Alright folks, I apologize for the delay in updating my blog since my return from America (sigh.) I have been trying to be in village and get stuff done and it is just so easy to get sucked into the internet and enjoy youtube and facebook. I am never going to get over the addiction of wasting my own time. So sorry I am trying much harder now to be focused. So lets start on America.
It was great. I had 6 pints of ben and jerry's ice cream, 3 quarts of beyers ice cream, 5 reeses klondike bars and a package of popsicles. This was within 17 days. Digestion was a problem that I accepted in the face that I was going to go with readily available ice cream for another year. It was totally worth it.
I also attended the wedding of the year-it was easily one of the most important and beautiful events I have ever had the pleasure to belong to. The dress fit the bride who was the most gracious and prepared bride ever, the groom was calm, the father told hilarious jokes about how the groom won the bride's mom over, and the dancing was off the chart because we pulled out moves that had no names. YOu can measure how great a party was by how sore you are the next day-I've been biking all over my region for the last year and I was sore the next day. Bravo and best wishes to Kelsey and Kevin!
Seeing family and friends and hearing how their lives had changed in the past year was a reality check for me. Time moves so slowly and is so centered on the immediate day to day occurances its weird to know that the lives I used to be so aware of are rapidly changingin my absence.
So enough on that. I made it back to Senegal alright though I arrived in New York just in time to hand my boarding pass to the attendent and walk down the aisle way before they shut the door. That would have been an interesting call to the country director-sorry won't be back til I can get enough money for a plane ticket to Senegal.
I arrived back in Senegal in time for Korite-the day when Ramadan ends and the masses can eat tons of glorious food and ton be insane and starving from sun up to sun down. It trapped me in Dakar for two more days (that and I left my Peace Corps ID in America and I didn't want to be getting out of the car in the Gambia to argue with a border person about why I shouldn't pay to have my passport stamped) but then it was a quick ride back to Kolda and two days later I was back in village.
When I got back everything I owned, patrially owned and wanted to own was covered in mold. My hut smelled like a basement and everything was stiff with mildew and moldy fuzz. However two days of laundry and keeping the doors open cleared everything up and now I am back to my naturally dirty and aromatic self.
Coming back to village I was relieved to find my language had not regressed significantly and that my village still loved me, though a few people confided in me their doubt that I would actually return to Africa after going to the land of ice cream and Mcgriddles (everything I have wanted to eat for breakfast in one bite.) The corn harvest has come in and peanuts are starting to be pulled from the fields to dry. Whenever I walk past a field someone uproots a plant and just hands it to me to eat. Didn't like it at first but as my body began to remember how limited my diet is food I didn't want to eat started to taste much better.
Like for breakfast. All of cows weaned their calves just before I left so every morning all we had was rice and mashed up okra. Not ideal when you want to be working. Well I got back and we didn't even have okra anymore. We had rice with a jumbo cube sprinkled on it. You want to know what jumbo is- you know that little packet inside ramen noodles for spicing the noodles? Thats a jumbo cube. When you have that for breakfast, you are hungry again by 10 and lunch is not till 2pm. I was very unhappy. One morning I got up with the intention of biking to Dabo and I had a banana saved from the night before. When you eat a limited diet and then you have something nutritous you can literally feel it enter your stomach and be dissolved and spread throughout your body as fast as it can. It is a weird sensation.
Fortunately three days ago one of the cows gave birth so now we have milk and breafast is still rice but its rice and kosam and the protein and calcium from the kosam make all the difference.
The first day we had it was actually the day my boss for Peace Corps came to do a site visit and help me complete my community interview and cost analysis for project priorities.
But first let me tell me you about the drama just before he came, because the two days before my boss came I was convinced I had malaria.
All volunteers are on prophalxis for malaria (and I take mine religiously once a week) but the virus does have potential to overload your system and that it was I thought it had done. It started with low grade fevers and body aches when then turned into chills where I was wrapped in my blankets, blowing on my hands and shivering uncontrollably-all this around noon and it was about 90-95 degrees. Not promising considering I also had a fever around 102. After waiting 6 months for my boss to come I couldn't consider risking not being in village for site visit. So I sucked it up, said to myself "Make it to sunday," and took some strong Ibu Profen.
No worries though I made it and I am pretty sure I don't have malaria now. Yay!
The meeting was amazing though. I had been getting people pysched for the past 3 weeks and I even caved and bought a goat for lunch,
We discussed our prevous priorities and began to price the projects. We discussed a pounding machine, a health hut, community garden, chicken coop project, fixing the school, and increasing the cashew orchard. The most expensive project is the pounding machine which everyone said is the priority. The village has to raise 25% of the cost which is around 500,000 CFA and then a matching donor will raise the other 75%.
The women are totally on board with this as this will significantly reduce their workload. I also am a little more confident in them to put forth their share of the money.
Its the men I am worried about. They are interested and want to do the project but they have a slightly less clean record when it comes to paying up when the time is up. We'll have to establish a payment schedule before I can submit anything but I am cautiously optimistic. Plus we priced out the school and I believe without a doubt it can be fixed within this year. It would cost around 400 American dollars to fix it which is doable considering other projects NGOs undertake.
I am very optimistic so far about where projects are going this year.
Other than that I am doing a small event for halloween with the kids and the crayons my grandma's church gave! Very excited for that and that fact the pumpkins are finally in season so I can have eat budu to my little heart's content.
So everyone I am still alive and working in Africa. I am very excited to see where the next 12 months take me.
En Lawwol Gonngal!