Home, Sweet, Home

Hi Everyone,

So, just wanted to let everyone know, who doesn't already, that I got back to the US safe and sound.  Aside from our flight being delayed four hours, everything went smoothly, and customs was even pretty quick.  

I had an incredible semester overall, and continued to love Sessene, my family, friends, and work there.  Then I went back to Dakar for my last week of classes at WARC, final wrap up stuff, which I basically spent hanging out with people and writing my internship report.  

Thanks to everyone who read my blog, it was nice to read your comments, questions and stuff.  Also, FYI almost all my pictures will soon be on facebook, so check them out if you want (yay, for access to fast internet again :)  

love ya,

Mel

Quick Update

Hey all,

So this weekend I'm in Dakar for Easter, which is why I can post stuff on my blog again.  Basically my internship and family life in the village have continued to go really well.  I really love living in Sessene, because I really feel like the village adopted me.  My family threw me a naming party and a whole bunch of people came (some of whose names I don't remember...but I'm slowly learning more)  My three sisters all have little babies less than six months old, which is a lot of fun.  It means a lot of work for them, so I try to help as much as I can, which usually means as much as they will let me.  

I'm working with a NGO that does consulting and promotion of organic ag.  So far I've mostly been visiting fields and working some in my organization's training example field.  I also went to a national organic ag market/festival thing in Theis.  

Thinking of everyone at home, even if you don't hear from me!

Love,

Mel

23/03/09

Hey again,

Today, Wednesday March 23rd, is my third day at my internship site.   Our whole MSID group left Dakar Monday morning to drop everyone off at their internship sites.  We took the southern road first, and since I was the closest one to Dakar, I got dropped off first.  While I was glad to not have to ride around in a bus for two days, it was a little disappointing not to be able to see more of Senegal, and see where everyone else will be living.  Danielle was right after me, since Fatik is only about an hour or so past my village of Sessene.

Sessene is right along the southern national highway, a little less than 2 hours southeast of Dakar.  When I arrived at my family’s house, it was pretty similar to the houses I saw in Toubacouta.  The “house” is actually more like a collection of one room houses with a open courtyard in the middle, surrounded by a reed fence.  My room is actually my own little hut, with a bed and a table.  There is also a kitchen hut, what seems to function like a living room, the girl’s room, and two others (I’m not sure exactly who sleeps there yet).  So far, I’ve spent most of my time in the living room, the girl’s room, and outside sitting under the big tree in one corner of the courtyard.  

As far as I can tell so far, the family is composed of four adult sisters, one brother, my parents, and a bunch of  kids.  All of my sisters have small babies.  I asked how old the two smallest are (5 and 8 weeks), and one of the older ones is 5 months I think.  He’s just started to eat a little solid food, but he doesn’t have any teeth, which makes his attempts to eat solid food pretty funny.  So far, I’ve mostly talked with my sister Rama, because she speaks French.  I was very relieved when I met her, and learned she speaks French.  Although she’s the only one of my sisters who speaks French, it makes life, and learning Wolof much easier.  She learned French in Dakar where she worked as a maid, until she got pregnant and came back to her parents house.  She said that a lot of employers won’t hire (or keep) a maid if she gets pregnant, because they know it’s nearly impossible to work full time with a newborn.  Her husband is still in Dakar, but he calls her periodically.  I haven’t asked yet, but I think my other sisters’ husbands must be in Dakar or Thies too, because I haven’t seen any adult males except my dad and one brother.  My brother, Cheikh, also speaks French, but I haven’t really seen him since the first day.  I met him and a bunch of other guys, who are family friends I think, but they seemed to disappear after I met them.  

Here the men and women live in almost completely separate circles, with the women staying in the house, and the men spending most of their time out.  They come back to the house to eat, sleep, and drink attaya, and even at meal times the guys eat around a different bowl than the women.  Actually I think that it’s probably easier for me this way, because the few times I’ve gone out with Rama to visit people, about every other male I meet asks if I’m married.  Depending on my reponse (I alternate between the truth, and joking that I have four husbands) I usually get an offer of marriage, or a request for me to find them an American woman to marry.  Yesterday, after he got over laughing, this one guy actually said he would be my fifth husband.  The Senegalese love to joke, but I think there is a little bit of truth in all the marriage offers I get, because most of the Senegalese men think that because I’m white, I must be rich, so they figure they might as well offer to marry me and see what happens.     

In general, I’ve been told that the village is pretty empty right now.  Since it’s the dry season, a lot of the young, working age people are in the cities.  I think it’s very likely that I have more brothers and sisters that are in Dakar, because I don’t think it’s coincidence that all four of my sisters who are here have small children.  Since there are a bunch of little kids, there is plenty of work to do around the house.  As far as I can tell, none of the women in my family work outside the house, probably partially because there isn’t really anything else to do, but they’ve let me help some.  On my first day I helped with the laundry.  They seem to do some wash each day instead of my family in Dakar who has one laundry day where they do it all.  I think that might be because they don’t have as many clothes, especially for the small kids who grow out of clothes fast, so the clothes they do have need laundering more often.  Yesterday, my mom also let me try to make cous-cous.  They make it from millet flour, sometimes with some corn flour too, basically by adding water to the flour so it clumps up, and then mixing it until the clumps break up.  It took me a really long time, and my cous-cous still had some balls that were too big, which my mom quickly fixed after I was done mixing.  I don’t think it was too bad for my first try, but I’ll have to practice a lot to be able to make it anywhere near as efficiently as my mom.  Also they told me that Saturday they will teach me to make a Senegalese meal, and I chose to learn to make yassa, since it’s my favorite one.  

