American Exchange student visits Kounkané

So one of the Peace Corps goals promotes helping Americans understand the people and cultures of other countries. For me personally, that means informing the people of America (and other countries--I have international blog readers :)) about Senegal and Senegalese culture.  This month I did some work to contribute to this P.C. goal by hosting an American exchange student.  :) Her name is Renée, and she is a student studying abroad in Dakar for the Spring 2011 semester.  She came down to Kolda for a 5 day visit to see what life is like for Senegalese people in this region, and also to learn a little bit about what a Peace Corps Senegal volunteer's life is like. 



Renée hangin out in my hut! :)

We had a great five days! We spent some time making posters for our Kounkané girls club that myself and two other volunteers run every wednesday, and we went to the lycée and hung up the posters to get more girls to come to our meetings. :) Renée and I spent a lot of time talking to people around my town; we practiced our Pulaar (She learned a little in the 5 days being in Pulaar country!) and also a bit of Wolof.  We went to a formation that taught basic business principles to local entrepreneurs taught by my counterpart, and we spent an entire day in a "real village", meaning we biked out to Goundaga (Ally's village) and spent the day playing games with the children and eating kodé (millet couscous), yum! :) We also celebrated my brother Djouldé's birthday by buying him a cake and boisson mix similar to Kool-Aid...oh and Renée bought my family a chicken for dinner so they slaughtered it and made us a delicous dinner of chicken on a bed of fresh lettuce, tomatos, green bell pepper, boiled eggs, and fried potatos drizzled with a delicious onion-y yassa sauce...now that's a patron dinner :)
Renée already had a really good understanding of Senegalese culture because she has been living here for 2 months, but it was nice to share with someone the projects I've been working on and the potential projects I'm in the process of starting.  She even brought me some delicious dark chocolate as sillafonda (gifts) from Dakar, but with the weather now being in the hot/dry season, it melted.  We ate the chocolate with a spoon! :) Can't waste it; it's Chocolate!



Melted Sillafonda, delicious nevertheless!

Until the next blog posting.....besos! xxx

Donkey Rally to Fight Malnutrition in Kolda!

So a little over a week ago, myself and many other volunteers in the Kolda region ended a week long project to create awareness about malnutrition and educate people about the benefits of moringa (aka: Neebedai).  I mentioned the project in an earlier blog post including the promotional video for the project :) I hope you all checked it out!

The project officially kicked off on March 9th, 2011 in my town of Kounkane.  The original volunteer who started planning the project was med evacuated before he could participate in it, so that left my site mate, Geoff in charge :) Unfortunately for me, on the day the donkey race started I was battling sickness due to parasites and amoebas, so I was unable to leave with the donkey riders and bikers that accompanied them.  I later joined the volunteers working with this project towards the end of the rally. Lucky for me I recovered in time to help out with a few of the sensibilizations, primarily the ones we did starting in Bagadagi and ending in Kolda ( I helped hold the sign :)).  

Basically, the project consisted of four donkey riders: Geoff, Mike, Curtis, and Cara (later in the rally, it was Charlene)  They switched between a mixture of riding the donkeys and walking the donkeys, because lets face it, riding a donkey all day would be extremely painful. 



The donkey riders!

The entire rally lasted 7 days. The donkey riders walked from Kounkane to Kolda, which is over 100K! Props to them! Especially because it's getting hotter and hotter every day! There were many other volunteers that helped out, who rode our bikes ahead of the donkey riders to help set up the sensibilizations (meetings held in the community to educate people) in the cities, towns, and villages we hit on our way to Kolda. 



Me, Cara, Wilma, and Mike watching the sensibilization

The sensibilizations were great! There were lots of people who showed up too! :) The meetings consisted of quizzing the audience on basic nutrition of the local foods.  Geoff and our Senegalese friends, like Mamadou, who helped out with the meetings were great!  The audience really interacted in answering questions, and those who responded were given moringa seeds! The audience learned what foods they eat on a regular basis contain the basic nutrients our bodies need, like protein, carbs, vitamins, etc. and of course the detriments of eating too many things with high fat content (oil, butter, etc). 



