Sanity Check

Hello my dear friends and family,

It is hard to believe I have now been in country for over 6 months! So much has happened, good and bad. I've started writing down the best and worst moments of each day to keep me sane, or keep me insane, we will see... Here are my entries from last week:

Date	Best of the Day	Worst of the Day
3/19	Seriously moved by the progress of the Women’s Garden	Cold dry millet for dinner every night is testing my gag reflex
3/20	New friend and roommate Ender the kitten	Only 10% success rate for latrine $ collection – can be difficult and awk culturally
3/21	Breathtaking hot red sunset against the silhouette of an enormous baobab Lying on mats with my entire fam under the glowing canopy of stars feels like a big sleepover every night	It is so hot that I can no longer enjoy the taste of food My little brother defaced the journal that Dillon gave me and I wanted to cry, but I didn’t want to tell my parents because they might beat him
3/22	My boss Djitte visited my site, was impressed with my projects, and had relevant suggestions for improvement	Massive dust storms + 115 degree weather + no real showers for 70km = hard to imagine ever feeling clean again
3/23	Started working on a food security grant through Obama’s Feed the Future initiative and excited about the potential	The Imam’s wife died today and there is a heavy sadness about the village
3/24	Enjoyed Carl Sagan’s book The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God	I’m pretty sure this is the temperature of Hell
3/25	Mango season is here! And it is so sweet	Sleep struggles: night sweats in an inescapable sauna

Right now I am preparing for my region's Girl's Leadership Camp and I am so excited! 30 middle-school aged girls along with their fathers are coming from villages all over the region for this 4 day women's empowerment camp. We have a panel of working women from the region discussing having a career as a woman in Senegal, along with sessions on sexual health, the importance of education, and fathers working as champions for their daughters. I am in charge of arts & crafts and photo documentation, and will write a blog post on the event when it's complete!

In the Women's Garden

Tambacounda, the hottest place on earth.

Mom and Dad in Senegal

At first I was a little worried about my parents visiting so early in my two years of service. My language skills and the projects I am working on are not as solid and impressive as they will be a year from now. BUT it turned out to be an incredible 10 days and I am so happy that now when I mention my crazy host mom, or doing laundry in front of my hut, or the painfully hot 9 hour drive from Dakar to my village, they will REALLY understand what I am talking about!

They were real troopers and slept in my hut for 3 nights in the 110 degree weather. It was really special for them to meet the people that have become my family here in Senegal and will be taking care of me for the next two years. We through a big party for the village on their last night (complete with a generator and dj blasting scratchy Senegalese music into our hut all night)! They also did a major spring cleaning in my hut and removed all the hanging branches and cobwebs and built me a shelf for my outdoor bucket shower (thanks guys!!).

They visited my regional house and met a bunch of my Peace Corps friends. We took everyone out to Warthog and beer, which was a great time, until both Mom and Dad got epically sick a couple hours later. After throwing up all night they rallied for another 9 hour public transportation ride without air conditioning (hey- welcome to my life!).

We staying at an incredibly beautiful resort in the beach town of Saly. It was SUCH a nice break for me to be able to relax and hang by the pool (and in our ice-cold room) with my parents. Below is a photo from "Obama Beach" in Saly.

I LOVED having visitors and my hut is open to all if you feel the inclination to come explore Senegal!

Lots of Love, Lolo

PC Senegal's Gender and Development Board!

Last month I was elected to the board of Peace Corps Senegal's Gender and Development organization SeneGAD. I am really stoked to be involved with this critical organization! Our mission is to empower Senegalese women, men and youth to effectively integrate gender equality into their daily lives, with the support of Peace Corps Volunteers.

Gene Sperling, one the the President's top economic advisors said, “educating girls is the most important investment in the world [because of] how much they give back to their families”. So far in my service I have found that statement wildly accurate and I long to drive positive change for these women and girls who give so much to their communities.