Monday night was also my first time working at my internship.  I met my supervisor Mr. Pane, who is the director of the organization I work for, Agrecol Afrique.  He explained to me the basics of the organization, what they do, main problems, goals, and such.  The organization is headquartered in Thies.  They work in organic agriculture, advising organic producers and educating people about the benefits of farming organically.  Agrecol Afrique also helps the producers with marketing, and in Thies there is an all organic market once a week (I think).  The staff of the Sessene office of Agrecol Afrique is Mr. Pane, Mme Faye who works with the women’s cooperative, and Mr. Dia who is the agronomist and works with the producers.  It’s interesting to me that they call the farmers, “les payasans” in French, which literally means peasants.  That word doesn’t seem to have the same negative connotation in French, otherwise everyone in my organization is very unpolitically correct.  

Yesterday I started work around 8:30 am, when Mr. Pane and I went to the office of Agrecol Afrique.  They have a pretty nice modern office, with computers but no internet.  He was working at the computer, but he didn’t give me anything to do, so I found and started to read some of the Agrecol Afrique newsletters.  I haven’t gotten too far since it’s in French, and my head hurts if I try to read French for too long.  However, it was useful reading to help me think of what I want to learn, or my “academic goals” as MSID puts it.  Mr. Pane said that previous interns have basically just participated in all of the Agrecol Afrique activities, but I can also do some sort of independent project if there is something specific I want to do.  The second week of April there is a organic ag conference and market in Thies, and Mr. Pane said I can go to it with them. 

Around noon, I went home and hung out with my sisters and the kids until lunchtime (probably about 2 I think).  Then around three, Mr. Dia came to get me, and we went to the trial plots of Agrecol Afrique.  They rent some land to have a training field to show people how to farm organically.  They’ve installed a drip irrigation system to grow vegetables during the dry season, which is supplied with water from a nearby well.  He also showed me their nursery plots where they raise the vegetable seedlings to transplant into the field.  They are also testing an alternative planting system that uses a constructed trench of sorts where the drip irrigation line is buried underground.  They put plastic along the edges of the trench, and have some millet, ash (I think) and some sort of manufactured product to retain water.  I’m not sure but I think it’s similar to the water retaining beads that I’ve seen in the US to mix into potting soil.  The trenches are still under construction, so they don’t know yet if they will work.  Also, Mr. Dia said it was the first time they’ve been tested in Senegal, so they really have no idea how effective it will be.  After looking at the projects they have, I helped transplant cabbage seedlings from the nursery into the field along the drip lines.  As we were working, I was surprised by the dark brown color of the soil in the field since most of the soil around here is a light sandy color because it’s almost all sand.  So, I asked Mr. Dia, and he said that during the wet season there is a river that deposits alluvial material there, so they don’t have to fertilize the field at all since it’s so rich with organic matter.  In general, though, I’ve been surprised how many crops can grow in almost pure sand.  

The first day I got here, my grandmother gave me a Senegalese name, so now, like Margretta, I am Fatou.  There are three other Fatous in my family, and it’s a common name, which makes for some confusion.  Rama and I came up with FatouMel for me to differentiate from the other Fatous, but it hasn’t stuck yet, so I think I’ll just have to deal with being one of the many Fatous.  Also, yesterday, my mom told me (with some translation help from Rama) that they are going to have a name giving ceremony and party for me.  In French, the name of the party sounds like baptism, probably because it’s normally thrown for little kids when they’re first named.  I’m pretty excited to see what it will be like, and my sisters and mom have already started talking about what I’m going to wear for the party, and told me I should invite my friends.  I don’t know if they will be able to/ want to come, but I’ll at least tell Danielle since she doesn’t live too far away, and she was my roommate in Dakar.  

Generally, I feel very welcomed by my family, despite the fact that I don’t understand the majority of what people are saying.  I’ve already learned  a bunch of new words, and are starting to understand a little more when people are actually talking to me.  Mostly they just ask me the basic questions and salutations, so I hear a lot of the same stuff which makes it easier.  Yesterday as I was walking to work (it’s a few minutes down the road from my house), I was really happy to hear some people call out and greet me, “Fatou, Fatou.”  It was a nice change from “Toubab, Toubab,” (that’s the word for white person) although I still get that a lot.    

Love,

Mel

Spring Break

Hey everyone,

Spring break was a while ago, but w/o internet access I can't post stuff.  Better a little behind than never!

After our sixth week of classes, our group had a week off for spring break.  Everyone except Zach decided to go to the Casamanse in the south of Senegal.  We took a boat from Dakar to Ziggenshore, which left Friday the 13th at 6 pm.  Boarding for the boat started at 2 pm I think, so we arrived, checked our bags, and went through several ID checks.  Generally, the ticketing and boarding process for the boat was much more western than I expected, somewhat like an airport.  The boat ride takes about 16 hours, so we chose to stay in cabins on the boat instead of the chairs.  There were pretty nice bathrooms and showers (with hot water!) and a restaurant on the boat (way above our budget...).  About half of the people on the boat were Senegalese, and the rest were tourists, mostly French.  While it was a good bit more expensive than taking a taxi, I was really glad we chose to take the boat since it was way more comfortable, and probably safer.  

When we got to Ziggenshore, some members of Brendan’s family met us at the dock, and surprised us with a small bus to take us to their house.  They put all 15 of us up for one night in this house that seemed to be empty.  They told Brendan that some of the family members are in Dakar now, so we speculated that this was their house, which was conveniently empty so they had enough space for us to stay.  Brendan’s family also contacted a friend the next morning who is a chauffeur to drive us to Cap Skirring, and generally, they were very hospitable and helpful while we were in Ziggenshore.

