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.

nowhere

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.

bucket-line

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!

100_0684

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.

chillin

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.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 5th, 2009 at 5:15 pm and is filed under Pre-service training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.