The past few days it has stormed every evening for two or three hours. Usually it starts around 4pm and continues until right before dinner. Yesterday I was caught in the rain and had clothes drying on the line so I was unhappy with the storm. Today, it’s a completely different story. We made it back to the training center before the rain came and now, even though I’m trapped in my room, I don’t mind the storm. The training center is designed like most Senegalese compounds with unconnected buildings. My room, for example, is in a building with other bedrooms and 1 bathroom but all of the doors face outward and you walk between the rooms under a little awning. The rest of the buildings are separate with no awnings or coverings. Because the center floods with heavy rain, we’re trapped in our room which, frankly, I don’t mind that much.
After a morning of running around and leading camp games (flashback to my Girls’ State days) I don’t mind having a few hours to read and relax. After the camp we ate lunch (at a restaurant this time), and went to the market to buy food for dinner. From now until the rain lets up or we get hungry enough to brave it and run to the kitchen, I’m in forced, but enjoyed, isolation (with my 3 friends and a little bit of internet).
The English camp continues tomorrow with the main event: ask the Americans! In the meantime I’m going to continue reading and eventually eat dinner.
KO
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
Access English Camp Day 1
Today was the first day of the US Embassy sponsored English camp. We left the center this morning not knowing what to really expect and were met at the high school by about 50 15-17 year olds and a few English teachers. We had of only the lesson plan a few volunteers had created which was, no fault on them, bare bones. The teachers hadn't bought any of the supplies we requested so we had nothing (no paper, pens, markers, etc.). We broke the kids into groups and started playing games.
My group has 17 Senegalese kids, Jackie, Zach (a volunteer from Kedougou), and me. We started off with name games ("my name is Katherine and I like ketchup) but had to explain several times that if your name was Anna you couldn't like "the beach" but something with an "a" (they all chose to pick American names for the week - we have a Landon Donovan). The rest of the day was full of other games and things you can do outside without any supplies. It was fun to speak in English the whole time and I think the kids really enjoyed themselves. At one point, the game involved asking each other questions and one girl asked another (who then said "yes"), "would you like to have an American husband?" Zach better watch out!
The camp was 4 hours and we were all pretty tired (with no lesson plan it had been 4 hours of making up games on the fly) and went to the garage to get chicken sandwiches. It sounds gross but I think I've explained it before: the garages (where you get cars to go to Dakar etc.) have food for people to buy and eat while they're traveling. A while ago Jackie, Alyssa, and I made friends with the best chicken sandwich lady (we'd tried a few and decided on the best one). Jackie and I were there earlier in the week and she remembered us and was annoyed that we didn't invite our 3rd friend (Alyssa) to eat lunch with us (we had invited her but she was eating with her host family). Today we came to our friend's stand with other volunteers and pretty much bought all of her chicken sandwiches. In case you were wondering, a chicken sandwich is: 6 inches of baguette, onion sauce, rotisserie type chicken, and fries... they have lettuce when lettuce is in season which is not now... all for 500cfa (about $1).
Post chicken sandwiches we ran some other errands and are now hanging out. The English camp is every morning this week so I'm sure I'll have more updates coming. I hope all's well in the US!
KO
My group has 17 Senegalese kids, Jackie, Zach (a volunteer from Kedougou), and me. We started off with name games ("my name is Katherine and I like ketchup) but had to explain several times that if your name was Anna you couldn't like "the beach" but something with an "a" (they all chose to pick American names for the week - we have a Landon Donovan). The rest of the day was full of other games and things you can do outside without any supplies. It was fun to speak in English the whole time and I think the kids really enjoyed themselves. At one point, the game involved asking each other questions and one girl asked another (who then said "yes"), "would you like to have an American husband?" Zach better watch out!
The camp was 4 hours and we were all pretty tired (with no lesson plan it had been 4 hours of making up games on the fly) and went to the garage to get chicken sandwiches. It sounds gross but I think I've explained it before: the garages (where you get cars to go to Dakar etc.) have food for people to buy and eat while they're traveling. A while ago Jackie, Alyssa, and I made friends with the best chicken sandwich lady (we'd tried a few and decided on the best one). Jackie and I were there earlier in the week and she remembered us and was annoyed that we didn't invite our 3rd friend (Alyssa) to eat lunch with us (we had invited her but she was eating with her host family). Today we came to our friend's stand with other volunteers and pretty much bought all of her chicken sandwiches. In case you were wondering, a chicken sandwich is: 6 inches of baguette, onion sauce, rotisserie type chicken, and fries... they have lettuce when lettuce is in season which is not now... all for 500cfa (about $1).