Both Ziggenshore and Cap Skirring are popular tourist spots, especially Cap Skirring.  In Cap Skirring we stayed at this little hotel along the beach.  There were probably at least 25 other hotels and encampements like it.  Unless you’re in the city, the hotels here are usually a collection of little one room houses with some sort of common eating and hang out space.  Some of us stayed in a room with a bathroom and others, including me, opted for the cheaper option of a shared outdoor bathroom and shower.  So, it was kind of a blend between a hotel and being camping.  The best part, though, was that behind the dining room and terrace there was a staircase that went directly to the beach.  

I was pleasantly surprised with how nice the beach at Cap Skirring was.  It wasn’t covered in trash like some of the Dakar beaches, it was nice and wide and fairly flat.  Also the ocean had a nice gentle slope and didn’t get deep to fast.  It was pretty hot, probably in the mid 80s (like late June or July in PA) the week we were at the beach, so by mid-afternoon the water was nice and warm.  

Even though the beach was really nice, I only spend the whole day there once.  One other day, we (usually Danielle and I) ventured into Cap Skirring to look around the market, and we ended up getting invited to eat lunch with this Gambian guy and his family.  He just arrived in Senegal, so he was happy to find someone who spoke English, since he didn’t speak French at all yet.  After lunch we went back to the market.  It was an artisans market, and very much aimed at the tourists.  There was a lot of cool woodwork, jewelry, bags, and textiles there, but even just walking around everyone tries to get you to come into their shop.  Some vendors are ok, but others, if you go in, they give you a hard time about leaving without buying anything.  After an hour or so, I got really tired of being harassed.  I did end up buying some stuff, which I was happy with.  Unfortunately, I found out later that I grossly overpaid for it, which made me mad.  The vendors inflate the prices in Cap Skirring even more than Dakar, and even though I bargained for things they take a lot longer to go down.  Basically, I think they know that there are other tourists who will come along and, like me, overpay the first time, so why would they sell it to you for the real price.  I wanted to go back to the market in Cap Skirring and chew out the lady who ripped me off, but we didn’t have enough time, and actually when I woke up the next morning I wasn’t so mad about it.  I know it was mostly my fault that I paid too much, but it still irritated me that the vendors take advantage of tourists so much by starting the negotiation at 10x the actual price, instead of the normal 3-5x.

The next day our whole group went on a tour of some island around Cap Skirring.  The first island was called Ourang, and we walked around the village and toured the school.  I was a little surprised when the teacher stopped the class to talk with us and answer questions, but I guess they’re used to visitors.  The second island was a big fishing community, so we saw a lot of fish.  There was fresh fish at a market like thing near the water, as well as a fish drying operation with wire mesh tables covered in fish drying in the sun.  Also, we watched some guys making wooden fishing boats for a little while.  The third island we visited is known for its old colonial buildings.  There was a fairly big church, as well as some slave holding quarters and a cemetery.  Lastly, we visited what our guide said was “L’Ile de Fatiche.”  Due to the name, we were expecting to hear something substantial about the animism.  When we got there, though, all there was to see was a collection of animal skulls under a tree.  This would have been ok, except our guide said almost nothing to explain the tradition.

Love,

Mel

23/02/09

Hi,

Last Saturday, the day after I went to the markets with Papa, a group of people from MSID, including myself went to an english club meeting at the local university.  It is called L’Univerisite Cheikh Anta Diop, and has 60,000 students in a university that was built for around 15,000 students.  We visited one of the dorm rooms, and it had one bed, and a mattress on the floor, as well as a tiny bathroom with a shower.  The Senegalese students told us that it would have been a single originally, but now there are four people living there.  Seeing how much space they had made the housing shortage at Penn State look very minor. 

The meeting of the english club was actually a debate on the topic of marriage.  After a socializing period, a panel of students presented arguments for and against marriage.  The primary pro-marriage argument was that marriage is a holy institution created by God, and God directs that people get married.  The con-marriage panel was two young women who argued that marriage makes women at best like maids, and if you’re not lucky like slaves.  For them, marriage is viewed as an obstacle to having a career, traveling, and generally being able to make choices about how they would like to spend their lives.  

It was interesting to me that these women viewed avoiding marriage as the means by which they would be able to achieve their goals.  It seemed to be commonly accepted that it is a wife’s responsibility to take care of all of the housework, children, and to a large extent her husband.  No one (except a few of our group who spoke) proposed a modification to the gender roles, but rather it was generally accepted that women have to choose between getting married and being able to direct their own lives and have fulfilling careers.  While there are some married women who work, it seems that it is out of economic necessity, and that the wife staying home with the children is the optimal state.

While there were some people, including a few men, who were “against” marriage, a large majority of the room was “for” marriage.  Several women spoke in favor of marriage, and one one woman in particular stuck out to me, because she said that she was for marriage because God desires that women have children, and to have children one has to get married first.  I’m not familiar enough with the Koran to know whether it directly instructs people to get married and have children or not, but whether it’s in the Koran or not, marriage as a religious practice is a value commonly and strongly felt by the Senegalese.  Even amongst the young, well educated Senegalese we we talking with, religion seemed to be the most common motivator for marriage, along with the general opinion that one cannot be happy without being married.  

