Night of the Flying Grasshopper

September 21st, 2009 |

Although I really don’t want to be negative, I pretty much have no choice because I am basically worn-out. I’ve been at my site for over a month without leaving, and the stresses of daily life have caught up to me. Usually, when people yell out ‘toubab,’ I go up to them and nicely say, “hey, the toubab has a name - it’s Hola - what’s your name?” But lately, ‘toubab,’ which means ‘white man’ or ‘whitey,’ has been grating on my nerves so badly that I have been yelling back at people, “MY NAME IS NOT TOUBAB… IS YOUR NAME BLACK?!” The main reason for this lack of patience is that my life is my work and my work is my life and there is no such thing as relaxing as long as I am at site, so any frustration I have on a daily basis just builds and builds. Besides the fact that I’m always on display when I walk out of my room, another frustration is the multitude of bugs.

Since the rains started 4 months ago, the bugs have been out of control. Every month or so there is a new kind of bug that emerges, and they seem to be getting progressively worse. First there were these little black bugs that would crawl and fly and stick in my hair, and they wouldn’t simply shake out, I had to actually peel them out. Then there were these other little black bugs that didn’t fly but ran really fast and hid in my room in large numbers. Now, it’s the grasshoppers, and they have succeeded in their attempt to be as irritating as possible. There is nothing less fun than dealing with these creatures, which hop or fly in my hair and clothes, before going to bed. Like the other bugs, they are most intense at night, at which time it’s like the plague. I try to set up my mosquito net as quickly as possible, while the grasshoppers are flying at me from every direction, and within minutes the whole net is covered with them. Because I am essentially living outside, there is no escaping these evil pests, and I’m constantly playing field hockey with my broom trying to get them out of my room.

100_1199

To top it all off, yesterday was Korité, the end of Ramadan (their version of Thanksgiving, except the food is gross). My host family bought a cute goat (the one pictured below) and had it slaughtered in the back yard. As I was washing my clothes, I got to watch some guys slit its throat, drain the fluids, skin it, and chop up the parts. After I was nice and tired from doing laundry for two and half hours and angry that my host brother played with the goat’s head then started eating without washing his hands (after I specifically told him he should wash his hands – I mean, as a health volunteer, I feel like it’s my responsibility to say something), I went into my room to eat lunch and got a lovely surprise from Mon Ami. I didn’t notice her come into the room, but I heard her crunching away at something by my feet, so I looked down and saw her chewing one of the goat’s bloody legs. Not only that, there were drips of blood all over my room. I told her to get out, and she left, leaving me to take out the leg and clean up the blood.

100_1220

One positive thing that happened recently is that I finished a world map mural at the high school. People up here cannot point to Senegal on a map, nor can they point to any given continent. I showed this to a group of girls and they enjoyed seeing where different countries were located.

100_1219

Given my current stress level, I plan to spend a couple days at the beach, and hopefully I will return feeling calmer. Until then, enjoy the photos, although I do warn you that there are many of the goat being slaughtered – yes, this is partially an attempt to convert you to vegetarianism.

Ramadan

September 6th, 2009 |

Since my last post, the dog situation has improved quite a bit.  Demba has been bizarrely nice to me, and Mon Ami has actually become friends with the “mean” street dogs because she has been escaping from the compound whenever I’m not keeping her under strict supervision.

Ramadan is in full swing right now.  We are in the 3rd week of fasting (no food, no water) from 6:00 AM to 7:20 PM, and by “we” I mean everyone in Thilogne except for me.  People ask me every day if I’m fasting, and I tell them that I fasted for one day, which is true, and half of them laugh and tell me I’m too weak to do it every day, and I’m fine with that.  However, the other half of the population gets angry that I’m not fasting and they accuse me of not liking Muslims and not wanting to integrate. So, just recently, I have been telling people that I am fasting to avoid being hassled.  I feel slightly guilty about this, of course, because people will ask if I’m fasting after I’ve downed a cold Coke or eaten a huge piece of bread with Nutella.

The one part of Ramadan that I do participate in every day is the breaking of the fast.  My host mother makes delicious bissap juice with ice, and we all sit around drinking that and coffee when the mosque announces sundown.  I’m really not sure how people go without water in this sweltering heat, but one of their strategies is to stay up until around 2 AM and to sleep in until around 10 AM and then rest as much as possible during the day.

100_1138

One problem with Ramadan here (in addition to the numerous people complaining of terrible headaches and stomach aches) is the fact that mothers do not cook nutritious meals for their kids during the day.  I held a nutrition/cooking class for 28 mothers on Friday and asked them what they were feeding their children, and they said they were giving them Gosi, which is rice mixed with sugar and water, or just plain milk.  Marisa and I showed them how to make an easy, cheap, and nutritious porridge, made with millet flour, oil, sugar, bananas, and peanut butter - all local ingredients.  It was really successful, and everyone loved the recipe, so we will continue every Friday and can only hope that the women will make it themselves at home.

100_1133

Aside from Ramadan, the Humanitarian Assistance team from the US Army paid a visit to Thilogne last week, as they may fund a project here, and it was fun to show them around the town.  Also, thanks to generous donations of art supplies by teachers in America, I will be able to do an art camp when school starts!  If you are interested in donating, please check out the “School Supplies for Sukaabe” page, as the more supplies we have, the more kids who are able to participate in the camp.  Now, I’m just going to eat some spaghetti…