Greetings from Dahra!

             My apologies for not posting any sooner, I have been having some internet issues but I do believe that they have been resolved. So I have been in Dahra since October 20, 2010, and I feel like I am going non-stop. My counterpart is very excited and committed to working with Peace Corps, so he has introduced me everyone in town that he feels like I should know in order to be successful. It has been crazy. It’s so hard to remember everyone’s name here because they sound so different than American names. It’s also difficult because they all remember mine since I’m the new toubob in town (“toubob” is the wonderful Senegalese word for “foreigner”…and they love to call you that…especially the children).

          Overall though, I am really enjoying Dahra. It’s really freaking hot, and I’m pretty sure I’m dehydrated everyday no matter how much water I drink. Supposedly the cool season is approaching…I will believe it when I feel it :) Everyone that I have met so far seems really nice and excited to have a volunteer. I do feel overwhelmed at times though, because they want me to fix all these problems, like lack of water or electricity in every home or build them a new school (which are very important actually), but I do not have the skills nor is it my responsibility. Also trying to explain that I am here to help the community via training, facilitating workshops or help find finance option, not just giving them money, has been a little difficult. Luckily my counterpart understands that, so he’s able to help re-enforce that. He’s also doing a great job in screening people and not giving anyone my phone number.

            So my living situation here is pretty sweet. I actually have my own house! I have a host family which lives about 15 minutes away by foot (in sand), but there are a lot of people in that household – 20+ -- so my counterpart and PC supervisor thought that the house would be best. It’s in a rather quiet neighborhood, so not much noise going on. I have a main room, bedroom, office, bathroom, and kitchen. I have a fence, but there are several holes throughout and there is no gate which invites all the local livestock to come hang out. Sheep, goats, chickens, cats and dogs all like to hang out in my front yard. Still needs a little sprucing up, but I’m really happy. I’m able to head home each night, relax and cook my own dinner  :)
       Here are some pictures of my life in Dahra...I promise to add more later :)



yes, those are Obama pens



A Tribute to Star

So some of you may know this, but probably not: I love baby goats! They are so adorable and I just enjoying watching them play. Well, my counterpart’s family invited me over for lunch one day and they had 8 baby goats at their house. I was so excited! I couldn’t help staring at them. My counterpart’s mom noticed and decided to give me one as a gift. I tried to refuse, but she insisted. So I picked one out (the runt of the litter) but said that she needed to stay there with it’s family. Well, I named her Star and visited as much as I could without the family thinking I was cuckoo. However, she passed away a week ago; she had been the smallest and not able to feed as much as she needed to in order to stay healthy and grow.  Here’s a picture of me holding her J

Vacation in St. Louis!

Last week I went to St. Louis for a few days for a Wolof language seminar. While I was there for training, it felt like a vacation! St. Louis is very nice and much cooler than Dahra since it is on the coast. We had class in the morning, but then had the evenings off so we could explore. The seminar  was great for me because it reminded that I really needed to work on Wolof more (haven’t had to really because I can communicate with my counterpart in French and my level of Wolof was nowhere near being able to communicate with people, so I kind of just shut down).  Our language teacher did a wonderful job and I hope that I can continue to improve. Below are some pictures from St. Louis:

yes, that is a baby hammerhead shark

SHEEP!!!

So this Wednesday is a major Muslim holiday here in Senegal, called Tabaski. This is one holiday I can understand and have no issues celebrating because it celebrates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac when God asked him to, and then God provided a ram in Isaac’s place. To celebrate, each family buys a sheep (more than one if they have multiple families or have the money to do so) which they slaughter the morning of Tabaski and then eat later on in the day. Because of this, there are a ton of sheep everywhere! Dahra already had a lot of sheep, but due to Tabaski, the number has increased dramatically.



Well, on our (one of the volunteers in Linguere, a neighboring city, went to the language seminar with me) way to St. Louis, we took a bus. This bus had, I kid you not, at least 30 sheep inside the bus on the floor under the seats. Then there were about 25-30 people inside the bus. Also,there were probably close to another 20 sheep on top of the bus. We had to ride 6 hours to St. Louis with our feet up or risk being jabbed by a horn (a good Tabaski sheep is white and has massive horns). Needless to say, it was a rather interesting experience. Below is a picture, but it doesn’t do the experience justice.