Dakar to spend a few days with Leigh and her mom who was visiting out here and then to meet my folks who just today, after 1 cancelled flight should be on their way to madrid and back home.
So the Adams' did Senegal in fine form, traversing the country twice, spending some good time in khossanto and checking out a few other spots both in Kedougou and Dakar. It was so great to see my parents, and to have them see and experience a little bit of what my life is like here. I think they had a total blast and also are leaving a little exhausted, the traveling here especially wears on you.
So now I'm heading back to khossanto in the next couple days and honestly won't have more than three months to finish things up and head back across the ocean.. a surreal thought for me to say the least. As of now I should be showing up in SF sometime mid-late april but its a little up in the air, I'll keep you all posted. Great times overall and I'm looking forward to finishing up here in style.
Thanks again to you all for all you love and support and I really will try to be in touch soon,
much love
willie

pics from top:

My sister Mariama

My brother Lasana eating a mango

Leigh and Myself on Ngor Island

Charley Leondra Leigh and Me checking out the delta

Hello friends,

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying a summer full of sun, relaxation, and little stress. That both is and is not the case for yours truly here in Khossanto. The rainy season has come fully if on the late side this year meaning that people are out in force in their fields planting everything from peanuts to rice to corn to various other staples. As far as what that means for my life, I have been doing my best to help my family mainly in the area of peanut planting and a little in the rice fields, but have also been trying to convince my beloved village to add on a little extra work to its busy days in the form of outplanting the tree nursery that we all began over 2 months ago. This has been a little difficult as you might imagine and my efforts have resulted in varrying levels of success. However as many of the older school age children are back from taking their high school exams and we have an "in house" tree planting date scheduled for this week I am opptimistic that we'll be successful.

As far as trees go we are trying to plant cashew and mango trees mostly scattered throughout people's home compounds along with a variety named Morenga (sp?) or Nebedia, a tree whose leaves people use to make sauce for corn or millet couscous. We also have Jatropha a variety of tree good for making live fencing for fields or compounds, and also whose seeds' oil can be used to produce bio fule. There is a possiility that the nearby goldmining company will start buying this after it finishes work on its new powerplant in seveal years. However this is not the primary reason for planting, really we'regoing for quality live fencing that won't get eaten or destroyed. The last variety we have is called Luciena, one which is good for planting in either fields or gardens as it is a nitrogen fixing tree and thus improves the soil around it.

So this is my biggest project these days although I did want to mention another that I do hope many of you take a strong interest in. This is the Leadership Camp we are oranizing for a region wide range of middle school students happening in september. While I believe I have mentioned this project before to many of you let me refresh your memories. We have already done an application process for the 11 middle schools in the region and are in the process of selecting students for the camp. The camp will have several integrated parts; leadership and team building, enironmental conseration, and entrepenurial skills development. It will work like this: We begin the camp with a series of team building activities and leadership challenges drawing the students together and having them solve problems as a group. We will then do a series of sessions on tree nursery creation and outplanting techniques, the neem tree being the specific variety we will propegate. We will then show the students how to make soap from neem leaves, create a quantity of soap qnd take it to the weekly market the last dayof camp and sell it. As the camp will occur right before the beginning of the school year, once we take all the student back to town we will take the money earned and pay for each of their years school fees. Thus it will be a very comprehennsive start to finish project on how to maintain and even regrow the natural enironment while also using it for small business development. Personally I think its a pretty wonderful plan for students. The catch is we are trying to raise money for food, lodging, and materials and for these purposes we have written a proposal through the Peace Corps and have a website through which donations to the summer camp are possible. The site is
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=685-100

I realize many of you reading this may not have the means to make any kind of major contribution but really anything you give would help. Also passing this information on to others you might know who would take interest in this project would be incredily appreciated.

Thanks so much for reading and checking out the site, this really is something I believe in strongly and with the right means I think we could change the lives of a lot of students.

In other news, my brother Charley and his girlfriend Leondra took off a couple weeks ago after a three week whirlwind tour of Senegal. from the SineSaloum delta to Khossanto the foot of Guinea Platau, I think I ran them a little ragged, but we had a pretty incredile time. Joined for a large portion by my girlfriend Leigh and good friend Dan, we saw some of the most beautiful parts of the country and I think its a trip they won't soon forget. Thanks to them also for being the first to come out and see me, and thus have an idea about what my life is really like here.

I'm dragging on a little, but thanks for sticking with it. Apologies about the pictures as usual, managed to get some up there but it doesn't look the others want to make it. Sometime soon inshallah

Thanks again to you all for all your love and support, it really keeps me going.

All the best for a wonderful end of the summer and please in touch.

Hi Friends,
Again its been a while and again due to some time constraints I'll keep this a little brief, but hey so it goes, sorry. Right now I am writing from the beutiful and luxurious city of Dakar having just finished up some thrilling midservice vacinations, physicals, dental apointments, etc. While these things in and of themselves aren't all that exciting its an excuse to hang out in the big city for a little while and it's been a pretty relaxing little break. The most exciting and immediate news is that my old brother, Mr Charley Adams will be arriving here in a matter of hours with his girlfriend Leondra. Together we'll be doing a Senegal extravaganza all the way down to Kedougou and back over the next three weeks. While the itinerary is up in the air right now it promises to be an exciting trip and reunion.
As for my life and times here in Senegal things are pretty good with the regular crushing failures and booming successes occuring on a weekly to bi-weekly basis. The rainy season has once again begun and things are starting to bloom and sprout all over the kedougou region. The tree nursery we begun with the women's group is going well with certain varieties looking a little stronger than others. The mango seeds we used were probably not the best and thus our yield is a little low for the mangos, but cashews and some of the other local varieties are doing really well. It looks like we'll come out of it with around 1000 trees inshallah. As I have spent a decent amount of time coaxing this project along the biggest test will come when I get back to Khossanto next week and see how things have faired in my absence.
So far we've had 4 successful onion sales to the gold mining company nearby and I can only hope this is the beginning of a relationship between the company and Khossanto as well as the rural community and region as a whole. As the rainy season is here and people have given up gardening for field crops we probably will wait until next season to pick up vegetable sales again.
Schools just about out and thus CCBI classes have tapered off of late, and I'm looking at a few mellow months coming up. With pretty much everyone working in the fields, no teachers around, and little time for other work, the rainy season will not be ideal for starting any major projects. I am looking forward to doing some small things I haven't done such as school murals, and increased collaboration with some of the Senegalese NGO agents working in my area in various fields. I'm also still struggling to get our camp funding proposal online so we can start raising money. But no worries, that is something I will be sure to let you all know all about as soon as its up.
Got a nice new roof on my hut and shade structure in my back yard just in time for the rain. I wish I could show you some pics but as charley is bringing me my new camera I don't have any yet but promise I will take some good shots and put them up as soon as I can.
Thats about it from my end. I hope all of you are doing really well, and I'll be in touch,
much love
willie

