Love and respect

 "Unconditional love is loving your kids for who they are, not for what they do… it isn’t something you will achieve every minute of every day. But it is the thought we must hold in our hearts every day."

There are things that make my two families very different and there is one thing that makes my families exactly alike.  Mom, Dad, three kids and a dog, is what I grew up with and is the idea of immediate family that I always had, until I came to Senegal.  In Senegal, you’ve got your immediate family and then you’ve got your “family”.   That's the first thing that makes my two families very different. You know the phrase “It takes a village to raise a child”, well here this is especially true.  Instead of five people and a dog in my household, I live with between 25-30 people, all related to me.  In my family compound alone, I not only have my mom, dad, brother, and sister but also my four aunts and their children and sometimes their husbands, my moms co-wife, her son and daughter-in-law and their kids, as well as her two other daughters, my grandma, grandpa, and three teachers.  Then in my village, almost everyone is related to me in some crazy way or another.  Because of this, children run all over the place without their parents even knowing where they are at times.  I have been sitting outside with my mom multiple times when she calls for my younger brother and he doesn’t answer.  She will then ask someone if they have seen him but if they don’t know she doesn’t even get up, just waits for him to show up eventually.  My cousins are called my sisters and brothers, my dad is all of my cousins dad as well.  Every women has a yaay in front of her name, which means mom.  All the women in a compound take care of every child as if he or she were their own.  Recently, one of my little cousins has even taken to calling my mom his mom.  So in Affe, it really does take a village to raise a child.  I think this phrase is true in the U.S as well however, in different ways.  As I was growing up, I was lucky to live in a safe neighborhood that watched out for one another.  So my siblings and I could go out to play in the morning, come back for lunch, go out again, and make it back in time for dinner without  my parents really having to worry too much about where we were(but of course my mom always wanted to know ;-) ).  There were lots of kids in the neighborhood and everyone looked after all the kids.  I wouldn’t say this is the case everywhere in the U.S.  We also grew up with extended family around us, so going to grandma’s for the day was a common occurrence as was going to my aunts house after school while my mom was working.  As nice as this was for my family and I, Senegal is an exaggerated version of this.  In spite of all of this though, I feel that my real family is much closer than my host family here (second reason).  My sister, laura, told me a funny story once about when her and a teammate were watching the movie It’s Complicated, if you haven’t seen it you should, and there is a scene at the end where all the kids are laying in bed together and Laura’s teammate comments that the movie is weird.  Laura says, Why’s it weird?
Teammate: How close they all are, it’s not realistic
Laura: Oh….I thought that was normal

Now this may not be the norm for every family but for mine it is, and I bet that you find it more often than not.  And definitely more often than you do in Senegal.  The closest you get to that here is mom’s and their kids sleep in the same bed but that’s about it.  Family dynamics here are very interesting to me coming from a family that is so close.  Women are mainly in charge of child care although my host dad will help from time to time with crying children.  During my time in village this past month I paid closer attention to family dynamics….here are a few things I observed.  My host aunt whom I am named after got back from a trip after three weeks and she came to our house to greet everyone, including my host grandpa (her dad) and all they did was shake hands and greet for five minutes, talked for another five, then she got up and left.  Even when she greeted the other women it wasn’t how I would greet my family after being gone for threeish weeks.  It was like she had just come over to say hi for the evening.  At least that’s how it seemed to me.  There was no hugging or kissing or affection of any kind.  Now, this sounds cold but they have their own ways of showing they care, they have respect.  All of this being said I believe they do all love each other just in different ways.  There are so many customs here to show respect for other people that I think the displays of affection never caught on.  Senegal has respect, the US has affection.