In addition to the feminist stance, one other main opinion against marriage seemed to be that too many women are materialistic, and get married for economic reasons, so some of the men there didn’t want to get married and then have their wife leave them for a richer man.  This was rebutted, or generalized somewhat by the argument that there are many motivations for marriage, other than love, for both men and women, and these often create problems.  Some people felt that if a couple married for love that the husband wouldn’t want to mistreat or overwork his wife, so this wouldn’t be a problem.  In general, many people felt that too many people get married for reasons other than love, and this was not good for the future success of the couple.

For me, this debate was very interesting, since I think a debate on marriage in the US would have gone very differently.  The women around me were asking we which side I was on, and I said I was for marriage, but I disagreed with much of what was being said on “my” side.  While I don’t consider myself a feminist, many of the arguments were obviously sexist, and it irritated me that they were so widely accepted, even by the females. Gender roles are very different here in Senegal, and I’m not here to crusade for feminism, but I was surprised to hear such a majority of university students express these opinions.  From the arguments presented I would probably should have said I was against marriage, because really I’m “for” marriage but not for any of the reasons they presented.

While I was interested in the content of the debate, it was mainly set up in this format to give the students a chance to practice English.  There were probably over a hundred people there, and I was impressed to see such high participation in a club meeting on a Saturday afternoon.  I think the Senegalese have much more incentive to study English than US students have to study any language, and that is why so many students come to practice, and so many have achieved such a high proficiency.  Everyone who spoke was understandable, and many students were very good with only a few mistakes, and this debate was only for the freshman and sophomores, so these were not the upper level English students.

After the debate we toured the university some (this is when we went into a dorm), and talked with some of the students more.  Apparently the English club hold a forum like this every other Saturday, so I hope to go back since it was an interesting insight into Senegalese culture, as well as a chance to meet more Senegalese students.  

Love,

Mel

21/02/09

Greetings all,

Yesterday, I went with Papa downtown for the first time (finally!) to a market and several other places.  We took the public bus which goes right by our house since our quartier (neighborhood) is close to a big road.  As far as I can tell so far it’s a fixed price to take the bus anywhere (150 CFA, which is 30 cents), and it doesn’t even matter which bus you take since all of them go downtown, as long as you get on going the right direction.  When we got off the bus the first place we went was the headquarters for the Catholic charity ministries and schools in Dakar.  Papa had a meeting there since he volunteers for the Catholic Church and the sisters there.  I also learned that this is where he used to work as an accountant.  He is a well known there since he worked there for over 30 years, and it was fun going around meeting everyone.  Also, as we were leaving this man offered to take us up on the roof so I could see Dakar.  It was a gorgeous view since the building is really tall, and looks right onto La Place D'Indépendance.  I was impressed by how large Dakar is, and how much of the city is surrounded by water.  

After seeing where Papa worked we went to not one, but two markets in downtown Dakar.  The Marché Kermel is in this open sided round building, kind of like a really big pavilion.  It was mostly fish and vegetables, with some stalls selling touristy stuff outside.  I didn’t buy anything at Kermel, because I didn’t really see anything that I wanted.  When we got the Marché Sandaga, Kermel seemed really small by comparison.  The Marché Sandaga isn’t all under the same roof, but rather it spans several square blocks where there are small boutiques along both sides of the streets.  And, in between some shops there are little passageways leading to more rows of shops behind those right on the street.  

We walked through a large area with food, and it seemed like we passed at least a hundred stall selling onions.  I don’t know how anyone decides which stand to buy from, except maybe one day you just pick one and anyways go back there.  It was much the same thing with all of the other items for sale, in that there was an entire streets of shops selling cloth purses, leather jewelry, and tourist magnets.  I saw all kinds of food, electronics, make-up, perfume, hair supplies, pre-made clothes, belts, purses, shoes, hardware supplies, fabric, and even tailors right there in the market who would sew clothes for you.  

The Marché Sandaga was overwhelmingly large, and I had no idea where to start.  It would be very easy to get lost there, and I have no idea how people keep track of where to buy things.  Merchandise seemed to be grouped somewhat by type, but not entirely.  All of the vendors are trying to get you to come into their shop, and if you stop to look at anything, even just for a second, the vendor starts trying to sell you anything and everything they have.  Since it was my first time to the market I decided it was easier just to keep walking and not stop anywhere, so I didn’t buy anything at Sandaga either.  Sometime I want to go back to Sandaga to get some things, but I know enough to have a specific list, or I’ll spend all day there and still not get what I need.

Love,

Mel

19/02/09

Hi,

Last Tuesday (Feb 17), I went with my environment class to La Parc Nationale des Iles de la Madeleine.  It is a national park with two islands (clarification for the non French speakers), but one is really small, and basically just a big rock.  These islands are off the coast of Dakar, and preserved as a national park to conserve local animal and plant species.  There are a lot of migratory birds that use the island, and also native species that reproduce there.  We saw several different species of birds, and the bird colonies were quite large.  We were able to get quite close to some birds because this is their nesting period, and the females won’t leave the nest.  They build their nests in the crevices of rocks, and if the guide hadn’t shown us, I would have walked right by the nesting birds. 

 

We also saw several different plant species, and although the island isn’t large there were two main ecosystem types.  The baobab trees on this island were much shorter, and the roots were exposed and growing up out of the ground.  Our guide said this was an adaptation because of the wind, and high salinity of the soil, which makes sense, but I was surprised that baobabs could look so different.  Also, we saw some succulent plants that kind of looked like cacti, but I don’t remember what they’re called.  I’ve learned that remembering foreign names is a lot harder because you have to learn how to pronounce the name in addition to remembering whose has that name.  Whether it’s places, plants or people, names are definitely a challenge here.

