Goodbyes...transitions...

As some of you may have seen from my last post, I have just recently left my home of the last two years, a rural village in Senegal. It was an emotional transition, to say the least. During my service, I spent two years experiencing and observing a rural lifestyle in the developing world. I lived in a community of about 500 individuals--the majority of which are children--23 kilometers from a paved road, along a sand path (I don't think it would be right to use the word road here).

Day to day, I was confronted with lives that starkly contrasted from my middle-class, American one. In my community, I watched as young girls, my neighbors, only twelve years old were given husbands 3-4 times their age and sent to accompany them to far away villages where they would cook, clean, wash clothes and get pregnant...even if their bodies were in no way ready to do so. I was introduced to a subsistence farming lifestyle, as mentioned in a previous post, where children (both boys and girls) as young as four years old were forced to spend days in the one hundred and ten degree sunshine just so the family could have enough labor to finish the field work. I struggled to help/keep up with the mothers in my family as they performed daily laborious chores while carrying babies on their backs or in their bellies (maternity leave from chores while pregnant=0 days, maternity leave after birth of child=2 weeks). I watched as my family and those surrounding me spent weeks or more with little access to fresh fruits or vegetables, particularly during the early rainy season as field crops take priority over garden crops during this time. And in light of the labor and hardship in this community, the villagers access to healthcare was minimal if not nonexistent. I have heard horror stories of emergency situations: one woman pregnant with twins in labor, riding on a horse drawn cart through sand roads in the middle of the night in a rain storm just to reach the hospital in Koungheul...only to have both children die shortly after birth. And regardless of all this, I lived with a community deeply dedicated to their religion, continually praying to God as they will always stay positive and believe improvement/development is possible.

This community was the one that welcomed me in as a naive, American child just two years ago. I was adopted into a host family with two wives and now, as of recently, eight children ranging from a few weeks to 12 years old. These people became my family and I cannot thank them enough. They took care of me, cooked for me, washed my clothes and helped me with just about everything else aside from physically dressing me. I relied on them, repeatedly questioned them, loved them.

And I can't help but always think, particularly after my service, that even though I was there to witness, experience, question and observe, I was only there for a definitive two years. Those two years ended and now I will moving on to new, different things. The lifestyle I became apart of for a short time will never represent my real life. I will always have some sense of guilt that I have the privilege to leave that community, those hardships, that environment, whereas those that I learned to love will remain there. Why have I had so much opportunity in my lifetime, especially as a woman? Why did I happen to be born in the family that I was?

As the next step, I have chosen to extend my Peace Corps service for another year here in Senegal. Just two weeks ago I moved out my village to take my village-quality belongings (ripped and dirty) into the suave capital city of Dakar. Since then I have been settling into a new apartment, new amenities and a new position. For the next year I will working as the Nutrition Capacity Building Coordinator for Peace Corps Senegal...which essentially means that I will be developing our nutrition programing for all volunteer sectors in Senegal, training Senegalese work partners to extend nutrition information to their communities as well as developing/organizing resources for volunteers. I started this position a little over a week ago and I am excited for future opportunities. For example, in the picture below, we recently participated in a health event in conjunction with Special Olympics to train handicap children and their families about the importance of proper hygiene and hand washing.

Special Olympics event, extending proper hand washing
to handicap children and their families. (Dakar)

I thought I'd share with you a few video snippets of my last two years in Senegal and photos from the past few weeks in my village.

Fatou Samba (born October 15th, 2013)

The new addition! Fatou Samba, my host
mother's newborn daughter

A new start to the peanut harvest just as I
am finishing work in village. 

One hat, true happiness.

Lunchtime! Getting ready to consume a lot of rice. 

A little trade

Family photo during my last few days in village. 

C'est la vie!

I often imagine the life of a subsistence farmer in Senegal or other developing countries to be one of the most exhausting. Not only does it require an extreme amount of work performed solely by hand (no heavy machinery here) but it also depends entirely upon the rains delivered by Allah. I just want to take a moment and describe the process of farming here in Senegal, keeping in mind that during only a three-month period, these families MUST cultivate enough to eat from for the entire year.

The seeding season begins: horizons dotted with machine seeders

Farming work begins even before the rains, around May and into early June. Traditionally, and something we have been fighting consistently here as Peace Corps Volunteers, farmers hand rake and clean up all of last years crops residues or weeds into small piles. Bushes or trees are hacked down as well and the piles are left to dry in the sun. Once dried, they are burned, continuously depleting the soils, ruining its structure, and killing beneficial organisms. Fields must be clean, according to all farmers here, though clean does not lead to healthy soils.

One example of a machine seeder.

The rains usually start slowly in the end of June or early July (this is specific to my region and often differs in other regions of Senegal by a few weeks). As the rains become more consistent, the rush begins. All crops that are planted here in Senegal have at least a three-month maturation period and there is never a guarantee that rains will last for that long (there have been years where they fall short, and there are no large scale irrigation systems to supplement). Thus, once the rains start and the soil is wet enough, the race is on to seed all crops (peanuts, millet, corn, beans and rice) as quickly as possible. Usually, seeding will begin in early to mid July. (Note: Farmers always want to seed a lot, though it is a careful balance between seeding too much and not being able to care for the fields with little man power or seeding too little and not having enough for your family to eat.) Every year I have found that one morning I simply wake up after a large rain to a horizon dotted with small seeding machines pulled by two cows, a donkey or a horse, making consistent lines traversing the slope of a field. These animals quickly become exhausted. They have gone the entire dry season eating old, dried up weeds with little nutrients. People in Senegal often grow peanuts not only for the nut, but also for the hay and save it throughout the dry season to supplement these weeds. Supply, however, dries up quickly. With little legitimate food in their bellies, these animals now must pull a machine each morning and evening for hours. They quickly become emaciated.