Now back to the quote at the beginning and the thing that makes my two families exactly alike.  My two families have very different ways of interacting with each other however I think unconditional love is the connection between all families.  This is what makes us all the same.  It creates bonds that cross oceans.  I believe that families are all about unconditional love whether you are in Senegal with customs of respect or the US with customs of affection.  My family back home, I know, loves me no matter what.  I have definitely messed up in my life but at no point were my parents just going to kick me out of the house and same goes for my brother and sister.  The same goes in Senegal.  Even though I came here to do a job, I found a family, my family.  Most people in the US ask me what my work is here and what I'm doing.  We just got new trainees that will be our replacements (eek)!  but they keep asking me about senegal and what's it like and what kind of work we do here and I always find myself talking about my family.  Even when I'm talking about work, they get tucked in there somehow.  I knew I would grow to love the people I lived with but I never thought I would find a family.  They love me unconditionally.  I may be that weird american that now has a puppy they don't know what to do with but instead of pushing me aside, they learn to love my dog.  I am supposed to be doing work but even if I did nothing for two years other than sit in our compound, play with the kids, and help cook they would love it and love me for it.  It doesn't matter what I do or don't do as long as I treat them with love and respect I will always be considered their daughter, sister, cousin, aunt.  I also believe that unconditional love can stretch across oceans.  Even though my American family and my Senegalese families have never met they ask about each other all the time.  I believe they are now connected through me and their unconditional love for me.  So no longer do I have family in wisconsin, michigan, colorado, washington d.c. but I have family all over the world.

As I near the end of my Peace Corps service, there are a plethora of feelings that can occur every day within an hour.  One specific feeling is that of “home”.  Through all the different phases of my service my thoughts tend to settle on a specific topic, this time it’s home.  Senegal and more specifically Affe, has been my home for the past two years.  However, it is now time to start focusing on my America home, as we say here.  And the subject that most occupies my thoughts is my America family.  I have recently told a few people this that the only reason I really want to go home is because of my America family.  However, I have to leave my Senegalese home and family in order to do that.  I have begun these goodbyes and they are not easy.  This so far has been so much harder than leaving the US.  I have gained a family and a home that I may not see again for years.  They do not have the good fortune of have skype, but we do at least have phones, it's not goodbye but talk to ya later.  I wear many bracelets on my arms now mainly all gifts given to me from my kids and friends, other kids will ask me for them and I always have a very hard time giving them away because I want something that will remind me every day in the US of my home in Senegal.  I am terrified of going home and packing this place away as a nice experience in life and so I continue to wear these bracelets in hopes that every morning when I go home I can wake up and even just for five minutes think of my family and my home in Senegal.  I have absolutely no idea how to end this blog.  My time here has meant more to me than I think I can ever convey and there is no way I can ever thank my family here enough for becoming my family.  Senegal may be a small little country in West Africa that know one would be able to point out on a map before I came here but it has become my country and my home.  Home is where the heart is....my heart will now forever be split between my two homes.

The Places in Between

“In the mountains, travelers were reduced to the speed of men on foot. Here, the ancient English sense of journey, 'a day's travel' (French journee), meant the same as the Old Persian word farsang, 'the distance a man could travel on foot in a day,' and the territory was in effect ungovernable.
” 
― Rory Stewart, The Places in Between

How far do you think you could get in "A day's travel" or "the distance a man could travel on foot in a day"?  Do you take this literally or figuratively?  Clearly the second definition is more specific and you can take it literally.  Here in Senegal I don't do a lot of walking in one day but there are people that do, the pulaars.  They are in general more nomadic than wolofs and so are traveling with their cattle.  I've never asked how far they get but I'm sure they don't get as far as they could because they move at the pace of their cattle.  It's pretty interesting to watch them though.  Now the first definition could be taken literally or figuratively.  Literally, same as the second but maybe you could expand it to be how far can you get not necessarily on foot.  Figuratively though, a day's travel can be my everyday here.  A day's travel through the crazy wolof/senegalese world that I live in.  Some days it can be really calm and lazy.  But other days you don't know what just happened all day.  It's a day's travel through the lives of the women in my life.  A day's travel through the lives of my coworkers.  A day's travel through this new and exciting culture I live in.

The places in between, that's where I've lived my life for the past two years.  This is also the point where we, my stage-mates and I, are at right now.  This awkward place of living here and going home.  It's a time when even though you are terrified of going back to the US and you really just want to live in the moment with your friends and family, you have to start thinking about leaving.  What are you going to do when you get back, where are you going to live, where are you going to get a job, how are you going to readjust, all are difficult conversations to have.  These are especially hard to have now when we still have three months left.  Three months can feel like forever in the US but here when your time is winding down, it's nothing.  And so you are stuck between enjoying your time with your family and making sure everything is done and ready for you to make the transition.

