The Little Things

Each evening as the fiery hot Senegalese sun sets over the sparse, dust-tornado-ridden plains of Tambacounda, my body literally swells with joy (or is that just the heat?) that I have survived another day of this extreme adventure known as Peace Corps West Africa.

I eagerly await the mid-night temperature drop from the 110s to the 90s, then laugh hysterically at the absurdity of my life, and wonder if the malaria medication Mefloquin (which most people have switched off of due to increased anxiety) is making me crazy, or if I'm doing that all on my own.

I then proceed to take my daily "shower" which consists of pouring a bucket of boiling hot water over my head (no, I do not prefer my water to be hot enough to cook an egg, but there is no way to keep the water cool, even if it is in the shade all day).

The best part of my day is the two hours from 7pm to 9pm we spend lying around waiting for dinner. Often all eight of my immediate family members and I lay on one stick bed laughing and cuddling and looking at the stars. A soft breeze begins to cool us off and my youngest siblings fall into peaceful sleep. These are the moments that make me feel full and infinite.

The ensuing dinner experience is not the best part of my day. Twelve of us crowd around a single bowl of millet, grabbing handfuls with our filthy hands. After about three bites my apetite is gone, which is fitting because that is about the time the food runs out.

BUT, that's not what I wanted to talk about. I wanted to talk about: the Advanced Gardening and Vegetable Production training I put on in my community garden a couple days ago! As the first major event I organized myself, it went fairly well, but there are definitely improvements I can make for next time.

Planting lettuce and jaxatu in the nursery

The Sitch: Program Training Assistant Youssapha Boye came to my village to do a hands-on training on soil fertility and amendments, vegetable nurseries, and natural pest management.

Lessons Learned: 
1) Senegalese Time - As Youssapha put it, Senegalese have "no concept of time", and the majority of participants showed up to the 9am training at about 11am. If any of you know me well, you know I am a huge fan of punctuality, so this was frustrating even if to be expected. Next time I should account for this and ask people to arrive much earlier that I plan on starting.

2) Prep Work - The day before the training I went on a bit of a scavenger hunt to find everything I would need for the soil amendment and natural pesticide demonstrations: 250g of garlic and onions, hot pepper powder, liquid soap, one sack of wood ash, one sack of charcoal, a bucket full of neem leaves, a sifter, a tablespoon, 3 large buckets, 3 sacks of manure, a mortar and pestle, seeds, shovels, rakes, etc. Needless to say I did my best but next time I will start this earlier.

3) Accountability - Other PCVs recommend reminding people of your training in person everyday for at least two weeks leading up to the event. Besides being a lot of work this seemed a little excessive to me, but I was disappointed that not everyone I wanted to be there showed up. We did have 44 women attend and I think they got a lot out of it.

At the end we passed out vegetable seed varieties suitable for the climate in my village:
- lettuce - hibiscus - eggplant - bitter tomato - hot pepper - parsley

Learning how to make natural pesticides to spray on the vegetables

Overall the project was successful and I got a lot of positive feedback from the women. A couple of days later when I went to help out in the garden, I was really pleased to see women double-digging garden beds and amending the soil like they learned in the training.

Final thought: While I do find what most people think of as the main purpose of Peace Corps very important: disseminating technical training and knowledge to aid international development, I am beginning to put more weight on the 2nd goal of Peace Corps: helping promote a better understanding of Americans with my host country. Especially living in a predominantly conservative Muslim country, bordered by Mali and Mauritania which are exposed to Extremists, often with very anti-american sentiments.  I am proud to share that Americans can be humble, hard-working, and kind, and do care about what is happening in the rest of the world.

Studying Environmental Sciences at Berkeley, I learned a lot about the problems we face in the United States (overwhelmingly of our own creation), and had countless discussions on corruption in our Government and corporations. It wasn't until really living in another country that I fully appreciate the opportunity we are afforded. Now, for the first time, I feel sincerely proud to be an American.

Now: Off to spend my 23rd birthday with my sister in Argentina! REALLY looking forward to the Weather and Wine :)

PEACE OUT

The Mali Conflict and Kind Strangers

As I exit my hut after a nice long  bucket shower I see two toubabs (foreigners) chatting with my family in our compound... who could they be? There are rarely white people in my vil, and if there are, they are almost always Peace Corps volunteers. 

Hello! I say. Bonjour, the man replies.

He and his wife are showing my family a map with the words Route Meridian written across it, along with a bunch of signatures in a million different languages.