After a few weeks, the seeding period is over and the nervous wait for germination begins. If rains are inconsistent, problems can easily arise. This year for example, we had very little rain at this time. Plants would often germinate and die from lack of water and extreme sunshine. Those that survived were subjected to an array of pests (with little rain, natural weeds failed to survive in the bush and thus a large population of pests—primarily grasshoppers—turned to the delicious crops in the fields). Farmers were forced to reseed and reseed, sometimes up to three times. You also have to imagine, that with little weeds germinating, there is still close to nothing for these farm animals to eat and yet they are continuously required to pull machinery and seed the fields.

The fields post seeding. 

In August, rains start to become frequent (every couple of days), plants that will germinate have already done so and the weeding period begins. Farmers weed between lines with a plow pulled yet again by two cows, one horse or one donkey. This eliminates the weeds between crop lines but not within them. Now, entire families head out to the fields, bent over long lines of crops to weed in between each plant (before, work requiring machines is performed entirely by men or boys). If your family is large (maybe 10 individuals or more), your lucky, as you can take a team out to the 2-3 acre field and hand weed it in about 4-5 days (I have little knowledge of farming in the states, though I imagine it would take someone 4-5 days to weed hundreds of acres). Families will work every morning and afternoon to do so and the women must still continue to take care of the house—cooking, washing dishes, washing clothes, cleaning, pulling water, taking care of the kids etc. etc. Hence why, in rural areas such as this, there is little incentive for family planning, the more help the better. 

Weeding season begins, machine weeding between lines.
(two cows, one horse or a one donkey)

The weeding period will usually last until the end of August, once over, it is a waiting game for crops to ripen. As they ripen, families go out in teams once again to bring in the goods. Beans are the first ripen and become a much-needed source of nutrients to diminishing food supplies. Then corn, which is usually eaten as a burnt treat. They will then continue on to harvest rice, millet and peanuts. A portion might be sold to buy other forms of food or to improve the house (as it now suffers from exposure to lots of water), while a larger portion will be saved for food and seed for the following year.

Another weeding example. 

After reading about all this work performed in the fields for farmers to simply get enough food for the following year there is still more to think about… All the funds and food derived from last season is on its last legs during the exact time when farmers need it most. Imagine, working morning and night and not getting enough to eat, or not eating anything of value. This is the life of a subsistence farmer in Senegal. 

Another weeding example (horse). 

Hand weeding within lines, a family effort.

More hand weeding.

The final result. A clean field of peanuts.

The most recent celebration of Korite! The end of Ramadan, and
my third time experiencing it in Senegal.

A little rain with that heat

I wanted to quickly follow up on the well project that I touched on in my last blog entry. The project was finished approximately one week ago. We started in early May with the purchase of cement from the nearby town of Kounghuel and proceeded to transport the sacks (totaling about 2 tons) 21 kilometers back to the village of Diam Diam Saly via horse-drawn carts. Contrary to my previous beliefs, this was the most time consuming phase of the entire repair. Initially, the internal structure of the well that had collapsed in previous rainy seasons was repaired by a local mason specializing in well work. The mason was actually lowered the 32 feet down into the well by a system of ropes and pulleys and gradually passed down the cement needed for the repair, one bucket at a time. After this phase of the repair was complete, a large portion of the remaining cement was used to make bricks for the external structure. Masons living within the village were hired to construct the walls surrounding the well and reinforce the platform such that future erosion water will not damage the integrity of the well. Finally, this past week, the remaining funds were used to purchase a large amount of rope and a brand new pulley for the community. (here's the link: http://appropriateprojects.com/node/1534)

Seeding millet.

Other than the well, my second rainy season in Senegal is threatening to begin. In early June we experienced two rains (between 20-30 mm) only a couple of days apart. This, of course, caused everyone to hook up their horses, donkeys and cows and seed millet into the newly wet soil. It may have been a little hasty however, in that since those two rains we have seen...nada, zip, zilch (only my own sweat). Who knew that farming with rain as your irrigation system could be so difficult (especially when there's no such thing as the 5:00 news or a weather man)? Some villagers are a little worried considering if seeds remain in the soil too long with no rain they may not germinate or could rot. In the mean while, I'll do a little rain dance. And of course, with the rains will come a lot of my work as an agriculture volunteer. Just like last year, I will be extending five types of seed (corn, millet, sorghum, rice and beans) to about ten farmers throughout the area. Accompanying the extended seed, we discuss with farmers a variety of best agriculture practices that they may or may not choose to adopt…  

Here she is!

On an exciting note, I have also discovered that the best way to find out the flora and fauna that exist in Senegal is to simply not sweep my hut for large expanses of time. In particular, this past week, I lifted one mat to discover something I never knew existed here, and if I had, I may have reconsidered coming to the country in the first place…Since its discovery it has been relocated to a nearby baobab tree though if it is to return it will not be so lucky again. (see photo)

Now, I anxiously await the month of Ramadan (about 3 weeks away) and begin the food hoarding process (similar to a squirrel preparing for hibernation). 