The chameleon changes color to match the earth, the earth doesn't change color to match the chameleon.

100 days. We are approaching 100 days left until I am back on US soil.  100 days.  I feel like that's always a big land mark in life.  100 days left of school, 100 days left until graduation, 100 days in office, they are always big exciting things that people are excited about.  Here it is a different feeling, a feeling with much more emotion, much more internal butterfly's and knots in your stomach.  You're so scared you wont know your family and friends anymore because their lives have also happened during the past two years.  They didn't just freeze in time waiting for you to come back.  And you fear you will not fit in anymore because they all have been together and I am the one that hasn't been there.  However, like the wolof proverb above says the chameleon changes to match the earth not the other way around.  Although, the chameleon is never perfect.  I was told once by a very smart man that americans are squares and senegalese are circles.  We are all squares when we leave the US but as we spend time away we start to adapt some senegalese aspects and start to morph into a triangle.  We will never be a circle because we were born and raised as squares but we can change part of ourselves to become a triangle.  Even when we go back to the US we will remain triangles forever or at least a long time after getting back.  Part of the scary thing about becoming a triangle is that you are living with circles and squares not fully either one.  but as the chameleon changes to match the earth we also will change to match our culture.

What you give to others bears fruit for yourself.

The end of this time is coming quickly and this wolof proverb gives the feeling and lesson of our time here.  Almost every Peace Corps volunteer that I have talked to says that they are positive that they got more from this experience than any of the people they helped or lived with.  So in our time here we give so much to others but we also gain just as much as we give and that is why it is so hard to leave when the time comes.  We have become triangles we may not be circles but we were squares when we came and now it is time to go back to a square world.  It's hard, very hard, but it is doable.  But for the time being we are stuck, happily, in the places in between.

Puppy Love

So after the craziness of that bike trip and fourth of July, things slowed down....way down.  Headed back to village to start Ramadan.  Ramadan is this lovely little month where everyone fasts, no food, no drink during daylight hours.  It is the Muslim holy month.  The month that the Qu'ran was revealed to Muhammad.  I participated in this last year and did it this year as well.  Because of this no eating and drinking, people tend to not do anything during the day except for early in the morning. It is the beginning of rainy season so people have to go out to their fields in the morning but after that it is a lot of laying under a tree and sleeping.  There was one particular funny interaction my family had with a pulaar man one afternoon.  So first of all I live with the village chief and so visitors to the village for the day whether they are there for the market or pulaars who came in to get water, either way they tend to spend the day at our compound.  so we have lots of visitors.  but this pulaar was sitting with the women underneath a tree in our compound and asked about lunch.  My host mom said we are all fasting.  So then he asked about cold water and once again she said we are all fasting but you can go to a boutique.  And then he looked at me and said what about the toubab, implying they should have lunch and water because of me.  My host mom turned and looked at me then turned back to the pulaar and said she's fasting.  He looked at me and was like no she's not.  My mom and aunts all were like um....yes she is.  The look on his face was priceless.  But then at the end of Ramadan I ended up getting really sick for a few days with high fevers but then it miraculously went away.