I discover that these two adventurous travelers are making their way from France to Ghana completely on foot. That's right, WALKING the entire way. Never once getting in a car or bus. They call their adventure Route Meridian because both their starting point in France and their ending point in Accra, the capital of Ghana are on the same Meridian line. They started walking in July and will likely finish almost a year later! They rely solely on the kindness of strangers for places to sleep and shower. All along the way people welcome them into their homes and share meals and stories with them.

It makes me think about how much good and generosity there is in the world. It is easy to forget with things like the rampant malnutrition and the political turmoil people experience here in Africa, but I truly believe that people are innately good, and have sure found proof of that being so welcomed into my community here in Senegal, even as this foreign American who makes plenty of cultural blunders and struggles to understand the language.

The French travelers had met my host father walking through our village, and were invited to stay the night. They were utterly exhausted from months of walking, yet when my host brother Pape asked them for help on his Spanish homework, they happily obliged. Instruction in Senegalese schools is given in French, so they were able to converse using that, but my Mom Nene wanted to know what they were saying so I asked them in English then translated into Mandinka. Then Jun, the Japanese volunteer that lives in my village came to meet them. The travelers had picked up some Wolof, the national language of Senegal. That hour we were able to all communicate with many translations between English, French, Mandinka, Wolof, and Spanish. It was pretty incredible hearing so many languages and it felt good that I speak a little bit of each of them!

I don't have any way to get news or current events in village, except for word of mouth, but Peace Corps is keeping us up to date on the war in Northern Mali and any concerns they have for our safety. As many of you know, Islamic Extremists have been rallying in Northern Africa and are attempting to take over Mali. From CNN.com, 
"Islamic extremists carved out a large portion of northern Mali last year, taking advantage of a chaotic situation after a military coup. They banned music, smoking, drinking and watching sports on television, and destroyed historic tombs and shrines in the region." 
France has sent troops to aid Mali and other countries are currently becoming involved. Although Senegal borders Mali, the conflict has not moved south and as of now we are not involved aside from sending 200 troops and donating $2 million dollars to aid the international effort against the extremists. 

Senegal has one of the most peaceful and stable governments in West Africa, and Senegalese have a long history of practicing moderate and peaceful Islam. Senegal has never taken well to radical Muslim views and extremists have always been pushed out.

Right now I feel completely safe in my village. The Peace Corps Safety and Security team is monitoring the conflict vigilantly and they have notified us that as of now there is nothing to worry about, we should remain cautious and they will contact us immediately if something changes. Peace Corps will not hesitate to evacuate us if they think we are in any danger. As of now that does not seem likely, but if the conflict starts moving closer to Senegal, it may be a reality. 

In the past few years most of the volunteers in the counties surrounding us have been evacuated and everything has gone smoothly. Many current volunteers here in Senegal are evacuees from Mali, Mauritania, Niger, etc. Peace Corps always airs on the side of caution in terms of consolidations and evacuations and I am in extremely capable hands! Living in a small village where everyone knows me and cares for me like a daughter, I am really in the safest place I can be.

The last email Safety and Security sent us explains, "French and Malian troops have re-taken the towns of Diabaly, Konna and Douentza.  France has about 2400 troops in Mali. The US and UK are aiding the French by transporting troops and materials, and by offering intelligence. French warplanes have continued a strategic bombing campaign of militant strongholds. A palace built by former Libyan ruler Moammar Kaddafi which was being used as a headquarters by militants in Timbuktu was reportedly destroyed in a French air raid along with caches of weapons and fuel.   Air raids have targeted militants near the northern city of Gao as well. French troops continue to expand their ground campaign, and have been joined by troops from several other West Africa nations, including Senegal. There have been no other confirmed reports of casualties among French and Malian forces. Thousands of refugees continue to flee the fighting. Malian troops have been accused of human rights abuses (including executions) of Touaregs and Arabs in the Sevare area."

Here is a link the the CNN article from today http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/31/world/africa/mali-conflict/index.html

Don't hesitate to email me if you have any questions! thomas.lauren.nicole@gmail.com

Much love and Peace to all my people.

Here are a couple recent photos:

The adorable pup that has become my friend.

Ridiculously cute chubby baby.

My sweet cousins.

My host father and I on Gamou, a Senegalese holiday celebrating the birth of a Muslim prophet.

When Nicky's parents came to visit Maleme Niani.