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