Now on to the biggest news story of the night....I have a new puppy!!!!   Meet Murphy Djo.  We met in the Djoloff bush.  This story all started with a national vaccination campaign.  For ten days the health post was to vaccinate every child under the age of 14 from rubella and measles.  The first three days we vaccinated children in Affe so only stayed at the health post but the following days we drove out into the bush to various villages just vaccinating any kid that we saw.  Side note, it is pretty funny to watch groups of children be vaccinated because the differing reactions is pretty great.  The first is just outright crying and screaming at the sight of the needle.  The second is the brave face, you can tell the shot isn't pleasant but the kid is determined not to show the pain.  And the last and my favorite is the surprise face.  The kid will walk up and have no clue what is about to happen to him/her and be completely calm until they get poked.  They then jump and get this shocked look on their face like what was that, I can't believe you just did that, what did I do to you!  and then after about ten seconds there is screaming.  It's pretty great.  Ok now back to your original program.  So I was with my midwife and matron in a village while my doctor went to another village to do vaccinations.  We finished way before he came back and they were looking at pictures on my camera, some of which were from home and of Gus.  They think the way we treat dogs is absolutely hysterical.  Especially when they saw one of gus dressed up.  The pulaars we were with were then like we have a bunch of puppies that we are just going to throw out into the bush, do you want one?  and I thought about it for a second then I said no no I can't have a dog I'm leaving in 5 months but I would love to go see them.  So we went to see them.  It was a litter of 7.  The pulaar that showed me the pups was like hurry up before the mom comes back so I picked one up and showed my matron and she ran away and was like yeah it's pretty.  But then the pulaar was like no you need a boy and I was like what?  am I actually taking a dog?  so then I picked up another who was also a girl and the third that I picked up was Murphy Djo!So then we ran away because everyone was afraid of the mother. We went back and waited for the car while my midwife just laughed at me.  They asked how I was going to carry him and I said in my sack and I put him in and wrapped him up because he was cold.Only one eye was really open the other was kind of open kind of shut.  Everyone just kept laughing and laughing.  I kept going back and forth as to whether or not I actually wanted to take him because he was so young but then the car showed up and we got in with Murphy.  I told my doctor that I had a present for him and pulled murphy out of my sack.  He was so surprised and also laughed.  The rest of the day and for about a week to two weeks after that I was terrified that I was going to kill this innocent little pup because I took him away from his mom so early.  and I didn't have a bottle to feed him...I was so scared especially that first night.  but then I figured out to put the milk in a plastic bag and bite a corner out and he could suck on it that way. and it worked!!!  after that I was afraid I was feeding him too much or too little.  But he's still alive today.  I took him home and everyone in my family were like oh my gosh Kine you have a dog.  Dogs are bad.  I was a little worried they wouldn't let me keep him.  I was leaving the next day anyways though and taking murphy with me.

We were gone for over a week and murphy got to ride a camel! We then went to linguere for his first Thanksgiving.  It was a blast.  After that we went back to village and made my whole family laugh some more.  I sat down and he was in a bucket with some trees so they didn't see him at first but then when they did everyone was like Kine you still have that dog!  after that everything's been good.  They all love him now especially the kids and my host dad.  Some of the kids will even hold him but most are too afraid to touch him.  The staff at the health post think it's great when I bring him along with me and ask where he is when I don't.  My family thinks he is the most interesting thing ever.  They think it's crazy that he walks outside to poop and pee and then when he's done he just walks back in.  They can't believe he knows the edges of things so he doesn't fall off and also knows to stay away from fire.  The call him a little person.

The next adventure for Murphy was Christmas.  We went to a beach village called Somone and rented a house were he could run and play all around.  He loved it.  He also loves the beach and has now learned how to dig and decided to dig a hole on the beach and go to sleep when we were leaving.  He is now about two months old (I think) and is a little terror.  He just zooms through the room as fast as he can running into things and nipping at everything.  But thirty minutes later you will find him curled up on my clothes taking a nap recharging the batteries for another tornado.  On Christmas eve Murphy got a present from the pork dinner.  A friend gave him a big bone with meet still on it and he snatched that and ran away behind a cupboard in the corner.  He didn't come out until it was picked clean and then he got another one.  Big Christmas for Murphy.  We then made the trip back to linguere where Murphy tries to play with the other two dogs who want nothing to do with him.  Murphy is two months old and still going strong.  He's a puppy with lots of energy and can't wait to meet everyone in the US.  

Once upon a time....

In a far away land called Senegal there were three silly girls Katie, Bonnie, and Tegan.  One day they decided that they were going to go on a bike ride across this magical land. They didn't know too much about the trip but they thought they would go on an adventure; and an adventure is what they got.

