So let me start off by telling you all that my skin infection is gone!!!!! Everyone has been telling me I look beautiful again. It's been lovely. My host family and all my neighbors have noticed it gone too. Although I did get a lovely parasite in my arm but I got some meds and got rid of it. My skin is back to Senegal normal!! The next big thing that happened was our health summit in Thies. This is where all of the health volunteers in Senegal go to Thies for two days and talk about projects and best practices. The first day was mainly discussing our baseline survey that my stage has to do starting November 12th. It is exciting to finally be able to do it. The second day was a day of presentations from second year health pcv's and other people such as NGO's or people affiliated with Peace Corps. It was very productive and I came out with many project ideas. However, I don't think I'm going to start any major projects until after the holidays in January because I will be in and out of village too often. I am currently working on med record data entry right now in village. It has been a great learning experience with the health system. My midwife has explained everything in everyone of her books to me and has even been having me right in the information for her. It helps so much with my understanding of the information. I will be doing data analysis once I have it all in my computer.
After this, I made it back to Affe in time for Tabaski. Tabaski is a muslim holiday. In Arabic it is Eid-Al-Adha and in English it is the Feast of Sacrifice. It is the day that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his first son before God provided a ram for him. So in honor of this people kill a ram and eat it on Tabaski. My host dad killed four rams. They were not all ours but it is common for important men in the village to kill other peoples rams as well. The day of Tabaski was very uneventful. In the morning we didn't really do much up until the point my dad killed the rams. The men went to the mosquee to pray and then my dad killed rams and the women started cooking. I finally got to help cook without a big fuss from my family. I just started cutting onions with me sister and slowly the rest of the women came over and mentioned that I was cutting onions but that was it. After lunch, we got dressed up around 5ish and walked around the village. That was about it for the first day. The second day, I wake up and there are my uncles and other men sitting outside on a mat reading out of the Qur'an. I was very confused but apparently we were having some type of ceremony. I was called over to cut onions again. :-) So they must think I can do it. The women cooked again and the men sat and chatted. Then everyone gathered together and some of the men gave speeches or said prayers. I sat with my 19 year old aunt and she talked me through what was happening. It was interesting to see the attention of the men as opposed to the women. The women sat in the back and sometimes chatted among themselves. That went until about 11:30 and then everyone was served lunch and left! That evening we dressed up again and walked around to different compounds and drank some soda then went home. The third day things seemed to be over but my sister was cooking dinner for her husband-to-be and posse. This was going on most of the day. I was told to watch them so that when I go home I can cook dinner for my mom. Mom.....I think you would rather eat your cooking. ;-) They cooked pasta with chicken and onion sauce. We had a different dinner at the normal time but then after dinner I fell asleep and as I was going into my hut to go to bed the husband and group were just getting to my house around 10. I was then woken up by my host mother at 12:45 am to eat a second dinner, the dinner my sister was cooking all day. It was delicious and I got a soda with it but my body wasn't awake enough to really enjoy it. My host mom, when she gave it to me, told me that I had to eat it now and couldn't leave it until the morning. I ate it and then went straight back to bed. After this event though life returned to normal. Tabaski is an interesting holiday to experience with a Senegalese family. I then got back to running and working, which was nice to get back to my routine. Except for a neighborhood Gamou that we had!! A gamou is a gathering of people where they pray a lot and sing a lot and give alms. However, the singing is more shouting into the microphone and it gave me a headache. The Gamou I went to started at 12:30 am! and I stayed until 3 before my mom told me to go home and go to bed. But everyone else stayed until it was finished which was the wee hours of the morning. The next day nobody did much except sleep and lay around. I enjoyed it. I then started preparing for my visitors.
I am currently hosting American exchange students that are studying in Dakar. This was the only way I could get out of village without a big fuss from my family. At first they were upset that I was leaving and then I told them I was bringing back two visitors and they said that it was ok to leave. These students live and study in Dakar for a semester and are required to do a rural visit. So I have two girls hanging out with me right now and tomorrow we will be going to village for them to experience life in the bush. We stayed in Linguere tonight to watch the election! There are American missionaries that live in Linguere and they get world cnn for the election and they invited us over to watch for the whole night! It has been fantastic. I've gotten caught up on what has happened while I've been out of the world and eaten good food (spinach dip, carrots, and onion rings).