For pictures of a few recent adventures and the finished well, check out my photobucket (http://s1197.photobucket.com/user/katierichards0/library/The%20Hot%20Season%20Begins?sort=9&page=1). 

Working with Constraints

The well we hope to repair in Diam Diam Saly

In an effort to stay somewhat sane or occupied during the dry, hot season, I decided to take on a small well reparation project in a village nearby. Each rainy season, runoff contaminates the well in Diam Diam Saly (approximately one kilometer away from my site) to the point where its water is undrinkable. Living in a desert with no water...don't ask me how they do it. So, with a little help from the folks at Water Charity, we have begun the process of collecting materials for reinforcing the well. This past Wednesday our efforts began with a trip to Koungheul and a few important lessons were learned. After waking up at 4:30 am, I waited by the front of our compound under the moonlight, listening to the booming population of donkeys and waiting for the call to prayer. Five o'clock passed, then six o'clock, and I finally dragged my droopy self back into bed. At approximately eight o'clock the horse-drawn carriage arrived...first lesson, something I should have hammered into my head in September of 2011, nothing happens on time. The two hour ride into Koungheul under the blistering sun was...fun. After arriving, we proceeded to purchase 2,200 kilograms of cement, or 2.2 tons, along with a few other accessories. This would be carried back to the village through sheer horse power, the kind fed by peanut hay. Envisioning that this could end in some issues particularly with my level of exhaustion, I decided to catch a car back to village. I waited for the car for approximately 6 hours. Don't worry, during those six hours I was invited to attend a naming ceremony by a friend who lives in Koungheul, this is how Senegal works. You never know where your going to go, who you'll spend the day with, what you'll eat or experience. The ceremony certainly occupied me during those hours. After the car finally filled (a small Peugot pickup stuffed with approximately 20 people, 14 in the back, 2 in the front and the remaining 4 on top), I arrived home at about 6 pm, exhausted, popped in for a bucket shower and collapsed into bed before the sun went down. The carriage driver called me at about 10 o'clock to say they had broken down on the way home... second lesson, rickety carriages are not meant to carry that much cement. I believe they made it home at around midnight, a long day. It's often funny for me to imagine how little time a task such as this may have taken in the states, one hour? maybe two? maybe even just a few-minute call to the local store to deliver the cement? who knows, but here, we are living with constraints. Anyway, the reparation stage of the well is about to begin, as quickly as possible, before the rains hit, so be looking for updates.

I also have posted a couple of pictures of a wedding I attended recently. A good friend of mine from village (Mati Gueye) moved into her husbands house this past month in a village nearby and was thrown a large ceremony with lots of rice! She is the man's second wife and he was absolutely beaming, as I'm sure they all are (not pictured).

Also, checkout my photobucket for a few more photos from these past few months (http://s1197.photobucket.com/user/katierichards0/slideshow/The%20Hot%20Season%20Begins) Hope all is well in the states and heating up (I'll send some your way!)!

Mati (center) and her "wujju" or first wife (right) being driven to
their husband (not pictured) by my host father (left) on his
motorcycle.

Mati preparing for the ceremony. 

Katie, the Senegalese Kind

I have been back in village for the past three weeks now and am jumping into the swing of things. Of particular interest, this past week, I completed a malaria education program at my elementary school. (This past rainy season and even until recently, I was shocked by the amount of malaria present simply in my own family compound...my 12-year old sister contracted malaria twice during the rainy season and the small 6-month-old just recovered this past week). The program, known as "Nightwatch," is six days long and occurs after school. Each day the kids learn various things about malaria, including how it is transmitted, what are the symptoms, what to do when you contract it, how to prevent it etc. The program specifically focuses on mosquito nets and the vital role they play in preventing malaria throughout the entire year. The exciting part is that the program culminates in a short test followed by a fun activity on the last day. Each student was given a small flag (that I had made by a tailor in Kounghuel) and some fun markers. They were instructed to close their eyes and imagine what they wanted to be when they grew up....teachers, doctors, jounalists and even the president of Senegal showed up. Kids wrote their dreams on these flags and decorated them with great colors. All the flags were hung up in the classroom, though in about a weeks time each student will take home their flag. The hope is that they will hang the flags inside their mosquito net and each night be reminded that sleeping with their net will protect their dreams by keeping them healthy/malaria free.

I also have some other exciting news. In early January, I decided to attend a naming ceremony (occurs a week after the baby is born and announces his/her name) for a good friend who had her first girl on December 29th, 2012. I became close with this family during the past rainy season as they are of pulaar descent, care for multiple herds of cattle and have copious amounts of fresh milk during the farming season (delicious with millet couscous). I would often spend many a morning at their compound filling up on milk and millet and passing out for a cat nap on their floor. Their house is always bustling with tons of adults and children though most all speak solely Pulaar and therefore we find it very difficult to chat. Maam Diara (the new baby's mother) however, speaks fluent wolof, so I was always partial to passing out on her floor with a belly full of milk.