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

Hot season in Senegal and how its come with a vengence. Days are hovering around 110-115 and I fear the worst of it is yet to come. I like to think of it as a good opportunity to flush our the poors, release some tension, a kind of continual sauna if you will.
Seriously though, despite the heat life here in the Kedougou region is moving along quickly and actively. Work wise the big news is the recently developed Kedougou regional strategy. In early march we had a regional retreat with Chris Hedrick (our new country director as of september) and a number of APCDs (sort of our sector bosses if that makes any sense). We spent a couple days in the beautiful village of Dindafelo (Chris's PC site when he was a volunteer here twenty some odd years ago, also site of the highest waterfall in Senegal) pretty much working ourselves to the bone developing an overall strategy for development in Kedougou over the next 7-8 years, our role therein, and a specific action plan for the next 6 months. Covering everything from Malaria prevention to HIV/AIDS education, native and fruit tree propogation, various local product transformation for merchandizing purposes, school curriculum develpment, new local market possibilities, and much much more.
This has obviously changed the way many of us are looking at our PC services. First of all not only do we have much more direction with concrete and measurable goals, but we are developing a new stategy of working cross-sectorally (i.e. Health Volunteers, working with Ag volunteers. working with Environmental Ed volunteers,etc. to pursue larger scale projects). Having this stategy worked out is also beginning to provide a lot more opportunities for working with other NGOs and development organizations. Since the beginnings of this plan Kedougou volunteers have already recieved 9000 mosquito nets for distribtuion in a certain area of the region, and the biggest news is that we'll be recieving (almost surely at this point) over 70,000 dollars for a larger scale, region wide HIV/AIDS prevention program.
These are only a couple of the biggest projects that have been born from this stategy, but it has really provided a lot of us with new motivation and the reality of taking on essential projects where needed. It has also provided a more communal responsibiity for our work and thus both support and accountability are much more fothcoming.
I realize this all sounds grand, but how has it affected me and my life in my village. The most interesting thing so far was that we did our first onion sale from my village to the gold mining company nearby in a collaboration with farmers in Kedougou and the Ag volunteer there. This was a super positive step in terms of breaking into this potentially huge market, but has also been very overwhelming as the sustainability of it is very much in question right now (i.e. it worked great, but theres no way it ever would have happened without us facilitating and playing middleman, and it is going to take a lot to get people to the point to take this on themselves). Otherwise we've been getting the plan for our summer camp together and I'm really excited about it. Most of the applications are with the schools as we speak and if all goes well we'll have our funding proposal on the web within a few weeks, thus those of you looking to make a little contribution to what promises to be one of the sweetest summer camps in west africa you'll be able to. Don't worry though, I'll be sure to let everyone know about that once its up.
Have also kept doing classes in my village, we're working on our first tree nursery, things are a little shaky right now with that, but again, I'll let you know how it turns out.
Had a sweet rock climbing trip outside my friend Matt's village for my birthday, a pretty nice way to celebrate I must say.
On the down side two good friends: Braiden and James have both decided to head back stateside for various reasons. In the end I think its making them happy and thus is a great thing for them to do, just a shame for us here to lose some of the homies prematurely.
Coming up I got about another week in Khossanto try to really get these trees rockin (its the organization and water schedule that seems to the most difficult at this point) and then and heading up to Thies for a week to help out with the training of the new volunteers who just arrived in Senegal. I'm definitely looking forward to getting back up there, seeing the training center again and meeting some of the new crew, not to mention eating pizza and crepes and reaping the benefits the big city has to offer.
Sorry this is kinda brief, I promise to fill in some more details in the near (relative term) future, I realize I'm skimming over a lot and leaving a lot out altogether.
Thanks again to all for you support and encouragement. I'd like to send a personal shout out to Mr. Chris Jain, the mountain won this battle but the war goes on, get well soon buddy.
Take care,
willie

Pics: from the top

1. My garend with my host mom

2.Getting into town after a 115k ride, longest day ever

3.Isle De Madeleine (Island) in Dakar during WAIST

4. Water treatment/vocabulary lesson in MadinaBerola, about 8k from Khossanto

5.Dan (my closest PC neighbor at about 38k) above some underground lava caves near his village

6.Inside the cave

7.Outside the cave...

