water, sanitation, AIDS

Hey lovies!

Hono ndyam laabdal woni?

I attended a USAID/PEPAM meeting the other day with a couple other volunteers in Kolda. Its the first time both organizations are reaching out in order to collaborate. We discussed and brain stormed how us volunteers can help USAID meet the millenium access goal where 65% of Senegal is certified in clean water and sanitation. Right now the numbers are at 17% in sanitation standards and 37% of the country has access to clean water. There are only 5 sewage treatment facilities in all of Senegal with 12 million people using them, operating at 500-600% capacity. When the facilities are overworked, all other waste ends up in the fields, streets, etc. Not to mention the lack of education when it comes to sanitation and behavior change. You find many of villagers going to the bathroom right out in the open, being as how open air defecation is one of the major problems with illness and disease. Along with that, 30% of water production in Senegal is lost because of poor irrigation systems. That's about 3 billion dollars in water bills that people can't pay.

I see these issues first hand in my village. The local water tower and the river that used to serve as the main water source has been dried up for years. There were about 50 spickets installed by some NGO in the past, but these technologies often break down with no one to fix them and no education for the locals on how to prevent this or sustain it. I felt overwhelmed for a long time with the thought that this was too big of a problem to fix and water access was prohibiting other projects like community gardens and tree planting.

After attending this meeting, I learned that USAID is in fact starting to work in Mampatim for a 60 day period now until the beginning of April, finally fixing the water tower, the irrigation system, and installing 11 new spickets attached to 300 households. Yayy! My part will be to get the community to understand and be enthused about what's going on as well as to contribute materials and labor.

I will be attending another training seminar to learn about their "Community Lead Total Sanitation" program. This is designed to end open air defecation and teach the community how to organize themselves and be responsible for behavior change. With USAID/PEPAM working in Mampatim now, I hope to fix the health post latrine, install two Erobon pumps in the schools, and work with each individual compound on sanitation education while building homemade hand washing stations in each compound. This will be our first efforts to incorporate our projects in with theirs and work together on a hybrid approach.

Two days ago, my friend Jenae was doing an AIDS awareness day in Diaobe, the largest market in West Africa where huge crowds of people come to buy and trade goods from all over. This sounds wonderful, but unfortunately Diaobe has some of the highest rates of AIDS and prostitution in the country. Jenae and I, and a couple other volunteers walked around all morning passing out condoms and quizzing random people on their knowledge of AIDS. We even had a local theatre group come out and perform skits about AIDS and safe sex. Across the street we had free testing at the health post where about 30 people came to get tested.

A little update on the Awa talk at school: so Awa is the most amazing Senegalese woman in the world. It was no surprise to me when my middle schoolers were incredibly engaged as she talked to them about early marriage, teenage pregnancy, and the importance of education.

Almost 300 young people came out to hear her speak. She's a force to be reckoned with, and it’s always gratifying to see her stand up as a strong woman figure for young girls. Hopefully the discussion was effective and hopefully it sparked some interest for the school to finally begin the girl’s club meetings.
All and all, I'd say it was a successful week!

Top 20

Hey ya'll!

January has come and went. Can you believe that in a little over a month, I'll be celebrating my one year anniversary here in Senegal? Whatttttt.

The other day I was sitting in my hut thinking about where the time has gone. I suspect I have adapted and integrated to the culture here at least a little and I suspect everyday activities may seem like insane things to the outside world. With this notion, I decided to jot down the top 20 things I do in Senegal that I would have NEVER done a year ago. This way I'll be able to remember the crazy African life I led once upon a time.

 I warn you all, every single thing listed is stuff I do on a daily basis.

 Perfectly normal... promise.

Top 20 Things I Would Never Do if I Didn't Live in Senegal

1. Eat dinner every night that has the consistency of wet sand. (Disgusting the first couple months but now I can't get enough)

2. Eat wet sandy dinners with my right hand in a community bowl with 10 other people.

3. Eat beans and mayonnaise on bread for breakfast.

4. Drink tea out of shot glasses.

5. Consume water, juice, and peanut butter out of a plastic bag.

(I feel the need to one day tell locals this has got to be the nastiest, messiest, most inefficient way to eat peanut butter.)

