We hadn't been able to contact anyone in my village prior to arrival because they didn't pick up their phones. So on Thursday morning, we decided to head down there anyway. We had planned on biking the 25 kilometers from her town (Nioro) to my village, and she had even borrowed a bike for me, but we realized her tire was flat and decided to take public transport down instead. The busses that travel between cities are packed full of people-imagine a 12 person passenger van packed with 20-25 people; we were all jammed in together. The road from Nioro south is a major road (it connects Senegal to the Gambia), but it is in very poor condition with huge pot holes and some parts not even fully paved. Needless to say, it took us about an hour and a half to arrive at the crossroads that leads to my village. We walked down this road for about a kilometer and then turned onto a bush path (a path in the sand/dirt that donkey carts, motorcycles, and people can walk on but cars don't drive on) for about a kilometer until we reached my village.
We asked a few boys to lead us to my family's compound, and they were very excited to see me. I have two mothers, and one decided to take me around to meet everyone in the village. I was introduced to people as "Wolunteer bu bees" (The new volunteer) here to help the village in the areas of health and the environment, but not to give any money. The village is very open; unlike other villages in Senegal where each family has a fenced-in compound and then individual huts (essentially detached rooms) within the fencing, my village does not have any fencing at all. It is an agricultural community, farming primarily millet and some peanuts, and a very beautiful area. Even though it is sandy, there are a lot of neem trees and of course the crops in the fields. There is also a school with 2 classes, and the teachers are very friendly.
I met about half the people before we headed back to my family's compound to sit and talk for a little. I was a little overwhelmed and also still cannot speak too much Wolof, so Lisa told them all about me and asked them lots of questions about the village. They then noticed that we were getting tired, so they swept out my hut (newly built for me and still requiring a bit of roof patching) and laid a mat down for us to nap on. When we woke up, they had brought us lunch and family and friends were sitting in the hut with us. We ate, spoke with them for awhile, and had tea. They are all very excited for me to come live with them and also very encouraging about my language skills, promising me that they'll help me improve my Wolof. Also, as my mother put it, everyone in the village loves to smile and laugh; a perfect setting for me to live in.
I am so excited to finish training and begin working at my site. I can't wait to get to know everyone in my village, learn about them, and begin working on projects. It was also nice to follow Lisa around and to meet Meg and Courtney (other volunteers in the Nioro area). All of them are amazing people with a great attitude, and I am happy to be located so close to them. The location of my village is also great because it feels remote, but Nioro is easily bikable (or I can take the public transport) and there are also 2 road towns within 2 km of me with markets to buy food or supplies at. I am also only about 2 km from the border with Gambia, and we walked to Farfenni (a city in Gambia) in half an hour. So the location of the village is perfect for me. Today, when I met up with my fellow Peace Corps trainees, I could not stop raving about my village. Less than a month, and I can finally live there! Now I just need to focus on improving my Wolof so that I can communicate when I arrive there; my motivation for my language classes has now drastically increased....And I can't stop smiling to myself!
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