Day 1: These three lovely ladies met in Linguere excited, giggly, and nervous.  Packing was interesting as they were going to be gone for two weeks but they could only pack what they could carry on the back on their bikes.  Once all the bags were packed and strapped on, they got the boutique owner next door to take lots of fun pictures to commence the adventure.  They got out to the road, hopped on their bikes and were off!  However, about three quarters of a kilometer later they were stopped.  Great start to this bike ride.  They thought Bonnie had a flat tire already, but luckily it was just a little low.  But then they were off....again.  That first afternoon was just a short ride, 35km, to the village of another volunteer, Sophia, to spend the night.  And of course, it was dark by the time they got there.  So they had to pull out their head lamps and cell phone lights to make it the last 4km.  They did eventually get there and found Sophia and got to her house.  They greeted her family and then had a delicious dinner of millet couscous and leaf sauce.  When the sauce ran out they added milk to it and it was amazing!!!  Katie, Bonnie, and Tegan all got showered and passed out in bed.

Day 2:  Everyone woke up refreshed and ready to go.  The only problem, they weren't sure which road to take, through the bush and sand but shorter? or on the paved and gravel roads but longer.  They asked Sophia's host dad if he knew the way and he explained the longer route.  But then he asked these three girls if they had a map...nope. a compass?....nope.  well Bonne Chance (Good luck), he said with a little smirk and laugh.  They all knew how ridiculous that sounded but it was going to be an adventure.  So they went to the garage and asked a friend of Sophia's.  He thought the girls should just get on a car to Velingara and then bike from there.  The girls were not excited about that idea at all!  They wanted to bike the entire way.  But then at that moment another kid walked up.  He had been a friend of the previous volunteer at this site.  He said that the previous year the bikers had taken the longer but easier route.  So that's what they did.  It was getting late so they hopped on their bikes, waved goodbye and were on their way to Velingara....hopefully by lunch time.  The road was good.  They started off on a nice paved road.  The only problem was that Katie's gears wouldn't shift, so she couldn't always keep up on downhills.  But they made it to Lumbal Lana where they got some water from very nice women and a spiffy looking man in a nice car told them they weren't far from the turn to Velingara, about 7km.  They eventually made it to the turn off on to the dirt road that was only 30km from Velingara.  They kept biking and biking and biking, but eventually came upon some Date trees.  Bonnie commented on how we were no longer in the Djoloff (nothing grows there, especially date trees).  Then Katie and Tegan got ahead of Bonnie so they waited and there was a nice tree there so Katie thought why not climb it.  So as Bonnie was pulling up, Katie was hanging from the tree like a monkey.  They all took a little break, then kept on plugging along.  Then around lunch time they finally made it to Velingara!!!  They asked a boutique owner if there was a place to buy rice for lunch.  He then offered a place to sit/lay down in the shade and rest while he went and got those three lucky girls lunch.  So they ate lunch, took a nap, and then asked how far it was to the next village on the other side of the bush.  You see at this point in their journey there was no actual road, just tire tracks that make a bush road.  The nice people of Velingara told them that the bush path was about 45-50km.  The girls thought oh, that's not too bad.  We can totally do that in a day.  Little did they know!  They had a man show them the start of the path and set off.  This was much harder than the road of course but the beginning of this path was very sandy and had just a narrow path for the tire to be on without swerving off into the endless sand.
  When the sun started to set they decided it would be a good idea to find a village to stay for the night.  So the next one they saw they stopped there.  The first couple they saw they asked where the village chiefs house was and how far is this next village they wanted to get to.  The answer is not what they wanted....the man told them that it is 70km from Velingara to the next road town and they had gone about 10km so they still had 60km left.  None of these foolish girls believed it.  They thought he doesn't know what he is talking about, so they brushed it off.  This was the beginning of the real adventure.