The morning of the naming ceremony, I arrived at the compound early to witness the naming of the baby (the head is shaved, a goat is slaughtered and the name is announced). I first greeted Maam Diara, who was done-up with braids and hair extensions, and then moved on to visit with her family that had traveled in for the occasion. They were quite rambunctious and enjoyed joking with the Toubab, saying I'd be the baby's namesake. Once Maam Diara and Mumadou (the baby's father) were dressed up, the baby was carried off with the women of the family, the mother and I. We all sat on beds in a small thatched roofed hut and watched as one of the baby's relatives shaved its head and placed the hair in a small bowl with water, cotton and some bark (I'm sure all symbolizing something). At one point a small wisp of hair was carried away with the wind and 3 elderly ladies chased after it ouside trying to distinguish it from goat and sheep hair (not sure what is done with the bowl of hair later but is was clear that every bit of hair needed to be included). Outside the men were busy praying and slaughtering the goat to be eaten for lunch. After the whole process, the name was announced by the father, and one woman of the family relayed the name into our room...she announced that they would be naming the baby after...Fatou Sarr....my stomach dropped , Fatou Sarr is my name... All the women looked up, fixed on me, smiling. One asked my American name as that should be the true name of the baby, Katie Richards. Maam Diara and her relatives were not joking, I am now the namesake of a beautiful baby girl in the village next door, Baby Katie (pronunciation still remains a bit difficult among the family), the Senegalese kind...

Both photos of Baby Katie and the malaria program should be added soon, so keep your eyes peeled. These next couple of weeks I look forward to touring Senegal with my parents and taking them all the way to my humble hut in the bush! They should be updating photos of their trip as well, and when I get a chance I'll let you know where to find them.

Love.

America Fresh

I have just returned from a quick three-week trip stateside. The goals of the trip were to see as much family and friends as possible as well as to fatten up a bit before going back into hiding in the Senegalese bush. As my host family and village like to tell me frequently, I returned home to breast feed at my mother’s side (sorry for the visual). Upon returning, it appears the trip was a success. Even three weeks since my re-entry into the country, I am still receiving comments like “wow, you are looking chunkier these days” or “your skin is so vibrant now” (all a result of eating American foods in wide varieties and failing to be exposed to the sun on a daily basis). Overall, the trip was amazing. It was wonderful to see family and friends and even more so to realize the support that I have from everyone. I am so lucky and must thank you all so much.



FMNR in action! (No age limit)



Saliou, a farmer from my village



Now in Senegal, I have begun my second year as a Peace Corps Volunteer…also known as…time to hunker down. The days are quickly passing and the project ideas, continuously popping into my head. Most recently, I attended a week-long training in the city of Thies. This training invited approximately forty Master Farmers from all across the country, including two from my village in particular. I’m not sure if I have introduced this program yet on my blog but it is something that I have worked extremely closely with in the past year. The Master Farmer Program chooses respected and experienced farmers in communities all across the country, primarily in rural areas where farming is the main source of income for the majority of families. Peace Corps brings these farmers to our training center in Thies and teaches them numerous farming, gardening and agroforestry techniques (farmers will usually attend at least one training per year). All techniques hope to improve the current farming/gardening practices in Senegal by stressing the improvement of soil structures, since most have been ravaged from years of farming (fertilizer abuse) and deforestation. Overall, we, as volunteers, then work to help these farmers bring these techniques back to their respective communities and demonstrate them in an enclosed space. One highlight of this training was two days spent at a local reforestation project which introduced to both me and my master farmers a technique known as Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR). In an effort to reverse desertification, FMNR teaches farmers to utilize and care for naturally occurring trees within their fields, as opposed to clearing them each start of the raining season (resulting in multiple issues including erosion and decreased soil quality). Fostering the natural growth of trees throughout a field can increase a farmer’s or gardener’s overall yield through increased soil fertility, water infiltration and retention, biodiversity or even shade (something we all love here in Senegal).



more pruning...



After this training and a small break for Christmas, I cannot wait to jump back into things in village. This past month, villagers have finished harvesting their peanuts and due to a particularly rain-filled rainy season harvests are proving prosperous and pockets slightly happier. They are now amidst the home-improvement season, as field crop stalks (millet, corn, sorghum) are abundant and being used to replace old, falling fences and dead weeds are being collected for roofing materials. As for me, aside from plans to continue extending some great techniques like FMNR at the Master Farm, I have hopes to start a small school garden at the elementary school (including not only nutritional vegetables but just plain pretty flowers…fun for the kiddies). I have also recently received funds to start a women’s garden in a village approximately two kilometers away from my site. This group of women have been struggling to garden in both the rainy and dry season as they lack a properly protected space to do so (with goats, sheep, cows, horses, donkeys and chickens running rampant, you can imagine it’s nearly impossible). Their efforts during the rainy season, as well, have been confined to seasonal ponds, however, when large rainstorms hit these efforts are often destroyed by flooding. So, let’s hope all goes well!

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!



Saliou, Omar and I at the end of the
 training this past week.



Korite

   

All the kids!

My mother, Fatouxadi
and her youngest, Sulemon.

Khadi Sarr (the second wife)
and her first child, Ibrahima
(now 4 months)

The boys!

Just the lovely ladies...

This past Monday was the celebration of Korite, or the end of Ramadan. Everyone in my family wore their best outfits for the occasion and cooked up a nice lunch of goat meat, potatoes, onions and macaroni (all in a sauce, a good change of a pace!). Here are a few pictures of the occasion!

Are you hungry?

