Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Dafa taw!
It was wonderful to return to my village after being away for about 2 weeks at a language seminar (some additional Wolof instruction at my friend's site with a Peace Corps teacher) and then in Kedagou for vacation. As I sat in the car nearing my village, I couldn't help but smile. Plus, the entire area has erupted in greenery now that the rainy season is in full swing, and it was beautiful - way different from the sandy, brown landscape I had left behind. I stepped out of the car and began to walk the 1 km of bushpath to my site. A lot of my village was in the fields farming, and they all waved at me as I passed. Everyone greeted me excitedly and children ran out to me. I neared my compound, and my whole family came out to see me. It was a great homecoming. Apparently everyone had been asking about me (children and adults alike) and couldn't wait to see me again.
Life is a bit different now that the farming season has started. Every morning, everyone goes out to the fields to work until 12 or 1, then they come back for lunch and a short nap. They usually return to the fields around 4, after the heat has decreased. My village farms peanuts, millet, and corn, and this is all very labor-intensive without modern technology. The men usually begin the field first. A boy leads a horse or donkey attached to an old-metal contraption that digs the soil and is guided by a man. Women and children follow behind to dig up the soil with hand tools, pulling out all the weeds to leave just the crop behind. I have accompanied them to the field twice so far. It is exhausting work, and everyone is wiped out at the end of the day from bending over and hacking at the ground all day. I enjoy helping in the fields but am a bit nervous at accidentally digging up the crops. I can just imagine the headlines: Peace Corps volunteer destroys village’s harvest. I’m sure that won’t happen, but I do get a bit nervous nonetheless.
I am finally feeling a part of my village and not just a guest. The toddlers in my family are no longer scared of me either. One shook my hand, I carried one on my back through the fields when we went to pick hibiscus leaves for sauce, and the other absolutely adores me. This last one hobbles toward me when she sees me coming, and I am put in charge of watching her when everyone else is in the fields. She is so cute. When she walks, she gets a very concentrated look on her face and stares intently at her destination. There are also the older children who I spend a lot of time with. My room is often the coolest place in the morning, so I hang out with the children and even my parents in my room. They all love the chalkboard I have painted on my wall, and I have begun some tutoring sessions with my siblings to help them with school. One time, during a rainstorm, all the kids piled into my room. I taught them to play pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, which they all loved. Then we sat around my headlamp and just talked, one of my sisters repeating that she didn't want me to ever leave. During other rain storms, I stand in my backyard, singing and dancing. The storms are intense, like summer thunderstorms in the US, and I love them. I just sit and watch the rain pouring down, listening to the thunder in the distance, and laughing at all the kids and adults dashing through the rain on some mission. Dafa taw! (It’s raining!) Yesterday, 2 boys came running through the pounding rain in the pitch-black, trying to catch a duck. The duck kept evading them, and the boys tried all different angles to tackle it. Finally, they were successful and took it back home to their compound to spend the night in the backyard. I am constantly entertained and never stop laughing.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Netti bes, netti cascade
Let me begin by telling you the small progress I have made on one of my projects. After speaking with Eaux et Forets in Nioro, I had learned that I could receive trees, so I eagerly returned to my village to share this information with them. I spoke to my family first, and they were extremely excited. Currently, we only have neem trees in my village (which according to the people, have no purpose since it can't be burned for firewood or eaten), and there aren't too many of these either. So the prospect of new trees was very exciting. My father declared that we would have a meeting to determine what types of trees and how many we should request. My mother went around to every compound, informing them to meet after dinner on Monday night.
Before the meeting began, I became very nervous. This is the first project that I am starting in my village, so it sets up expectations for me during the rest of my service. On top of that, I have absolutely no experience planting trees (though an Agriculture and Forestry volunteer told me she would help me). I began to ask myself questions: What if I couldn't get the trees they wanted? What if all the trees died? What if I couldn't properly plant them? I tried to convey all this information to my father, suggesting that perhaps we shouldn't have the village meeting. I wanted him to just tell me what types of trees we should request for the village. I knew that their desire to call a meeting was best since it would reflect the actual needs of the community, and I was excited that they had decided to determine this all so democratically rather than individually. However, I didn't want people to become angry if I couldn't carry this project through.
My parents were insistent that we continue to have the meeting as planned, so after dinner we headed over to the clearing. Boys carried benches out for every to sit on. Altogether, about 50 people showed up, a big feat for a village of 400 people. I was impressed that there were essentially an equal number of men and women. I was still nervous, but one of my friends in the village began to talk with me, practicing the english that I have been teaching her and that helped me to calm down a bit. Then my father, as village chief, began the meeting. He explained that I could get trees from the village and also explained how it was out of my control if I could bring back what they asked. He told them that we should create options of types of trees; this way, if Eaux et Forets could not provide one type, I would have alternatives to request. This all went over really well. My whole village became very excited and an animated discussion began. I was impressed that they discussed trees to buy for the village and not individually. I had assumed that I would be getting one tree per compound, but they wanted to devote a plot of land to creating a community orchard. They really do work as a community here. In the end, they decided that they wanted a tree for firewood, cashew fruit trees, and mango trees. They also told me that if I received these trees, they would sing and dance as they planted each one. It would be a community event, as everyone would contribute to helping to plant the trees.
Luckily, when I went to Eaux et Forets, they approved my request and I will be transporting the trees back to my village in August. It has all worked out. I can't wait to tell my village that they will be receiving these trees.
And then, in other news, I just returned from a short trip to Kedagou, a region in southeastern Senegal. It is supposedly one of the most beautiful parts of the country, and the only region with mountains (hills, really) and waterfalls. On the drive down, I watched as the scenery changed from brown, sandy, and flat to green, muddy, and hilly. In fact, I have become so accustomed to the dusty color here that the green seems so vibrant and unrealistic; it is almost as if the grass was painted that color. It is probably the same color as grass in the US, but it's been over 3 months since I've seen this, and I really did miss it. (Now that rainy season has officially began in my village, I should be seeing grass there too, so I can't wait to see that when I return.) I was overjoyed by the topography and flora. I then spent 3 days hiking with some friends in this region; netti bes, netti cascade (3 days, 3 waterfalls). We had a lovely hike to Segou falls, where we saw baboons and even heard a few fighting. We then hiked to Dindefello falls, the highest waterfall in Senegal; it was a beautiful waterfall, though the hike to it was less majestic than to Segou. Swimming in the Dindefello Falls was a great way to cool off though before climbing the mountain to see one final waterfall and also the source of the Segou Falls. As we stood at the top of this waterfall, we could see some of our friends below, hanging out at the bottom of the waterfall. It was great to hike again, spend some time with friends I haven't seen in awhile sharing stories (and speaking english), see this beautiful part of the country, and speak with some of the locals in the area. But now, after being away from my site for about a week-and-a-half (I was also away for some language training before I left for Kedagou), I can't wait to return to my site and see my family and villagers again.
Before the meeting began, I became very nervous. This is the first project that I am starting in my village, so it sets up expectations for me during the rest of my service. On top of that, I have absolutely no experience planting trees (though an Agriculture and Forestry volunteer told me she would help me). I began to ask myself questions: What if I couldn't get the trees they wanted? What if all the trees died? What if I couldn't properly plant them? I tried to convey all this information to my father, suggesting that perhaps we shouldn't have the village meeting. I wanted him to just tell me what types of trees we should request for the village. I knew that their desire to call a meeting was best since it would reflect the actual needs of the community, and I was excited that they had decided to determine this all so democratically rather than individually. However, I didn't want people to become angry if I couldn't carry this project through.
My parents were insistent that we continue to have the meeting as planned, so after dinner we headed over to the clearing. Boys carried benches out for every to sit on. Altogether, about 50 people showed up, a big feat for a village of 400 people. I was impressed that there were essentially an equal number of men and women. I was still nervous, but one of my friends in the village began to talk with me, practicing the english that I have been teaching her and that helped me to calm down a bit. Then my father, as village chief, began the meeting. He explained that I could get trees from the village and also explained how it was out of my control if I could bring back what they asked. He told them that we should create options of types of trees; this way, if Eaux et Forets could not provide one type, I would have alternatives to request. This all went over really well. My whole village became very excited and an animated discussion began. I was impressed that they discussed trees to buy for the village and not individually. I had assumed that I would be getting one tree per compound, but they wanted to devote a plot of land to creating a community orchard. They really do work as a community here. In the end, they decided that they wanted a tree for firewood, cashew fruit trees, and mango trees. They also told me that if I received these trees, they would sing and dance as they planted each one. It would be a community event, as everyone would contribute to helping to plant the trees.
Luckily, when I went to Eaux et Forets, they approved my request and I will be transporting the trees back to my village in August. It has all worked out. I can't wait to tell my village that they will be receiving these trees.
And then, in other news, I just returned from a short trip to Kedagou, a region in southeastern Senegal. It is supposedly one of the most beautiful parts of the country, and the only region with mountains (hills, really) and waterfalls. On the drive down, I watched as the scenery changed from brown, sandy, and flat to green, muddy, and hilly. In fact, I have become so accustomed to the dusty color here that the green seems so vibrant and unrealistic; it is almost as if the grass was painted that color. It is probably the same color as grass in the US, but it's been over 3 months since I've seen this, and I really did miss it. (Now that rainy season has officially began in my village, I should be seeing grass there too, so I can't wait to see that when I return.) I was overjoyed by the topography and flora. I then spent 3 days hiking with some friends in this region; netti bes, netti cascade (3 days, 3 waterfalls). We had a lovely hike to Segou falls, where we saw baboons and even heard a few fighting. We then hiked to Dindefello falls, the highest waterfall in Senegal; it was a beautiful waterfall, though the hike to it was less majestic than to Segou. Swimming in the Dindefello Falls was a great way to cool off though before climbing the mountain to see one final waterfall and also the source of the Segou Falls. As we stood at the top of this waterfall, we could see some of our friends below, hanging out at the bottom of the waterfall. It was great to hike again, spend some time with friends I haven't seen in awhile sharing stories (and speaking english), see this beautiful part of the country, and speak with some of the locals in the area. But now, after being away from my site for about a week-and-a-half (I was also away for some language training before I left for Kedagou), I can't wait to return to my site and see my family and villagers again.
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