I had a good time at Les Iles de la Madeleine, and it was nice to spend some time outside.  I got a little sunburnt since I forgot to reapply sunscreen, but it’s already fading to tan.  I would consider going back to this park, since there is a nice place to swim, but it’s expensive to get in, which is probably why we only saw toubabs there.  

Love,

Mel

17/02/09

Hi all,

Last Saturday, Danielle and I took on the challenge of preparing American food for our family.  We wanted to give the women of our family a day off, so we made both lunch and dinner.  For lunchtime, we decided to to a brunch since the Senegalese don’t really eat breakfast food much, a typical breakfast is bread with butter and jam, or chocolate spread (healthy, right...).  So, we made a fruit salad, omelets, and french toast.  For dinner we made spaghetti with chicken strips, homemade sauce, and a salad.  

In order to buy food, first we went to the Marché Tilene with our host sister Kanjo (nickname for Therese, fyi).  It wasn’t exactly open air, but in a big warehouse like building.  Everything from carrots, cucumbers, onions, garlic, and parsley to all types of fish, beef, and shrimp are sitting out on wooden stands.  There were also many different types of grains, beans, and spices that you could measure out in any quantity.  Also, we bought fruit for our fruit salad outside in a row of fruit vendors.  We got grapes, oranges, apples, and bananas.  

All of our purchases included some haggling over price (especially the fruit), but I got the impression that people don’t haggle over food as much as other stuff.  Since food is something that is a regular purchase, the price seems to be more set, although my sister Kanjo told me that prices of certain vegetables and fruits do go up during the winter when they’re not in season.   

After going to the Marché Tilene, the supermarket (which is called Casino), and this little corner boutique in our neighborhood, we finally had all the ingredients we needed.  The cooking itself went pretty well.  Although our family has a stove, only one burner works, so we used that one in addition to a separate gas tank and burner.  For lunch Danielle was in charge of the omelettes, and I made the french toast (which we had to explain was not actually French).  I think my french toast came out well, although the only bread I could find was thinner than ideal.  Sliced sandwich bread like in the States is pretty rare here because everyone eats bagettes, so the only sliced loaf bread we found was sliced thinly.  

The act of Danielle and I cooking was very interesting to the women in our family.  We wanted to give them a day off, but everyone stayed home to watch us cook, which kind of defeated the point, but that was their choice.  Kanjo, Virginie, Anne Marie, and even Mama to some extent gathered around the door to the kitchen to watch how we were making things, which turned out to be helpful when we needed a pot or couldn’t get the stove to light.  At one point a neighbor came over to get something, and when she saw we were cooking she decided to come back when it was done to try the American food we were making.  And, sure enough as we were cleaning up brunch she was back to try some of the leftovers.  It was quite the spectacle, complete with pictures and everything (on Danielle’s camera, so I can’t put any up...).  

By the time we got to dinner, our family had adjusted to the idea of us cooking some more, so they relaxed some and left us alone more.  For dinner, I was in charge of the chicken, since Danielle didn’t want to tackle cutting the meat off the bird since it still had feet and a head.  After I sawed off the feet and head it looked much more normal and wasn’t too hard from there.  While I was cutting up the chicken, Danielle made sauce for the spaghetti and a vinaigrette salad dressing.  Then we just washed veggies and lettuce for the salad and boiled some pasta, and voila, an American-Italian meal (which was fitting since both Danielle and I are part Italian).    

In general, our family seemed really happy that we cooked for them, and they told us that we were the first foreign students they’ve had who tried to cook anything.  I don’t understand this because MSID told us that we should try at least one meal, but I guess a lot of students don’t listen to these instructions.  All in all, although we spent the whole day shopping, cooking or sleeping, I was satisfied with our work.  Making food for 10 people every day is a lot of work, and I admire the time and energy the women in our house put into food preparation.  Excepting one incident where we tried to cook over a plastic pot, which was silver and looked metal, I think Danielle and I proved ourselves fairly competent in the kitchen, which is good since next year I’ll actually be responsible for cooking for myself on a regular basis.  And, in case you were wondering nothing really bad happened to the pot.  It turned a little black on the bottom, but Cathy saved it before it melted, and aside from a little excitement and embarrassment all ended well.  

Love,

Mel

Danielle with kids at Keur Saloum Diane (I think...)

Toubacouta- Sunday

Sunday morning after breakfast, Waly told us the schedule had changed somewhat, and we were now going to see a village tradition.  We got no details as to what it was except, it is called the concurrant.  We got an bad premonition about this “tradition” when we saw several men with machetes walking in the same direction as us, toward the center of the village.  Soon after that I smelled smoke, and we came upon an unexpected scene.  People were working in this flat area, open area between houses pulling up dry weeds, and raking the weeds, sticks and other debris into piles, which were then lit on fire. 

After this flat area, the concurrant progressed into a more heavily forested area.  Men and young boys were cutting and hacking at all the trees, reducing young and medium sized saplings to jagged stumps only a few feet high.  These green branches were also burned in large piles, along with other trash lying around the area, like the smoking tire we saw and smelled in one pile.   

While the men were cutting down all of the trees and small brush, the women were walking around with small plastic buckets.  I think they were to carry water if the fire got out of control, although with flames reaching higher than my head, this bucket brigade seemed like it would be pretty helpless if the fire actually got out of control.  Some other children and young people were just standing around watching, but that ended quickly when the reed-man came.

I didn’t see him closely enough to tell exactly what he was wearing, but whatever it was, the costume was sufficient to scare children and adults alike.  He seemed to be the work police, because when he came around everyone quickly started working or running away.  Honestly, I wasn’t scared, but maybe if I had really known better what his purpose was, I would have been.  Either way, we all played along and ran out of his way when the reed man passed by.

