My apologies for not posting anything sooner, but life since my last post in January has been rather uneventful. Upon my return from Dakar, Dahra was cold and windy (cold for here...nights were in the high 50s, days in the low 80s). I returned from Dakar with a cold and needless to say, the weather in Dahra didn't help out very much. I spent much of the following 2 weeks just hanging out at my house, catching up on some reading.
At the beginning of February, Julia came out to visit Dahra for my birthday and then we headed to Lampoul for the weekend. Lampoul was beautiful; sand dunes, camels, and sleeping in a nice big tent! It was so peaceful there...I hope to go back before the end of my service.
Concerning work projects, February was a very slow month. The first round of the presidential election was held on February 26th, so the entire month was busy with campaigns. While I am not to be involved in any political matter here in Senegal, my counterpart and supervisor in Dahra are very involved in politics. So are most of the other people that I need to speak with concening work projects; thus making it nearly impossible to do any work. Plus, the high school has been on strike pretty much the entire school year, so I haven't been able to teach any IT classes like I had hoped. Since the elections are going into a run-off vote at the end of March, I am assuming that the month of March will be similar to February.
I was able to finish a project in partnership with Appropriate Projects during the month of February. Appropriate Projects is an awesome NGO that finances small-scale water and sanitation projects. With their help, I was able to help an elementary school in Dahra build some bathrooms. The project took about 5 weeks to complete; I think everyone involved is happy with the outcome.
I also went on a Moringa tournee with the other volunteers in the Djolof. Moringa is this amazing tree that can grow almost anywhere and has a lot of nutritional content.The volunteers covered the nutritional content of moringa, how to grow moringa, and how to make powder from the leaves. For the tournee, I was mainly just moral support ( and I spent several days making morninga powder). They did a wonderful job and I am very proud of them. Like our maleria awareness tournee, we could not have pulled it off without the help of Tidiane Dia, an amazing member of the Peace Corps family.
I have a few projects in the works and will keep you updated as they unfold...I am nearing the end of my service and would like to finish on a high note, but not sure if the conditions here will allow it. Thanks for reading!
At the beginning of February, Julia came out to visit Dahra for my birthday and then we headed to Lampoul for the weekend. Lampoul was beautiful; sand dunes, camels, and sleeping in a nice big tent! It was so peaceful there...I hope to go back before the end of my service.
Concerning work projects, February was a very slow month. The first round of the presidential election was held on February 26th, so the entire month was busy with campaigns. While I am not to be involved in any political matter here in Senegal, my counterpart and supervisor in Dahra are very involved in politics. So are most of the other people that I need to speak with concening work projects; thus making it nearly impossible to do any work. Plus, the high school has been on strike pretty much the entire school year, so I haven't been able to teach any IT classes like I had hoped. Since the elections are going into a run-off vote at the end of March, I am assuming that the month of March will be similar to February.
I was able to finish a project in partnership with Appropriate Projects during the month of February. Appropriate Projects is an awesome NGO that finances small-scale water and sanitation projects. With their help, I was able to help an elementary school in Dahra build some bathrooms. The project took about 5 weeks to complete; I think everyone involved is happy with the outcome.
I also went on a Moringa tournee with the other volunteers in the Djolof. Moringa is this amazing tree that can grow almost anywhere and has a lot of nutritional content.The volunteers covered the nutritional content of moringa, how to grow moringa, and how to make powder from the leaves. For the tournee, I was mainly just moral support ( and I spent several days making morninga powder). They did a wonderful job and I am very proud of them. Like our maleria awareness tournee, we could not have pulled it off without the help of Tidiane Dia, an amazing member of the Peace Corps family.
I have a few projects in the works and will keep you updated as they unfold...I am nearing the end of my service and would like to finish on a high note, but not sure if the conditions here will allow it. Thanks for reading!
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