Erin’s Sojourn in Senegal

Bootcamp is officially over and we are now Peace Corps Volunteers!  We took oath yesterday at the residence of Madame US Ambassador.  We all dressed in traditional Senegalese outfits - boubous for the men and complets for the women - and the room was bursting with color.

The entire ceremony was was televised and included speeches from the US ambassador, the Secretary General of Senegal, and three volunteers from our group who spoke in the local languages (Mandinka, Pulaar, and Wolof).  At the end of the program, we had cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and deserts, which was really nice, yet for some reason The Last Supper came to mind.

Afterwards, we went to a magical place in Dakar called The American Club.  I walked through the gate and felt like I was walking through the wardrobe into Narnia.  Tennis courts, a swimming pool, American food, a lounge, a playground… It was an incredibly surreal experience but it was great to play some tennis and swim some laps.

Tomorrow, we are off to our villages to get installed.  We will spend a couple nights in a hotel in a neighboring city, where we will buy our household supplies, then we will set up camp in our villages.  We stay there for two months, and in mid-July we come back to Thies for In-service Traing (IST).

In other news, I want to congratulate the Pulaar group from Mboro for winning the garden competition!  We put in long hours, worked hard, and almost always came home with goat poop in our fingernails.  I think we did a surprisingly great job considering we only had a two hour gardening demonstration at the training center and only one person from our group had any gardening experience.

If you would like to see photos of the Trainee vs. Trainer soccer match, the ceremony with our host families, and more photos of the winning garden and swearing-in, click on ‘End of PST’ on the right.

Our group of PCTs decided to celebrate Easter together on the beach in Mboro. The day was filled with the usual beach activities: throwing a Frisbee, swimming in the ocean, chasing away large groups of unruly kids whose parents are invisible, building sandcastles, etc.

It was during this mini vacation when I realized how much easier I am to please now, compared to two months ago. When I got to the hotel we were staying at and noticed a shower with temperature control and a flush toilette with toilette paper, I felt like I was walking into the Ritz. As I was walking through the market, I thought about how I used to be picky about where I went grocery shopping; now I would be ecstatic to go any supermarket that doesn’t smell like dead fish and urine. So I feel like the Peace Corps is having a positive effect on me.

Saturday night, I decided to check out the Easter vigil mass at the Catholic church. The service went from 10:00 in the evening until 2:00 in the morning, and although the mass was long, the choir was great. There were different types of drums and amazing harmonies - reminiscent of Lion King music and of the same quality.

The trip concluded with a ride on an “Alhamdoulilah,” which is usually a death-defying experience. Alhamdoulilah means “thanks be to God” in Arabic, and it is not painted on the front of these buses for no reason. They are often in such poor condition and have so many people crammed into them and have so much luggage piled high on top that it is truly thanks to God if you make it to your destination in one piece. Lucky for us, we arrived safely back at the Thies training center on Monday, Alhamdoulilah.

We just had volunteer visits. For those of you just tuning in, VV is when we all take a trip out near the village we will be staying in for the next two years. This is a lengthy post; in a nutshell, it was boiling hot. For details about the trip, continue reading…

We started off at around 7:00 am in a sept-place, which is a car that can “comfortably” seat seven people, and it is one of the main forms of transportation here. The drive was fun - I felt like I was in a video game with all the pot holes, goats, and trucks we were swerving the whole time. Around the half way point, in the middle of literally no where, our driver stopped by a shelter made of sticks and started unloading baggage. I was confused for a moment until I noticed a white girl standing there, and I realized we were dropping off two of our trainees, whose village was 5 k off the road.

We said goodbye and good luck to them, and the three of us remaining continued North. At several points during the drive I was on the verge of telling the driver that I thought it was about time to turn on the AC, but then I remembered where I was. After traveling for about 10 hours, Renee and I bid farewell to Vivienne and met Marisa, who arrived on a charette. Marisa is a PCV who has been in Senegal for a year, and she was nice enough to have us trainees tag along with her for the week. For me, she was also proof that an American can survive for a year in the Senegal Sahel.

Her village was located 7 k from the main road, had no electricity, and had a limited water supply, so it was a very humbling and interesting experience, to say the least. In her village, the water is shared with another village, so the three faucets there are turned on for only three hours in the day. This means that all the women line up their buckets early and take turns filling them up for all the laundry, cooking, and cleaning they have to do that day.

I tried carrying a small bucket on my head, much to the amusement of the other women and children there, and for my first time I thought I did a pretty good job - I didn’t spill a drop!

The one thing that consumed my every thought, however, wasn’t so much the water but the heat. It starts around noon and lasts until around 5 o’clock. The temperature was over 100 degrees the whole time, and during these five hours every day, with no air conditioning, no swimming pool, and no freezer, the only thing to do is lie around and hallucinate. During these hours, doing the smallest task was the most difficult thing I have ever tried to do. I have never been so hot in my life, and it was weird to have my body slow down as much as it did during the day.

For those of you who know me, you know I am not usually fond of sitting around doing nothing during the day, but in the Fouta I had no choice but to give in (or go to the hospital due to heat stroke). The picture below is a typical scene of an afternoon lying on mats under a shelter.

Despite the heat, we managed to paint a mural, have a health meeting with the village women and visit my new site in Thilogne.  I also managed to get bit by a scorpion in my sleep.  In any case, it was a fun week and I’m glad I know what to expect.  On a positive note, the evenings, mornings, and the hospitality of the village more than made up for the cruel day. If you want to see more photos of the Volunteer Visit, click on the link on the right.