Post chicken sandwiches we ran some other errands and are now hanging out. The English camp is every morning this week so I'm sure I'll have more updates coming. I hope all's well in the US!
KO
Access English Camp Day 1
Today was the first day of the US Embassy sponsored English camp. We left the center this morning not knowing what to really expect and were met at the high school by about 50 15-17 year olds and a few English teachers. We had of only the lesson plan a few volunteers had created which was, no fault on them, bare bones. The teachers hadn't bought any of the supplies we requested so we had nothing (no paper, pens, markers, etc.). We broke the kids into groups and started playing games.
My group has 17 Senegalese kids, Jackie, Zach (a volunteer from Kedougou), and me. We started off with name games ("my name is Katherine and I like ketchup) but had to explain several times that if your name was Anna you couldn't like "the beach" but something with an "a" (they all chose to pick American names for the week - we have a Landon Donovan). The rest of the day was full of other games and things you can do outside without any supplies. It was fun to speak in English the whole time and I think the kids really enjoyed themselves. At one point, the game involved asking each other questions and one girl asked another (who then said "yes"), "would you like to have an American husband?" Zach better watch out!
The camp was 4 hours and we were all pretty tired (with no lesson plan it had been 4 hours of making up games on the fly) and went to the garage to get chicken sandwiches. It sounds gross but I think I've explained it before: the garages (where you get cars to go to Dakar etc.) have food for people to buy and eat while they're traveling. A while ago Jackie, Alyssa, and I made friends with the best chicken sandwich lady (we'd tried a few and decided on the best one). Jackie and I were there earlier in the week and she remembered us and was annoyed that we didn't invite our 3rd friend (Alyssa) to eat lunch with us (we had invited her but she was eating with her host family). Today we came to our friend's stand with other volunteers and pretty much bought all of her chicken sandwiches. In case you were wondering, a chicken sandwich is: 6 inches of baguette, onion sauce, rotisserie type chicken, and fries... they have lettuce when lettuce is in season which is not now... all for 500cfa (about $1).
Post chicken sandwiches we ran some other errands and are now hanging out. The English camp is every morning this week so I'm sure I'll have more updates coming. I hope all's well in the US!
KO
My group has 17 Senegalese kids, Jackie, Zach (a volunteer from Kedougou), and me. We started off with name games ("my name is Katherine and I like ketchup) but had to explain several times that if your name was Anna you couldn't like "the beach" but something with an "a" (they all chose to pick American names for the week - we have a Landon Donovan). The rest of the day was full of other games and things you can do outside without any supplies. It was fun to speak in English the whole time and I think the kids really enjoyed themselves. At one point, the game involved asking each other questions and one girl asked another (who then said "yes"), "would you like to have an American husband?" Zach better watch out!
The camp was 4 hours and we were all pretty tired (with no lesson plan it had been 4 hours of making up games on the fly) and went to the garage to get chicken sandwiches. It sounds gross but I think I've explained it before: the garages (where you get cars to go to Dakar etc.) have food for people to buy and eat while they're traveling. A while ago Jackie, Alyssa, and I made friends with the best chicken sandwich lady (we'd tried a few and decided on the best one). Jackie and I were there earlier in the week and she remembered us and was annoyed that we didn't invite our 3rd friend (Alyssa) to eat lunch with us (we had invited her but she was eating with her host family). Today we came to our friend's stand with other volunteers and pretty much bought all of her chicken sandwiches. In case you were wondering, a chicken sandwich is: 6 inches of baguette, onion sauce, rotisserie type chicken, and fries... they have lettuce when lettuce is in season which is not now... all for 500cfa (about $1).
Post chicken sandwiches we ran some other errands and are now hanging out. The English camp is every morning this week so I'm sure I'll have more updates coming. I hope all's well in the US!
KO
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
The Rainy Season?
Since we had our first huge storm of the rainy season... it hasn't rained. Normally, I'm told, it rains every few days in July and then everyday in August... we'll see if that happens this year.
Things in Bambey have been moving along. The girls' camp is fully funded! thank you so much to everyone who donated! Things are moving along quickly with the camp. I"m also setting up an accounting class for August. In addition to Bambey work, I'm working with SeneGAD (gender and development). We have a quarterly meeting soon and I'm working to re-vamp the activities program (as per my job as 'activities director'). There's also an English camp sponsored by the US Embassy that several of us are helping out at soon.
Lurking on the horizon, however, is Ramadan. An entire month of fasting during the day and - apparently - doing nothing. People now are claiming that they don't want to schedule work because Ramadan's coming up (it starts mid-August).