Geoff and Mamadou running the sensibilization

Finally, the audience was educated on a locally grown and widely available plant: Moringa.  They learned about all the nutrients this one plant contains and the importance of incorporating it into their diet to help fight against malnutrition, which is unfortunately something that is prevalent in many villages in our region and all over Senegal. 

Me and Charlene holding up the sign about Moringa during one of the sensibilizations



I feel like the donkey rally was very successful! It was great to see the audience interact and learn about Moringa and its many benefits! A great big thank you, Merci beaucoup, and Jaraama buy to all those who supported this effort and those who contributed monetarily :) It means the world to us when we know we have people out there who support our projects! Thank you!

Please feel free to check out the link below to learn more about this miracle plant! :)

http://www.moringa.com/

Big Thanks to Curtis! ---I borrowed many of your photos from fb! Jaraama :)

Parasite Hell

So this blog post is going to be a little more sombre than the past ones.....As much as I love Peace Corps and living in Senegal, I still have my days where it's incredibly difficult for me, and I end up having break downs or really low points during my service. I've had 3 breakdowns in country so far.  Once was during training when I had this awful skin discoloration on my face.  I thought the sun was destroying me and I had a tearful breakdown that involved the whole family staring at me through my bedroom door and window. I later learned that I had a fungus on my face; therefore, causing the ugly discoloration. Ugh. Boo rainy season.  My second breakdown occurred in January, where everyone I talked to that day about potential projects asked me for money to finance their business endeavors, and I was chastised and treated with hostility when I explained that I wasn't a bank and do not hand out money, but rather, I share knowledge.  And the third was a little over a week ago, last wednesday, when I had the worst sisck day so far.  Parasite hell, as I like to refer to it....literally the worst day of my life in Senegal so far.  So as a means of therapy for me, I'd like to share some of the things that really bother me here in Senegal....
#1: Little Children who yell "toubako" at me: When i walk by or ride my bike down the street, oftentimes, I hear "Toubako".  It really means "white person" but it's really annoyinng to be screamed at repeadetly, day after day. (Most of the kids in Kounkane are much better about calling me Salimatu (my senegalese name)).  There are still those disobediant kids, however, who continue to call me "toubako" out of spite, or even worse, "toube haako", which is a derogatory/racial slur translating close to asswipe or asshole.  My solution? I tell the kids what my name is here (Salimatu Balde) and then I make them greet me.  Worst case senario: I bought a machete and i carry it around Kounkane sometimes. I tell the kids that if they call me "toubako" again, then I'm gonna hit them with it.  I really wouldn't, and I hardly ever carry around my machete unless I'm using it for work, but I like to make a joke about hitting goats and bad children when people ask why I have a machete.
#2: People asking me for stuff: I hate when people ask me for money or to buy them stuff.  Again, it's mostly bad children who I don't know, who will come up to me and ask me to buy them candy or give them 100cfa.  Even adults ask me for stuff.  I have a woman who hangs out around the garage and asks me to buy her a sac of rice at least once a week.  I usually hear, "Give me your cellphone" or "Hey Toubako, give me money." multiple times a day depending on where I am...(it's getting better in Kounkane because people know i live here).  I usually ignore these demands, and sometimes on a good day I will turn it into a joke and ask for something of theirs.  One time a child on a donkey cart was riding by me, and he yelled, "Hey toubako, give me your cellphone!" and I said, "Only if you give me your donkey first!" And we all laughed and that was the end of it. But some days, it just wears on you, and making a joke seems like too much work.
#3: People who tell me I can't speak Pulaar: I hate when people tell me I can't speak their language.  I honestly think it's their way of trying to encourage me, but I find it to be so rude.  There are 2 women who everytime I see them, they tell me I can't speak Pulaar. Pointing out the obvious and making people feel ashamed of it, is so common here...stuff like that is not acceptable back home.  I think that's why I have a hard time with it? I usually have to restrain myself from being bitch-y back by asking them whether or not they can read, or telling them that they speak French horribly....It's just frustrating sometimes....
#4: Weight Gain: Oh my God, my biggest issue here.  I never thought I would move to Africa and gain weight.  It's quite ironic to me.  But leave it to me to come to Senegal and in the 7 months I've been here, I've gained an unwanted/estimated 10 pounds! Yes, 10! FML. This is the most I've ever weighed in my entire life, and it's a hard thing to deal with :(  I feel I can contribute this horrible event to 2 possibilities: 1: I was very active in the States and I ate a very healthy and balanced diet, which I no longer have the luxury to do here and 2: The diet here is just straight carbs and fat--only.  My solution? I'm trying to be more active and exercise despite the heat and frequent guests who come to visit me in Kounkane (who cut into Sam's workout time--boo!). I may also start cooking myself to control what I eat.
#5: Illness: And last, but certainly not least is Illness, which I blame my 3rd breakdown on.  The biggest issue I've had has been parasites and it technically wasn't officially diagnosed.  For the last 2 months I've been bloated all the time and nausiated every time after I eat.  Not cool.  I talked with the PC doctors, sent in a stool sample that went M.I.A. (scary) and had to do a second one a month later that never made it up to Dakar thanks to a careless PCVL, which finally ended in a puke fest and a 3 day fasting period.  Let's just say, I couldn't keep any food down, including fluids, I was burping sulfur, and if I wasn't vomitting, I was (excuse the crudeness) shitting  bloody, green water.  Yes, worst day of my life in Senegal.  Solution? On-call PC doctors saved me! I took 3 rounds of Fasigyne over a 3 day period, drank disgusting rehydration packets, and slept for pretty much 3 days straight. Diagnosis? Giardia (known from the infamous sulfur burps)  and Amoebas! Read about the crazy things I had living in me! : http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/giardia/ and http://www.scienceclarified.com/Al-As/Amoeba.html
I am much better now, thanks to meds and rest :) But all these factors, over time of course, put me in such a bitter mood this week, I just had to get some of this off my chest. Thanks for letting me rant...and I would like to add that I love being a Peace Corps volunteer and I'm extremely happy in Senegal! I wouldn't change any of this experience.  Some days these things just really get to me. Next blog post should be much more positive :) Thanks for reading!
Love.
xxx