8.More garden with mom

9.Mural outside Tostan rally in the city of Tamba

10.Kids during the Muslim new years celebration

11. Drame and Ci praying during new yeats

12. New TV and generator in my compound, everyone shows for the Africa Cup

13. Class in MadinaBerola

14.Me on top of the world in every senese at Sierra Nevada in Spain

15.Looking at the Mediteranean from the 2nd highest peak in the mountain range

16. Granada Cathedral

17. Sierra Nevada from the air

18. Kids at Tostan rally in Tamba (I don't know em, I just liked the picture)

Hello Friends,
This has been about the longest I've gone yet between posts, but lets call that a good thing as it means life has been busy. I've just gotten back from my second trip to Dakar in so many months and am feeling both completely exhausted but also refreshed. How is this true you may ask, well I come back having eaten more protein and general nutrients than I tend to see around here as well as having a slew of new work possibilities. At the same time this being the only time that almost every volunteer in country (not to mention those from other countries) are together in Dakar, I've been a little lacking in terms of sleep. This trip was for West African International Softball Tournament (WAIST), an annual event in which PCVs from all over West Africa, along with embassy workers, USAID and other American organizations get together in Dakar for 4 days, and have a massive softball tournament. Great outfits, questionable skill level on the field, American hot dogs, and beer all make for a mighty enjoyable weekend. All of the Senegal PCVs are also put up in American expat homestays for the duration in which we eat delicious food and live in the plush accommodations we miss so much from home. Really a pretty incredible time. This fun filled event was coupled with the all volunteer conference (only Senegal) during which we discussed broad country wide strategies for mostly malaria prevention and reforestation, while also having a number of interesting speakers from USAID discuss various funding options available to us for small projects. Thus some really incredible fun in the sun along with an influx of pretty inspiring possibilities from people who have been working in development a lot longer than I have left me feeling, like I said, exhausted but also inspired.
In other news I had an incredible vacation in Granada, Spain with my Mom, Dad, and Bro just after x-mas. I really couldn't have asked for more in a trip. The combination of down time, cool sightseeing, skiing and hiking, and eating the most delicious food I've every tasted, really put me in a heavenly place. It was also so wonderful to see my family and I can't wait until my brother and his girlfriend Leondra get out here to Senegal at the end of June. As you can see I just couldn't help myself and had to put up some of the sweet Spain pics, sorry.
Upon returning from this most delightful sojourn, things really got started with a bang in Khossanto. The day after I got back I had a meeting with all the teachers in my "district" (communaute rurale) and set up a schedule of classes for which I will spend a week in each of their villages working on incorporating environmental and health and hygiene oriented lesson plans into their curriculum. I believe I touched on this a little before but the idea is that in a given math class say, the teacher will be able to teach the exact same arithmetic lesson but do so in the frame work of deforestation, or treating your water, etc. It takes some real patience and a little creativity but so far I've really been enjoying myself and I finally feel like I'm actually contributing something real and important to my community. I've also started a garden with my host mom and have learned a lot from her and will hopefully be producing a decent amount of food for my family in the near future. The last piece of big news on the village front is a meeting I had with the former PC Senegal director Malcolm Versel during WAIST. After he finished in June he became the Director of Social Programs for MDL the HUGE Australian gold mining operation about 20k from khossanto. While in the very preliminary stages, we are beginning to discuss the possibility of selling vegetables from our Women's garden directly to the company. This would be an utterly win-win situation as they import tons and tons of food stuffs everyday all the way from Dakar and if they could even get a small percentage from my village, surrounding villages and Kedougou, it would not only cut down on their costs, but would theoretically have an incredibly substantial effect on local economy. Like I said this is all very early, but I have my first meeting with him next week and I am feeling guardedly optimistic that this could go through. Its also all a little overwhelming as I've recently been patting myself on the back for getting my local classes going on and now I am about to embark on a much larger scale project with which I have very little experience, but hey, that's what its all about right.
Anyway I'll wrap up, I know I've left out about a million interesting details and anecdotes, but more to come. Ooh, real quick, I've had a new roof put on my hut in preparation for the rainy season (no, its still a long way off....its really hot now). As I was sitting with my host brothers slowly tying straw into long sheets to be wrapped around the bamboo frame on my hut, my oldest brother, Moussa, brought out his boombox and a car battery to power it. They were playing their malinke music and we were jamming working in the hot sun and then I brought out a Stones tape...It was awesome. They cranked up the volume and blasted honkytonk woman across the village as we were sitting there preparing my future roof. I'll call that a fairly cross cultural experience.
Much love to you all, thank you all for your continued correspondence and support, it means more than you could imagine. Best luck in all you endeavors and I'llbe in touch whenever I can be,
willie

Hello friends,
I feel as though each time I begin an entry I apologize for the time passed since my last update and I am afraid that this one will be no different. So...sorry. Anyway life has been pretty exciting and eventful this past month both in Khossanto and the greater Kedougou Department. To begin with we got three new volunteers (1 in the sector of Agroforestry and 2 Sustainable Agriculture, trees vs. crops really). All 3 are great guys and have already become a welcome addition to our little community here. Its also been both interesting and rewarding for me to lose my "freshman" status so to speak and move up in the ranks of peace corps. In many ways I still have an enormous amount to learn about living in this country and doing the work I am doing. At the same time, to see our new volunteers in their first few weeks and the issues and challenges they are dealing with makes me understand just how far I've come already. It is thus a milestone of sorts and while uplifting its also a little scary to think that I'm already coming up on my nine month mark in Senegal given how quickly the time has gone by.
School in Khossanto is finally in full session and I've finally been able to begin with this whole Environmental Education work I was sent all the way out here to do. The head of my program came down from Dakar a couple weeks ago two do a series of trainings with my teachers and villagers on a number of things. From techniques for incorporating environmental lessons into the curriculum of the Senegalese school system, to lobbying, to forest management, he covered a number of topics, and it was extremely well recieved. However the overall point of his visit was, through discussing these various topics, teaching my village how best to use me as a resource and means of accomplishing their various goals. This has helped me a tremendous amount and I have already done my first multiday lesson on managing malaria. While a little complicated we basically took an arithmetic lesson and had the kids collect data on the number of malaria cases over the last 5 years, and used those numbers to teach the lesson. While this is only the first in a series of lessons, it has exposed the kids to the health post and the nurse in the village (we took a field trip to the post, and I think its safe to say this was probably one of the first field trips ever taken at my school), and has simply showed them the sheer numbers of cases both monthly (for purposes of comparing different seasons) and yearly; this all in learning their daily math lessons. It was a pretty positive start and I'm really looking forward to developing this specific topic more along with doing other such lessons for other topics.
Other big news in my village was a demonstartion against the gold mining companies nearby during which the villagers blocked the road and didn't let any of the trucks traveling from Kedouogu to the mines get through. They were protesting generally the fact that the companies have been hiring people from Dakar and other places up north, while neglecting the people in the surrounding community. While mostly non violent, things heated up when the president of the rural community came out to try and discuss the issues, and they were so mad at him for apparent support he has given the companies in the past, that they tore all of his clothes off and sent him back to Kedougou with the police. I didn't witness the actual fact but they had torn his clothes up into tiny pieces so that everyone there could have a piece and for the rest of the day they were all parading around with little strips of cloth tied like rings are bracelets on their hands. They ended up lifting the road block at the end of the day and are currently in the porcess of developing a commision for hiring, so it will be interesting to see how this ends up.
Otherwise had an incredible thanksgiving in Kedougou with friends around here. We had about 15 volunteers, 4 chickens, 3 ducks, tons of yams and squash, stuffing, and other thanksgiving fare. While its always hard not to be home for the holiday we really made the most of it here on our end. As soon as I can figure out how to get my pictures up again I'll give you a little preview.
Heading to Granada to meet with my parents and my brother for new years, which should be absolutely awesome, so thats the next big thing I'm looking forward to. I've been getting a lotta questions about when I might make a trip back to the good ol' U.S. of A and as of now I'm thinking maybe next summer or Christmas, but as of now no time real soon. Feel free to come on out though if you are so inclined, the days are still warm but nigthts have been nice and cool although that hot season is right around the corner. Thanks again to everyone for all of your kind words and wishes, and especially tasty packages, and I'll be in touch again soon.
much love to you all,
willie