After we left, we were told that the concurrant happens every Sunday, with a different section of the village burned and cleared each week.  The tradition is designed to open up village for safety reasons, like preventing dangerous wild animals from living too close to the village.  Getting rid of the vegetation in the middle of the village also improves the visibility, which contributes to the general security and connectedness of the village.

Following this explanation of the purpose of this tradition, I understand better why the villagers have this tradition, because at first it seemed completely stupid and destructive.  My first thoughts while witnessing the concurrant were complete confusion as to any possible motive for cutting down and burning the forest.  If the need exists to clear the area around the village, why not use the wood for something useful instead of just burning it?  

Also, there is a serious problem in Senegal with soil quality and degradation decreasing agricultural yields.  Perhaps, some of the organic matter like leaves, branches, and nuts, could be used to amend agricultural lands and increase the fertility of the soil.  This would probably require some sort of composting effort, but in combination with animal manure and other household waste, they could probably make fairly good compost, and do something useful with this organic matter.  

While I still think the concurrant is not exactly a good tradition, I realize now that there is a cultural and educational gap between my perspective and the Senegalese villagers.  This tradition has probably been  going on for a long time, and continues for the traditional reasons.  It takes a well thought out, logical alternative to convince people to change tradition, and probably no one has taken the time to develop an alternative plan or educate the village about the effects of their tradition.  With more immediate, pressing health and economic needs, the concurrant is a tradition that will probably continue far into the future, a reality with which I have come to terms.

After the concurrant and some group reflection on our trip, we headed back to Dakar.  The traffic getting back into Dakar was bad, so we got out of the bus to walk along the road for a while.  Then we hopped back on the bus when it caught up to us (we were beating it for quite a while).  Geographically, Dakar isn’t in a good place to have good road access, since as my host dad said it’s a “presqu'île” or almost island (peninsula).  

It was nice to feel the cool coastal breeze coming back into Dakar since Toubacouta was noticeably warmer than Dakar, and on the edge of hot.  Although, I really enjoyed not breathing smog for a couple of days, and was reminded that I like the country better than the city.  I like Dakar pretty well, but there was just something about the smell and feel of Toubacouta that felt familiar and right.  This field trip made me excited for my internship in a rural village like Toubacouta.  I’m looking forward to living smog and traffic free, but even more I hope that in a small village I will feel more a part of the community.  There is some community that exists in my neighborhood in Dakar, Sicaps Baobab, but not as much as I expected, and I can’t really say that I know very many people outside my family.  

Love,

Mel

Toubacouta- Saturday

Looking back on this trip, Saturday was the most interesting day.  We started the day by taking a moderately long bus ride (again full of singing :) to a small village in the region surrounding Toubacouta.  The village was called Keur Saloum Diane, and we went there to talk with a women’s micro-finance group.  After a short wait, our group broke into two groups to talk with two of the four women's groups in the village.  My group was seated on wooden benches in front of a panel of women, with more women, kids, and a few men sitting behind and all around us.  Abba, one of the Senegalese students, was a translator for us, since none of the women spoke French.  This meeting was different than all of the previous ones since the women weren’t presenting anything to us, they were just answering questions.  So we asked about the work of their group, problems, goals, and stuff like that.  They mostly operate by doing “petit commerce”  which is basically going to a large regional market and buying supplies, then coming back to the village and reselling them for a profit.  There is also a fee to join the group which supplies them with some capital.

While this group seemed fairly successful in their current activities, they were rather limited in the projects they could do because of lack of funds.  They have never received any outside financing in the 17 years that they’ve been an official group.  They told us that it is hard to get NGO or bank financing, because the village is fairly close to Toubacouta.  Since Toubacouta has fairly good access to education and health care, the proximity of this village to Toubacouta made it a less desirable project site for NGOs.  While I understand the reasoning of the NGOs, it doesn’t change the fact that educational, health care, and especially commerce access is lacking in this village.  Also, one man told us the story of one NGO that came in and started building a beauty school to train girls in the village to be hairdressers.  But, part of the way through the project, it was abandoned.  I didn’t understand exactly what he said the reason was, but it was something to do with politics, and the local politician being against the project.  So now the building stands there useless, because there is no money to buy supplies or hire teachers for the school.  

As we drew near to the end of our time and questions, we asked the women if they had any questions for us.  The only question they had was if we had any advice or help for them.  I felt inadequate to give any advice, and at first was surprised that they thought we would be able help.  One of the Senegalese students, Edy, gave them a really good suggestion, which was to try to find a liaison between their group and potential funding sources like NGOs.  Since none of the women spoke French, or had any real experience outside of their village, they couldn’t had no one to lobby for the group to outside organizations.  In spite of this small bit of advice Edy contributed, I still felt pretty helpless, since visiting to “learn and understand” seemed rather insignificant.  Having the means, in both time and money, to be a university student is a unreachable luxury for most Senegalese, but even with our “wealth” of education, we had no answers for these women. 

After Keur Saloum Diane, the whole group went to another even smaller village about ten minutes away by bus.  We got off the bus, and went to look at the village well.  As Waly was explaining about how and by whom the well was built, the villagers were gathering all around our group watching us.  Then we were invited to come sit under this big tree and talk.  A communal meeting tree seems to be a fixture in rural Senegalese villages, as well as the plastic  lawn chairs which we had been sitting in at each stop.  Waly began the conversation by explaining the purpose of our visit, and asking about the history of the village.  The village elders told us a detailed history of when the village was founded, by whom, and notable happenings (like drought years, or construction of a well) since the founding.  After that, the floor was once again open for our questions concerning village life and problems.  Basically, we learned that this village has no school, no medical care or medicines (including pre or postnatal care), and the only economic activity is agriculture.  