Mural at the Case de Tout Petits

So it's March now....I've been here for almost seven months! Wow! Go me! I have finally completed a project.  It was a very small, side project, but it was very fun.  When I first installed at my site, I spent about a month going around Kounkane and introducing myself to people and organizations. I had spent a lot of my first month at the Case Foyer de Femmes and Case de Tout Petits (they are technically the same building) getting to know the employees and students that attend the school.  One of the things that was requested from me at the Case de tout petits (daycare equivalent) was an alphabet so that the students could learn the French letters.  So in February, I started the mural at the daycare.  I did an alphabet with a picture on each letter, and I also did the numbers one through ten with pictures that correspond to the amount of the number.  It was my first mural I've ever done, and I had a lot of fun doing it!  Unfortunately for me, I was never blessed with the ability to draw well.  The number mural I did all by myself, so I only painted things I knew I could draw somewhat decent, like clouds and smiley faces.  To my embarrassment, the students still really didn't know what some of the pictures were.  They didn't know what the clouds were, or smiley faces (I told them they were balls), the hearts or the flowers too. Wow! But I have to say my chickens and butterflies came out quite nicely.  The students also call the apple a mango or sometimes an orange. hahaha! It's pretty amusing.

The number mural I painted! :)

For the alphabet mural, I had to bring in some help.  Again, with limited drawing skills I had no idea how I was going to be able to draw animals?  So my friend Charlene, and fellow volunteer from Saare Abadou came to Kounkane for 2 days and helped me draw and paint the alphabet mural.  Charlene is very talented!  Our mural is beautiful and the kids loved it!  They like to look at it and name the things in the pictures :) Thanks Charlene, I couldn't have done it without you!

Charlene showin off our mural!

 I am so proud of our work! But two murals was enough for me.  I had a lot of fun spending a few days painting (it was slightly theraputic), but in the end, it's a lot of work, especially for someone like myself who is creatively challenged :) I really think the kids will get some good use out of it, inchallah :) So one project down, and many many more to start.  Getting started is the hardest part :)  Until the next post..... Happy March! :)

Yea! Me and the alphabet mural!