Things are moving along quickly... I can't believe I've almost been in Senegal for a year!
KO
Things in Bambey have been moving along. The girls' camp is fully funded! thank you so much to everyone who donated! Things are moving along quickly with the camp. I"m also setting up an accounting class for August. In addition to Bambey work, I'm working with SeneGAD (gender and development). We have a quarterly meeting soon and I'm working to re-vamp the activities program (as per my job as 'activities director'). There's also an English camp sponsored by the US Embassy that several of us are helping out at soon.
Lurking on the horizon, however, is Ramadan. An entire month of fasting during the day and - apparently - doing nothing. People now are claiming that they don't want to schedule work because Ramadan's coming up (it starts mid-August).
Things are moving along quickly... I can't believe I've almost been in Senegal for a year!
KO
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Tradition
As much of a jerk as my hostfather sometimes is (not to me but to other family members) he is a wealth of knowledge, specifically on Senegalese traditions and values. Senegalese values are so interesting and, often times, not cohesive with business work.
Mor and Awa (hostfather and sister who just finished high school) were in Dakar getting a scholarship for Awa to go to university in Algeria. They didn't get the scholarship but they got a "promise" and seemed hopeful. We were talking about going to university abroad (contrary to US "study abroad" she would actually be doing her entire studies in Algeria, not just a fun semester) and I asked if students often stayed abroad or returned to Senegal after school. It's a valid question because the main force of Senegal's economy comes from remittances from Spain, Algeria, Tunisia, and Italy (to name the main ones). Mor, however, was quick to explain that all Senegalese people want to do is to come back to Senegal which doesn't surprise me. Sure you probably can't get good ceeb u jen outside of Senegal, but the real reason is the "sacredness" placed on family and community. He continued to explain that in the village, an entire extended family lives within one compound and they all have their own houses. If you have a child who is successful enough and builds his own house, outside of your compound he is a traitor. Of course, he elaborated, this has been altered because it's impossible to live like this in cities - so now you have urban families where success is shown by children building their own houses and village families where the money is expected to be divided among the entire family regardless of who earned it. The Senegalese version of the American Dream, as it was explained to me, is to give more to your parents than they gave you.
Now, don't get me wrong (especially the parents reading this blog), I think, as kids of wonderful parents, we have a responsibility to them... but if you're always looking backwards it's hard to move forward.
It's always interesting talking to Mor because he is full of cultural lessons I'm missing by living in a city or just can't be picked up in everyday interaction.
In other news, the rainy season proved that it was here today. It stormed like crazy in the morning and rained on and off all day. I did manage to get to the post office and find a lovely surprise! Thanks to the Kerrs and Kadlecs for the packages! I am very much enjoying them!
KO
Mor and Awa (hostfather and sister who just finished high school) were in Dakar getting a scholarship for Awa to go to university in Algeria. They didn't get the scholarship but they got a "promise" and seemed hopeful. We were talking about going to university abroad (contrary to US "study abroad" she would actually be doing her entire studies in Algeria, not just a fun semester) and I asked if students often stayed abroad or returned to Senegal after school. It's a valid question because the main force of Senegal's economy comes from remittances from Spain, Algeria, Tunisia, and Italy (to name the main ones). Mor, however, was quick to explain that all Senegalese people want to do is to come back to Senegal which doesn't surprise me. Sure you probably can't get good ceeb u jen outside of Senegal, but the real reason is the "sacredness" placed on family and community. He continued to explain that in the village, an entire extended family lives within one compound and they all have their own houses. If you have a child who is successful enough and builds his own house, outside of your compound he is a traitor. Of course, he elaborated, this has been altered because it's impossible to live like this in cities - so now you have urban families where success is shown by children building their own houses and village families where the money is expected to be divided among the entire family regardless of who earned it. The Senegalese version of the American Dream, as it was explained to me, is to give more to your parents than they gave you.
Now, don't get me wrong (especially the parents reading this blog), I think, as kids of wonderful parents, we have a responsibility to them... but if you're always looking backwards it's hard to move forward.
It's always interesting talking to Mor because he is full of cultural lessons I'm missing by living in a city or just can't be picked up in everyday interaction.
In other news, the rainy season proved that it was here today. It stormed like crazy in the morning and rained on and off all day. I did manage to get to the post office and find a lovely surprise! Thanks to the Kerrs and Kadlecs for the packages! I am very much enjoying them!