Here we are now in the midst of the rainy season and the month of Ramadan (started on the 19th of July and will culminate in the holiday of Korite on the 18th of August). This past month has just allowed me to fully realize the work ethic of the villagers and their general ability to survive dire conditions. On a typical day of Ramadan, most (sadly including pregnant and nursing women within my village though luckily excluding children) wake up around 4:30 or 5 am before the sunrise. At this time they eat a small meal and drink a ton of water in preparation for the days work. From this early morning meal until sunset there is no eating or drinking any substance. With this in mind, these villagers are now spending entire days in fields as the farming season is now fully upon us. Beautiful green fields have sprouted up but are also filled with weeds that could impinge on crops and threaten yields. Men are in charge of weeding in between crop lines with a machine pulled by cows, one horse or a donkey. Women, children and men (once finished with the previous job) are then bent over with small handheld hoes that remove weeds within the endless lines of peanuts, millet, corn, beans or sorghum (primarily peanuts and millet for my particular village). I, personally, have made multiple trips out to the fields with my family and other community groups and I can safely say this is some of the most back-breaking/blister generating work I've ever done (and I am drinking plenty of water and arguably/ironically eating twice as much food during this past month as I ever have in Senegal). I am ashamed to say that the nine-year-old boy within my compound is better at this than I am...On top of all this, despite the fact that we are in the rainy season, the days are still extremely hot, reaching temps of at least 90 degrees and high humidity. One can only imagine how tired and dehydrated these people become spending the whole day, between the hours of 7 am and 6 pm in the fields. Many often tell me that if they return home in the middle of the day all there is to think about is that glass of water or that bowl of rice that you're missing for lunch. So, needless to say, this past month has made for a fairly lonely village. When they finally return home, most shower and quietly wait for break fast, which comes around 7:30 pm. Families, if the funds are available, will break fast with a small amount of bread, coffee and occasionally dates as a special treat. In my particular household, we eat lunch (as they have just pushed this meal from midday to sunset) around 8:30 pm. This, as usual, is a rice dish with some sort of sauce. This time of year is characterized as the "hunger season." The money from the last crop/the last time my family got a cash influx of any sort has now fully run out, having been finished off on buying as good quality seed as possible and fertilizer for this year's fields. Overall, just imagine, fasting is now combined with extremely difficult labor in full sunshine in Africa and very little nutritious food to help you through it. No one said it was easy.  

My front door.

The view from my room to the compound...
filled with water.

Where my toilet used to exist...

I also wanted to mention that this rainy season is a completely new experience for me (may seem like an obvious statement..). For some reason, when villagers had previously mentioned that Allah would soon be bringing rain, I imagined continuously drizzly Northwest days spent inside and simply could not wait for a reminder of home. This is not the case. The rains here exhibit themselves in a drastically different fashion and come with a variety of fun/interesting side effects. Most often or at least most recently, rains come at night and therefore do not provide too much relief from the sunshine. Villagers know when they are about to arrive because of extremely hot temperatures, a lack of any wind (meaning lots of sweat) and a ton of lightning on the horizon. When the lightning and deafening thunder passes over the vill, it ushers in torrential down pours that can cause serious damage to houses, fields, or anything! Houses, some constructed of only sand, simply fall over, roofs fall in, pit toilets collapse, seeds wash off of fields, roads wash out (making it very difficult to leave ones rural village in search of icecream...). As an example, a few days ago, we experienced a rain of 60 mm in one evening. Both doors to my small abode were filled with puddles and I was confined to my room for the night. I fell asleep early but was awoken by an abrupt crash. I ventured out of my room to find that my luxurious, personal, bathroom was now fully covered with a wall from the adjacent building of the house (luckily no collapsing of any sort occurred and a simple moving of bricks should do the trick...). In addition, this new moisture also brings new biodiversity and huge amounts of beautiful greenery. My room has now seen mushrooms, molds, snails, bats, toads and amazing amounts of flies. 

A mushroom in my room
(photo requested by my father)

Overall, I am enjoying this change of pace. I am learning a lot about subsistence farming lifestyles and how I may potentially help in my second year of Peace Corps service. Work has been a difficult area for me, but as the Wolofs always say, "Ndank Ndank mooy japp ngolo ci ney." or "slowly you will catch the monkey in the bush." 

Currently, I do not have my computer with me and am therefore unable to upload photos but this will hopefully happen within the next month.

Hope summer fun is continuing in America! Love.

Things are Changing!

The rains have arrived! And so have a lot of other perks and pitfalls that accompany them! Check out a few photos I just uploaded of the now rain-inundated Sali.

http://s1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa428/katierichards0/Sali/

Rain Waiting

Hello all! Here in Senegal, things are about to change drastically, everyone has their eyes glued to the sky…waiting for rain. The other night after dinner (around 10 pm), as I sat outside and continued to sweat, a good friend informed me that Allah is in the process of “cooking water.” Essentially meaning, it is necessary for it to get extremely hot, so that we can get consistent rains during the next few months. So, recently, temperatures have been getting higher and higher….or…are at least feeling higher and higher (reaching around 110 degrees). Needless to say, 90% of the day, my hand is extended with a small handheld fan (non-electric, energy-consuming).