Day 3:  Woke up early the next day feeling good.  They had gotten a good nights rest at the village chiefs house.  A little sore but nothing they couldn't handle.  So they packed up their tents, filled up on water, ate a powerbar, loaded the bikes, and were off into the sand again.  They thought that they could finish the bush portion by lunch.  But they should have listened to the man in the village.  They rode and rode and rode through all that sand.  They soon realized it was a good thing they found that last village, otherwise they would have had to spend the night in the bush.  This is horrible at first thought but there is no water to fill up with or actual food out in the middle of no where.  So that would not have been a great option.  As they were riding a car passed them and not thinking anything of it they kept riding.  however, the car then stopped a little ways ahead of them.  They weren't quite sure what was going on but then a man stepped out of the back seat and Katie recognized him.  They were both very surprised to see the other one in the middle of absolutely no where.  He is Katie's work partner in her village.  He is the national nutrition program representative.  They both asked each other what they were doing there and he just accepted the fact that three white girls were riding through the bush all the way to the south of the country.  This was strange because most Senegalese people thought they were absolutely out of their minds.  But this group of men were on their way to a different village in the bush and the girls asked them how far it was to the next road town that they were hoping to get to by lunch.  The driver said they were about halfway from Velingara to this town, so they had about 20-25km left.  They were quite excited about that.  But then they kept riding and riding and riding some more.  They were wondering why there are no km markers in the middle of the bush.  Tegan then got a flat tire.  She fixed that one under the shade of a Baobab tree.  They kept going, and were wondering how far 50 km actually is.  Tegan then got two more flat tires that Bonnie and Katie happily fixed for her.
   Bonnie and Katie didn't get any flats of course.  Once all tires were fixed and working, they headed off into the bush again.  They eventually stopped at a well to fill up on water and ask some nice pulaars how far it was to the village.  These pulaars said it was still 29ish km,  The girls again, were like no way is it that far but then they asked some other pulaars up at a house and they said it was about 25ish km.  Now, remember this is 3-4 hours after they had seen the car that told them it was 25 km way back at the beginning.  So now that 3 people have told them this they are starting to believe it.  So they kept riding until about an hour later they saw another pulaar herder and asked him how far it was.  He said about 20 km!!!!  They didn't know what to do because it felt like no matter how far they biked they never got any closer!  But what else could they do but bike so they kept going.  Tegan and Katie got a bit ahead of Bonnie and were riding through a few small hills and then Katie spotted it.  An Antenna!!!   That motivated them to keep going.  You realize after riding through the bush and on dirt roads that antennas and fields are great signs of life.  They knew they were close to a village, they weren't sure if it was the right one but at least it was a village where they could rest and get lunch.  They arrived in this village that sadly did not turn out to be the right one but they were told that the right one was only 10 km away.  That was easy peasy after what they'd just done.  Tegan asked if there was a place to get rice for lunch.  The girls were told there was no where to buy lunch but there was a baptism going on and they were welcome to go eat lunch there.  Katie looked down at their clothes that they had been wearing for three days and hoped they could find another option.  Luckily, a house took them in.  They gave the girls a room to rest in, lunch, and water.  They were very kind.  Never the less, the girls had to get going again.  Only 10km!  So they started and got into a rhythm.  Soon enough Katie spotted another antenna!!  They had reached the goal.  They were bombarded by children that followed them through town and even when they got on their bikes at the beautiful gravel road, they kids would hang on to the back of the bikes.  The girls quickly got out of reach of the children.  They had made it through the bush!  They thought they could make it to Koupentoum by sun down, where a fellow volunteer lived.  The other volunteer told the girls it was about 20km to the big village, Kouthibia, in between and then  about 30 km to koupentoum.  So 50 km total.  After getting 50 km done through the bush in the morning they totally thought they could do it.  But once again false information was given to them.  It was much farther than 20 km to Kouthibia.  They were all doing great but then it started to get dark on them and there were no signs of life, no fields, antennas, cows, sheep, pulaars, nothing.  But they decided that they had to at least make it to Kouthibia because it wasn't a great idea to spend the night in the bush.  so they were riding with their headlamps and flashlights.  And eventually somehow they made it there.  They village chief was nice enough to give them water for a shower finally and then they were out.  Glad to be sleeping.