Pics:

1. Family and friends eating during Korite

2.Guimbas kids

3. guimba (my counterpart) along with Mr Cissokho the chief of the village/ his father and his kids
4. This disco hut at the CTC
5.My fam:Mariama, Fanta, Lasana, and Marie hanging out in my hut
6. My buddy Guimba (different Guimba) with the last of the corn from my backyard
7. The morning prayer on Korite'
8.Dressed in their Sunday best (saturday actually)
CTC pics: I should explain the CTC (community training center) is where the Kedougou volunteers stay when we're in town. It is a beutiful space and great place to relax and as it is a big part of my life I thought I'd put some pictures up.
9. Kujo, our dog at the CTC
10. Matt and Nicholas taking some pitches
11. Annie and James hanging out by the pent house
12. The kitchen hut and our bikes
13. Braiden in the kitchen


Happy Halloween out there friends,
Just got back into town after a spending the last couple of weeks trying to help along the process of starting the school year. Unfortunately this process has been painfully slow. Teachers have slowly been trickling in from their vacations, and most have made it by now but we're still missing a few. While school technically began a week ago today it was really just when we started building the new thatch classrooms to take up the overflow of students that we can't fit in the actual school. Furthermore there are a bunch of kids still working in the fields harvesting corn, rice, and millet so we probably only have about half of the primary school kids so far and virtually none for the college (middle school). But it has been a learning experience for me and has been fun to catch up with the returning teachers with whom I had only about a month when I was first installed in May. As I am considerably less wide eyed and overwhelmed than I was that first month I feel as though we are finally able to discuss some realistic plans and projects for the school year.
To begin with I'd like to get my EE club started and once I have a solid group of kids who are interested and organized (i.e. my work force, heehee) I'd like to get a dry season garden going. Ideally we would grow and sell vegetables in order to pay for school supplies, however depending on the scale of the garden it may begin simply as a supplement for the school lunches, and also as a way for the kids (not to mention myself) to practice and become familiar with the concepts of gardening.
My PC boss is also coming out in about a month to do some needs assessment activities with the community and to do a teacher training in CCBI (community content based instruction). This is a method of incorporating environmental lessons into the curriculum of the Senegalese School system. This, I think, has the potential to be extremely effective while at the same time it can be very difficult to get teachers to change there teaching methods, especially when those methods don't incorporate material the students will find on their national exams.
Korite', the last day of Ramadan happened on the 13th of October and was an extremely festive event in the village. As the Mosque wasn't big enough the entire village (all the men that is) turned out in a large grove for the morning prayer. This was the first time I'd attended prayer as, well, I'm not Muslim. I was a little ambivalent at first but people were very adamant about my coming and it turned out to be a very nice thing to be a part of. It lasted only about an hour and half and while I was obviously completely ignorant of the Arabic readings from the Koran, people were only too happy to pose for pictures in their best outfits. The rest of the day was spent eating...I've never eaten so well in the village. Every kind meat (cow, goat, and sheep that is) beans, lentils, couscous, rice, it was a pretty great day. All of the food plus the general cheer given that a month of fasting was now over, really reminded me of Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Otherwise life has been fairly mellow. We said goodbye to Adam and Angela, the two Kedougou volunteers who have just completed their two years. They were instrumental in helping my stage with all of our inane questions and petty insecurities and the general adjustment to life down here. They were incredible volunteers and are wonderful people and we will all miss them.
But on the flip side of things we will be getting 3 new volunteers in Kedougou in a couple weeks. Its pretty weird that soon enough I'll no longer be a newby or freshman so to speak (new volunteers come in every 6 months, a pattern that lends itself well to high school classifications). Oddly enough time does seem to fly, despite difficult times and slow moving projects.
I hope everyone is doing well, be in touch and let me know whats new in the wide world out there.
willie

Pics: From the top

1. Bandafassi summer camp, victory laps and songs

2.Camp transportation.....I don't know if this would fly in the states

3. bringing the frisbee the senegal

4. Segou falls, raging from the rainy season, great trip out there for my buddy Dan's birthday

5. The hike up to segou, very Indiana Jonesesque I think

6.Bridge on the ride to Segou

7.Khossanto Storm and Sunset

8.Bandafassi summer camp, heated game of football

9.Sunset over the delta in Funjun

10.The car I take to get from Kedougou to Khossanto (when it works that is...)

