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!

busy, busy, busy

My apologies for not writing sooner, but I’ve been rather busy and the power cuts have been frequent. Where to start…

Good:

• I held my first SED (small enterprise development) oriented activity – woo-hoo! I held a training to explain the benefits of having a bank account and had my PTA (program and training assistant) come up to host a game which reinforced what I was teaching, plus the importance of planning and quality. We had over 40 women participate; they were the presidents and secretaries of various groups within Dahra. Now why did I have this training in the first place, you may ask? Because most Senegalese do not keep their money in bank accounts. Most keep their earnings somewhere in their homes which leaves them vulnerable to multiple risks – theft, fire, having to lend/give money to other family members. The participants appeared to be quite receptive to the training, and I plan on doing follow-ups with each group that was present over the next couple of months.

 

• I have also started working with an association named “Les Amis de la Nature” and another women’s group. With these two groups, we were able to create a tree nursery of 1,730 tree sacks. Only time will tell how many of these will actually germinate… The plan is to plant most of these trees in the local schools, mosques, and other public areas.

 

• I have just completed all the paperwork for the Michelle Sylvester Scholarship. This is a Peace Corps initiated scholarship that is aimed at middle school age young women who earn good grades, are active in school activities, but lack financial support. Each dossier contains a short essay written by the candidate, teacher recommendation, home visit and an interview. I really enjoyed meeting each of the young women and their families. It was really cool to see all the different dynamics. The volunteers in my region will be hosting a two day workshop for all MSS participants and their parents at the end of September (this is different than the Girls’ Leadership Camp that I have been planning in Saint Louis).

• I held two separate Neem lotion trainings. Neem is a tree that is bountiful in Senegal, and one can use its’ leaves for a variety of purposes. For this training, the leaves are boiled in water (then discarded) to create a concentrate which is added to soap and a little bit of cooking oil (so as to remain “cream-like”) to create a lotion which acts as a natural mosquito repellent. This lotion is great and easy to make with local materials. One can use this lotion to protect their families or sell at the local market. The first training had 35 participants, and the second had 25 participants.

• I finished my first mural! This mural took forever...it's huge (over 6 ft x 6 ft) and the surface was really hard to paint on. However, I am now finished and I think it looks great :) It is of a dove with the word "peace" written in multiple languages.

 



Disappointing:

• Remember that beautiful green space project that I was so happy about? Well things have quickly gone downhill for several reasons. One, there is a problem with water at the school. Like the rest of Dahra, the school suffers from water cuts. Another problem though is that the school sets on a hill and there is not always enough pressure to get the water up the pipes to the school. This issue was not mentioned until we had already started in the project. I think the water situation is slowly getting better…the school received funding to purchase several water reservoirs and have held meetings with the local water company to find another solution. Second problem, the school guardian is lazy and does not perform his job well. He keeps the gates open all the time, which allows all types of livestock to enter the school grounds. The hedges and flowers planted were unappetizing to sheep, but goats got in and destroyed most of the area. Since then, the students and teachers have become discouraged and no longer care for the space (with a few exceptions). I have had several meetings with the school principal and the main teacher involved about necessary changes, but I am not sure if anything will come from our discussions. There is another mission team that is planning on planting some trees at the school. I will post again after that project…

• At the beginning of May, my host mother’s literacy group planted six different vegetable nurseries. Only two grew – eggplant and onion. Since then, they have also planted bissap, which has grown very well. Another issue is that their garden space has diminished greatly due to the construction of another house, so there is not enough room to transplant all the vegetables…Needless to say, this is still a work in progress, with lots of “roadblocks” along the way…

Travels and Goodbyes:

• I travelled to Saint Louis for a Girls’ Camp meeting and the Saint Louis Jazz Festival. Saint Louis is gorgeous! I stayed in a cute little campement right on the beach…such a nice, relaxing trip!