Day 4: Great day for biking!  They knew that they could finally get back to the paved road today!  They started off and had no problems all the way to Koupentoum where they finally saw the beautiful black paved road and their lovely friends who were taking a car to Kedegou.  They got some omelet breakfast sandwiches at the garage.  Tegan started not to feel very good, so she laid down for a few minutes.  Then they went back out to the bikes and were chatting with everyone when all of a sudden Tegan throws up out of nowhere with no sound.  So graceful.  At that point the other girls were suggesting Tegan just take a car the rest of the way because it was right there and Amy was also taking the car so they could ride together.  They sat down for a minute and Tegan began to feel better and thought she could continue so they stood up to grab their bikes and go.  Tegan quickly realized it was in her best interest to take the car.  So one down, two to go.  Bonnie and Katie now started out on the paved road together.  The first half of the day went beautifully.  They were flying along and thinking they would have plenty of time to get to Tamba, the destination of the day.  For lunch they laid down under a tree and took a nap.  When they woke up they had some gatorade, a little something to eat, then got up and Katie wasn't feeling the greatest when she stood up.  But they both got back on their bikes and hit the road.  After that point, it was slow going.  They eventually made it to a little village with a gas station that they stopped at to get cold water and they shared a sprite.  Katie thought that would help but it was even slower after that.  She would see a km marker and think oh that has to be like 2 or 3 km past the last one she just saw.  False!  She had only gone 1km.  Rough riding.  and eventually they both realized they were not making it to Tamba that night.  They tried to hail down a car but no one was stopping but the next village was only 4 Km ahead.  They made it there and there was a mini car that was headed to Tamba sitting there.  They thought thank goodness and put their bikes on the car and sat down to wait for it to leave.  The car was crazy packed, probably more baggage than people.  But they safely made it to Tamba where they could take real showers, grab something to eat, see how Tegan was doing, and go to bed.  In the middle of the night Katie woke up and realized she needed to throw up right than.  So she was down for the next day.  two down, one to go.

Day 5:  They all woke up the next day for a rest day.  Katie was still feeling off, Tegan was better, and Bonnie got worse throughout the day.  Mid afternoon she had a fever and the chills.  3 down, none to go.  They decided it was in everybody's best interest to take a car with everyone else the following day.  It was a hard decision to make but they thought that they wanted to get there and be alive for the fourth of July rather than trying to recover from the crazy adventure.  Great decision.  The bus ride down was so much fun and it was beautiful. And they saw monkeys in the national park.   They all decided that the hills would have killed them because it starts to become foothills in the south.  They got to Kedegou ready to celebrate a great fourth and have some fun in rivers and waterfalls.

I don't know why you say goodbye, I say Hello

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.  ;-)

Dakar Days

So I have officially reached the halfway point of my service here in Senegal!  It is a great benchmark.  Work has finally started to pick up and plans are in the making of heading to the US in the fall.  February was a busy month with two conferences and a softball tournament.  The softball tournament was a big success with team Linguere representing prehistory.  This softball tournament is a West Africa softball tournament.  It also coincided with our All Volunteer conference, so teams from Guinea were there along with a few other volunteers from benin and togo.  There were also competitive teams from Dakar, such as the US embassy.  In the Peace Corps bracket every region has a theme that they dress up as, we were prehistory.  There was also high school stereotypes, senior citizens, the jungle, and others.  At night we had different activities such as bowling and a talent show.  The marines were also kind enough to throw us a party.  I stayed with a wonderful woman named Catherine who works as a courier for the embassy.  Overall, great week of conferences and great weekend of hanging out.

March was full of work!  My computers finally came to my village.  Everyone was very excited.  However, it also created a bombardment of people coming to me and asking me for a computer.  They just didn't get it that they were for the school and not for anyone else.  I also found out that my school does not have electricity, even though the rest of the village does.  My school director then wanted to see if they all worked so we had a fun afternoon of getting a really long extension cord from his families house to a classroom and hooking up one computer, turning it on, checking a few applications, turning it off, disassembling it, and doing it all over with the next 7.  Then I got to sit and watch them as they were trying to force different holders to the monitors.  It was quite entertaining.  So now we are currently just waiting for the inspector to approve of giving us electricity.