As Communications Coordinator, I help manage our facebook, blog, twitter, and write press releases and news articles about our organization.

Here is my most recent interview with my friend Connor on the self-defense classes he is starting!

PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER STARTS GYM NEGECEE

Peace Corps Senegal Volunteer Connor LaClair starts local and sustainable gym with self-defense classes for girls and boys.

Amy, Asu, Safi, and Sorhna – the first class of Gym Negecee!

An Interview with Connor LaClair

Tell me about the exercise program you are implementing in your village:

I founded Gym Negecee (Bambara for ‘Ironman Gym’) in late January. I built a simple gym structure in the backyard of my hut out of posts and double-thick rice sacks filled with peanut shells. I have a strong background in workout/self-defense methods, and I am currently teaching three self-defense classes for an hour each week to eight girls and four boys aged 9-12.

What kind of classes do you hold?

When I introduced the idea of a gym program to my community there was massive initial interest and the potential for incredible demands on my time. I made it clear I would only accept up to four classes of four students each, and planned to set a number of demanding credentials for the small number of students I wanted to teach. With the aid of teachers at the French school and adults from throughout the community, I chose twelve students who were not only very interested in the program, but also had good reputations as mature, responsible, studious, and committed young men and women. After working with them for almost a month now, I can say that those are the students I received.

I teach proper technique and self defense methods to my students, but Gym Negecee is more than just a gym. I do all my lessons in French, and lecture my students every lesson about morals, mental and physical health, working hard, and living their dreams.

What was your inspiration to start Gym Negecee?

Gym Negecee is a team, and I tell my students to stand up for not only themselves but for each other. The guiding philosophy of my Gym is a well-known quote from Spiderman; ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’

Why is it important to include women in your classes?

In my village, and in all of Senegal, there are not many options for girls to be part of a team, and to train and exercise in an environment that has traditionally been the domain of males only. At Gym Negecee, everyone is equal, and Negemusoow (Ironwomen) get just as much attention and opportunity as Negeceew (Ironmen). I hope that my program allows all my students to not only better envision their dreams, but to build their confidence and believe in themselves and their capabilities.

Where do you see this project going in the future?

I am taking the time to build a strong foundation for my Gym so that it may continue when I complete my service, and next year I envision expanding the program to a few more classes each week.

Anyway, at the very least I showed my community that they can easily build an entire gym out of materials that are readily available in just about any Senegalese community. Where there is a will, there is a way!

Connor is a Sustainable Agriculture Volunteer in Botou, Tambacounda,  and originally from Hyde Park, VT.

Please continue to email your SeneGAD updates and stories to your communication coordinators Lauren and Lisa at thomas.lauren.nicole@gmail.com and lisajbacon@gmail.com

If you want to help me out, LIKE our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/SeneGAD/379567262087810?fref=ts 

and check out our blog senegad.wordpress.com for more info :)

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Work Projects

Hey Ya'll! I'm back at the training center for a month of intensive trainings and workshops. I just finished 3 long days of Peer Support Counselor training. I am excited to be a resource for my friends and will be available 24/7 to talk on the phone about common Peace Corps issues like culture, environment, and relationship stress.

Tomorrow I will attend the Senegal Gender and Development (SeneGAD) conference. This program is the one I am most passionate about and excited to get involved with. We work on gender equality issues in Senegal and empowering women and girls to continue their education. It is a critical issue here in Senegal while gender inequality is widespread. Some of our programs include scholarships to help low-income girls continue past middle school, and Girls Camps and Men as Partners camps for fathers and daughters to open discussion on empowering sustainable change in gender perspectives.

Following SeneGAD we have our All-Volunteer conference with sessions on project successes and failures to be shared between the 250+ awesome volunteers here in Senegal. Next comes the West African International Softball Tournament (WAIST), where I will be playing on a team with my region against other Peace Corps Volunteers, embassy workers, teachers, and ex-pats from all around West Africa! Then I have two weeks of hands on Ag training, which will hopefully prepare me a little more for my projects. And finally my wonderful parents Scott and Kristin will be arriving! A very busy but productive month.