11. Looking through the corn in my backyard at my hut

12.My sisrer Mariama, and brothers Lasana and Papa hanging out behind my hut

13.Rainbow over my hut and backyard

Hi everyone,
so I suppose all that talk of me being on the internet all the time, fixing up my blog and putting up all sorts of enlightening and witty remarks while I was in Thies didn't really work out the way I planned. I guess I kinda forgot about all of the tech and language classes we'd be having, not to mention the medical sessions and cross-cultural debriefings in between...things just got a little busy. In all honesty though my second bout of training went really well. I passed out of my Jaxanke class and as a result decided to take Pulaar as thats what is spoken in the majority of the Kedougou region. However I quickly realized that it is a challenging language to grasp to say the least, a very "rich language" as the pulaars like to say as a result of the sheer number of words (their are 24 articles!). Needless to my pulaar still needs some work.
Our technical classes were probably the best part of the training. We focused heavily on different strategies for tree nurseries, waste management, gardening, and integrating evironmental curriculums into the Senegalese school system. It was all a little overwhelming, but I feel much more confident about potential work projects in the village right now.
Honestly the greatest thing about Thies was seeing all the buddies from my stage and sharing stories about the first 3 months out. It's really amazing to me how even people only 10k from one another can have infinitely different experience depending on the smallest factors. Obviously things like access to water and electricity are fundamental, but in general it just makes me think about how much one's specific community and the individuals living there completely change one's perspective. While from an outside point of view two villages may look identical given their structure and daily routine, they could have completely different characters. I kinda like that.
Anyway it really was just great to have quality time to catch up with old friends and get a chance to spend some quality time with everyone again. Sort of weird to think that, as there is no official time we will all be together again before we leave, who knows when I'll see a lotta those folks again.
I've been back in Kedougou for a couple weeks now, catching up both with the volunteers here and my family and villagers. My corn in my backyard is HUGE and the ochre is coming along nicely too. It's pretty awesome, but as no one had been taking care of it for the last month it's completely over run with weeds. It took me 2 hours to hack a path to my toilet about 15 yards away from my hut when I got back. I did see a pretty massive monitor lizard back there the other day which was pretty exciting. I told my host brother and he said I should kill it when I see it next so we can eat it for dinner. We'll see about that...
I've just spent the last week in Bandafasi, a village about 15k west of Kedougou, helping run a USAID sponsored summer camp. And while I haven't worked that hard since I've been in Senegal it was extremely fun and rewarding. The kids were incredible, the teachers/ counselors were super motivated and it was a really uplifting week. For all you Aim Highers out there there were many moments that reminded me of those wonderful summers, and it was pretty cool to be able to bring out some of my old Issues and Choices activities and adapt them to a Senegalese perspective. We also taught about 50 kids to love the Frisbee and it looks like we might have a good ultimate team in the making for next summer.
On a sadder note as I'm writing this everyone in my family is attending my grandmother Gar's memorial service and as a tribute I would like to dedicate this entry to her. She was constantly supportive of my decision to come out here I can only say that I hope to embody her adventurous spirit as I continue my service.
Thats pretty much the news here in a nutshell. The rain is heavenly and refreshing and as corn is getting ready to be picked the villagers are in high spirits. It's a pretty nice time to be here I must say.
Much love to you all and again thank you so much for all of your support.
willie
p.s. many apologies about my lack of photos right now, I forgot my camera cord in my hut and will try to get some up next week. I'll let ya know

(pics: dindafello the highest waterfall in senegal, creek hike to segou waterfall, the 4 following are rapelling and hiking around the spires at Dande the village at the source of dindafello waterfall, next two are above and inside a grotto at Dande, Dan Braiden and I excited by the sunset, the fields in Khossanto, Khossanto sunset after a storm, circumcision ceremony in my compound, dead monitor lizard)

Well I wrote this post last week before leaving Kedougou but was having trouble getting it online. Anyway I am currently in Thies being thouroughly overwhelmed by the traffic, people, food, and class. Not to say that this city is anything like the US but, the slight reverse culture shock coming from a life somewhat simpler down south is definitely real and makes me think of the shocker it will be to be in the developing world again whenever that time may come. But despite the intensity life here is good, the food is indeed DELiCIOUS (see below) and it is wonderful to see so many friends from my stage and hear about there experiences. It is also great to jump into some technical training, from gardening to fruite tree grafting to various facilitiation techniques, I feel as though I will be in a very good place to begin work once I return. Anyway enjoy the pics and what not and I'll be in touch soon si alla jabbi.


These days the rains are getting into full swing down in these parts and thats means two things: working in the fields all day and the end of the food stores that were saved from last years crop. All throughout the Kedougou department peanuts are just about done (the main staple protein for pretty much everyone here including yours truly). In my village we're out of millet and just about out of corn and the 50 kg of rice my family bought with my rent money is what we've been eating for the last couple weeks. Personally, as I have taken to making my own breakfast (bread, onions, and vache qui rit, oh delicious processed cheese), and have been otherwise supplementing my diet, I haven't been suffering too much, but to be honest this isn't a bad time to head up to Thies for another three weeks of training and DELICIOUS food. On the positive side with all the rain have come some really crazy fruit I'd never seen before. What they call kaba in Malinke, a fruit that you crack open and whos seeds you suck on, it's pretty tart and can benefit from a little sugar dusting if avaiable, but man they're goof.
Also with rain comes the mosquitos and inevitably the malaria. While I've been good about taking my meds, that is obviously a luxury the villagers do not have (not that it woud be healthy to take it continually, I think Larium for two years straight is probably even pushing it) there have been a number of cases in my village including one of my little sisters. If people recognize the symptoms early, a skill at which people seem to have gotten fairly adept, it is a simple process of going to the health post and getting a series of injections. As a result I don't know of any deaths specifically as a result of malaria in my village, although there have been several of both young and old people in nearby villages. There has been a big recent push by both local NGOs and the government to supply cheap impregnated mosquito nets to the region and it's encouraging to begin to see villagers responding postively. At the same time its not only just a question of having a mosquito net but using it, and using it properly. They are hotter to sleep under and present minimal complications when it comes to getting under them and keeping them tucked in. As a result even people who spend the hundred CFA to get them might not use them. Like everything else these problems are solved by a slow process of education, trial, and error, and there are several different groups working in the region on the educat ion piece. It is simply difficult to change hundreds of years of habit.
As for my life these days I've been working sowing rice with my host mom and sisters and have also been working on my own corn crop, along with some ochre and watermelon in my backyard. It's been some hard work but has been a great learning experience for me and has really boosted my status in the village. People are so genuinely appreciative that I spend time cultivating with them ( while in comparison I am a horrible farmer, they get twice as much done in half as much time and work four times longer than I do), and not only does that do great things for my reputation but I feel as though I am finally making at least a small contribution to my family and village in general.
My two brothers and one of their friends, all between 6 and 8, were circumcised a couple weeks ago and it resulted in a big celebration in my compound not to mention an eye openning experience for me. My host father who works at the health post was the one who performed the surgery and he tried to rope me in as his assistant at the last minute.... I respectfully declined. I'm not gonna lie, there was part of me that wanted to help and have that experience but I wasn't sure I had the stomach for it. And as my helping would've entailed holding down a screaming child as he has this very painful procedure perfomed on him with no anithestic, while the women outside the room are banging drums and singing wildly for purposes of celebration, but also to drownout the screams, I was pleased by my decision. As one might expect the kids were pretty whipped when it was all said and done, and despite my very stingy nature in the village ( to avoid the gift giving reputaion of the toubab) I hooked them all up with some chocolate cookies. It was very interesting though and for their week of recovery the kids were dressed in toga like outfits and lead around by older children begging for money and food in the community, part of the coming of age trial.
My extremely excentric host father, Niama, was very proud of himself when the whole thing was over and as I sat with him afterward he looks over at me with a smile and says in French "Farmara, when I'm hot, I can do 100 cricumcisions a day." I thought that was quote worthy.
The bad news is that we have lost the first volunteers from my Stage in Kedougou. Our dear friends Whitney and Darcy Connors have headed home due to family complications and while all of us down here are wishing them the best of luck it's pretty devastating to loose them. The family like atmosphere that has begun to develop between us all here has really been rocked by this sad turn of events, and is something we'll all have to come to terms with in our own way. Whit and Darce if you're reading this much love and we miss you.
Anyway I'm heading up to Thies here in pretty soon for the month. As I said I can't wait to eat such things as ice cream, pizza,and crepes, and it'll be pretty great to catch up with all of the others in my stage and see how there first three months went. Chances are I'll be online a little more frequently this next month and will hopefully get a good crop of pictures up soon. I do hope all are well thanks again for all your kind words and support,