KO
Monday, July 19, 2010
Power Outages
Senegal's having huge power problems. The power outages were in a nice pattern of being on from about 9pm-7am then off all day but recently it changed to be completely sporadic. Sure not having power's a pain but the real problem is when the water cuts (because the pumping stations/water towers can't work) which we've somehow avoided mostly.
When we don't have power during the day my host family sits in front of the house chatting or playing scrabble. Youssou goes out during the day and comes back for lunch then leaves again (I have no idea what he does). When power's out at night we sit on the mat outside and very occasionally talk. Tonight Youssou, who has a cell phone but no credit (everything here is a pay as you go), spent the entire night recording himself singing then playing it back. First he was singing Koranic songs and would play them back and re-record. Then he started beat-boxing. It was so awesome.
In work news, today I finished my second training at the health center (like a mini-hospital). I've taught 40 health workers from the villages how to make a bug repellent using things that are easily found here (the actually repellent comes from the leaves of the neem tree which is ALL OVER).
Off to Thies tomorrow for some errands!
KO
KO
When we don't have power during the day my host family sits in front of the house chatting or playing scrabble. Youssou goes out during the day and comes back for lunch then leaves again (I have no idea what he does). When power's out at night we sit on the mat outside and very occasionally talk. Tonight Youssou, who has a cell phone but no credit (everything here is a pay as you go), spent the entire night recording himself singing then playing it back. First he was singing Koranic songs and would play them back and re-record. Then he started beat-boxing. It was so awesome.
In work news, today I finished my second training at the health center (like a mini-hospital). I've taught 40 health workers from the villages how to make a bug repellent using things that are easily found here (the actually repellent comes from the leaves of the neem tree which is ALL OVER).
Off to Thies tomorrow for some errands!
KO
KO
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Explaining Myself
Last Thursday I had a meeting in the morning and another in the afternoon with the families of 2 invited campers. The first was with one of my scholarship girls who I've spent a fair amount of time with and have been to her house several times. Her brother (the oldest person in her family and thus the head of the family) was never around so I met him for the first time Thursday. As I came into their house he was sitting on a carpet feeding his son and his sister (the camper) and I sat down. We began to talk about the camp - he was concerned about the subject matter. After I explained everything we were discussing he seemed alright. He then started talking, very broadly, about the "other experiences" (with a negative connotation) that were possible - I explained there would be no boys there (possible 1 or 2 male volunteers but no one else). Then he started in on how smart his sister is and how he wants to protect her future - to which I explain that was the entire reason behind the scholarship she had won AND the camp.
As the conversation progressed it became apparent he really didn't want to be convinced that the camp wasn't going to ruin this girls life but it became blatantly obvious when he started questioning my intentions. As a side note, explaining the peace corps is fairly difficult because volunteers and the US don't get any tangible benefits but usually people understand it's about experience and that it's similar to all NGOs/Development Organizations. So he started asking if I was a University student doing research because he saw some at a Koranic school (that takes in orphans/abandoned kids and often makes them beg on the street) that were trying to change the way this "traditional" school works. (is not exactly traditional but is on Amnesty International's human rights violation watch). I think Daara's aren't great but that has NOTHING to do with my work, so I explained that I was not a university student, I was not doing research, and I worked only with small businesses. Then some obscure mentions (from the brother) of George Bush and all of the US relations with Middle Eastern countries came up and he insinuated that my placement in Senegal was a direct extension of that in the role of propaganda/culture changing. I explained that the Peace Corps was established in 1960 and came to Senegal in 1963 thus could not POSSIBLY be part of anything he was getting at. Then it came to religion. It was obvious that he was conservative and I had tried to respect without giving in to any traditional cultural roles (read: just giving in to whatever he was saying because I'm a woman). He asked me my religion and I told him that I didn't discuss religion and that it didn't matter. He then accused me of trying to convert people away from Islam. After explaining that I always work around people's religious beliefs, regardless of what they are, I tried to explain that it really didn't matter to me because I am (as I had explained a million times to him) a SMALL BUSINESS VOLUNTEER.
Then he rehashed every element of his argument in a cumulative last hit against Peace Corps and me. I had been getting annoyed during the entire conversation but had kept my cool until this "closing statement" of sort. I still didn't yell at him and stayed fairly calm as I defended myself on last time. He could tell, however, that he had offended me and said he would love for his sister to go to the camp, but she can't sleep over - he'll take her to and from every day. At this point I realized there was absolutely nothing I could say to him because he had no interest in thinking of me as anything but an evil American so I said that I would think about it and we could discuss it another time.