I also had another volunteer come to help me with garden trainings.  We had a great week.  We gave trainings to my host dad, doctor, and a womens group.  They learned how to make organic pesticide, compost, and how to start a garden.  Everyone was very motivated and I am excited to continue to work with them when I return to village.

Recently, I just spent this past week in Dakar.  I came in for my midservice physical exam (don't worry I'm healthy) and stayed through Easter.  A friend and I stayed with an embassy couple.  It was absolutely fantastic.  I had my own room with a fan and a/c.  I also had my own bathroom with a real shower that has hot water and a mirror that I can see my whole face in.  They also let us watch American television and even fed us dinner some nights.   They also invited us to their Easter dinner with some of their friends.  So we helped cook mashed potatoes, leg of lamb, salad, orzo, and rolls.  It was delicious and had very nice company.  We also got to attend church at the cathedral here.  It was all in French so at times I was a little lost but I got through it.  I also got to meet the West Africa Cardinal.  He came to both maundy thursday mass and Easter mass.  I am a little sad to be heading back to village because I love the feeling of Dakar and how much more like home it is.  However, I will head back and continue to make gardens.  We also have new trainees that got here in march and we will meet our regions new group on the 9th of April.  It will be sad to say goodbye to the group that is leaving but exciting to meet new people.  Until next time....

Differences

So I wasn't sure what to write this time until I had a conversation with my dad and he mentioned all the things that have become normal in my life that if you saw someone doing it back home you would think they were a little strange.  I'll start with a bigger thing and that is transport.  The mode of transportation in and out of my village is bush taxi, which is a pick up truck with boards across the back and you sit on the boards.  If my mother ever saw me riding in a car like that at home she would have a heart attack.  However, here it is the normal mode of transport because it is cheap and can fit a lot of people on.  Even "better" transport is a car that looks like it could fall apart at any moment. (don't worry mom!)  So needless to say, public transportation here is very different from home. 

Next, I get called Toubab every where I go in Senegal.  Toubab means foreigner.  Now, this can be just a way of getting my attention or it came be used as a derogatory term.  When it is someone just being kind and trying to get my attention I will still respond to it, although I would prefer Madame or Mademoiselle.  When it is used any other way outside of that I will not respond to Toubab because most of the time it is someone that is being rude.  Kids will think it is really funny to call you a Toubab even when they know your name.  It can be very frustrating.  On the other hand, I will always prefer Toubab over Xonq nopp, which means red ears.  Xonq nopp is a very derogatory racist phrase.  Some people don't know that and if you tell them that they apologize right away but other people are just rude and those ones you just walk away from. 

Now, here are some differences at the village level. I get a marriage proposal every day of my life here.  Mostly just because people want a toubab wife.  Some people also just want me to take them to the U.S. It is pretty hilarious.  My host dads friends will be like Kine talk to your dad and tell him you want to marry me and to offer you to me.  I just laugh and say I don't want a husband right now.  There is one guy that every time he sees me says Kine, you can be my third wife.....I keep telling him I don't want to be the third one I want to be the first and only.  ;-)  They also think it is hilarious that my husband will cook and I will not.  That makes many men not want to marry me anymore. lol.  Many pulaar men offer me lots of cows....I say I don't want cows, I want camels. 

another difference is that I do all my laundry by hand.  I fill two buckets with water and put detergent in one and nothing in the other.  I then put three or four articles of clothing and let them soak for a little while in the first one and then take one and scrub it with a bar of soap and then rub it between my hands and it squeaks.  I then put it in the other bucket to rinse.  then hang it up on the line to dry.  It takes an hour and a half to two hours depending on how much I have to do. 

The other big difference is the fact that my family did not really acknowledge Christmas or my birthday.  I told my siblings that it was my birthday and they were like, what's a birthday?  Many people in villages do not know when they were born so birthdays are not a big deal.  So it was kind of like, it's your birthday?  that's nice.  lol.  However, both were very pleasant days.  

Bush taxi!!!!

My nephew and best buddy mabdou

Village mosque

Elementary school

I am sure there are many many more differences but these are just a few for you. Other than that, things are moving along here, work is picking up, and we're almost at a year mark!