W.A.I.S.T. 2011

I'm writing to you all from my hut in Kounkane. It's great to be back, except for everytime I'm away from my hut for more than a few days I come back to a dusty mess full of rat poop, bugs, spider webs, and ant hills.  Things are always trying to burrow into my home.  Not on my watch though, I spent this afternoon cleaning, sweeping, and dousing the room with bug spray. The first day back is usually the worst; even though I cleaned the bugs still sometimes enter my room. A cockroach crawled up my leg tonight as I was sitting on the floor using my computer...so gross.  He is dead now. Alhamdulillah!
So, I just got back to site today after being away for about a week and a half.  I've been spending my time away from site at the Kolda house for a few days to finish up the stories I translated into Pulaar for my friend and fellow volunteer's project.  I think the translations came out fairly decent, and we should have a pretty awesome pulaar storybook in the Velingara department :)  After a few days I headed up to Dakar with the other volunteers in my region so that we could participate in the West Africa Invitational Softball Tournament (WAIST).  All the Peace Corps volunteers participate with the members in their region, and we usually have themes so that we can dress up in fun costumes.  This year team Kolda did Space Corps! We had a pretty good representation of space stuff on our team from Star Wars characters (Princess Leia, Luke, Yoda, Darth Vader, Chewbacca, etc) starship troopers,  Avatars, and we even had Lady Gaga! There were other random space costumes too, just to mix it up! I went in with a few girls in my region and we had "space rompers"....I guess the look we were going for was sexy space girls? Maybe? We even dressed up the costumes with sparkly accessories. :)

So it was a two day event.  Kolda did awesome!!! We won two games out of four, and I even played in one of the games...surprising because I don't like baseball/softball or really anything that involves a bat and a ball.  But i hit the ball and made it to first base before getting out. Yea!  It was so much fun just to hang out and support my team too!  My region is definetly the best in Senegal! Go Space Corps!

It was a great weekend in Dakar. I saw some friends in other regions, ate some great food that wasn't just rice and oil, and I danced all night two days out of the four I was there! Oh Dakar, you're like a miniature Europe :)  It is nice to be home and back at site! I have so much to get started here in Kounkane! Enjoy the post!

May the Force be with you!

Cashew Apples!

Hello All! Happy Valentine's Day! I know I'm a few days off, but I hope the day was amazing for everyone :)
So in honor of Valentine's Day, I would like to introduce you all to a new and exotic fruit. It's slightly heart shaped, so I think it's an appropriate posting for the holiday :)  This fruit has been around for a very long time, but it is so new to me that I thought I would share it.  It's called the cashew apple.  It's beautiful and delicious! It's the fruit of the cashew tree that has just started coming into season around the south of Senegal. I'm finding this fruit all over the Kolda and Velingara markets.

Heart-shaped Cashew Apple

Cashew trees are prevalent down here in the southern regions of Kolda.  The fruit is either a reddish or yellowish color when ripe. and at the bottom of the fruit is the cashew nut (technically seed) which is surrounded by a double shell that is insanely difficult to open. I never knew that cashew trees produced fruit? I just thought they grew nuts....goes to show you how much I know about trees. :) 

The gray things on top are the cashew nut

The flavor of the fruit is hard to explain because it's so distinct and new to me.  The best way to describe it is juicy, slightly tart, tangy, and mouth drying.....yes, your mouth feels slightly dry after eating one of these.  It's unlike anything I've ever had before, but they are delicious. I'm so happy they are coming into season so I can eat them more often. You can buy a small pile (about 4 or 5 fruits) for 50CFA...not bad...and if you can somehow crack the nutshell you can eat a raw cashew nut too. If you ever see one of these traveling around I would definelty recommend trying it out. They are great! :)

Yum!! :)

Street Food: Bissap Deliciousness

Greetings and Salutations! So for the first post of February I would like to talk a little about one of my favorite things to snack on here: Bissap walla follere (in pulaar).  It's basically the juice of the hibiscus flower slightly chilled (and sometimes frozen---which is also amazing! Kinda like a delicious slushy...) with lots of sugar.  I drink one literally every day if not multiple :) They are soooo delicious! Oftentimes, the juice comes in a small plastic bag or tiny soda bottle that has been washed (hopefully) and reused.  One time in Dabo I bought some bissap and it came in an old bottle that was originally used for motor oil....yes, i still drank it.  Usually the juice comes in two different sizes: Bujwoy e Sappo (25CFA or 50CFA).  The 25cfa size is smaller; usually about half the size of the 50CFA (that makes sense).  The one pictured below is the 50CFA size.

Bissap!