Aside from sweating, the work pace is also starting to pick up for the villagers of Sali. In the past few months, in preparation for the rains, all the men of the village have been waking up early and spending most days in the fields. Their field preparation involves cleaning up last year’s left over field crop residues, cutting down any new bushes or weeds, raking all this into piles and burning it up! As you might imagine, in an area that has not seen a significant amount of moisture in more than 9 months, this preparation process leads to lots and lots of bush fires. Villagers are often very careful to wait until dawn or dusk when the wind subsides, but with so many of them, there is no avoiding it. As a result, the bush surrounding my village is suffering some severe damage from generations and generations of this same process. The fires have also been known to make their way into villages (believed to be the work of a genie according to many) which can become extremely devastating very quickly with roofs of houses made of dried weeds, fences/walls made of dried millet stalks and the only water source coming from wells with pulleys and buckets to pull the water. Luckily, my village only had a small fire incident this year and no one was hurt.

In the region of Kaffrine, meteorologists predict that the first large rain of the season should occur between June 18^th and 23^rd  (defined by 20 millimeters at least). Farmers here rely on this. When seeding (primarily peanuts, millet, corn, sorghum and beans), they eagerly await enough rain to keep the soil moist for a few days, enough to get their seeds to germinate. If it does not rain again within a week or so of that first rain, their entire crop could dry up under the midday sun. If they wait too long, however, until the rains are consistent, they may not have enough time for their crop to fully mature during the season. A delicate balance! Just to give you an idea of the importance riding on this rainy season, these crops are the primary source of income for villagers, and currently the cash from the previous crop, 9 months ago, is running dry….and the food running bland (also, add to this that the last rainy season was marked by very few rains and many had poor crops or little money). Most are very anxious.

             In addition, just outside of the village, things are on the move for the nomadic pulaar people. These people make a living with extremely large herds of cows, sheep and goats. As the rains get closer and closer, they are now headed north. I did not understand this phenomenon at first, but then someone explained that clearly, if all these herds were in the fields during seeding time, any brand new baby field crops would be eaten up! Therefore, recently, large charettes pulled by multiple donkeys (sometimes up to five!) piled with every one of their possessions have been parading through the village. And to think, I thought we were living the hard life in rural Senegal, these people are yet another step down (or up?)…

As for me, with the changing seasons, my work is picking up. As a “sustainable agriculture extension agent,” I am responsible for extending improved seed varieties to motivated farmers in the village. Once extended, I follow the seeds, visit the farms weekly and provide small pointers on how to get a better crop (what the heck do I know!!??). So, my life for the next few months will involve a lot of walking, looking at fields and trying to get farmers to think I know what I’m talking about. We’ll see how it goes!
Lastly, check out some new photos on photobucket (sorry there are not too many!).

http://s1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa428/katierichards0/Sali/

Until next time! Love!

Food for thought...

Having now lived in Senegal for almost 8 months, there are many sights and cultural phenomena that no longer strike me as strange. Seeing sheep and goats piled on top of public transport, watching a cow SLEEP on a horse-drawn carriage or eating out of a communal bowl with lots of snotty children... now un-phased.   However, there are a few things here in Senegal that, despite how much time I spend adapting to village life, still strike me as drastically different from the American culture in which I was raised.

On a daily basis I get the pleasure of interacting with seven amazing children (those that live within my compound). None of these children exceed the age of 11, though all of them are working on daily chores for the majority of the day. Fatou, a sassy pre-teen/my namesake/one of my best informants, is quickly learning the skills she needs to be a wife and a mother. Her responsibilities include sweeping and cleaning the compound, washing clothes (including mine), cooking lunch and dinner, pounding millet and pulling water from the well for the family to both drink and shower…all done while carrying baby Sulemon on her back (considering he prefers her back to his own mother’s). The younger sister, Awa (age 5), is quickly following in Fatou’s footsteps and beginning to share responsibility in many of these tasks. As boys, Aadama (twin of Awa) and Mali (age 8) are responsible for taking care of the farm animals (goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, a cow and a donkey). Every morning they get up at dawn to venture into the bush and fill large rice sacks with weeds to feed the animals, in addition to watering them twice daily. This may sound cruel to many, though I see a strong desire in very small children to start this process and contribute to the family’s wellbeing. Aissatou, age 3, frequently follows Fatou to the well with a kilo-tomato paste can in hopes of filling it with water, carrying it on her head and adding to the family’s water reserves. And when my morning goal was to carry extensive amounts of manure from the backyard to my small demonstration garden, I was followed by 7 or so children working to contribute their small portions of manure to my pile. In experiencing all of this, I can’t help but think that we need a taste of it in rearing our children. Make the 3-year old cook dinner! Put the 5-year-old in charge of babysitting! Or at the very least get them away from the video games or TV…

In addition, I recently had an extensive conversation with the French teacher in Saly. He was able to give me some great insight as to how families in Senegalese communities deal with money matters. As the eldest brother in his family and the most prosperous, he is responsible for funding the entire Muslim celebration of Tabaski each year (a Thanksgiving or Christmas equivalent). This involves buying new clothing for each member of his family, any food for the day and, of course, the sheep. For his family, he said, these expenses could add up to a couple thousand dollars and successfully empty his bank account/savings from the previous year of work. This does not matter. Here, if you have funds, you share them. If you see an individual wandering the streets with no way to eat/survive, you take them in or provide them with a meal…even if it generates a burden for you and your family. Our closest neighbor in village, a woman named Marem Dimb, is pretty darn old and pretty darn blind. Her daily visits to our house usually result in lots of laughter (specifically from her fear of my cat that she cannot see) but often in my father offering her some money from the family funds, despite the fact that they may not be able to afford this. Why is sharing money such a problem in our culture? This is something else I think we can learn from, Senegalese will share until they have nothing left…though maybe we shouldn’t go this far…

            Anyway, just thought I would share a few things that I’ve been thinking about and provide a little more insight into some cultural values here. Time in village involves a lot of moments to sit and drink tea and ponder all of this. Until next time!

