Hellos and Goodbyes happen every day in every person's life. The hello can be as simple and relaxed as meeting up for brunch with someone and saying hey how ya doing; or as crazy and exciting as meeting someone your haven't seen for years at the airport "Oh my gosh!! HI! I missed you so much!!" It's the same thing with goodbyes. simple..."so I'll see ya later for dinner" crazy...."Well see ya when I see ya. I'll miss you a lot please don't go" (there may be tears as well).
Peace Corps life is filled with both kinds like every other life. However, there is a greater number of the crazy hellos and goodbyes. Every few months we are saying goodbye to volunteers and friends that are going home and saying hello to the new volunteers that replace them. In April we had five friends leave the Djoloff and four new ones come in May. Even though with leaving friends it is always well we'll see ya in America, it is always hard to see them leave. And then when the new kids get here you're not always sure what to think of them because they can't replace the group that just left. But they always turn out ok. ;-) Even though it is always fun to make new friends, your world is constantly changing here. All of a sudden we are the "old" volunteers that the kids look to for advice and guidance even though we still feel like we are trying to get our footing some days.
The leaving of old friends though marked having less than a year left to do whatever it is that you are doing and you realize how little time you actually have here. Even though when you get here two years feels like an eternity; it now feels like I need more time. And you start to think about when the time comes for you to go home and how that feeling has changed so much from when you first get here. At first, the feeling is I can't wait to go home again! Then as you slowly start to become part of life in your village and a part of your family you realize how hard it is going to be to leave but you also want to go home to see your family and friends in the US. You also realize that you don't know when you will get to see your Senegalese family again after you leave. Time is very precious with the people that you care about and the people that care about you. So take advantage of every moment.
I have also had the chance for many new hellos in the past couple of months. I have been working with two middle schools to find girls for a scholarship program that PC sponsors. It is called the Michelle Sylvester Scholarship. It is a scholarship for middle school girls that are doing well in school but also may need a little help paying for it. I chose to only select girls that are from Affe. We do not have a middle school in Affe so students have to go to other villages to learn. So generally they live away from home most of the year and some don't have parents that keep them on their studies. And we specifically sponsor girls because they tend to drop out at a much higher rate than boys do because of marriage or other responsibilities in the house. Parents also will chose to pay for their sons to go to school rather than their girls, especially if they go to school in another village. So I have had the opportunity to meet 12 middle school girls and their families in Affe. They are wonderful young women and will periodically stop by my hut just to say hello or paint their nails. It will be sad to see them go at the end of the summer. The Episcopal Church Women group at my church in Eau Claire has been very gracious and is sponsoring all 12 of these amazing girls.
Another fantastic opportunity I had in June was to say hello to every compound in my village. It was a treat to be able to say hello again to familiar faces and Hi so nice to meet you finally to new faces. I did a food security/nutrition survey in Affe. I went to every compound and talked with many wonderful people about what they farm and what they eat on a daily basis. I also got the pleasure of weighing, measuring, and taking arm measurements of almost every child under the age of five in Affe. Some thought that I was so much fun and were amazed by all the things I had with me. Others that I was funny looking and ran away to their mommy's lap. It was so tiring but the women I worked with on it were amazing and I couldn't have done it without them. I am now working on analyzing all the data and getting other volunteers to do it in their sites. So many Hellos in June!
And in July I got to say hello to old friends at a fourth of July celebration in Kedougou. We did so many fun things: hiking, waterfalls, pool, and floating down a river. Although, as my time is coming to an end here I have to say goodbye to places and events such as Kedougou. It was a great vacation that I did not want to say goodbye to. :-) But it is back to work now and Hello to Ramadan! I will be fasting with my family because it is a unique experience and a great way to connect with them. And in August I will get to say hello to all the members of the newest health stage as I will be helping/teaching at their inservice training.
Lastly, In september I will get to say hello to an energetic group of 13-16 year old girls at our annual girls camp in St. Louis. This is a camp for middle school girls to come together to meet other hard working girls and inspiring women that have successfully gone to school, have a job, and still maintain a family. This is a rare thing to do for women in Senegal by the way. They are amazing your women that come from generally small villages to the big city and University of St. Louis. It is a great opportunity for these girls to get out of their village, many for the first time, and experience a different world. Senegalese girls are generally expected to stay at home, help/do the cooking, and take care of their younger siblings or get married and start to have their own children. Because of this many girls drop out of school or do very poorly. This also means that these girls lose a major portion of their childhood. I have noticed that girls that go to school tend to stay young much longer than girls that don't get that. So this camp creates a network of support connections with each other and strong Senegalese women role models. The majority of the money for this camp comes from donors. So it would mean so much to me and these young women if you could donate, even just 20 dollars, to the camp online at this link.
