Peace Corps guilt is an all too true phenomenon amongst Peace Corps volunteers. It is quite easy to feel guilty for just about any and everything. We feel guilty for seeing more of the country than our closest friends and family at site. We feel guilty for spending too much time at the regional house, […]
(Written July 22, 2016) After twenty two months in Senegal, my day began just like any other day- workout in my hut, drink coffee, water the garden, pull water at the well. But it was as I was carrying water back to my hut that the bottom of the benoir atop my head cracked. Water […]
Back in America sixteen months ago, I ached with anxiety- not necessarily about going to Senegal, but about spending two years away from America and the inevitable reverse culture shock. I hadn’t imagined that I would return home in my two years of service and instead thought that my time in Senegal would be a […]
1. Falling asleep under the stars. And counting the shooting stars with my little siblings, as we telling each other bed time stories. Or imagining the lives of those on the planes overhead. 2. Candles 3. Outdoor showers- whether mid day under the hot sun, during a rain storm, or beneath the bright moon. 4. […]
Well, the rains have dried up and the crops are being harvested. And with the end of our four months of rain, it is finally time for me to post “that one time…: short stories from rainy season”. Hope they shine a light on the good, the bad, the very much normal moments of my […]
I have struggled over what is appropriate to share on my blog– how I want my service to appear to those back home. I know that the negative stories and images linger and dominate over the happy, simple images of drinking tea and planting trees. And in my not wanting to taint the image of […]
I’ve spent one year in Senegal. Harvest season transitioned to cold season, and then hot season, to rainy season, and now back to harvest season. I’ve went from gardening, to tree work, to field crops. As we spend our afternoons sitting underneath our tree, our otherwise idle hands kept busy: from cracking peanuts, to […]
Any volunteer will tell you that youth are our greatest allies. It’s the children who seek comfort in my arms, when really I am the one craving their affection. It’s the children who proved to be my greatest teachers, showing patience with my Mandinka and clarifying the complexities of cultural and social situations. It’s the […]
Rainy season has kept us busy for nearly a month and half now, and to this day I still get asked: “Ndoundou, where are your peanuts?”…twice a day. Now at first I thought this a silly question. Why would I, a Peace Corps Sustainable Agriculture Extension Volunteer, have my own field of peanuts? I don’t […]
(post from mid-July) I was skyping my mother during the first first week of July from the regional house, when I thought to give her a tour. So I brought my phone out to the road to give her a quick look as to what Kaffrine, Senegal looks like. Her response: “it’s very…brown”. After over […]
Stories from Senegal: 26 Months in the Peace Corps 