 

• I travelled to Thies to welcome the new SED volunteers and to help out with a little bit of training. It was so nice being back in Thies; the staff there is wonderful! It was also great getting to hang out with my friend Lyzz :)

• I went to Linguere at the end of May to celebrate Abby’s birthday. We had a Mexican extravaganza! It was wonderful and delicious! At the end of June, I returned to Linguere for our regional meeting. Afterwards, the Linguere missionaries brought over chips and queso (amazing!) and we all wished them safe travels back to the US (3 month furlough).

• I have also had to say goodbye to some of my missionary friends in Dahra. The missionary family returned to the US for a seven month furlough. The other missionary that I have worked with had to return home early due to some family illnesses back in the States. While I was sad to see them go, I know that I will be seeing the family again in January 2012, and can keep in touch with the other via e-mail. Also, they both let me raid their fridges before they left – it was like Christmas! I was able to stock up on all sorts of American goodies—yummy!

Well, I think that’s enough for now…thanks for taking the time to read all this!

9 Months In!

Today marks 9 months here in Senegal. Time is just flying by, and all of a sudden, I am busy with work. I have several projects going on --  gardening, murals, computers and numerous meetings. I am feeling more "at home" everyday. Even though my host family doesn't think that my Wolof skills are up to par, everyone else that I talk to in town compliments me on my language improvement. I am finished with one-third of my service, and am looking forward to the rest of my time here. I am very thankful for all of the loving support from my friends and family back in the States. My parents especially have been so supportive. I never really thought about how hard this would be on them, but they are acting like champs. I am truly blessed to have such loving and supportive parents. On that note, one of the many reasons why I love my mom...her sense of humor:

Skype conversation:
[10:11:54 PM] Laura Livesay: so today marks 9 months in country :)


[10:13:06 PM] Mom & Dad: WOO HOO!!! I remembered that earlier today. That's like having a baby but no pooh to clean up HA HA
 
Love it!!!

Computers!!!

Hello all! I am working in colaboration with several other Peace Corps volunteers and World Computer Exchange to bring computers to Senegal. I have requested 15 for the city of Dahra. The Mayor's office has agreed to supply a place (local youth center), electricity, chairs, tables, ect. for these computers. After installing the computers in Dahra, I hope to start teaching basic computer skills (Microsoft Word, Excel, and internet) and then train local Senegalese to teach IT after I return to the States. Below is the link to our webpage on World Computer Exchange. If you can help finance this project, I would greatly appreciate it. If computers are not your thing, no worries...I will have other opportunities later on that I will need help financing :) Thanks!

http://www.worldcomputerexchange.org/greatest-need-senegal

Project One = Success!

My first official project has come and gone...quite successfully if I do say so myself :) One of the missionaries in Dahra approached me about managing a "green space" project at the local middle school. I agreed and started working. Originally, the missionary had a missions team coming in that were willing to finance the project; they were going to have a local florist complete the work. I was able to step in, cut the cost of the project in half, act as interpreter, and get the school more involved in the project so as to promote ownership, which in turn will help with sustainability. An environmental club was formed (30-40 students) under the leadership of 4 science teachers and the school director. We held a meeting with everyone to introduce ourselves and discuss the project. The teachers did a wonderful job of explaining to the students the benefits of planting trees, how this experience would continue their classroom learning, and that the girls were just as capable as the boys to help with the project.

Environmental Club students

Partners!

We met one evening to start prepping the land for the project. Luckily, my PTA (program and training assistant) had arrived for a site visit and got to see me in action (great success!).

A few days later, we all met again to start planting. We planted two sets of hedges, ten fruit trees, ground covering, two ornamental trees, and some bushes. I do not have pictures yet of the work day, but here is the finished project:

A week later, Abby (an urban agriculture volunteer) visited the school to teach the students how to make a tree nursery. The students then helped to fill fifty tree sacks which were later sowed with shade tree seeds.
Overall, I consider this project a great success and hope to continue working with this school with future projects.