Every day the village children walk three kilometers to Keur Saloum Diane to go to school.  This distance becomes a problem when the children get older and are increasingly expected to help farm, or for many girls, to get married and manage a household.  Especially in the villages, girls getting married between 13 and 15 is not uncommon, and I read that 40% of girls are married by 18, which makes it really hard for them to reach higher education.  

The closest health clinic is also three km away in Keur Saloum Diane, and transportation is a problem here too.  The only way they have to go to the health post is a horse and cart, which I guess is too difficult for severely ill people.  Some members of our group saw a woman who was extremely ill after having given birth, but no one had taken her to the health clinic.  I don’t know if they thought she wouldn’t survive the trip, or there was no money to go.  I only heard about it after the fact, but it’s still difficult to imagine being almost completely cut off from medical care.  

As the conversation progressed, we were shocked to learn that our group was the first academic group or government official to ever visit this village to discuss their situation and difficulties.  There is a government representative in this region, and Waly told us that he (or she) represents max about 20 villages.  The only interaction this village has had with the government in the almost 50 years since independence is paying taxes and voting.  Every person over 14 (I think) pays 1000 CFA (about 2 dollars) in taxes each year, which is collected by the village chiefs.  Even more amazing to me, is the fact that this village still votes.  They have to walk the three km to Keur Saloum Diane to vote, and as far as I could tell, everyone who was old enough votes in every election.

One of the striking characteristics of the villagers we were talking to, is that there weren’t any young or even middle aged men.  All the capable men, and many young women left the village to seek work in cities because there are no jobs left in the village.  The agriculture is incapable of sustaining the population any more because crop yields and prices have dropped so much.  As the population grew more land was cultivated, and the villagers stopped their tradition of fallow years.  This has created a big problem of soil degradation, which is partly responsible for the reduced yields.  One man said that in the time of Senghor (shortly after Senegal gained its independence in 1960) he was harvesting 200 sacks of peanuts (per year I assume), but this year he only got 2.  I don’t know if he is still cultivating the same amount of land, but regardless this is a tremendous yield decrease.  During Senghor’s presidency, the government was also distributing fertilizer and agricultural implements, which partially explains the high yields relative to the current production.  Now the villagers said that some animal manure and household organic waste is put on the fields, but it sounded rather haphazardly and irregularly applied. 

Saturday night, our group went to a Senegalese dance club near where we were staying.  It was a relatively small room, but it wasn’t too crowded.  The Senegalese and other American students were fun, and I had a good time.  Clubs aren’t really that different here except that I don’t know any of the music.  Well, I guess the dancing is somewhat different too, but I can’t really explain that.  Maybe youtube Senegalese dancing or something...

Toubacouta Pictures

Baobab in La Parc National de Delta du Saloum

Village in Delta du Saloum

Football in Toubacouta

Boat in Toubacouta estuary.  

09/02/09 (#2)

Hi again,

Toubacouta- Friday

We started the day by visiting a fishing center in Missirah near Toubacouta.  This center was financed by the Japanese, and works to train and equip Senegalese to be professional fishermen.  While this goal has been largely successful, there is now a problem with overfishing.  There are too many fishermen, the worst of whom are large Korean and Japanese industrial fishing boats which come into the area and catch a lot of fish.  I didn’t understand this exactly, but their fishing rights are somehow connected to the center.  Perhaps they financed this fishing center in exchange for the industrial fishing rights, I’m not sure.  Anyway, but now the center is trying to implement policies, like licensing fishermen and monitoring the size of fish caught, to increase the population.  

While it seems like a good environmental policy, requiring fishermen to have a license creates an interesting cultural problem.  Traditionally, many Senegalese in the rural areas were both farmers and fishers.  They switched back and forth, according to the weather and which enterprise was more successful at the time.  However, imposing the license requirement removes a revenue source for the non-professional fishers because it doesn’t economically make sense to buy a license to only fish part time.  

After the fishing presentation, we went to talk to a group called ANCAR (Agence nationale de conseil agricole rurale, which means National Agency for Rural Agricultural Advice).  I was really looking forward to this presentation, since it was about ag, but honestly I couldn’t understand a lot of the presenter was saying.  He is an agricultural technician, but he had a strong accent, and was using a lot of fairly technical vocabulary.  I learned that the main crops of the region are peanuts, corn, rice, and millet.  The main goal of the group was to address farmers’ questions and problems, and the technician went over some of the main agricultural challenges, like young people leaving their villages to go to cities to find jobs.  

After lunch, we got into some canoes and headed for La Parc Nationale de Delta du Saloum (Delta Saloum National Park), a national park in the tidal mangrove ecosystem.  When we got to the park we hiked for some time to reach the park office and camping facility.  There we sat and listened to the conservation officer talk about the park and mangrove ecosystem.  The park has only been officially a conserved area for a few years, but they have already seen an increase in the number of animal and plant species in the area. 

This park and its mission of conserving the environment reminded me some of the RSCN sites I saw in Jordan.  However, it was different in that the officer said that the Senegalese aren’t really interested in conserving the environment.  Most people are poor to the point that the environment is seen as a means of living, not something valuable to be conserved.  Poverty simply is or has been in the recent past such a difficult reality for so many people, that conserving the environment still seems like an unrealistic use of resources.  As of now, it seems like the most environmental success has come through teaching people new ways to get the same resource in a more sustainable manner, like a new method of harvesting oysters that doesn’t destroy the mangrove roots where they live.  Helping the nature still needs to help the people to be feasible here, but the latter hasn’t really taken root yet.