So I missed my car yesterday and as a result couldn't get back to my village until today, but lucky for you all that leaves me a little time to get a post up. Life has been good, the rains have been coming on a semi-regular basis and things around here are turing pretty lush. The beauty is only augmented by spectacular sunsets behind massive thunderheads or crystal clear stars in a freshly washed sky.
As for the village I have been doing my best to speak and keep myself busy. I have started an informal english club with my sisters and some of their friends resulting in many "gooood morning"s and "how are yooou"s throughout the day. It's pretty funny, but has also turned out to be a big challenge as their French is still minimal not to mention their literacy. The motivation and desire is defintely there but I may have to rethink my strategy on exactly how to facilitate learning that will be beneficial for them.
Otherwise I have been working a lot on my community assesment projects. I have a pretty decent map of the village at this point, and have been working on compiling information about everything from its economic relationshîps with the surrounding villages and the different income sources of the villagers, to identifying the different plant and tree species in the area (thats gonna take a little time...). I've also been doing my fair share of reading and hanging out with my family. The kids continually crack me up and are generally a pretty good antidote whenever I get into a funk. Juggling has become the prefered mode of entertainment for them these days and frequntly as I am sitting outside reading or writing one will come up with either three rocks or three dead batteries (hmmm....?), and slowly hand them to me. They have begun to learn but the lack of instant gratification is frustrating and, I suppose like language or anything else, we have a long road to hoe.
There are two large mining operations near the village, one Australian and one Canadian (I'm getting a ride out with the Canadians today), and recently one has shut down one of the operations as it was not productive enough for them. Apparently this has happened before because as soon as the news came in everyone and their mother was heading for the hills. I went out there with my friend Bakary and the scene was wild. There were litteraly hundereds of people covering this hillside digging up rocks and busting them open with hammers looking for gold flecks. The rewards are rare and pretty minimal but a couple of times during the day someone found enough to get roughly a hundred bucks or so US and thats some real money. The most interesting part of it all was the regulation of the trench the miners had left behinf. A group of men were put in charge (how I don't know) of all the digging in the trench and what was found. Because the trench is obviously where the most gold was found many were interested in getting a proverbial piece of the action. As a result the men began what I can only describe asa kind of co-op where one could work in the trench, or donate tools, food, or tea for the day and then they split whatever was found. I thought this was a pretty impressive system honestly. They all thought I was crazy for not joining up, but not only was it all kind of weird and surreal, I didn't feel it was really my place (making money off their gold that is.....). Anyway, wild times.
Had a cool little excursion for the 4th this year and visited what was by far the most beautiful part of my region yet. My friend lives in a village south of Kedougou-meme and nearby is Dindafelo, a village at the bottom the biggest waterfall in senegal, not to mention Dande a village at the top with ridiculous cliffs for climbing and viewing. We took a couple days to tour the area on our bikes and I've never been happier to be where I am. I can't say that the pictures truly do it justice, but with troops of baboons and chimps howling in the canyons and some unbelievable hospitality from the locals it was a truly breathtaking experience. It was also nice to get some climbing in, something I hadn't done in a number of months, and something that reminded me so much of great times back home.
I think I've rambled on long enough here, and while there are more stories to tell I think we all need to get on with whatever we're doing. It's been so great to get mail from all you, it really picks me up when things get slow out here. I'll be in my village through the end of the month and then head back to Thies for 3 more weeks of in-service training. I'll be in touch on the other side. Much love to you all,
willie

pics: my mother and grandmother sitting in my compound, My two sisters fanta and mariama and a Traore a maribou who lives with us, Dan and Braiden (my two closest neighbors at 38 and 55k respectively) and me hanging out in my hut at night, Dan helping Bacary the blacksmith keep his forge going with a bicycle wheel attached to the bellows, views from my hut pre, post, and during storm (sweet lightning shot huh).