You can find bissap all over Senegal.  At my site there are currently two women who sell it at the morning marche.  I stop by their stand every morning, and sometimes in the afternoon to buy their delicious juice :) It's a little treat for me in Kolda. :) Bissap is very nutricious too! High in vitamin C and apparently really good for kidneys and lowering blood pressure.  Here in Senegal, people don't just use the flower, they also use the leaves!  Almost every Sengalese women knows how to make follere.  Basically they use steam from the boiling water to soften the leaves, then they put them in a big wooden pounding tool and beat them into a sticky, green paste.  Follere is usually added to Thieb (traditional Senegales dish...I'll post more about that later) and it's one of my favorite things to choose from in the lunch bowl.  For more info check out the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roselle_(plant)

 Last wednesday I bought a kilo of the dried hibiscus flowers so I can start making the juice myself at site.  I got an entire kilo (and an additional half kilo that the nice man selling it gave me for free because I was a white girl speaking pulaar) for 300cfa, or less than 1USD.  The only problem is that I don't have a refridgerator and neither does my family, so we will have to make a huge batch then drink it all :) Yum!   


Dried Hibiscus flowers



I love me some Bissap! :)

Pilgrimage to Touba

Assala Malikum! :)
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!

Photo borrowed from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touba,_Senegal

  Check out this link for more information on the pilgrimage:
http://www.africareview.com/News/-/979180/1093888/-/i69rn6z/-/index.html

Fashion Statement of the Month!

I was at the looma (large market) in Diaobe (roadside town about 8k from Kounkane) this past wednesday.  I love going there even though it's really crowded, a little dangerous (pickpocketers), and incredibly loud.  The Diaobe experience is a little like going to the fair: tons of people, many vendors, more fried food/street food than you can handle, etc.  Every wednesday, the town of Diaobe hosts the weekly market, in fact, it is considered to be the largest weekly market in West Africa! You can get so much stuff there. I've been there quite a few times, usually I just go on a whim. But this past wednesday, I accompanied my lovely Pamela to Diaobe.  I got there sooner than Pam (I was coming from Kounkane and she from Velingara). I ate a delicious bean sandwhich for breakfast, and when Pam arrived, we went shopping! :) I love the selection of things one can buy there, anything from honey, blankets, tools, live animals, and veggies among others. I love to buy lots of fruit there too! You can get oranges, bananas, and apples right now.  Soon mangos will be in season; I can't wait! :) The best thing about loomas, is that you can find some really random things there. And what I purchased this week will probably shock many of you.  I'm dedicating this blog post to my newest additon to my wacky Senegalese wardrobe: Jellies. Yes, Jellies.  Do you remember them? From the eighties and early nineties, perhaps that rings a bell? If you have no idea what I'm talking about please refer to the following wikipedia link for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_shoes :)

Rockin the Jellies! :)

Yes, I bought a pair of transparent, light pink jellies.  In fact, I remember owning a pair when I was like 4 or 5 years old and I loved them! According to my mom, I wore them everywhere.  Well, when I saw these shoes sitting in the market,  I knew I had to buy them, and only because it is completely acceptable to wear them here.  Imagine me rocking these beauties in the USA.....can not be done...at least not now.....
Here in Senegal, lots of people wear jellies, especially in my region. So I justify my random purchase as a need for further integration into my community :) I love the random things you can find here....

Yes, I will wear these...

Biked 100k to Kolda

En jaraama from Senegal :)
Today my good friend Alyson, my site mate Geoff, and I biked from Kounkane (mine and Geoff's village) all the way to Kolda, the city.  We woke up early, left by 7:00am, and set out on paved road.  It started off good. The weather was cool; I was actually a little chilly. We encountered our first hill probably 10 minutes into the ride, and I'm a terrible biker to start, so that was not very fun for me.  Before I came to Senegal, it had been like 4 years (or something crazy like that) since I've actually ridden a bike.  I was not prepared to bike through the bush paths of rural Senegal, which is typically the norm for me now.  Luckily this trip was on the route national, so it was "paved" but it had lots and lots of pot holes and what seemed like a million steep hills.  The last 15k is the worst because it has deep pot holes all over the road which we were trying to avoid, but at the same time all these cars were coming by, and they were trying to avoid them too.  The cars nearly run you off the road! But we got there safely, Grace a dieu! So it took me about 6.5 hours to get there on bicycle, and the distance is about 100 kilometers if not slightly more.  It was the longest bike ride I've ever done, and quite challenging if I say so myself. Look at the southern region of Kolda. (Kounkane to Kolda)

It looks small, but that's 100K!!!

