Kira Day

It’s not very often that it happens: that I get so stressed out that I don’t know what to do with myself. Life in Senegal is stressful… have I ever mentioned that before? And that sometimes when everything doesn’t really go how I want it to, I get upset. I am normally good at finding a solution, but sometimes it just gets to be too much to handle – so today is the second time in Senegal that I have declared it Kira Day. Mel Moye – you used to take the day off in school and call in to work sick and it inspired me here. I am taking the day off to do whatever I want.

I can now explain what has stressed me out and what I am going to do about it: Holidays, my composting project and the Mara Family.

The holidays are hard abroad. I can’t do a single thing that will make Senegal feel like Neenah, Wisconsin. 5 friends and I rented a house on the island Gorée, and had called ahead to make sure it had an oven available. We did all of our grocery shopping the morning before the ferry and had quite the impressive menu decided (pineapple glazed ham, green bean casserole, potatoes au gratin, Christmas cookies). But upon arriving, we found out the oven was there, in the kitchen, but didn’t work. So we ended up using the owner’s sister’s house. But she is Catholic and was planning her own Christmas meal and we felt awful making her run back and forth. People weren’t happy with us and let us know it. But I was very happy to just sit on the rocks, listening to the waves roll in alone, wearing blue jeans, a fleece and my new favorite Santa hat. It was chilly. Too bad I didn’t get tan lines. Dinner was alright, but what came after dinner was better. My friend’s boyfriend is here visiting and he brought us some pretty tasty drinks!

After the island, I came back here to Bambey with Erin. She is a close friend that lives very far away. So since she wasn’t able to go home between Gorée and New Year’s, she came here and I wanted to show her my compost site. I wanted to check and see if any collection had been done in the last few days anyways. But as we showed up, I noticed that people were at the site. Keep in mind, the government gave us a plot of land but we haven’t yet put up a fence of any kind. The people we noticed were actually stealing our compost. I asked them what they were doing and explained the situation. He was willing to buy it “tomorrow, inchallah”. So I call my women’s group pres but of course she wasn’t home and told me to handle it. No. Not going to happen. So I told this villager to go and talk to Djebaye, the donkey-cart guy, who hopefully won’t just pocket the money, but there is no way for me to control that.

I was stressed and talking it through with Erin on what to do. We decided that I just needed to talk to my group and explain my role better since they call me their boss and expect too much from me; and that we should sell the compost then to this villager pretty cheap to get some initial funds to start fencing.

So the next morning we both went to talk to Astou Kan, the pres, and our talk combined with the stress of everything going on just made me cry. She told me that they are hoping to get a loan for community projects from some Eco-Village in Diourbel and when I said it would be great to use that money for this project, she said “that won’t work since it doesn’t provide income so how could we pay back the loan”. BUT IT DOES! Just not today. “It makes sense to give the money to the women of the group for them each to raise their own money so that they can afford to pay for other things, like garbage cans and collection fees”. But honestly, these individual projects never work. Interest rates are too much to handle for people that don’t even know how to figure out if their project is making profits or not.

There is a meeting on Jan 12, inchallah, to hand out 10 garbage cans that Astou Kan’s brother fronted money for to start 10 example families. We will have all the women put some money in to buy fencing for the compost site, and this has been the plan since before Tabaski, but Astou Kan just first told me yesterday that the women won’t be able to put in more than 200cfa each, all 14 or 15 of them, making it 3000cfa if everyone shows, and pays: just over $5. How the hell can we fence in 30 square meters with $5?! We can’t.

So mid-tears yesterday, we talked about all the people I need to see and invite to our meeting Jan 12. I have to write up and print invites and hand them out to all the businesses in Bambey that could possibly donate money or materials toward the project. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I should get out of my room and start working on this list. No. It’s Kira Day. I will be back from Ziguanchor on the 5th and I will work then. Today, it’s my day and no one can mess with that.

And the third most stressful situation is my family. Not in America, alhumdulilaye; they are all happy with the new Wii playing with the dogs in the snow. But my Mara family: I have a bad maid, a stuck-up 16 year old sister, a mom who doesn’t understand me and a yapping, scared, energetic dog, who brings me more stress than anyone else. The maid, whatever, is fine, just not Kolé, our last maid. My sister and mom, I guess I can’t complain too much but I just like my real parents and brother more. The dog though! She has been tied up in a dark room all her life. I have been the only person that pets her, teaches her to sit on command, and removes her from this dark room. We let her out but then she just starts barking at everyone unless I am around. I don’t want this. No one knows what to do with dogs since everyone is afraid of them and thus, she is afraid of them. If I train her, provide for her and improve her life, I will have to bring her back to America with me and that is just not going to happen. Last night, while on the phone with America, she was barking non-stop so I went to see what the problem was. A friend of my sister’s was just standing there, watching her bark, teasing her. I don’t even know this girl but I yelled at her and made her leave the compound and close the door. Then my sister and her 3 friends laughed at me, since I care that the dog is scared, barking, annoying the entire neighborhood. “Crazy toubab” is not what I want to deal with in my own home.

