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