Update

Wow...the month of March just flew by! I spent my days meeting with people to discuss future projects, travelling in country and having some work done at my house. So I actually feel like I have started working (woo-hoo!). These are the projects that I am working on right now:            

• bringing computers to Dahra (on hold at the moment due to the fact that several people are involved);
• trying to figure out a Waste Management solution for Dahran(almost impossible as the Mayor's office wants to "work" with me but are unwilling to produce any sort of financing);
• starting a garden with a women's group;
• teaching English to a small group of gentlemen;
• creating a "green" space at the local middle school;
•  starting a tree nursury at my house
• planning a Girls' Leadership camp for individuals selected by our Michelle Sylvester scholarship (will explain more in a later post)
• painting a mural at a local elementary school

I am also still reading and researching for my Capstone project as well...

Some notable events from the month of March until now:

• Our Country Director came out to visit, so I was able to tag along and see some other volunteer sites :). It was really neat to see what other volunteers are up to in my region. We all talk a lot, but to be able to see first-hand is pretty cool and gives me hope for my future work.

• I had to go to Dakar twice. It turns out that I have been clenching my teeth in my sleep which has in turn caused some issues with my jaw. I now have a mouthguard to wear at night which seems to be helping. I go back to the orthodontist in May for a follow-up visit.
• During my second trip to Dakar, we celebrated our PCVL April's birthday. We had a nice picnic, followed by cocktails and ice cream cake while watching the sunset over the ocean -- Awesome!

 

• All of the volunteers in my region headed out to Barkedji (Ann-Marie's site) to help out with a field day event and AIDS awareness discussion. Overall, a wonderfull event. The kids really seemed to enjoy it and actually participated in the AIDS discussion which was surprising. The next day, Justin and I helped Ann-Marie start a mural of the world map which will be amazing and huge when finished.

• We all gathered again in Linguere to celebrate Ann-Marie's birthday. We had pizza, cake, cocktails and camel rides! We had a slight issue with the gentleman who rented us the camel concerning payment, but the police were in our favor so everything turned out alright and Ann-Marie still considered her birthday a success!

• On a sadder note, my kitten, Punx, passed away. My friend, who is a veteranerian, is pretty sure that she had one of the feline diseases, so once she became ill, as small as she was, there wasn't much we could do to save her.
• On a positive note, I have two new kittens! Their names are Timone and Pumba and I saved them from the streets of Linguere. They are all black and brothers. I would post pictures, however, my camera died. I am now waiting on a new one from the States that Justin's dad is nice enough to bring over.

Well, that's about it for now...Thanks for reading!

WAISTED...2011

     I just returned from my one-week mini vacation away from site…and it was amazing! Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy my site and most of the people in Dahra (plus I have an adorable little kitten to keep me company). However, it’s always nice to get away, take a breather and just enjoy some wonderful American pastimes :).



     I left site on Wednesday to travel to Thies for a gender and development seminar. It was actually the easiest and quickest trip I have had so far to Thies. Upon my arrival, I went out for pizza and beer (yay!) and then back to the training center to hang out for the night. The next day was full of presentations concerning gender and development work, a conference call with Dr. Joshua Busby, a speacialist on climate change, and a lovely dinner at Massa Massa with a small group of close friends.


     Friday morning started off early as we loaded the buses to head to Dakar for another All-Vol conference. For the morning sessions, each region and sector had a table set up to discuss current work projects in their area. The afternoon session followed the same format, but was with NGOs that are serving in Senegal. It was interesting to see what other volunteers and organizations are doing, but we had a little too much liberty and mainly took the time to catch up with friends. After the conference, I went to Casino (an actual grocery store- yay!) and then headed to the Atlantique Club where the rest of my time in Dakar would be spent :)

     So the main reason why I was in Dakar was for WAIST (West African Invitational Softball Tournament). WAIST happens every year, and I was kind of apprehensive about it, as most of the volunteers refer to it as WASTE (due to the insane amount of drinking that occurs). I will say though, I was pleasantly surprised :) There was a lot of drinking involved, but also just a lot of fun! This is the one time when all the volunteers (plus some volunteers from other neighboring countries) get to come together and enjoy softball, cheap beer, American food and swimming. So for WAIST, I had the pleasure of staying with a wonderful woman (RPCV Niger) who works at the U.S. Embassy, who was gracious enough to host 12 girls! 

