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