I am so exhausted now, but I'm so glad I did it.  It feels like I've achieved something....I really think I may do that ride like 5-6 times a year depending on the season (definitely won't happen during dry and hot season).  I figured it would be a good way to lose my excess weight?? Inchallah? Another reason I decided to do the ride from Kounkane to Kolda is because on March 9th, 2011, I will be doing it again with a bunch of other volunteers, four of which will be doing the trek on donkey. Yes, Donkey. It's for a really good cause. If anyone is interested in donating or just inquiring about Kounkane's newest project, check out the attached link.  My site mates, Geoff and Shamis, and two other volunteers (Curtis and Mike) are the ones who will be doing the donkey ride to create awareness of malnutrition in the area and the importance of moringa use. :) Don't worry, I will have an amazing post for the Donkey race, so stay tuned!

http://www.youtube.com/user/KoldaDonkeyRally

 Off topic things that have happened since the last post: my camera crapped out--all the pictures come out completely white-washed like there is a thick layer of fog in front of the camera....no bueno.  Also, I'm in the process of searching out projects in my village (I will hopefully have something soon!), and now I'm currently in Kolda to go over the regions goals for 2011 :)
On a more random note: Mail from Senegal gets to the UK and Japan, but not the USA (Nobody got their Xmas letters from me back home) Bizarre! Hope everyone is having an amazing January!  

La Lutte: Yekini vs. Bombardier

Happy 2011 tout le monde! :)

First blog post of the year is about a sport here in Senegal that my host family (and many others in Senegal) are crazy about: La Lutte aka Wrestling. On January 2nd, there was a big match between 2 popular wrestlers here in Senegal, Yekini and Bombardier.  {On a random side thought, I actually saw Yekini during my Christmas week in Dakar with my brother Djiby.  Yekini was massive! He was walking out of a gym near the beach when I saw him, and I knew instantly that he was one of Senegal's beloved lutteurs.} So this is the first time that I actually saw one of these matches.  My family was so excited about it; everywhere I went people asked me if I was going to watch the wrestling match tonight. When the time came, my cousin Julde came knocking on my door yelling, "Salimatu, the match is about to start! Are you coming?!?" (all said in Pulaar of course).  I hurried to the room with the t.v. (yes, my family has electricity) and sat down to see what all the fuss was about.  My initial thoughts were probably a little judgemental: Big giant men that are like the equivalent to a Sumo wrestler walking around in granny panties and weird African jewlery participating in an African dance party before fighting. They paraded around before entering the ring pouring weird liquids over their heads and down their bodies, liquids that looked like used cooking oil, motor oil, prune juice, cake batter, or a combination of all? When the match began, they would paw at each other softly like playing cats for what seems like 20 minutes, and the real action of punching and wrestling only lasts for what seems like 1 minute, if even that.  Yes, I thought it was really weird......

Photograph by Beatrix Jourdan: http://www.beatrixjourdan.com/

So I decided to ask my family to explain this beloved sport to me.  Apparently Senegalese wrestling is an old tradition and a big part of the culture.  There is a big spirtual side to the sport (much like everything else here), so I wasn't too surprised.  Before the wrestlers start the match, they partake in various spiritual rituals and ceremonies, hence the dousing of strange liquids all over their bodies.  The wrestlers consult with a "marabout" or what would be a witch doctor equivalent (there are quite a few people who use them in my region!)  The wrestlers will dance around the arena doing traditional dances wearing their "gris gris" (that's what we call it down here in the pulaar regions).  Gris Gris are basically amulets (bracelets, necklaces, belts, etc).  They wear them around their legs, arms, waist, neck, etc.  The gris gris is suppossed to protect the wrestler from evil spirits and the witchcraft/magic of other wrestlers, and they also contain magical powers that will help the wrestler win. After the marabouts give the wrestlers the gris gris and say special prayers and chants, the wrestlers pour the "liquids" on them, which are magical too. The marabouts prepare the magical liquid from his own special recipe....I don't think anyone but the marabouts really know what that liquid is? When this spiritual preparation is over, then the wrestlers are ready to fight. :) I really had no idea wrestling involved so much?  Now that I understand it better, I find it to be a little more interesting. It's amazing how much people here are into the spiritual side of things; I'm finding that out more and more everyday. :) 


Photograph by Beatrix Jourdan: http://www.beatrixjourdan.com/



Well, my family was happy that their favorite wrestler, Yekini won, and I was happy to make it through my first Senegalese wrestling match. It's probably something I don't have the desire to watch again, but then again, I've never been interested in wrestling.  After watching the match I felt a little ashamed for judging the sport so harshly in the begining, I mean, C'mon!, we have WWF in America, and that's just bad t.v. all around. :p

Photograph by Beatrix Jourdan: http://www.beatrixjourdan.com/

Check it out!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoWxnUXRLw8