7 months, 1 blog post

(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 began gushing out of the bottom, down my face, drenching my clothes. There’s not a whole lot to do at this moment, because a full benoir is much too heavy for one person to take off of their head by themselves. So my options: speed walk to the nearest person to help, call out for help, or simply let the water engulf me until the benoir is light enough to remove. And yes… I chose the final option. As I stood there in the road, slowly becoming more and more soaked, I thought- “but I just bought this benoir!”- when in reality, I bought it when I arrived at village twenty months ago (well over the average lifespan of a benoir).

Twenty two months. The time has rushed by. Arriving at village feels like just yesterday, and at the same time feels like a memory so distant and so clouded by all that I have learned and who I have become. Though I am fully aware of every passing month (even the happiest and most integrated volunteers always are fully aware of exactly how many months they’ve been in country and how many remain), I forget that each month that passes means that another month of this finite experience is gone.

In these past seven months, since coming back from America, I have simply been living my life. I was so appreciative to return to Senegal that I eased back into my routine, my projects, my community and my life without much hesitation or hardship. But in the process, I also stopped doing things like journaling (or blogging- whoops). I stopped trying to over analyze my experience, and just lived it. I’ve been appreciating my time with my friends and family, developing and implementing new projects that myself and my counterparts are passionate about, and enjoying the culture and religion that are unique to my home here.

NGO collaboration

Right back from my trip to America, I worked with other Kaffrine region volunteers to organize a partner’s meeting for government and NGOs acting in the region. The partners’ meeting was created as a volunteer-led effort to increase cooperation among development leaders in the region of Kaffrine. The lack of collaboration amongst these organizations has proven insufficient to improving Kaffrine’s social and economic wellbeing. Organizations often unknowingly replicate ineffective projects implemented by other organizations, failing to receive desired results. The potential for synergy is considerable. Combining different resources, including human capital, technical knowledge and financial means, can make a substantial impact on projects.

Koungheul’s Forum for Development

The impact of the Kaffrine Partners’ Meeting was significant. In addition to networking amongst participants, volunteers found new counterparts, and since then have collaborated on many projects. Koungheul volunteers were also invited to the Conseil Departemental’s forum for development, where we received crucial information relevant to our work, shared our unique perspectives, and continued to network with government officials and development organizations. For me, that meant becoming friends with Koungheul’s mayor and speaking in front of hundreds of people (and being broadcasted on the radio) about the need to address limits in agricultural development and peanut production and to improve Koungheul’s degraded soil- and yes, all in Mandinka.

Bakary Camara, the lead technician for Trees for the Future in Koungheul, one of the NGOs I work with.

Since Kaffrine’s project to increase collaboration amongst major players in the region, I have collaborated with five organizations on their projects in the region. Whether exchanging knowledge -and previous experiences, or sharing materials, this type of collaboration has been productive in implementing effective projects and, personally, very enlightening on development organizations, their strategies and their limitations.

Youth leadership club

This year, I launched a new project at the Koungheul Soce’s primary school, creating a Youth Leadership Club. After a year of watching students, particularly young girls, struggle through the transition from primary to secondary school, I designed this program to boost students’ confidence, ability to express their ideas, and study skills, in order to support them through this transition. From February to July, motivated students from the two oldest grades of primary school (ages 11-13) met to discuss topics covering health, the environment, and life skills. Using interactive lessons, games, reflections, and leadership activities in the school and the community, the students expressed themselves in new ways, increased their confidence, and had fun!

(Expect a more thorough post about this project, coming out soon!)

We made soap, and then taught our families proper hand washing.

Planting trees at the school to protect the environment

Advanced Gardening Training of Trainers

Collaborating with another volunteer, we designed an advanced gardening training of trainers to take place at two sites. Leaders of community gardens and other respected gardeners came from many villages to attend these trainings. Trainings covered techniques that were tailored to the needs and skill levels of these communities, in order to address specific barriers to implementing these techniques and other challenges that face these gardeners. Some techniques included improved organic amendments, double digging, zai holes, intercropping, mulching, integrated pest management, seed saving, and tomato management. I was grateful to have the Agroforestry Training Assistant Cheriff Djitte, an incredibly intelligent technician and a fellow Mandinka, as my co-trainer. Participants responded enthusiastically to the training, implemented many new techniques and we are now working together to disseminate their new knowledge to the rest of their communities and community garden groups.

Family visit

In the end of March, I was incredibly lucky to host my mom and brother in Senegal. We spent a few days in my village and then traveled to other parts of the country. Sharing my experience with them was invaluable, as understanding Senegal and my village can be difficult without seeing and living it. Mom spent her week in Senegal by taking photos of goats, laughing at the chickens that run around my “bathroom”, thinking about where everyone’s hands have been, and playing games with my younger brothers and sisters. And Ben, of course, somehow mastered the Mandinka greetings in minutes, accompanied me on many explorations across Senegal, and always found the most delicious things on the menu. As for myself, I was just grateful that we didn’t have any major accidents (just several very close calls).

Kamp Kaffrine

Kamp Kaffrin

e is a youth leadership camp aiming to teach, empower and provide students with the tools they need to become effective leaders in their community. This camp consisted of 30 students, hand picked from one Kaffrine volunteer’s site. Over three days, students had sessions on health, environment, financial literacy and community outreach.

Ramadan

From June 6- July 6 we celebrated Ramadan, the month of fasting. Last year I fasted for a week or so to better understand the lifestyle, culture and religion of my community. This year, I fasted- no food or water- every day that I was at site, which was 22 days. During this time I held a training for my seed extension program, I biked to and from a village 12 km away for another project, and I was very surprised by what our bodies are able to withstand. I would wake up for our morning meal at 4:45 am, study and work until our mid day nap, and then lay under the tree/splash water on our bodies/laugh at things that weren’t actually funny with my community. But at 5pm was when things would start to get tough– I was told this is when one sees Allah. So naturally this is when I would hallucinate daytime shooting stars, make up new lyrics to various songs, and talk to my baby trees in the nursery as I watered them. Finally, at 7:40 pm we would break fast, drinking cafe, nibbling bread and washing that down with ice water. After not eating for so long, just one cup of water was enough to fill us up. Ramadan came at a much needed time for me in my service. It united me and my community- we struggled together and feasted together. I fasted to connect to my community, to embrace faith, which holds so much importance to life in Senegal, and to learn to appreciate my body and what sustains it.

Looking towards the future

As I have been nearing the end of my service, I have begun to think towards my post- Peace Corps life. And for me, that meant taking the GRE. I would sit under the tree with my family, studying my GRE vocab cards or practicing math problems as they cracked peanuts and gossiped about something crazy Mariama or Ramatou said. While I was sad to miss out on prime peanut cracking time, studying was refreshing and exciting. Starting research on soil fertility and conservation agriculture practices and thinking towards grad school have been exhilarating. Sharing everything I find with my work partners, we are too excited to try out some new techniques in our demonstration area this upcoming rainy season!

Conservation agriculture techniques and seed extension preparation

After spending my first year observing, asking questions, and understanding why farmers do or don’t implement certain agricultural techniques, I have had many inspiring conversations with farmers. While one might just see the problems that are causing soil degradation (high peanut production, burning fields, clear cutting trees, soil erosion, and improper fertilizer application), there are a handful of progressive farmers that understand the complexities of their soil and farming practices and that traditional practices might be causing more harm than good to their fields. These are farmers who don’t burn their fields, practice Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (leaving sprouting trees in their fields), and are willing and excited to try new techniques. During the off season we would casually meet to talk about the science behind their soil, crops, and yields and to discuss different agricultural development theories and approaches. Our exciting and positive energy would feed off of each other, until finally we were sketching out demonstration areas to test out new techniques, such as alley cropping, mulching, intercropping, live mulching, and reduced tillage, this rainy season.