6. Ride donkey carts 7k into the woods in search of fresh manure for gardening.

7. Pick mango leaves off the tree and use them as dish scrubbers.

8. Sweep the sand and dirt ground until the dirt is neat looking.

9. Shower using a bucket of water and a cup to pour over me.

10. Get serious marriage proposals 5 times a day.

11. Call strangers "hyenas" if they insult me.

12. Keep a machete under my bed just because.

13. Open my door in the morning and greet the two donkeys standing on my stoop.

14. See packs of monkeys crossing the road as I bike through the woods.

15. Travel 2 hours on rickety buses to use the internet, the bank, or the post office.

 (I really had to try and comprehend this one. That's like me driving from Cincinnati to Columbus every time I need to withdraw money or send a damn email)

16. Live in a small compound of huts with 20 Senegalese people, 10 cows, 7 ducks, 6 chickens, 5 sheep, 4 goats, 2 donkeys, and a partridge in a pear tree. (No joke those are accurate numbers, except the partridge.)

17. Put on a sweatshirt and curl up in a sleeping bag for what’s considered "cold season". (Its 90 degrees outside.)

18. Think of the names "Fatoumata" and "Koumba" as common.

19. Poo in a hole in the ground.

20. Use my left hand when toilet paper doesn't exist. Yep, i know.

After reading this, I hope you all don't think I've gone off the deep end, but hopefully this gives you some insight to the habitual things in my life here.  It was surprisingly difficult to think of this list seeing as how it’s all so normal to me now.  I haven't changed too much have I? :)

As always, my love goes out to all of you. Hope America is treating you well and that great health and happiness are flooded your way.

Until next time!

Happy New Year!

Ringing in 2012 was fantastic. I came back into the regional house to spend one more holiday with my volunteer family. We shot off pathetic fireworks from the rooftops, linked arm and arm and sang Auld Lang Syne after counting down to 2012. We even slowly lowered my giant glowing ball lamp that my friend Paul sent me from Thailand. As always, we do what we can here with respect to American traditions.

Back in my village, I've been talking to people about installing two water pumps, one for the health post and one for the new primary school. Hopefully that will happen soon. One thing I've learned while being here is patience. There's an island style work ethic here and sometimes its hard to get used to. Locals don't seem to be in a rush to do pretty much anything. Therefore, projects take a lot longer than they should. Good thing I have two years to do them! I've been continuing to promote Moringa, planting two moringa intensive beds at the health post and offering to plant some personal beds in some of my favorite compounds. I'm trying to convince the health post to make moringa powder from the plants and then sell it to patients and children who are malnourished. Baby Koumba loves moringa!

 Happy to update you all on my thriving flamboyant trees, soon enough they'll be ready to outplant at the schools and along the road for shade.

The mango tree in my backyard is beautiful as ever, sprouting bundles of pink flowers where juicy mangos will arrive in no time.

I went a little crazy with the muraling and painted one more at the health post about the importance of using a bed net to avoid malaria. Along side the bed net picture, I painted the recipe for homemade mosquito repellant. 

My next murals will be chronological pictures of someone using their douche then washing their hands then a recipe on how to make ORS, a rehydration formula for people with diarrhea. Locals are extremely receptive to bright fun pictures. So far it seems to be the fastest most effective way to educate them and get them talking about common problems and solutions.

After leaving the hospital and finishing my last mural, I stumbled upon a huge gathering of people along the roadside and a group of USaid workers setting up for a movie screening. Turned out they were doing a tourney on violence against women awareness. They showed a documentary of Senegalese women attesting to their experiences followed by a Q&A with the crowd. It was the first time I saw my villagers get really heated about an issue as well as the first time I heard women speaking up at a meeting. I cannot explain how powerful this night was.

This past week I attended my first annual Gender and Development conference in Thies. One of the most powerful sessions was when the NGO Tostan presented their projects about gential cutting. This organization is incredible and their tactic for working with entire communities about this issue proves a 95% success rate. By the time they leave the village after 3 years, they get the community to sign a contract promisig to end the practice of genital cutting while raising awareness on human's rights and the ways they've been violated.

It was so cool to hear about all the awesome things going on all around West Africa when it comes to gender equality. I was so inspired! Afterward was our All Volunteer conference where I learned about medicinal plants and how to incorporate all natural medicine alternatives when they don't have money for pills and sythetics. These are plants that have been working for thousands of years to cure people of simple sicknesses and I think its a really sustainable way to help.
I went to another malaria session where I received a packet of flashcards used to teach locals about how to use their bed net and prevent malaria. I'll be going around with one of the health post workers quizzing compounds on their knowledge of malaria, then a month later, I'll be going around again to see if they learned anything or if the information stuck and what kind of answers had changed. This is the first experimental thing they're doing for malaria education and prevention at a local level, so we'll see how effective it is.