Featuring....

Sulemon! (Male/7 months old/single) The best series of photos I have taken yet in Senegal. 

I have also just updated my photobucket with a few more photos, so check them out.

http://s1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa428/katierichards0/Sali/

This next week I should have good access to internet and hope to write a good blog update! Ba beneen yoon! (until next time).

Girls Leadership Camp!

Hi All!

Just wanted to send out a quick update, as I have some great internet access! Currently, I am in the city of Koalack (known for its sheer amounts of trash) and have just had a meeting regarding the upcoming Girls Leadership Camp in June. This is all very exciting, as now I am finally getting to start into some projects. This leadership camp chooses high performing high school aged girls from all across the Koalack region (each region of Senegal hosts a camp). These girls are of course volunteer chosen, and my close neigherbor, Josh, and I plan to attend a couple of high schools in his area (Koungheul) in search of some good candidates in the future. As I have already experienced throughout my rural village, women in Senegal are often married off at a very young age (as little as 10 or 12) and destined to spend their lives cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and reproducing. This five day long camp aims to educate these girls about the opportunities that exist for them outside this lifestyle. The camp incorporates sessions on self-esteem, individuality, women's health, career opportunities, sports, self defense etc... many of which are volunteer taught. Currently, as some of you may have guessed, the camp is looking for funding so as to make it the most effective for these girls. If anyone would like to donate please follow the link below!

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=685-198

This website provides a small blurb about the camp and look to the side bar on the right for information about donating! No donation is too small!

In addition to this, I have just added more photos to my "Sali" album on photobucket. Nothing too exciting has occurred recently in village, but the new photos do include the brand new baby (the second wife's first child) which was born on March 3rd, a boy named Ibrahima Sal Sarr or Ibu for short. In addition, upon my return to village tomorrow, I should be greeted (fingers crossed) with a brand new hut! A few things might be missing from it (including cement covering the walls) but I will still welcome the chance to move away from the bats and mice into a nice, cool hut! So, there are a few photos of the building process as well.

Enjoy!  http://s1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa428/katierichards0/Sali/

Also, I would welcome any suggestions about what you would like to see or hear about! I am still very new at blogging and am not sure if what I include in my posts is the information that everyone is looking to hear. Shoot me an email or comment and let me know if you have questions or want to see pictures of anything etc.

Thanks again! Katie

Raw Hog

My life has been pretty crazy most recently and is only just starting to slow down and develop a routine. In the first couple of weeks in February, all of the agricultural volunteers that arrived with me in Senegal in August (totaling 54) got together at the Training center for our In-Service Training (IST). These were two very exhausting weeks involving 8-5 everyday in the classroom or garden, trying to obtain as much knowledge as possible about farming in Senegal/what our future job involves. After finishing this training, I returned to my village on the 16^th of February. Now, as other Peace Corps volunteers may attest to, is kind of a strange and stressful transition period. The first three months in village (before IST), is when our time should be spent getting to know the community, chatting while shelling peanuts or drinking attaaya. However now, all of the sudden, things are expected of us. I feel pressure from myself, the community and my colleagues to get some projects underway/be of some importance within the community. Though something you learn very quickly as a PCV in developing countries is that nothing happens fast. And in addition, you as the PCV, are never to lead a project, only to facilitate or hopefully initiate motivation. This is of course all in the hope that our projects will be sustainable and after we return to the states there will be some sort of community structure in place to continue them. In addition, we have to be very careful in the projects we choose for this exact reason –sustainability. The community must actually be interested in the project and have some investment, as opposed to it being imposed upon them. Thus, here I sit, still slightly nervous to take the first step and trying to be sure that everything is in line before I do so.

Most recently, I have been spending lots of time in my small 12x12 meter garden space, digging beds and seeding things like tomato, lettuce, carrot, eggplant, okra, and Moringa (a great tree! A craze in international development work, google it!). I hope that I can set up some demonstrations in the garden that will be of interest to the village, i.e. mulching, composting etc. Though this is all under the assumption that my baby plants will survive the fast approaching 120-30^oF sunshine (now at about 100^oF). Other than this my head is spinning with more projects but it may be a while until I know where to start.

Before I go, I do feel obligated to update a story that shows a little of what Senegalese hospitability really means. A few days ago I traveled about 5 kilometers away on a horse drawn charette to a tourist camp nearby. A Frenchman owns the camp and brings in small groups of people to visit Senegal and go hunting for various bird species in the bush. Every once in a while they catch a warthog and since this is way too much meat for just those at the camp, they often offer it to the few catholic villages nearby. A few Senegalese that work at the camp asked if I would like to try a taste the next time they catch one. Of course, I was thrilled to integrate more protein into my diet and responded with yes. A few nights ago, I had completely forgotten about this encounter and turned in early, around 9 or 10 pm. About 10 minutes after settling into bed, I got a knock at the door from a friend who works at the camp. I opened it to find him struggling to hoist a large front leg and shoulder of warthog into the air to show me. This leg had been FRESHLY cut off the carcass, still covered with course warthog hair and a lovely tick crawling on it. My friend was completely expectant that I would simply set the raw piece of flesh on a shelf in my room, wait until morning and consume the kilos of meat all to the myself. After much shock and babbling on my part, I finally convinced him to at least cut the meat from the leg, throw the remains to the dogs in the bush and then I would keep the rest in an enclosed bowl through the night. Needless to say, I did not sleep at all that night as I assumed rabid dogs would break down my rickety door in search of the raw hog. All turned out okay, I ended up cutting off a small piece for myself and carried the rest to a nearby catholic friend. Anyway, just goes to show you, you ask for a little, they give a lot!