Friday night the group went to a village dance soiree.  The environment was very similar to la lutte, but this time we knew what was going on, and what to expect.  There was a traditional Senegalese dance troupe who performed several dances in different Senegalese styles.  After that, a fire juggler and stilt walker came out, and did some impressive tricks, which reminded me of a circus.  Finally, there was an open dance circle.  Individuals, pairs, or small groups would go into the middle of the circle and dance for a little bit while everyone watched and cheered.  It was really neat, and at least in this village, the Senegalese were very good dancers.

Love,

Mel

09/02/09

Dear All,

Toubacouta- Travel and Arrival

From last Thursday to yesterday our group has been on a field trip in a rural village called Toubacouta.  We left at 7 (well actually 7:20 thanks to the boys in our group) in the morning on Thursday, and spent about six hours in the van.  There was some traffic leaving Dakar, since there is only one road leading to the city.  We stopped once to buy fruit in Kaolac (which took a really long time), and shortly after the fruit stop the road got considerably worse.  

It felt like the road had been paved at one point probably years ago, but then it was not kept up.  There were little warning triangle signs near the really large potholes, and generally it was really bumpy.  We heard that this is the norm for roads in the rural areas, except for areas of particular interest to the president or politicians, like their home towns.  So, other than isolated rural areas, cities receive virtually all of the national road budget.   There have been strikes in the transportation sector about the roads, but so far is hasn’t had much of an impact.  We didn’t know it at this point, but this disparity between urban and rural areas extends far beyond roads, to include general infrastructure, education, and health funds.     

When we got onto the bus Thursday morning we were introduced to six Senegalese students who were coming with us on the trip.  At first, I thought that they were just coming along as fellow students to see the area and learn about development.  However, when we arrived it became clear that they were our tour guides (and for some situations translators) since they had all either grown up in or gone to school in Toubacouta.  

It was a lot of fun to finally meet some Senegalese students our same age whom we could trust to not view us as a means to achieve economic gain.  Their presence made for much more interesting bus rides, since they started communal bus (and canoe) sing-a-longs.  We learned some Senegalese songs, and also sang some American songs (some of which they already knew). Also, on Saturday night when we went out to a dance club, the Senegalese students taught us some Senegalese dances which were a little crazy, but a lot of fun.

On the way to Toubacouta we stopped at a small village called Sokone, where Professor Sene (the director of WARC) grew up.  He introduced us to his family, including his older brother and two of his brother’s four wives.  Polygamy is fairly common in Senegal, especially in the rural villages.  Waly told us today in class that about 65% of men in rural villages have more than one wife for economic or prestige reasons.  Also some men decide to marry another woman to “correct” the first one if he’s not happy with his first marriage, or she’s not paying enough attention to him.  Although, according to Islamic law when a man gets a second wife he’s not allowed to just ignore and neglect the first one, but I suppose a good second wife is supposed to exert a positive influence on the first one.   Anyway, we ate lunch and ataaya (a traditional tea ceremony) in Sokone, and it was interesting to meet Professor Sene’s family and see the place where he grew up.

Thursday night after we reached Toubacouta and settled into our encampement (basically like a collection of little one room cottages with a common dining and cooking area) , we went to visit the local poste de santé, or health clinic.  We spoke with la sage femme, which translates literally as the wise woman, but she’s basically like a nurse’s assistant.  The government also pays the nurse, but they are the only staff of the clinic.  This health clinic was built with aid from a Belgian NGO, and I think is still partially supported by that group.  While the work that the Belgian group did and does is helpful and good, it also illustrates the lack involvement and aid from the Senegalese government  in rural areas.  The health clinic was just the first of several examples of a failure by the government to provide the rural people with rudimentary supplies and services, a hole which is partially filled by international involvement.   

From a western point of view, it seemed like a really small health care facility with only basic care, but we learned later that it is much better than what most smaller villages have.  Furthermore, the reason Toubacouta has a “good” health clinic, is because of the relatively large amount of tourism, and the tourists who want medical care, not for the local people.  However, the clinic does also service the locals at a reasonable rate.  

On Thursday night, we went to a local Senegalese wrestling contest, which is called la lutte.  It is different than US wrestling, in that the goal is to force the other man to the ground, but if any part other than knees or arms touches the ground the match is over.  La lutte is really popular and it seemed like the whole village turned out to watch.  During the match there was also drumming, singing, and dancing going on around the perimeter of the wrestling area.  The kids sitting on the edges of the crowd would just randomly get up and start dancing, and they were really good!  We were given seats of honor in the front, which were actually almost the only chairs there.  It was really exciting with multiple matches happening concurrently, and lot of things to watch and hear at once.

While I really enjoyed la lutte, several of the students, myself included, noticed that we were singled out more than we expected as the very clear guests of honor.  For example, Professor Sene went up to the front to be thanked by and thank the chief of the village, and we were called by name to go up front and present the winners with their trophies.  After the match was over, we found out by happenstance, that the whole match was arranged for us by Professor Sene.  La lutte doesn’t normally happen during the dry season, and definitely not on a Thursday night.  Some of the students were really upset that Professor Sene and the program set up this spectacle for us.  In part I agree with them, but I also understand Prof Sene and Waly wanting us to experience la lutte in person to see this piece of Senegalese culture, and there was really no other way to achieve this goal.  I just wish they had told us beforehand, so we didn’t have to find out after the fact that we had bought our “cultural experience.”

I hope everyone is doing well!

Love,

Mel