Spanish vacation!

So like I've mentioned in my earlier blog posts, I'm back at site after spending some of my vacation time.  I spent 2 weeks in the beautiful country of Spain.  It was AMAZING! I met up with my American lover in the airport after not seeing him for over 1 year!  I wore the clothes that were in the best shape after being in Senegal for one year (well that I could fit into, this country had not been good to my body in multiple ways).  I looked like a crazy bag lady compared to all the chic people of Madrid. But thanks to my mom, who sent out a suitcase full of American awesomeness including some clothes, and also to my Peace Corps friends who let me borrow stuff, I only looked like a bag lady on the first day. 
My vacation was lovely! Everything that I needed to recouperate and get re-motivated again.  I was sort of slumping there right before I left.  I spent the first week in Alicante. It was sort of an accident how we ended up there, mostly due to a lack of research, but it was a nice surprise once we got situated in our hotel :) The first day was a bit hard for me. I seriously just left grass roof huts and village life and about 10 hours later I was in the land of suntans, paella, and sangria.  Alicante was beautiful! I spent hours under the sun, evening out my bad Senegalese tan lines.  I ate sooooo well! So many different types of fruit that I havent eaten in a year! Nectarines. Strawberries. Grapes. Peaches. Apples. I was in heaven! I went to buy fruit every day. Seriously. Every day.  Don't get me wrong, I love the mangos, lamude,cashew apples, and citrus fruits that i can get in Senegal but I miss other kinds.  I ate paella only twice, mostly because I have an aversion towards rice now that I eat it every day.  I ate fresh seafood: calamari, shrimp, fish, etc! I also drank a lot.  Not to the point of intoxication, but it was nice to have a glass of red wine, sit on the patio, and have thought provoking conversations. There were a few days during our stay in Alicante where we took day trips to nearby cities.  We went to Torrevieja one day to see the lagoons, and Benidorm to check out more beaches.  It was so nice!  After our week in Alicante, we headed north to Barcelona to spend the last week.  Barcelona was beautiful, but had way more tourists than Alicante.  We stayed in the suburb, Premia de Mar, alternating between days on the beach and sight-seeing days in Barcelona.  We did the big stuff, Casa Batilo, Gaudi Palace, Gaudi Park....pretty much all the architectural sites.  I loved all of the art nouveau and just the atmosphere of the city.  I also enjoyed lots of great food (including thai) and wine in Barcelona! It was just what I needed. I also got my fill of America there too. I forced Mike to go to Starbucks with me, and Subway so I could eat a sub sandwich.  So good! Spain was AMAZING! I can't wait until the next time I go back, because there will definetly be a next time :)
But like all good things do, our lovely two weeks came to an end. I had a tearful good-bye in the airport, and made it back to Dakar safely. I spent about 5 days in Dakar before heading back to site. One: I needed to readjust to Senegal, and Two: I needed to do mid-service health stuff.  I met with the doctors, got tested for TB (I don't have it despite all of the sketchy yogurt I've eaten the past year, Alhumdililah!).  I've gained an embarrassing and shameful amount of weight that I refuse to mention on my blog....I still don't understand the reasons for it either. All carb diet? Lack of fruits and vegetables? Not being as active as in the states? I work out here regularly.  I'm afraid I'll leave Senegal with an eating disorder...... But despite that, I haven't had any serious parasitic episodes now that all of my worms have passed.  Although, I hadn't been back at site for a week before the diarrhea came back. Thanks Senegal for such a lovely welcome home gift :)
 But in all seriousness, it's nice to be back. It was great seeing all my Amazing Peace Corps peeps and my Senegalese family and friends. Now that I'm back, I've been keeping myself busy finishing up Michelle Sylvester scholarship work (we are still lacking a little on the fundin so if you can, Donate. The girls are really going to benefit from such an awesome program!
Check out my Spain photos if you want! The links are at the bottom of the post :) Hay gongal!

Having fun on the Playa de San Juan, Alicante

Enjoying my strawberrie!

Facebook Album #1
Facebook album #2

I can Transform ya.....

So I'm back from vacation, I'll blog about that in my next posting of course. :) It was a lovely 2 week break, but I'm back in the Fouladou now. As promised, I'd like to update you all on my last project that was completed right before I left for vacation: The Fruits and Vegetables Transformation Training. It took place in Pam's site, Velingara (about 30K from Kounkane) on September 5th through the 9th. The five day training educated 30 women, 20 from Velingara, 10 from Kounkane on various and highly important topics. The women were all from different womens groups as well because we are trying to stress cooperation and knowledge sharing amongst the several different women's groups in the area. Pam and I collaborated on this project together, with the help of a Senegalese trainer and his assistant as the lead educators. The project was overall extremely stressful to execute, but a great success in my opinion.

On day one, the women learned how to make three different kinds of juice concentrates using local ingredients that are widely available in this area: bissap (hibiscus flower), tamarind, and ginger. The women learned about proper hygene techniques, the recipes and the cooking process for each concentrate, and how to properly package the juice to avoid contamination and leaking.

The women making bissap juice

 Day two, the women continued a little further with juice making, but instead of concentrates they made boisson, or individual juice bags that can be sold anywhere. As oppossed to the concentrates, the boissons sachets are already diluted and ready to drink.

Jonasse (our trainer) helping the women seal the juice sachets

 On day three the women learned how to make jams: two kinds were made including sweet potato marmalade and monkey bread fruit (the highly nutritious fruit that grows on the baobab trees) and mango jam.

Making sweet potato marmalade with baobab fruit

Makin mango jam

Day four was veggie day! The women made tomato concentrate, hot pepper concentrate (which was delicious!), and they also pickled veggies. Also because day four was a little less labor intensive than the prior days, Pam and I held a session on nutrition where we held a group discussion on the importance of fruits and vegetables, why conservation is important, and eating a balanced diet. We talked about how the training was important, not only because they were learning skills that could potentially earn them an income, but also because they and their families can have access to nutritious food products year round. Especially now when the mangos and most other local fruits are virtually nonexistant in this area, and corn is primarily dominating the food markets--for now.

Hot chile pepper concentrate

The last day, day five, the women learned about packaging, labeling their products, and most importantly, my counterpart came and talked about the 4 P's of marketing as well as a brief introduction to direct and indirect costs and how to ensure they are making a profit on things they sell. At the end of the training, the sous-prefet of Velingara made an appearence, and he and his entourage helped hand out certificates to all of our participants.

Learning about marketing with our awesome trainer!

The group (except for my lovely Pam who took the pic)

Like I said, this project was stressful, and we encountered a few problems, but for the most part, things ran pretty smoothly. We definelty had some women who didn't seem to care about the training and viewed it as a chance to socialize, but at the same time we had some extremely motivated women who worked hard and asked questions. Pam and I will be doing follow-ups with our women's groups to see who is continuing work with transforming fruits and vegetables. We plan on helping the women further grow and manage (inchallah) the business side by going more in depth in other business concepts that will help these groups better manage their income generating activities. I'll keep you updated on how that process is going :) Until next posting!

Our women and their certificates

Team Kounkane!