I will be back on thanksgiving for dinner at the missionaries and then head to Dakar for my Italy trip!!! I'm so excited to go to Italy and see Cathy Kaye. It is a much needed break and I've only heard great things about Italy. I will be staying mainly in Florence. The election is exciting and a little nerve racking but I'm glad I get to watch it. and I voted by absentee a couple weeks ago!!!! Also, we were walking down the street in Linguere today and a Senegalese man chanted OBAMA!! OBAMA!! with his hands in the air. It was wonderful! Everyone should go vote!!! Good luck and Good night.
After this, I made it back to Affe in time for Tabaski. Tabaski is a muslim holiday. In Arabic it is Eid-Al-Adha and in English it is the Feast of Sacrifice. It is the day that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his first son before God provided a ram for him. So in honor of this people kill a ram and eat it on Tabaski. My host dad killed four rams. They were not all ours but it is common for important men in the village to kill other peoples rams as well. The day of Tabaski was very uneventful. In the morning we didn't really do much up until the point my dad killed the rams. The men went to the mosquee to pray and then my dad killed rams and the women started cooking. I finally got to help cook without a big fuss from my family. I just started cutting onions with me sister and slowly the rest of the women came over and mentioned that I was cutting onions but that was it. After lunch, we got dressed up around 5ish and walked around the village. That was about it for the first day. The second day, I wake up and there are my uncles and other men sitting outside on a mat reading out of the Qur'an. I was very confused but apparently we were having some type of ceremony. I was called over to cut onions again. :-) So they must think I can do it. The women cooked again and the men sat and chatted. Then everyone gathered together and some of the men gave speeches or said prayers. I sat with my 19 year old aunt and she talked me through what was happening. It was interesting to see the attention of the men as opposed to the women. The women sat in the back and sometimes chatted among themselves. That went until about 11:30 and then everyone was served lunch and left! That evening we dressed up again and walked around to different compounds and drank some soda then went home. The third day things seemed to be over but my sister was cooking dinner for her husband-to-be and posse. This was going on most of the day. I was told to watch them so that when I go home I can cook dinner for my mom. Mom.....I think you would rather eat your cooking. ;-) They cooked pasta with chicken and onion sauce. We had a different dinner at the normal time but then after dinner I fell asleep and as I was going into my hut to go to bed the husband and group were just getting to my house around 10. I was then woken up by my host mother at 12:45 am to eat a second dinner, the dinner my sister was cooking all day. It was delicious and I got a soda with it but my body wasn't awake enough to really enjoy it. My host mom, when she gave it to me, told me that I had to eat it now and couldn't leave it until the morning. I ate it and then went straight back to bed. After this event though life returned to normal. Tabaski is an interesting holiday to experience with a Senegalese family. I then got back to running and working, which was nice to get back to my routine. Except for a neighborhood Gamou that we had!! A gamou is a gathering of people where they pray a lot and sing a lot and give alms. However, the singing is more shouting into the microphone and it gave me a headache. The Gamou I went to started at 12:30 am! and I stayed until 3 before my mom told me to go home and go to bed. But everyone else stayed until it was finished which was the wee hours of the morning. The next day nobody did much except sleep and lay around. I enjoyed it. I then started preparing for my visitors.
I am currently hosting American exchange students that are studying in Dakar. This was the only way I could get out of village without a big fuss from my family. At first they were upset that I was leaving and then I told them I was bringing back two visitors and they said that it was ok to leave. These students live and study in Dakar for a semester and are required to do a rural visit. So I have two girls hanging out with me right now and tomorrow we will be going to village for them to experience life in the bush. We stayed in Linguere tonight to watch the election! There are American missionaries that live in Linguere and they get world cnn for the election and they invited us over to watch for the whole night! It has been fantastic. I've gotten caught up on what has happened while I've been out of the world and eaten good food (spinach dip, carrots, and onion rings).
I will be back on thanksgiving for dinner at the missionaries and then head to Dakar for my Italy trip!!! I'm so excited to go to Italy and see Cathy Kaye. It is a much needed break and I've only heard great things about Italy. I will be staying mainly in Florence. The election is exciting and a little nerve racking but I'm glad I get to watch it. and I voted by absentee a couple weeks ago!!!! Also, we were walking down the street in Linguere today and a Senegalese man chanted OBAMA!! OBAMA!! with his hands in the air. It was wonderful! Everyone should go vote!!! Good luck and Good night.