Coming up this week, an amazing woman named Awa who works for Peace Corps is coming to my village to talk to the boys, girls, and their parents about teen pregnacy, early marriage, and the importance of staying in school. Hopefully this talk will go well and stimulate some progressive discussion within the households. The whole purpose is to empower young girls by setting the record straight first with the male population.

W.A.I.S.T.

After our all volunteer conference, we drove to Dakar for an epic softball tournament with volunteers from all over West Africa. W.A.I.S.T. is West African Intermural Softball Tournament, and iit is complete insanity. Every region had a different themed costume they dressed up in, so you can guess how serious we were about this tournament.

 My region of Kolda was "South of the Border" meaning wild west cowboys and saloon girls, along with a little hint of Mexico. We had a couple guys dress up as a Mariachi band, some Mexican peasants, and even a piñata.

Here's me as chiquita banana. Ha! And yes, I attempted to play softball in this. Not easy.

Other region's  themes included  "suits" made of ridiclous fibrant fabrics,

 girl scouts and boy scouts,

 "under the sea" with scuba gear and blow up whales,

and lastly, "the French", whom forfeited every game and took a lot of coffee breaks. All and all, the conference and tournament was a success and it was great to see everyone as always.

**a million hugs and kisses to Mrs. Franz and my sweet parents for the amazing care packages you sent me!! You have no idea how grateful I am to receive packages like these. Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY mama!! I'm sorry I missed it, but I hope it was a great one. It's no coincidence you were born on the day celebrating the life of a great peacemaker, so in honor of the both of you, here's a message we should all avide by...

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear."
-Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Happy 2012!!

I want to start off by thanking my lovely grandparents for sending me an amazing care package!! Thank you thank you! So sweet. I got it right in time for ChristmasJ

 This month has been somewhat bittersweet being away from home for the holidays. Despite all the enchantment of America at Christmas time, my volunteer friends made it a wonderful holiday here as well. To start off the celebration, I attempted my first batch Swedish glug, my family’s famous spicy Christmas cocktail, served nice and warm with wine soaked almonds and dried fruit. I lit it on fire and blessed it Swedish just like my mom taught me. It was a huge hit!

The best part of it all was the delectable smell wafting from the kitchen all day. Pro bakers Jenae and Wilma slaved away making a variety of homemade cookies. Seriously delicious.

We blasted the good ole holiday tunes, taped up snowflake cutouts and strung stockings made from local festive fabric.

We even had our own little Christmas tree to decorate thanks to my mama’s Christmas care package. Can you see it in the background behind Sarah and I?

At midnight a couple of us went downtown for church mass. It was beautiful to see church in a different culture, a whole fellowship gathered together half way around the world. I couldn’t help but to imagine all the millions of  people simultaneously in peace and prayer just for one night. The choir sang popular Christmas hymns in between sermons, only their version was in French with bongo drums and an island rhythm. 

Back in Mampatim, I’ve been working on spreading the news about the benefits of eating magical moringa. I’ve been having lunch at different compounds bringing my little baggie of moringa powder with me and sprinkling on my side of the bowl. It sparks up their curiosity and gives me a window of opportunity to tell them all about its healing qualities. The other day my friend Whitney came to visit my village. We painted a moringa mural on my health post wall illustrating it’s superabundance of vitamins. We also painted one advertising the free vaccination program. I plan on painting a lot more in the days to come. Its fun for me and the locals love them. Win win!

The day before Christmas Eve my friend Wilma came to my village to promote ceramine, a nutritional porridge made to wean babies off breast feeding.

Mariama helping sift the ceramine powder

 Forty of my village women came with their babies to hear about the porridge and to learn about general nutrition. Such a great turnout! The awesome thing about having large causeries is it gets people talking. Just a couple days later I had everyone in my village asking about it and where they could get some. Way to go Wilma.

Little update on little Mijo: already 3 months old and growing at rapid speeds! He’s currently going through the lovely phase of chewing on anything and everything he can see. He’s also transformed my laundry basket into his own personal bed where he cuddles up every night alongside his new baby brother, Lyon.

 He and I send our love and sweet holiday wishes back home to you all.

 2012... may it be a year full of joy, laughter, love and adventure. cheers!

