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 12
th (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.