In preparation for this seasons’ seed extension, 50 participating farmers met to discuss the benefits of Peace Corps’ seed extension program, sustainable techniques, including improved manure and fertilizer management, proper plant spacing, timely weeding and thinning, pest management, and more, and then more advanced techniques. However, what was more important, and what I tried to encourage, was a conversation amongst farmers. Most farmers were under the impression that they had to cut trees and burn their fields, but from hearing tutorials from neighboring farmers of how they avoid these practices and the benefits of more sustainable treatment of their land is the first step towards behavior change. Now as we are amidst rainy season, it’s time to implement these demonstrations, monitor farmers’ fields, measure the effectiveness of these practices, and analyze the barriers to adopting new behaviors.

The Little Things

But in addition to the big projects, the memorable experiences, and the things that I use to define my service, there are the little things–the little things that bring something special to each day. They are things that make Peace Corps the hardest job I will ever love- or more often, the things that make me love Peace Corps despite the hard moments. These moments make me strong, hopeful, happy, and compassionate. However, sadly, they are also the things that are easily forgotten. Or their beauty can never truly be captured in words or in photos. They are smiles, shooting stars, a breeze, squeals of delight, new friendships, imaginary games, and the tiniest of victories.

Njambou is the little girl here. She’s my new best friend, though her mom is pretty great too. Njambou can rock Frozen/Snow White sandals that squeak when she walks or a white fuzzy onesie. She is the most attentive listener, and she always laughs at my jokes.

My namesake: Ndoundou Abi Thiaty. I attended her kuliiyoo (“head shaving”) and for the first time was let into the room with the older, well respected women in order to watch the ceremony. They shaved her head, while whispering blessings into her ears. Then her mom chewed some cola nut, which they rubbed on her head. There was probably more to it than that. But afterwards I held Ndoundou Abi in my arms and whispered to her my own blessings for a long, healthy and happy life- where she has access to education, healthcare, and the future that she desires.

Running “club”. A few times a week I meet up with my closest girl friends and we go for runs in bush. On our first run together, running and jumping through the bush and along the season river was invigorating. It wasn’t long until I spread my wings and zoomed around like a plane. My friend Dioula asked, “oh, is that how Americans run?” I said, “No, I’m just a crazy American.” Dioula spread out her arms, burst into a sprint and screamed over her shoulder, “well we are crazy too!” Diarrey started ninja chopping a tree and Fatou started imitating a train. I had never been more grateful for my crazy friends. We use our runs for typical girl talk and discussing the girls’ hopes for the future.

Check out those faces!

A friend for everything. I’ve learned if I need a smile, warmth, intellectual conversation, gossip, ridiculousness, or just someone to dig besides I have a friend for just that- and I know exactly who to go to. Being a volunteer and defying typical gender and age roles means we can cross divisions in the social system. I love that there are no limits as to who I have as friends, but that all groups have accepted me into their social circle, their homes, and their lives.

Sharing my tent with the people I love

A mango a day keeps the doctor away. What about five mangoes a day….

Small children with large knives

Work partners that love keeping rain data as much as I do.

Work in new villages- this is Wolof village with a few Bambara speakers (who also speak Mandinka). This woman’s garden was incredibly excited and motivated to do a tree nursery, even though agroforestry work is usually male-dominated because trees are indicative of land ownership. Working with this new group was an amazing experience. Each woman brought a full benoir of sand and manure themselves, rather than relying on their husbands or sons, and their dedication to the project has only grown ever since. It has also been an enlightening experience for me as I realized just how far my Wolof language skills have grown. I can greet, give instructions and make small talk with all of the ladies in the group. Of course, it helped to have a Bambara speaker nearby in case I needed to switch back into Mandinka.