S%!*t Just Got Real: Site Selection

So I have been back at the center since March 31st.

Last Sunday and Monday a myriad of holidays converged upon Senegal, including the Easter Weekend (very important time for the few Catholics to imbibe heavily in public and for long stretches of time) and the Senegalese Independence Day, celebrating 50 years For my "holiday" I celebrated in part the Catholic way and in part the Seneglese way... napped, had beers, watched some movies, etc. There were about 20 people here in Thies, so it was very calm, and a wonderful break from the village life.. Along with donkey races, parades, riots, and general chaos when everything is closed, there was the unvailing of a very controversial statue in Dakar (somehow North Korea is involved)...read about it below:

http://www.afriquejet.com/news/africa-news/monument-of-african-renaissance-inaugurated-in-dakar-2010040547121.html

The most important parts of my training thus far has happened in the last 2 days;

We took our first language proficiency exams and also found out our Sites!

My home for 2 years: NGODIBA, SENEGAL.

Ngodiba is around 5,000 people large, on the road and at the heart of Senegalse Peanut Basin in the region of Kaolack.. I am 5 k from the regional capital city Kaffrine, 40 K from Kaolack City and only 20 K from the Gambia! My home has no health volunteers, but volunteers from the Agroforestry, Agriculture, and Environmental sectors.

I am nestled between the Sine Saloum delta and the Sine Saloum Nature Reserve. Because Ngodiba is so close to Kaffrine, and Kaffrine wasn't created until 2008, it gets lumped into the information about Kaolack. Click on the following links for more info, and check out the attached map!

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/senegal

http://pcsenegal.org/kaolack.html

I will have more information about Kaolack region and my town in the coming 2 weeks. Off to my village for more language training and then headed to visit a volunteer stationed in Kaolack!

"Where there is no water"

GeoTagged, [N14.76455, E16.79479]


So the last 3 weeks have been going really well. Tomorrow I am headed back to the training center for language testing, tech activities and a good ole American Easter celebration! Here is an update of what has gone down since my first post:

My New Language- While the educational system in Senegal is conducted in French, all people speak variations of tribal languages. I am learning Wolof, which is spoken by app. 75% of Senegalese people. There are 10 other people learning my language, 12 Pular of the North, 6 Pulafuta, and the remaining 23 learning small minority dialects. I have attached a link to a language map of Senegal

http://www.ethnologue.com/show_map.asp?name=SN&seq=10

Homestay- My family is wonderful, the first few days were rough and tiresome because of language barriers but everyday I am able to communicate more and more and my little brothers and sisters help a lot! My Senegalese name is Ami Fye... Pretty lucky compared to of the others I have heard :)
I am in a town called Thieneba Gare app. 15 kilo east away from Thies where the training center is, but about 30 degrees hotter... Which means the daily average during the hot, dry season averages 110-125. The towns people are conservative Muslims, which means I am pretty desperate for a beer most of the time. I have language classes and other activities with 2 other people who have homes in my town, and by now everyone knows us!
We all live in concrete housing blocks called compounds that typically house several families or family members. I have 3 families in my compound. Our classes occur at my language instructors compound 2 times a day, so I spend most parts of the day away from home.

Activities- The Senegalise people sit... A LOT. Not so true for a Peace Corps Volunteer! I typically have a mid day break that lasts 2-3 hours during the hottest part of the day, similar to the ciestas I hated so much in Italy. Our training is structured to give us technical skills training, and then opportunities to practice these skills in "technically directed activities" or TDA's. So far my language group of 3 has completed a mural on the importance of nutrition at our local health post, maintnenced and planted a school garden, attended a womens group meeting and baby weighing, created a community map, and unsuccessfully built a mud stove (details to come next week on attempt 2). See the pics at then end of the post!

Thieneba am naa jafe jafe (Thieneba you have problems)- as my post title indicates, my towns water pump has been broken for the majority of my homestay thus far. All of our TDAs have been increasingly difficult with a non existant water supply not to mention our toll on personal hygiene. Thankfully Peace Corps occassionally swoops in with their white Land Rovers to deliver water supplies for our us and our garden but not our host families ( I hope everyone appreciates the irony here).
With any luck this situation is not going to last the next month until our training is over.