Me carrying water on my head for the first time! Heavy.

Some of you have been asking for more info on the projects that I am working on. So far, learning Mandinka has really been my biggest project, but after two months in village here are my projects and plans!:

Koupentoum Moringa Formation: In January we held a two-day long seminar for about 40 Senegalese in our area. We had discussions on the amazing health benefits of the tree Moringa Oleifera and went over how to package and sell the powder as well as connecting the farmers with a buyer. It was a big success and we hope to continue this training in other areas.

Moringa Training

Maleme Niani Malaria Day: Also in January we held a Malaria info and bug-net washing and repair tutorial in my village.

Adam on Malaria Day

USAID/Pepam Latrine Project: Partnering with USAID, the volunteer before me successfully built 30 millenium development goal approved sanitary latrines in my village. 75 families have signed up for the second round in Maleme Niani. I will work with USAID and the masons and families in my village and this project will probably continue for at least my first year.

Tamba Radio Show: I recorded a radio show on malaria (completely in Mandinka) with a couple other volunteers. I am excited to use this outlet to spread information and hope to participate in about one radio show per month.

Maleme Women's Garden: The previous volunteer in my village secured a hectare of space for a women's garden and got grant funding for a chain-link fence around it. I will work with my Eux-et-Foret (forest service) to clear the space for the women. We are discussing the women producing vegetables to sell to supplement their incomes and also working with fruit trees and Moringa intensive beds in the space.

Environmental After-School Club: I have been attending my village's environmental club and plan on helping the teacher Mr. C with demonstrations.

Observetoire EVDS: I will sit on the board of this USAID program aiming to keep at risk students in school as the assistante sociale.


It is starting to get hot again after the brief "cool" season. So much has happened in the last 4 months, and it is starting to get a little less daunting that I will be here for 23 more! I miss all of you wonderful people back home! Lots of Love, lolo

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.

Typical Senegalese Party: Video

It has been a wild ride so far and everyday really is like a roller-coaster. I will be sitting around the kitchen campfire with all my siblings looking up at the incredible stars with my adorable sister sleeping on my lap and my heart will swell with joy.
Then my host grandfather will tell me that I am a woman and no one will ever love me because I am not a good cook, and my sister will kick the puppy that wanders into our compound, and I will feel like I am in this cruel foreign place where no one understands me.
It really goes up and down like that in at least a dozen cycles everyday! Its nothing if not constantly interesting, but I don't know if my body can handle these crazy emotion changes for much more than two years.
I like to think I have been at a pretty constant happy for most of my life. Here my range of emotions varies drastically from satisfaction to frustration, empathy to anger, and deep joy to deep discomfort.
Everyone here in the Peace Corps says, "living in a vastly different culture builds character", "living in one of the hottest places on earth builds character", "living with the crazy health challenges builds character", "living in a hut with no electricity, running water, or people that speak your language builds character"... so... I'm planning on returning home with a lot of character :)

Lots of love and hugs and kisses to ya'll. Lo

Merry Christmas from Senegal!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS to my wonderful friends and family! It is weird to be spending Christmas without you, which is fitting, because this has probably been the weirdest couple months of my life. A lot has happened and it has been a tough first month in village. On Christmas Eve I am going to attend Catholic mass, which will be held in French, here in this 90% Muslim West African country - should be another interesting cultural experience! Here are a few of my journal entries from December:

December 6th, 2012

As I pull up to my new village I feel a nervous current running through me. This is IT! The first day of my two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Maleme Niani, Senegal. I have successfully completed a grueling yet enjoyable two months of in-county training, now I'm on my own in a small village in Africa. 

The hut they built for me is literally the size of a king-sized bed. There is not enough room for my double mattress-pad and the rest of my things which amount to two suitcases of stuff. We drop my things off in the hut and I try to keep an open-mind and role with the punches, as is always necessary in the Peace Corps.

