My permanent site is Paymar Hamady located in the Peanut Basin of Senegal (just above Gambia). My village has a about 200 people and is about 9km from the main road and a town big enough for a market. I live in the chiefs compound but my designated father in the community is in another compound. As a result I have not just one but two families. There is only about 7 families in the entire village. Having two families is fun but also troublesome at times. This leads to two breakfasts, dinners, and suppers. Also having 6 moms (as well as a few neighboring women) telling you to eat more can be a trial. Its fun having lots of kids around. My dad has 3 wives and 15 kids. I always wanted brothers and so its fun. Especially because they immediately took on the brotherly role and my older brother is always worrying that I'm not eating enough. Oh and our town is interrelated with a town half way between my village and the road town. So they have become really protective of me too. I was walking home one day and they made me rest there for about 5 hours and fed me and made me bathe before I could leave. When I finally did leave, one of them walked me the rest of the way home (about 4km!).
Anybody see a theme here. The food here is good. I LOVE millet and leaf sauce and it is the most nutritional thing in Africa so it works out. We eat millet with some sort of sauce (usually leaf sauce or peanut sauce) for breakfast and supper. For dinner (yes dinner is the meal at noon not lunch for all you cityfolk), we have rice and some sort of sauce. Being a Pulaar village, there are lots of cows meaning fresh milk morning and night. Millet and milk is delicious which is good because I eat it 3-4 times a day. Living in the peanut basin means lots and lots and lots of peanuts. I've been helping with peanut harvest and people keep giving me bowls full of peanuts in return. Every bowl, bucket, and sack in my huts is currently full of peanuts. Good thing peanut season is now over.
As far as life and recreation in the village, most of the time I read or sit around and talk (more like listen and space out) with my family. My language skills are still rough but I can usually get my point across. Understanding the locals is another story. I like to play with the kids a lot when I haven't been in the fields. The big sport here is soccer so we'll kick around a ball made of rags or a small watermelon or whatever round thing we find. Lately, the boys have been into wrestling each other. Its so fun to watch the little kids wrestle, but just like in America, the parents aren't always so approving. The music here is definitely a switch from country, but I gotta say I have been involved in a few dance parties in one of my moms huts. I learned how to sing one of their favorite songs, so now it is on high demand. It was really fun when riding on a horse and cart to another town, me and the five women on the cart had a sing-a-long. Oh and I learned I can request private concerts. The young boys in our village will sit on a mat outside some evenings and do call and response singing. Its so fun to listen to. I was really sad I hadn't heard them sing in awhile after Christmas and so my mom got them all to come over that night.
We had training in the middle of December for two weeks. Prior to that, my village would not even let me try and start working on projects. When I returned, they decided they wanted to start a womens garden after I returned from lang. seminar (2 weeks later) and were wanting a well and latrine project. So, work is finally getting underway. I have a few more projects in mind as well, but I'm thinking I can't do everything at once.
I'm really enjoying learning to live without electricity and running water. I think its fun carrying water from the well (now that they actually let me try). I'm not very good though. Somehow they carry these big benuwars of water and don't spill any. I carry a small bucket with a lid on it and come back drenched. I guess I have 2 years to learn though. I also like traveling by horse/donkey and cart. It reminds me of riding with Grandpa when I was little. Oh and its fun having animals everywhere. Baby goats are adorable although pesky. I've already had one infiltrate my hut.
My hut is a one room building with cement walls and a straw roof. I really like it although the frogs that are swarming my hut are ridiculous. I'm excited to finally get a cement pad put in soon so that I can lay my foam pad mattress on it and have a "real bed." Its hilarious to be lying in bed at night and hear horses chewing right outside my fence.
As far as holidays go, I celebrated Thanksgiving with a lot my stage at the regional house. We had a real American thanksgiving dinner. Delicious! For Christmas, I celebrated with a few others at the regional house where we had potato soup for Christmas Eve and macaroni and cheese for the main dishes. I love cheese. They have very little cheese in this country and the stuff they do have is so expensive so macaroni and cheese was A-mazing. In the village, we celebrated the holiday of Tabaski. Its a celebration of Abrahams willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac so everyone kills and eats a goat for the holiday. The meal is the goat meat with macaroni noodles, potatoes, and onions. Its really good. Everyone gets all dressed up in fancy clothes and eats the amazing food and thats pretty much the holiday. I gotta say its a little awkward when you look at your food and recognize that you are eating a goats kidney but I eating meat in Senegal is a treat so you gotta embrace it. They also celebrate new years here in pretty much the same way.
I just got back from language seminar clear on the other side of the country. Senegal is just on the edge of the Sahara and are fighting the trend of desertification. Well, in the area I was, they are clearly failing. There is no grass, no leaves on the trees, and sand for as far as you can see. I was so far on the other side of the country I literally could have swam across the Senegal River to Mauritania. I was standing on the river bank wishing I had my passport and wasn't banned from being allowed to go. I could also see Mali on the drive out there. It was fun because once you get close to the Volunteer's site I was visiting, they have big hills or small mountains, i'm not exactly sure which. One night we climbed the mountain and did a little star gazing.
Well I think this blog is long enough and thats all I can think of anyways. Congratulations if you actually read that much of my ramblings. I hope your holidays were merry and I hope your new year is blessed.
Yumma Diop (aka Rosanne)