Until next time! Love you all, sending some of this sunshine your way!  

Laying the Foundation...

...of a brand new hut (or some other metaphor if you prefer)!!

My village has officially begun the building process of my new hut, almost three months late... And I am ecstatic! I can't wait to move in! My father has informed me that the search for weeds to complete the roof should be finished soon and the doors and floor will follow shortly after (you guessed it, I just have walls).
     Other than this, I recently visited the post office in Koungheul. My multiple previous visits in search for some mysterious packages (I had heard rumors of from the states) always ended up in disappointment. Most recently, however, after a long stint in village, I chose to make the voyage again. This time, I was led into the back storage room....only to find... a nearly entirely empty room, except for a corner filled with packages all addressed to me! This was the best Christmas ever!! Thank you all so much! I really appreciate the thought that went into each and every one of those and I seriously cannot describe the shear joy that any PCV feels when receiving quality food and goodies from America. Thank you!
     At this point, I don't have too much to update a full blog post, but I have recently added quite a few photos to my "Sali" album on photobucket. The photos have a few family members and include a bit of the  hut building process. Follow the link to check it out:

http://s1197.photobucket.com/albums/aa428/katierichards0/Sali/

Currently I am in the wonderful city of Thies for what's called IST or In Service Training. The idea being that now that we've been in village a few months, as volunteers, and we should have some understanding of what things we would like to learn about/implement within our sites. Thus, we have two big weeks of classes to get a lot of information! This does mean that I will have some pretty good access to internet for a while, so if you would like to get in touch, I would love to hear from you!

Hope all is well and the weather is turning up! Maybe even a little snow?
Love

Well, I have officially been in village 2 months as of January 11^th. I can certainly say that those first few weeks of adapting were the most challenging (not knowing a soul and not speaking the language) and during that time I frequently questioned if I could really stick this out for two years. Now, however, I am starting to feel more and more comfortable each day (or maybe its just that distance makes the heart grow fonder and I was just on a great beach vacation…not sure as of yet). Something that helps and fills my time, I am beginning to develop a routine of visiting many of the family compounds within the village, chatting over attaaya (strong/sugary tea) and getting ideas for what they would like to see happen in terms of development within their community. Many would like gardening projects including composting or live fencing, but others bring up things like fixing the peanut shelling machine (so women and children don’t have to spend hours shelling a bucket of peanuts that could be done in one minute), getting solar panels for the materinity ward or school or health post, improving access to water by digging wells or spickets in the community, or even building latrines (as many here still don’t have them). As some may notice, not all of these are agriculturally related… I’m beginning to realize that though I made hold the title of “sustainable agricultural extension agent,” I have the freedom to undertake many projects within the village and am very excited to do so…

Other than making my way through the community, and in the process realizing what great people reside here, I have been spending a lot of time with my work counterpart, Omar. This past year, Peace Corps provided Omar with a hectare of land surrounded by a chain link fence and a concrete building in which to keep tools and seeds. This was all under the condition that he would work closely with the agricultural volunteer in the village (now me!) and help extend/demonstrate new agricultural techniques to the village. Omar, Sali—a great guy that works daily in Omar’s garden and is obsessed with just that…working—and I have been diligently putting together a garden. We’re working on digging lots of beds, amending the soil (now purely sand) with manure/compost etc., and seeding and planting things like lettuce, cabbage, onions and okra. Now, the garden is….well just dirt, but I have high hopes that it soon will improve. In addition to this, Omar has had some problems with monkeys (not sure what type) coming into his garden and stealing his now ripening watermelon. To solve this issue, he recently went out into the bush, found a dog with puppies and snatched two of them. He hopes soon they will protect his hectare of land from those thieves. This certainly contributes to the fun I have the garden, getting to play with two adorable puppies and laughing at how scared a lot of Senegalese people are when they see them.

I have also really become comfortable at the health post in the village. The local doctor and his wife are smart, hilarious people both of whom grew up in the larger cities of Senegal and are therefore a bit more understanding/educated regarding my culture and habits. Whenever I have time, I enjoy visiting them as they often spoil me with very nutritious food (like salad!) and always offer the best conversation. This makes me very excited to take on projects involving the health post. Right now, I’m thinking about doing a very simple seminar on hand washing with soap. This sounds obvious, but seeing is believing here, what looks clean is clean, and therefore most just use water before eating (you can imagine how many sicknesses this could cause when people eat with their hands).

As of now, I am off to the city of Thies for what’s called the “All Volunteer Conference.” Peace Corps Volunteers are getting together from all across West Africa to discuss projects etc. It should be a great opportunity to get ideas for my community, not to mention a visit to my previous host family! Hope everyone is having a great start to the New Year!! Until next time!