Merry Christmas from Dahra! So I decided to spend Christmas in my site this year instead of going to Dakar, St. Louis, or Popinguine with some other volunteers. I am really glad that I decided to stay in Dahra. While Christmas wasn’t the same as in the States, I had a wonderful experience :) . On Christmas Eve day, I went to the missionaries’ house here in Dahra for a delicious turkey dinner, complete with stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, salad, and pies :) . Afterwards, we all hung out and played some cards. They even gave me a Christmas present – a decorated container with some candy inside :) . I am so grateful for having other Christian believers nearby. They were also kind enough to loan some Christmas decorations for my house:
Afterwards, I went to a Senegalese wrestling match (very “Christmas-y” right?). As in true Senegalese fashion, the match started about 3 hours late, which meant the sun was already setting. Of course, just as the match started, the power went out…lol. I used this as my time to escape to my host family’s house to eat dinner with them. The Senegalese people celebrate the 24th for some reason with a big meal of chicken…I don’t even think they know why they celebrate from what I gathered. *Sidenote: There was also a Gamou going on near my family’s house that I was invited to; a Gamou is similar to an Islamic revival, so needless to say, I did not want to participate. Luckily with the power outage, I was able to avoid that and not offend anyone. So my family wanted me to come have dinner with them; they were so awesome….they prepared half a chicken just for me and gave me my own bowl with that, French fries, onion sauce, lettuce, and bread…it was delicious! I hung out with them a little bit until the power came back on and then headed back home. Once home, I was able to Skype my parents who were at my grandmother’s house with the rest of my mom’s side of the family. I was able to talk and see everyone for a few minutes, so that was incredible. I am so thankful for technology…it has made this whole experience so much easier!
On Christmas, I spent most of the day at my house just reading and watching Christmas movies. Late that afternoon, I was able to Skype mom and dad over at my other grandmother’s house so as to talk to all the family over there :) Afterwards, I went out to a local Christian-ran clinic where they were showing the “Jesus film” in Pulaar (and no I do not understand Pulaar, but I know the story :) ) There was a good gathering, so that was encouraging to see. After the film, they served dinner and some sort of fruity drink (which I am pretty sure is the cause of my violent illness later that night…better now though). Afterwards, I made a short appearance at an AIDS awareness event and then went home to call it a night. Overall, a wonderful experience that I am very thankful for; definitely not your typical American Christmas, but I am in Senegal…
Hello! My apologies again for such a long delay between postings; I’m new at this whole blog thing. So I spent the last 3 weeks in Thies for our West African All-Volunteer Conference (All-Vol) and In-Service Training (IST). All-Vol is when all the PC volunteers in Senegal and some from neighboring countries gather together to share best practices in the field. The conference was for 2 ½ days filled with presentations from all sectors; all of the presentations that I went to were really interesting. I’m not sure how much they relate to possible work that I will be doing here in Dahra, but it was still really cool to see success stories from other volunteers. One of the best parts about the conference was actually the night before All-Vol started when we had a conference call with Steve Radelet, author of Emerging Africa. I am taking part in a development theory seminar that our Country Director is facilitating, and Emerging Africa was one of the books that we had read. Steve Radelet is very knowledgeable in the subject area of development, and is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer, so he was very helpful in discussing PCV’s role in development.
After All-Vol, I had two weeks of IST with all of the other volunteers in my stage. IST is when we are supposed to gain more technical knowledge that will help us better execute our projects. Overall, I enjoyed IST. I feel as though I did learn a lot and it helped me to focus on what I really want to accomplish over the next two years. However, it was a lot of time stuck inside watching PowerPoint presentations. It would have been nice to have some more hands-on activities or some more cross-sector classes. In the middle of IST, we were able to go to Dakar to visit the Artisans Expo. This is when PCVs that are working with artisans bring them to Dakar to showcase and sell their items to ex-pats that may be returning home for the holidays. I bought several things :) My favorite purchase is my new chair; it may not look that comfortable, but it is…also, the engraving is really cool!
Hello!
So with Christmas approching quickly and my birthday soon to follow, I thought I would provide you all with a wish list of some sort, in case anyone would like to send me packages :) Please see the list below my mailing address. These are items that I would like throughout my service, so feel free to send them at anytime :) Of course, I will be happy with anything that is sent to me and I would love to receive cards as much as anything else. Thank you in advance!