Her only rule: make yourself at home! She was awesome, her cook is amazing (I ate soooo well!), her son was fun to play with (like a younger brother), and her dogs were amazing (they even slept with me!). She even went with us to one of the parties, cramming all of us into her Hummer. There was a talent show that Friday night, which was fun to see some of the interesting talent that resides within Peace Corps volunteers.

     The first day of WAIST started with me making some baked goods for our SENEGAD (gender and development group) bake sell. Afterwards, I headed to the club for some American food and swimming before our first softball game. Now if you know me, you know that I am very uncoordinated, thus I decided to remain on the sidelines to cheer my team on. One cool thing about WAIST that I forgot to mention is that the Peace Corps teams dress up each year. This year was the first year our “region” had a separate team and our theme was cows and cowboys (think Wild, Wild West because that is where we are in Senegal…nothing but sand, some livestock and herders).



Team Djolof a.k.a. PC Linguere/Louga


Unfortunately, we didn’t fare to well the first day. We lost both games; one to PC Gambia and the other to a Senegalese team that actually practices (they were very good and not very social). That night was the SENEGAD Date Action at the U.S. Marine House. It was pretty cool to see so many expats hanging out, enjoying themselves. I called it an early night though because the party was held outside and it was actually quite chilly.

     The second day of WAIST, I had to head to the club early to help out with the bake sell and then head over to our games. The first game was against the Kolda region, and we actually played quite well. We even thought that we had won, but it turns out that Kolda still had another inning to bat in which they scored several runs :). For the second game, we were to play PC Gambia again, and we decided to have some fun and just play kickball instead. I can play kickball, so I joined in :). I didn’t score any, but I did make it on base both times that I kicked –yay! Goal for next WAIST: kickball tournament on the side :). After the games, I decided it was time for some more swimming before heading back to my homestay for dinner. After dinner, we all headed over to a club that overlooks the ocean. I think I danced for over 5 hours straight that night! It was so much fun! Needless to say, I was rather sore and slow the next day – haha.

     The third and final day of WAIST involved the semi-finals and finals for each division, which my team did not make. So I spent the day relaxing by the pool and just hanging out with friends. That night was a pool party, but I was quite exhausted and just decided to stay in for the evening with some of the other girls at my homestay. I got to watch “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” which made me extremely happy :). Another bonus to the homestay…hot showers! Woo hoo!


     On Tuesday, I had to head over to the Peace Corps office to drop off some medical paperwork. After that, I made my way to the garage to find a ride back to Dahra. I was hoping to go back with one of the other volunteers in my region, but nobody else was ready to get back to site (I missed Punx). The ride back was pretty quick actually until we were about an hour away from Dahra. Our sept-place driver accidently hit someone. It was truly an accident on both sides. The gentleman didn’t look our way because it was supposed to be a one-way street, but due to construction, had been turned into two-ways. Our driver blew the horn and tried to stop in time, but he was going too fast and his breaks were not the best. Luckily, the man was able to walk to the ambulance when it arrived, so I pray that he is ok. That was my first experience with accidents here and I hope it was the last (doubtful though).


     Upon returning to Dahra, Punx greeted me as I came through the door :) She is so cute and I am so thankful that the missionaries were able to take care of her while I was gone. As much as I enjoyed my stay in Dakar, I am glad to be back “home” and to get some work done :).