We immediately head to the village center to meet with the elders and important people in the vil, and I'm feeling a little discouraged about my living situation. I put on a smile as I walk into the room and sit at the head of the table with 20 intent Senegalese staring at me, Oh shit, was I supposed to prepare a speech??

The women are clad in beautiful bright Senegalese dress and look to be the oldest women in the village. They all wear scarves covering their heads. The men look serious and are wearing their boubous.

Djitte introduces me before I have time to stumble on my words (Alhamdullilah/Thanks to Allah). Djitte is in charge of Agroforestry programming and came to my vil to help install me. Each person gives me a little welcome speech, and Djitte translates for me. Although their cadence sounds very rough and angry (like all Senegalese), the messages are friendly and welcoming and the villagers are eager to get started on projects!

As we head back to my house I decide to pull Djitte and my host father Souleyman aside and discuss my hut. I figure this will be my home for two full years and I might as well voice my concern right away. I ask them if I can move into one of the other huts on the compound. Djitte then calls Mboulle, the PC Safety & Security officer because everything goes through him...

Mboulle and my host father agree to the move. I am SO GLAD I spoke up. My new hut feels like a PALACE compared to the other one. I am all settled in and feel at home in my new hut.

Sunset from my family compound

My new host mother NeeNee reminds me a lot of my host mother during training; she is very large, warm, and has a wise and comforting tone to her voice even though she is only in her 30s. When it gets too hot she takes off her shirt and her giant breasts sag very low, her nipples the lowest point almost touching her belt line. Before dinner, my 1 year old sister Mane starts running naked around the compound with a Machete. I am mortified that she is going to trip and hurt herself, but my family notifies me that this happens all the time. Hey, T.I.A. (This is Africa).

My mom shows me her Senegalese ID card and I am surprised to learn that she was born in 1981! I believe that is around the time my real mom graduated from college (sorry mom!). NeeNee is only 9 years older than me and she already has 6 children. The oldest, Pape, is 15. That means she started having children when she was 16, common in Senegal. 

NeeNee is my host father's first wife. In Senegal, a man may have up to 4 wives, so long as he can financially provide for all of them and their children. Souleyman recently married another woman named Isatu- she is very young, he thinks between 20 and 22 (many people don't know their ages here), and she does not live with us. My mom does not like her; who can blame her? It's safe to say I wouldn't be happy about my husband marrying another woman. My mom says this second wife is "mang beteyaa" (not good) and men should only have "musoo killing" (one wife). I agree. After talking to other Peace Corps volunteers, I hear that sometimes having many wives actually can work really well, because when families get larger it is really nice to be able to share the large workload of cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. I have been informed that a lot of volunteers moms are best friends! I will let you know how my family dynamic develops.

My mom NeeNee and lil sis Mane eating lunch

December 9th, 2012

My second night in village was definitely my most physically exhausting and painful night in the Peace Corps so far. I had been feeling pretty crappy all day, and shared a lunch bowl with 8 dirty children (the norm - both the feeling crappy and the lunch bowl). As dusk began to fall the gut-wrenching vomitting session commenced. I sat outside wrenching over a puke bucket until dawn. I literally did not get more than a 60 second break at any point to catch my breath and by hour three it was all dry heaves and stomach acid. The vomit erupted with such force and noise that I swear every person in the village could hear me! My neighbor and siblings came and checked on me. My host parents were so worried and wanted me to go to the hospital. They sat with me  the entire night getting me water and squeezing a cool cloth on my neck. They spoke to the PC doctor on the phone, who informed them that the hospital would not help and I just need to wait it out (the hospital would probably give me a shot of large spectrum antibiotics, which they do for most anything - we aren't supposed to ever go there unless it is a life threatening emergency). Unfortunately, everyone in PC Senegal has to experience a few awful nights of adjusting - hopefully it never happens to that degree again!