Later the same day I met an invited camper from another middle school in Bambey. She hadn't come to the introduction meeting so I'd never met her. On our way to her house she told me she would come to the camp but, through further questioning, I learned she hadn't asked permission of anyone. When we got to her house I had a conversation with her cousin (the head of the household) who, upon learning the subject material and purpose of the camp, wholeheartedly agreed to let her be there. He and I then talked about the importance of girls' education and other things in general. She lives in her dad's village during the summer (and with her cousin to go to school) so I offered to give her a run down of the final meeting we'll be having Sept. 19 because she would be in the village. Her cousin told me it was not necessary because he would make sure she was at that meeting. When I left both she and her cousin agreed to come to my next English club/girls' group meeting.
I know that Peace Corps is hard to explain, and I understand some concern when a stranger shows up offering to take your daughter to a summer camp. But keep in mind, Senegalese culture is very different. And this stranger has been working with the principal and staff at your daughter's school. She lives in the community, has several reputable people who would vouch for her in a second, and stops by your house several times to continue building relationships. More frustrating than the brother's lack of confidence with the camp was his total lack of interest in believing that I was anything but a horrible person trying to brainwash the community. I'm going to have a Senegalese Peace Corps person call him and talk to him about it so we'll see how it goes.
Sorry this was a long blog - in social news: we had a regional meeting and a welcome party for the new Daka
As the conversation progressed it became apparent he really didn't want to be convinced that the camp wasn't going to ruin this girls life but it became blatantly obvious when he started questioning my intentions. As a side note, explaining the peace corps is fairly difficult because volunteers and the US don't get any tangible benefits but usually people understand it's about experience and that it's similar to all NGOs/Development Organizations. So he started asking if I was a University student doing research because he saw some at a Koranic school (that takes in orphans/abandoned kids and often makes them beg on the street) that were trying to change the way this "traditional" school works. (is not exactly traditional but is on Amnesty International's human rights violation watch). I think Daara's aren't great but that has NOTHING to do with my work, so I explained that I was not a university student, I was not doing research, and I worked only with small businesses. Then some obscure mentions (from the brother) of George Bush and all of the US relations with Middle Eastern countries came up and he insinuated that my placement in Senegal was a direct extension of that in the role of propaganda/culture changing. I explained that the Peace Corps was established in 1960 and came to Senegal in 1963 thus could not POSSIBLY be part of anything he was getting at. Then it came to religion. It was obvious that he was conservative and I had tried to respect without giving in to any traditional cultural roles (read: just giving in to whatever he was saying because I'm a woman). He asked me my religion and I told him that I didn't discuss religion and that it didn't matter. He then accused me of trying to convert people away from Islam. After explaining that I always work around people's religious beliefs, regardless of what they are, I tried to explain that it really didn't matter to me because I am (as I had explained a million times to him) a SMALL BUSINESS VOLUNTEER.
Then he rehashed every element of his argument in a cumulative last hit against Peace Corps and me. I had been getting annoyed during the entire conversation but had kept my cool until this "closing statement" of sort. I still didn't yell at him and stayed fairly calm as I defended myself on last time. He could tell, however, that he had offended me and said he would love for his sister to go to the camp, but she can't sleep over - he'll take her to and from every day. At this point I realized there was absolutely nothing I could say to him because he had no interest in thinking of me as anything but an evil American so I said that I would think about it and we could discuss it another time.
Later the same day I met an invited camper from another middle school in Bambey. She hadn't come to the introduction meeting so I'd never met her. On our way to her house she told me she would come to the camp but, through further questioning, I learned she hadn't asked permission of anyone. When we got to her house I had a conversation with her cousin (the head of the household) who, upon learning the subject material and purpose of the camp, wholeheartedly agreed to let her be there. He and I then talked about the importance of girls' education and other things in general. She lives in her dad's village during the summer (and with her cousin to go to school) so I offered to give her a run down of the final meeting we'll be having Sept. 19 because she would be in the village. Her cousin told me it was not necessary because he would make sure she was at that meeting. When I left both she and her cousin agreed to come to my next English club/girls' group meeting.
I know that Peace Corps is hard to explain, and I understand some concern when a stranger shows up offering to take your daughter to a summer camp. But keep in mind, Senegalese culture is very different. And this stranger has been working with the principal and staff at your daughter's school. She lives in the community, has several reputable people who would vouch for her in a second, and stops by your house several times to continue building relationships. More frustrating than the brother's lack of confidence with the camp was his total lack of interest in believing that I was anything but a horrible person trying to brainwash the community. I'm going to have a Senegalese Peace Corps person call him and talk to him about it so we'll see how it goes.
Sorry this was a long blog - in social news: we had a regional meeting and a welcome party for the new Daka
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