Vacation to Greece

To celebrate my one year anniversary in Senegal, I took a vacation to Greece :) I have always wanted to go to Greece, so this seemed like a perfect time to do so. Greece was amazing! I had such a blast, and ate so much food! (I gained 4 pounds in 10 days lol). I arrived in Athens on a Saturday and spent most of the evening just wandering around. On Sunday, I went up to the Acropolis and then spent the rest of the day visiting some of the other ruins sites.

Parthenon

Me in the midst of Greek ruins

Temple of Zeus, Hadrian's Arch, and the Acropolis

Monday and Tuesday were museum days.

On Wednesday, I took a ferry to the beautiful island of Santorini where I would spend the next couple of days. I spent most of my time on the beach, but also rented an ATV one day so that I could tour the island. That was probably my favorite part of the trip. I have been without a vehicle (or reliable transportation of any kind) for over a year now; just being able to go where I wanted, when I wanted to, was amazing and liberating. The island of Santorini is gorgeous and very unique. The way it is today is because of a volcano eruption, which makes for a very interesting landscape. I was able to tour 3 of the local wineries; that was really cool because it's hard to believe the grapes are able to be cultivated out of volcanic ash...but it's possible and the result is delicious!

On Saturday, I headed back to Athens for the night before getting on a plane to take me back to Senegal. I had a wonderful vacation and am very glad that I chose to go to Greece. Another good sign, I was actually looking forward to being back in Dahra...guess I do really enjoying being in Senegal :)

Waste Management Update

So one of the projects that I am working on is trying to find a waste management solution for the horrible, disgusting trash problem that plagues Dahra (as well as the rest of the country).  As you may remember from previous blog posts, I have had some trouble with this because the mayor’s office wants to help out, yet they are not willing to provide any sort of financing (in other words, they just want their name on it). Well, I had pretty much given up on this project until my counterpart started finding women’s groups that were already cleaning their neighborhoods. These women sweep their streets once a week and then pay a horse cart to take their trash outside the city. This is awesome, because it’s what the mayor’s office wants, yet the women themselves started it (yay for grassroots initiative!). So how am I able to help them? I am trying to link the women’s groups to the mayor’s office so that the mayor’s office can supply the horse cart. I am also helping the women buy more brooms and sifters; and hopefully can invest in some trashcans down the road.

One Year Anniversary plus Malaria Tournee

August 11, 2011 marked my one year anniversary in Senegal; and it was a wonderful day! I had just spent the previous few days travelling around the Djolof (the area of Senegal that I am located in) with the other Linguere region volunteers discussing malaria causes and prevention. We visited 11 villages in four days and over 1300 people were informed…I consider that a success! At each village, we started out with some “theatre” debunking some of the popular, local myths as to how one can get malaria (eating un-ripened mangoes, working out in the sun, spirits, drinking too much milk, or dancing too much). Afterwards, the volunteers took turns explaining how malaria is really transmitted (via mosquitoes), symptoms of malaria, and prevention options. Each village audience was different, but I think that overall, they truly enjoyed having a bunch of white people come in and make fools of themselves (while speaking the local language), while informing them how to protect themselves against malaria. A huge thanks goes out to Mr. Tidiane Diao, who was nice enough to drive us around for several days (carting 13 volunteers and props in a pick-up truck throughout the bush), and who went above and beyond in helping us explain our message to the local population.

Afterwards, I was able to have a nice cold beer with my stage-mate Abby and our PCVL Mary, to celebrate our one year in country and Mary’s two year anniversary in country. We then went and broke fast with Tidiane (who is Muslim and had been fasting everyday as well as dealing with us); and then headed back to the regional house for some cake…Overall, a wonderful way to celebrate my one year anniversary in Senegal!