My site mate Nicky and me with some of my siblings

December 15th, 2012

My first week was rough: from health issues to contant miscommunications. I think my friend Rene put it best, "What a mega weird week in our lives". Things are picking up and getting closer with my host family is really helping me feel more comfortable. My neighbor Fofana asked me what the differences between families in "Amerik" and Senegal are. To start, families in Senegal usually have between 10 - 40 children from the 1 - 4 wives. I told him that in Amerik, it is normal for couples to have 2 or 3 children, or even none. It was hard for him to understand because children play such a large role in helping the family run, and he asks, what do families in Amerik do when children die and they only have 1 or 2?

(Side note: On December 21 my 3 year old host cousin passed away. All they said was that he "wasn't well" and died in the hospital. It was very sad but the family seemed to keeping functioning the same. It is not uncommon for young children to not be healthy and pass away.)

December 20th, 2012

My second week was much better than my first, and I am starting to fall into a routine. I wake up around 7 and try to go on an hour long bike ride every morning. Dawn is beautiful, the sky is peachy-orange and it is not yet too warm to exercise (because it is the cold season). I ride along a dirt path into the bush, surrounded by only trees and silence. It is an hour of quiet I do not see again until I retreat to into my hut for bed. After my bike ride I usually stop at Fa Ndou's breakfast stand and get a bean and tapilapa (freshly baked village bread) sandwich, then head home to the Gory family compound.

I am continuing Nicky's latrine project she started about a year ago. PEPAM and USAID provide materials to build UN approved sanitary latrines and we coordinate finding the masons and families. So far 30 latrines have been built in Maleme Niani and last week we visited all of them surveying if they were working and being used properly. 73 people have signed up for the second round of latrines, and coordinating the building of those will be a big undertaking.

In January we will hold Maleme Niani Malaria Day at the middle school, and also hold a regional training on the uses of the Moringa tree, which has incredible health benefits. Before I head back to Thies for my 10-day intensive technical training in mid-Feb, I need to plant 50 trees in a tree nursery, collect as many seeds from local varieties as i can for the seed bank, and create a 15 minute powerpoint presentation on my potential projects. I am interested in starting a large-scale fruit tree orchard in which the people of Maleme could harvest and sell to supplement their incomes.

Living in a Muslim country has been really educational. A lot of the words we use everyday are actually in Arabic. Most people pray 5 times a day and work must always be scheduled around prayer times. Drinking alcohol is strictly forbidden, and there is none available in villages. Women are expected to keep their heads covered at all times, but this is largely changing in the bigger cities. As a foreigner, I am not expected to wear a head scarf, thankfully, that shit gets HOT! The mosques all have loud speakers that play prayers seemingly all day and night. I am regularly woken up at 4:30am by the mosque speakers, but thankfully my compound is not directly next to one.

I am getting pretty comfortable with Wolof, French, Mandinka, and Pulaar greetings, and Maleme is really a mix of all of those languages and cultures. My name here is Mariatou Gory and some people call me Ma-tou for short, which I think is cute.

There are so many animals in my daily life, but not the ones you would typically picture in Africa. I share my hut with at least 3 large rats and 4 giant lizards. They noisily chase each other across my walls each night. My first night I could not sleep at all and I kept sitting up with a start shining my flashlight on the wall trying to figure out what was rustling through my things. I'm hoping to get a cat to help me out with the rats, but Senegalese don't keep animals as pets, and are often very cruel to them. There are tons of wild cats and dogs running around though, and I might just adopt one! Hoards of donkeys, horses, goats, sheep, and chickens wander aimlessly though our home everyday. Apparently they returen to their owner's homes each night, but that has yet to be corroborated! 

Donkey's hanging out in front of my hut

My bed 

 My toilet and shower

Potential space for a garden/orchard

Cool shot of some Maleme boys under a tree

Much love to all - so thankful for you guys and thank you so much to everyone for sending the letters and packages :)

Peace out, LO