http://donate.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate You can either search my last name (Van Es) or the project number: 13-685-020
Hellos and goodbyes....who knew they could be so complicated! I cannot wait to say hello to everyone of you again in person. But goodbye for now....I'll see ya when I see ya. ;-)
Peace Corps life is filled with both kinds like every other life. However, there is a greater number of the crazy hellos and goodbyes. Every few months we are saying goodbye to volunteers and friends that are going home and saying hello to the new volunteers that replace them. In April we had five friends leave the Djoloff and four new ones come in May. Even though with leaving friends it is always well we'll see ya in America, it is always hard to see them leave. And then when the new kids get here you're not always sure what to think of them because they can't replace the group that just left. But they always turn out ok. ;-) Even though it is always fun to make new friends, your world is constantly changing here. All of a sudden we are the "old" volunteers that the kids look to for advice and guidance even though we still feel like we are trying to get our footing some days.
The leaving of old friends though marked having less than a year left to do whatever it is that you are doing and you realize how little time you actually have here. Even though when you get here two years feels like an eternity; it now feels like I need more time. And you start to think about when the time comes for you to go home and how that feeling has changed so much from when you first get here. At first, the feeling is I can't wait to go home again! Then as you slowly start to become part of life in your village and a part of your family you realize how hard it is going to be to leave but you also want to go home to see your family and friends in the US. You also realize that you don't know when you will get to see your Senegalese family again after you leave. Time is very precious with the people that you care about and the people that care about you. So take advantage of every moment.
I have also had the chance for many new hellos in the past couple of months. I have been working with two middle schools to find girls for a scholarship program that PC sponsors. It is called the Michelle Sylvester Scholarship. It is a scholarship for middle school girls that are doing well in school but also may need a little help paying for it. I chose to only select girls that are from Affe. We do not have a middle school in Affe so students have to go to other villages to learn. So generally they live away from home most of the year and some don't have parents that keep them on their studies. And we specifically sponsor girls because they tend to drop out at a much higher rate than boys do because of marriage or other responsibilities in the house. Parents also will chose to pay for their sons to go to school rather than their girls, especially if they go to school in another village. So I have had the opportunity to meet 12 middle school girls and their families in Affe. They are wonderful young women and will periodically stop by my hut just to say hello or paint their nails. It will be sad to see them go at the end of the summer. The Episcopal Church Women group at my church in Eau Claire has been very gracious and is sponsoring all 12 of these amazing girls.
Another fantastic opportunity I had in June was to say hello to every compound in my village. It was a treat to be able to say hello again to familiar faces and Hi so nice to meet you finally to new faces. I did a food security/nutrition survey in Affe. I went to every compound and talked with many wonderful people about what they farm and what they eat on a daily basis. I also got the pleasure of weighing, measuring, and taking arm measurements of almost every child under the age of five in Affe. Some thought that I was so much fun and were amazed by all the things I had with me. Others that I was funny looking and ran away to their mommy's lap. It was so tiring but the women I worked with on it were amazing and I couldn't have done it without them. I am now working on analyzing all the data and getting other volunteers to do it in their sites. So many Hellos in June!
And in July I got to say hello to old friends at a fourth of July celebration in Kedougou. We did so many fun things: hiking, waterfalls, pool, and floating down a river. Although, as my time is coming to an end here I have to say goodbye to places and events such as Kedougou. It was a great vacation that I did not want to say goodbye to. :-) But it is back to work now and Hello to Ramadan! I will be fasting with my family because it is a unique experience and a great way to connect with them. And in August I will get to say hello to all the members of the newest health stage as I will be helping/teaching at their inservice training.
Lastly, In september I will get to say hello to an energetic group of 13-16 year old girls at our annual girls camp in St. Louis. This is a camp for middle school girls to come together to meet other hard working girls and inspiring women that have successfully gone to school, have a job, and still maintain a family. This is a rare thing to do for women in Senegal by the way. They are amazing your women that come from generally small villages to the big city and University of St. Louis. It is a great opportunity for these girls to get out of their village, many for the first time, and experience a different world. Senegalese girls are generally expected to stay at home, help/do the cooking, and take care of their younger siblings or get married and start to have their own children. Because of this many girls drop out of school or do very poorly. This also means that these girls lose a major portion of their childhood. I have noticed that girls that go to school tend to stay young much longer than girls that don't get that. So this camp creates a network of support connections with each other and strong Senegalese women role models. The majority of the money for this camp comes from donors. So it would mean so much to me and these young women if you could donate, even just 20 dollars, to the camp online at this link.
http://donate.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate You can either search my last name (Van Es) or the project number: 13-685-020
Hellos and goodbyes....who knew they could be so complicated! I cannot wait to say hello to everyone of you again in person. But goodbye for now....I'll see ya when I see ya. ;-)
