Bambey … India?

So I know where I am going to be living for the next 2 years of my life! This is such a big deal! I only planned usually one year in advance to lease signing and all that and haven’t known where I would be living since high school! I am excited to have my own home and make it just that so that I will be comfortably living, considering, in Senegal! I will have a double bed and fridge… it will just be under a mosquito net and a mini fridge filled with filtered and beech water!

So the Peace Corps is very good at torturing us. They have known our sites for weeks since we have been learning the language that is spoken at our cities for over 3 weeks. They interviewed us and placed us but don’t like to tell us early just in case things change. Well, this is not very nice in my opinion. 2 years! And this year, because of a major change in scheduling, our site announcement date was moved back a day and a half. So when this time came, it was so exciting!

How they tell us is by taking us to the basketball court at the training center. It is painted as the country of Senegal labeling major cities all over. They make us stand in Mauritania and close our eyes. Then quietly, they spun us around and brought us to where our sites are. It was so fun! So that’s what a few pictures are from if you wanted to see. I had an ancien (a current volunteer that has been here over a year) take pictures. So when we all opened our eyes we could see where we were and who was near us! I am moving to Bambey! It is close to Thies, where I am right now and Dakar is my regional house… meaning whenever I need to get out of my town and relax to remind myself that I am an American, I get to hang out and spend too much money in Dakar! Pretty cool!

So what I know about Bambey—is not much really. I am the first volunteer ever to go to the city of 25,000. There is agriculture, animal raising and commerce in the area with a large daily market. What is extremely exciting for me is high concentration of artisans in a nearby town of Ndem (I’ll talk about that in a sec). There are available microfinance institutions, women’s associations and youth groups in Bambey that all need management training. I will be living in a compound with a family of 8. I will have 2 rooms, private bathroom with wonderful amenities such as cement floor, metal roof, bars on windows, locks on doors, electricity and water available. That probably means bucket baths for the next 2 years… oh well.

Myself and another volunteer were talking with a current volunteer who is COSing (close of service) in October. He has been working with the people of Ndem and hopes we will be continuing his work. He gave me contact numbers and information on their business of exporting baskets. They have already started exporting to Europe. I will need to (first learn and then) help with computerized inventory and accounting systems, along with improve English capacities in order to get into the American market. I will be working hard to get marketing improved along with basic computer skills to improve their website.

How cool is this?! I have a lot to learn about what they are doing now and how we can improve it. It will be a very slow start. My goal over 3 months is first to meet everyone and become friends. There is no way for my to jump in and make a change in the first month or two. I get, from the Peace Corps, a 3-month window to hang out, drink tea and greet everyone in town! After 3 months, we come back to Thies for IST (In-service training) where they will train me to help me with what I want to accomplish in the next year or so. What you could do to help me if find people/businesses that are interested in importing hand-made baskets made from palm trees! Haha – thank god for the internet!