The Good and The Bad

Before I get into the good and the bad of my time here, let me first say that today was a day of letters galore! Today Alan got my valentine's day card (after 3 months of traveling the globe). Also, I have a friend who's a PCV in Honduras and I got a letter from her (which also traveled for 3 months). Inspired by a recent blog post from that same friend, I've decided to give you some of the good and the bad things about Senegal. Let me give a disclaimer that this is my own totally unprofessional opinion and don't take it as fact. Also, I feel like I could go on about this forever but here's just a glimpse:

The Bad:

The way Senegalese men behave sometimes drives me crazy. They're told they are superior of women and most men believe this and act on it all the time. I can barely stand working with partners who may not think that I'm totally inferior (because I'm a foreigner) but that they will never respect half of their own country. This happened a while ago (and I already blogged about it) but I got into a huge discussion with several male teachers/school administrators about how women shouldn't work because they aren't intelligent enough....ugh how can you write off half of your country's brainpower and workforce.

The way concept of time and important things. People are never late for food or prayers but can't seem to be on time for anything else. If a meeting is supposed to start at 9 people will show up around 10 and you can maybe start around 10:30... if you're lucky. I know it's not impossible to be on time, it's just not important.

The Good:
Senegalese women are seriously amazing. All of the women in my house and all of the girls that I work with are so strong and do so much every single day. The women in my house do almost everything every day to make sure we eat, things are clean, people have clothes, etc. and they don't take credit for ANYTHING. I know that the girls I work with do a ton of housework to support their mothers and sisters while also doing school work and maintaining great grades (better than some of the boys in their classes who don't have as much housework).

Hardworking means hardworking - there are a couple of people (Matar included) that work so, so, so hard to provide for their families. I just find it so impressive that someone like Matar, at the age of 31, supports his entire huge family. He works 7 days a week to support them and this kind of dedication to family is amazing.

One more thing that, though it's not exactly about Senegal, is making my Peace Corps service great is my friends. I'm so lucky to have such great other volunteers in my area and around the country. Even when I'm not with my girl posse I feel like I can hang out with any other volunteer in country because everyone is awesome.

There's a little about Senegal for you.... once my service really starts to come to a close I plan on having more retrospective blogs, but you'll have to wait at least a month for that.

This is a little early but Happy Easter everyone! I hope you have ham and peeps and maybe even a butter lamb on your table!

KO