Hello all,

just about outta time at the old cyber here so I'll make this a quickie. Life is wild and wonderful out in the bush. I'm really beginning to settle in and get comfortable with my life here. I feel as though I learn so much everyday, so much so that each day it is hard for me to understand how I got by without this knowledge the day before. We've gotten some incredible storms that are not only extremely cool to watch but that bring the temp to a delightful level. I've also gotten into the habit of taking some beautiful early morning bike rides to great view point nearby, pictures to come soon. I'll get a more complete upate in a couple of weeks but until then, all my love and happy summer to all.

willie

Pics: Swearing in and recieving my volunteer status, Dan in celebration, all our language tachers, the new Kedougou crew, the Jaxanke boys x 2, PC car on the way to installation (yes thats a lotta stuff), my bathroom, my hut, red monkey who lives next door, my father Nyama and his buddies, my village after a storm

The first weeks

I realize, again, that it has been a while since I've been in touch and for that I apologize, but let me assure you all that it seems like a lifetime from this end. Just getting into town a couple days ago was so surreal and at first it was hard to know exactly what to do with myself. Even coming into such a small and mellow town as Kedougou (i finally have the spelling right) I was still blown away by the hustle and bustle, the people, motos, etc. Indeed, while it was only a couple of weeks in the bush, there was both constant stimulation in terms of communication attempts, meeting an entire village's worth of people, and those funny anecdotes that inevitably arise in situations like this, and some very slow, "what on earth am I doing in this village out in the middle of the African jungle" moments as well. I think my dad put it very well at one point before I left when he said, "you are going to develop a very different sense of time out there." This is unbelievably true and I am trying hard to work on that development.

To some it all up for everyone, I headed out to my village May 15 after a grueling 2 day journey south from Thies. It was a wild few days as we swore in in Dakar on the 12th (a ceremony involving the US ambassador, and Senegalese Minister of Development, made me feel pretty important) had one last night at the training center, and took off at dawn on the following day. We made it to Tamba to go the bank and get some of our bigger ticket items like propane stoves. Said good by to those in our Stage remaining in the Tamba region, and the 6 of us headed to Kedougou. Meeting up with the current volunteers at the center in town we got the lowdown on our department and they helped us do the bulk of our shopping (bed, mats, trunk, kitchen stuff). Early the next morning we met all of our departmental officials i.e. the Prefet, the Captain of the Police, Education Minister, etc. And then we loaded up the car and headed out........



About the village: My village is called Kossanto and is about 90k northeast of Kedougou. I am by far the farthest from town out of all of the volunteers in the department. This makes for some interesting transportation issues, but does add to the "out there" quality of my life in the bush. My village is pretty big though and has several boutiques at which I can by things like bread, sugar, and soap. We have a decent sized health center with a permanent MD who will do consultations throughout the week. My father, who I am living with works at the health post as a med tech, dressing wounds, giving shots, etc. It's been a pretty eye opening experience to see some of the procedures he undertakes and the questionable sanitary conditions under which he performs them. He is a very interesting guy though and speaks french very well which makes communication between us infinitely easier. As I am the first PCV the village has ever had I do not think that they really had any idea (or really STILL have any idea) what to expect of me. At first there was a lot of appeals to me for money and gifts and while I don't expect that to ever go away completely I have taken a pretty hard line and at least my family has begun to realize that those things are not my primary reasons for being there.



My hut is big and very nice despite the fact that both of my doors fell off the first full day I was there. This was frustrating and somewhat trying although it also forced me to get out in the village and talk to masons and frame builders to get them to repair it. The first rains came at the end of my first week in and as my backyard really does not belong to me but rather to my family's goat heard, as soon as that rain started to fall my hut filled with goats! This happened at about 1am and imagine my surprise waking up with and goat stampede raging in my hut. Needless to say I doubled my efforts to get my doors fixed the next morning. However now all is fixed and I not only have doors but also screen doors on each side of my hut, so I'm feeling pretty Patron as they say around here.



The most difficult challenge has not been the culture shock or difficulty with language and communication, but it is simply the heat. I have honestly never experienced heat and humidity like this in my life and it is truly unbelievable. The night before the rain came I was so hot lying in bed I had to soke a tshirt and drape it over my back in order to fall asleep. It is also pretty draining on the energy stores, and is really just a consistently added challenge whenever trying to get anything done during the day. The early morning is the only respite and has been when I've been doing all of my biking and any kind of exercise. I did the 40k ride to my friend Dan's village (my closest neighbor)after a week in and it was truly a beautiful ride. I saw a number of monkeys on the road and the sunrise was pretty spectacular. I think this will be something I will have to start doing on a regular basis.



The food has also been somewhat challenging, and I must say there have been some hungry days so far. Especially as it is the end of the dry season and the stores from the harvest are running out. My regular meals consist of either rice or millet couscous with a peanut butter sauce or maybe just some oil. While simple this isn't bad by any means, only that the portions are a little slim, it is somewhat repetitive, and especially as I'm in transition at this point it is a little difficult. Also a little short on certain elements of the old food pyramid, but having a better idea of what my life and situation are like I have a better idea of how I can supplement my diet by bringing things in from town, and should thus be a bit more comfortable in the upcoming weeks. I have also found that dropping by the teachers compound around lunch time is a GOOD idea, as they make decent money for the village and eat much better than most everyone else. They're also from all over Senegal and thus have a better idea of what it is like to be an outsider to the village (to a certain extent anyway). The teachers are very friendly and supportive and I have been spending a decent amount of my time with them, visiting classes, and attempting to figure out the dynamics of the school system there.

This maybe getting a little long winded so I'll try to wrap things up here. The life here is as intense and overwhelming as I expected and probably more so. At the same time I have met some fabulous people and my Jaxanke/Malinke is coming along slowly, but is coming. I am confident that the village is going to have a variety of niches in which I will be able to work including the schools of course, potentially the health post, a very active women's group, and some interesting NGO funded projects generally dealing with the environmental degradation in and around the nearby goldmines. These all have great potential for my umbrella category as a volunteer for environmental education. As school is ending in a couple weeks and the rains have already begun to come I will most likely spend most of my summer helping sow peanuts, millet, and corn with the majority of the village, and do a variety of community resource mapping, and needs projects to bring to my technical training in the middle of August. There I will focus on a few specific projects the community and I have identified as the most crucial and realistic.

I do hope all is very well with all of you back home. Looking back on this post I realize it may sound a little negative at times, but rest assured I have been spending the last few days eating steaks and warthog sandwhiches, drinking COLD drinks, relaxing around the beautiful training center we use as our regional house here in Kedougou, so don't feel too bad for me. I am feeling energized by this little break and am very much looking forward to getting back out the village. Please send my love to all, the memories of the experiences I've had with everyone of you are sometimes the things that really keep me going in the heat. All my love and be in touch when you get a chance.

