Greetings from Senegal! So this month is coming to an end, and I figured I'd do one more blog post for January. What's new you ask on this side of the world, well I'm in the process of getting some projects off the ground. I want to do a mural at the Case de Tout Petits (Daycare) next week, inchallah. They need an alphabet, and I'm seriously considering painting the numbers 1 through 10 with pictures on the walls too. Also, my friend Jenae and I are starting a girls' club at the high school and we are having our first "logistics" meeting next Tuesday! I am so excited! I'm not sure what direction the club will take yet, but I can't wait to start doing some gender development work.
This past sunday, the 23rd, I planted some trees at the Case Foyer de Femmes; 6 guava trees to be exact with the help of my dear friend Ally and her counterpart/host dad Demba. Of course nobody is watering them, so I go every evening now to the Foyer de Femmes to pull some water for the plants. What I am currently working on is a pulaar storybook. It's another volunteer's project, but I am helping out by translating two tales: Rupunzel and Rumplestiltskin into French and Pulaar. There are many other stories that other volunteers have translated too! I will probably post something about it when it's all finished :)
In addition to starting some projects, I'm pretty sure I have some sort of parasite because I"ve been feeling sick for the last 2 weeks....I should probably get that checked out....
Also my baby sister turned 21 on the 23rd of this month! Happy Birthday J! :) And lastly and probably the most interesting thing that happened this month was the pilgrimage to Touba. Thousands, perhaps even millions, of people from all across Senegal (and all over the world) flocked to Touba, the holy city of Mouridism, (largest Islamic following in Senegal and the Gambia). Cheikh Amadou Bamba, Senegal's most famous Sufi was the founder of the city. There now resides a Great Mosque in the center of the holy city, and every year a major pilgrimage called the Grand Magal occurs. This year it took place on Sunday, January 23rd; there were even excerpts of the event on t.v. for a few days following the pilgrimage. I enjoyed watching some of the broadcasted event. It was so interesting to see! I would really like to go to Touba some time during the next two years (not necessarily during the pilgrimage) to see the mosque. It is beautiful!
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| Photo borrowed from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touba,_Senegal |
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