Peace Corps moments

The last month was full of “peace corps moments”. Peace Corps moments are little successes, moments of pure joy and fulfillment in the realization that your efforts are making way. The first one was when my little host sister came to me for soap. This sounds silly and insignificant, but she likes to show me what she's learned about hygiene in the process. Since she rough houses all the time and always manages to get cuts and scrapes from playing in the dirt, she’s been coming to me asking for moringa (local medicinal plant) and for my soap so she can wash her scrapes. There's all kinds of funky ways villagers treat wounds, and most all of them are incredibly unsanitary and illogical. Glad to be making progress in that department.

The next moment came when I went around to gather manure and sand for my tree nursery. The children in my village were curious about what I was doing and began taking over the project. I taught them all how to make a nursery and they knocked out 60 sacks in about 20 minutes. I’ve never seen them so excited about something.

Every day they ask me how the trees are doing and offer to water the nursery. I’ll be planting some at the school for the girl’s camp in January and along the main road for shade.

The other Peace Corps moments have been with the local middle age school girls. I painted a chalkboard in my room and almost everyday the girls in and around my compound ask me for a little English tutor session.

Some of the girls sitting on my bedroom floor studying English

Also, the 100 permission slip/invitation forms for the girl’s camp were snatched up really quickly which indicates to me that they seem pretty excited about it. I'm expecting a good turnout. The after school girls club is coming along as well. One of the female teachers, Madame Mallu, is going to help me run the club and hopefully continue running it after I leave. The first meeting is next week! I'll let you know how it goes :)

Happy Holidays!

My gosh, two big holidays have passed and I haven’t even found the time to say Happy Halloween and Happy Thanksgiving! How was it? Did everyone dress up in hilarious costumes and a month later did everyone eat delicious food? I know I did. The Tambacounda region hosts Halloween every year at their regional house. Volunteers from all over Senegal came down for the festivities! Like always, it was fantastic to see everyone, although some were especially unrecognizable in their getups. One of my favorite costumes was my friend CJ who personally sewed her own tutu for her interpretation of Natalie Portman in Black Swain. I dressed up like a life-size carrot for the love of vegetables and vegetarians worldwide.

A week after Halloween came Tabaski, a Muslim holiday where every father must kill a sheep in celebration of the sacrifice of Abraham. All my villagers were dressed in their finest attire and relatives from out of town came in to socialize and feast all day. We ate special onion and potato sauce over rice with chunks of our dear sheep friend.

This is Omar the sheep along side my host sibilings the night before Tabaski.
Omar is unfortunately no longer with us.

My host sister Mawnde and baby Koumba dressed up for the holiday.

The day after Tabaski, I caught a bus into Kolda to help the new agriculture volunteers shop around for fun items for their new huts. In the days that followed, they installed into their permanent villages. I can’t explain how strange it was to now be the person helping the newbies move in. Wasn’t that just me a couple months ago?

When I arrived back to Mampatim, my host brother Malik greeted me with an especially excited look on his face. He took my hand and led me over to the little shed behind my host mother’s room. To my surprise, a tiny little puppy came crawling out and sauntered over to me. Malik looked at me and said  “Ko an wodi rawandu ndu.”This was my new pup!! They must have found him somewhere in the village because he looked pretty mangy and malnourished, but how could I say no? He was so cute!!! I named him Mijo, Mijo Moyyo Balde.

 This was taken a couple days after cleaning him up. He's grown so much since this!

Mijo Moyyo means good thought or good idea. Seemed like a pretty good idea to keep him :) He’s been my pride and joy, trotting alongside me everywhere I go and sleeping next to me on his little blanket at night. I can safely say I’ll be very much attached to him after two years and he’s definitely destined to have a great life if I’m his owner forever JWhat a wonderful early Christmas present!

I came back to the regional house for Thanksgiving. We turned on Christmas music and cooked amazing food, a beautiful collaborative effort which went surprisingly smooth considering we had about 35 people in the house. We managed to make almost every traditional dish, just about as good as being back in America for the real thing. The best part? Nine different pies! Who would have thought? Before feasting, all 35 of us sat in a circle and wrote on notecards all the reasons we're thankful and read eachother's aloud. It was a sweet little moment and a warm reminder that its possible to create family anywhere you go.
I'm returning back to village now with the little mini Christmas tree my parents sent me. I'll be sure to decorate my hut for the holidays this week. This month is a little tough when it comes to missing home for the holidays, but I hope so much you all are enjoying the crisp cold weather, the comfort of holiday cheer and the deliciousness of pumpkin spice lattes. Happy December!