Last thing really: I love mail... and now I have a PO box so send me something funny or tasty at:

William Adams
PCV
BP 37
Kedougou, Senegal
West Africa

I guess I'll also throw out my phone number here although it only works when I'm in town: country code 221 then 258 6094

I'm having trouble with pictures on this computer but I'll try again before I head out to my village, there are some good ones.

Hi friends,

again apologies for not getting more up more often, the cybers in Thies have been having some power difficulties as of late. I'd say things will get more consistent on the communication front, but training finished up yesterday and, assuming all goes as planned, I'll be heading to Kedegou early Sunday morning. As electricity seems to be something of a rarity down there we might all just have to be a little patient when it comes to the life and times of Willie.

It's pretty wild preparing for my site. There has been so much prep and talk and training over the last 2 months and I've been so antsy to get out there and now that it's staring me in the face it's a little overwhelming. At the same time I am incredibly excited. A couple teachers from my village made it up here last week (800 k treck) for our 2 day "counterpart" workshop. They will be my village liasons so to speak and the idea is that I will work with them and through them on things like curriculum development, lesson planning, environmental clubs, etc. They were extremely cool, and open, and excited for my arrival, and this eased my anxiety a lot. I also got a chance to check out a bunch of pictures from my region and it seems to be a pretty incredible place. I'll be arriving just at the start of the rainy season which is nice for the most part as the vegitation will explode and it will cool things off a little, although when its not raining I think it's gonna be pretty humid and could hit 130° or more.......sweet.

Got a couple pics here, I realize that it pretty much looks like I spend all my time at the beach, and how I wish that were true as it is truly amazing. However in all honesty we've done a few weekends out there and that just seems to be where I take my pictures. I really have had to go to class from 8-6 everyday during the week and spend most o my nights hanging out with my family.

As for all this subscribing to the blog confusion I apologize, again this is a little new to me. But I took down the false directions (those were meant to help ME set this whole thing up). I might appeal to the talents of Mr. Austin Evers and either ask you sir to just post some directions here on my blog or let me know what to do and I'll do it, thanks bud.

Hope all is well with everyone and for all you school types best of luck with the end of the semester.

Much Love,

willie

Pics: Jaxanke hangman with chalk on the basketball court, Leigh and kids, Lauren and me, patio view at Toubab (yes Toubab) Jalau, Ping Pong (and yes for all who are wondering I dominated the PC center tourney)

Hammock session apres lunch at the PC center
from left: Braiden, Lauren and Joey, Kim at Pamandas
Meg and me
Kickin it in Mbour
My walk to school in the morning ( although I just got my bike today, sweeeeeeeeeet)

Hey there all! How are we doing? After many weeks of procrastination I'm finally trying to get it together to update my blog. Please forgive problems with format as I'm pretty new at this.

pic: my Jakanke class/classroom: Me, Lamine (prof), Josh, Dan


As for the most exciting news I have found out my site placement! I'll be living in the southern region of Kedegou in a decent sized village about 80k north east of the city. The village is called Khosanto and has about 1300 people along with both a primary and secondary school. This will be the first time that PC Senegal will attempt to work with students and teachers at the secondary school level and I'm extremely excited to be on that forefront. I also can't express fully enough how excited I am about my region. It gets the most rainfall of any in the country and as a result has the most lush and fertile areas. Kedegou is also home to Senegal's largest national park in which one will find tumbling waterfalls and any number of monkeys, warthogs; snakes, and even hippos. The down sides are obviously a higher prevalence of Malaria and other illnesses, mambas, fungus, being about as far from Dakar as possible, but we won't talk about these too much if for no other reason than maintaining my Mother's sanity.

In more immediate news we spent our first weekend out of Thies last week and had a wonderful, relaxing time on the beach in the small town of Mbour, just south of Dakar. It was incredibly beautiful, both the water and weather temps were perfect; a much needed break.

pic: Djibril, Adrien, and Brenden eating lunch at PC center


Other than that I'm really just working on my garden and tree nursery and of course struggling through Jaxanke classes. The days are long but the weeks are flying by and I'm sure I'll be down south before I know it, inshalla.
As far as the blog goes please let other folks know about it and also subscribe so you get an email when I update (follow the directions of the wonderful Austin Evers at the bottom of the blog for more info in this department, he's my tech tutor, thanks Aust).
Alhamdoulilahi
Willie(Djibi)


pics:

getting down at the Tam Tam fete,
Working the garden at Greg's village outside Bakel during my "demystification"
My sis Fanta
cousin Ama and me

Update 1

Asalamalakum

Helloooo there friends!

How are we all doin. (haven't quite figured out the question mark on these Senegalese keyboards). So yes I did indeed make it over here and have as of yet hardly stopped moving. I got here about 2 weeks ago today and have since been half way across the country, thrown into my new host family, and inundated with technical , x cultural, and language training. As approximately 1/3 to1/2 of you reading this are currently serving in the peace corps I'd imagine you know what I'm talking about. But life is good! While at the same time somewhat overstimulating things are beginning to settle into some sort of routine. I have begun my language lessons in Jaxanke (pronounced, ja-honk-ay, yeah call me a honky if you need to), a class I share with 2 other volunteers as it is not the most widely spoken language in Senegal. The positive side of this is that I have a good idea of where I will probably be placed as they only speak Jaxanke in the Kadougou (sp) and Tambakounda regions of the south (we're shooting for kadougou). The negative side of course being that I won't be able to communicate with most of the people in the country as they speak wolof and pulaar (again sp, question mark). However my french is quickly improving which is positive of course as it is not only how I communicate with my family and, in general, people everywhere, but it is also the language I am learning Jaxanke through. Yes, challenging indeed.

Last week we made a trip down to Tamba for our "demystification" experience during which time we met with current PCVs, stayed in one's village for a few days and generally saw how we're going to be living for the next couple years. Despite temps over 110 I came back reassured and encouraged. I'll do my best to go into further detail later as the fam is expecting me but the projects that we came across and the volunteers we met were incredibly inspiring while also maintaining a grasp on reality we haven't tended to get from the recruiting and staging offices.

At this point we have about 6 more weeks of training and then we're off! I do hope all are well back home and around the world. Please please forward this to any and all who are not on the list and might be interested, and let me know so I can add them next time.

Much love to you all,

willie