So what am I going to do about all this? Stay in my room, do yoga, go to the post office, meet Nick (the best boyfriend in the world) online and relax. Tomorrow, I am getting back to Dakar to take a ferry south to Ziguanchor for New Year’s. I will be fine. I have responsibilities here. I have made a commitment to these people to stay here for 2 years to work on their development. I will invite everyone I need to, to my meeting. I will pass out garbage cans and motivate everyone in the neighborhood to clean up. I will get rid of this dog somehow. I will have fun at Zig before I have to stop drinking in a week or so and celebrate New Years the best way I know how! No one said living here would be easy: “Hardest 2 years you will ever love” is the Peace Corps recruitment phrase. Yesterday was hard. But I know I will love it again some day. If I ran away from this and ETed, it would be like quitting my dream job after a bad day.

Happy Kira Day. You can celebrate how ever you want!

Latent vs Active

Alright so I'll admit it. I wasn't too active during the hot season. (Maybe you could call me latent - we'll get to that in a bit) It's not the easiest when it's over 100 and sitting still is exhausting. So I am taking advantage of the cool evenings - yes that's right - cool. Wonderful running weather. Every once in a while, I have moments here in Senegal that I call "blog-worthy". I hope you appreciate this:

Originally, getting out of the house was exhausting, not to mention crossing the gender-line by not cooking, cleaning and raising babies, like all the other women my age. So running like all the men was difficult the first time. But if today were my first, I probably would have quit completely!

I left the house just before sunset. I walk out of my neighborhood and start for a paved road (with plenty of pot holes attracting my constant attention). Once on this paved road that leads out the city to a village, I start running. There is a woman selling fruit that usually greets me as I pass, but today, she started running with me. Keep in mind, she was dressed in her Tabaski-best and fancy shoes. It created quite a show. When she stopped I made a big deal about how she shouldn't give up, "It's only 3k to the village, atcha, nu dem dow!" She said tomorrow, inshallah. I'm really sure.

After this, a few middle school girls started imitating my form, while they were walking. They get a free pass, make fun of me all you want. You are a teenage girl and we all know those are tough years. I was a jerk too!

A bit further up on the road, I passed 4 women packing up bunches of fire wood, and after greeting them, and inviting them along on my run, but they also said, "Another time, inshallah".

Then I greeted and passed 2 young girls, greeted and I thought that was rather uneventful. Until about a minute later I heard "Eh! Eh! Taxawal yo!". I turned around and noticed these girls were now running after to, asking me to wait for them. I slowed down, let them catch up. The whole time we ran, they were asking me questions, in greeting. They were very polite and are not in school, but work as maids in Bambey. They were on their way back to the village they live, beyond the village we were running to. Who knows if they do this 4 or 5k walk daily. I sure hope not, and that they have great families where they stay, but get to go home for the weekend. I had to actually stop running since one of the girls couldn't keep up. When I said it was time for me to turn around, they asked if I was going to take a car back. Haha, no, I'm actually running for fun. "How bizarre". Yea, I'm a toubab.

On the way home, I noticed that the 4 women were finished bundling the firewood. The youngest was waiting for someone to help her lift the bundle onto her head. The looked at me and the blank, unpopulated road, nearly gave up, but then were pleasently surprised when I said "Ma yem la". Of course there is a verb in Wolof for "to raise whatever you have that's heavy onto your head". I just learned that a few weeks ago. So I helped raise a bundle of wood onto this scrawny 10 year old's head. Keep in mind this bundle off wood is too big around for me to hug it. Can't believe what these women are expected to do at such young ages.

I guess that was the run. More eventful than I would have ever guessed. So now it's time for me to be latent, right? Ok, I'll explain.

I told you about my mid-service, and waiting for TB results... Well, results were positive, as in, I have tested positive for latent TB. Bummer. Let me just get this out in the open - this is NOT a big deal. I am not contageous, and I don't have any symptoms. I have just been exposed to someone who had active TB, thanks for nothing dude! So Peace Corps policy says that I need to go on anti-biotics for 9 months, of rather intensive meds that are hard on my liver. My biggest concern in all this is that I won't be able to drink alcohol during those 9 months. As if this is practice for something else, but I don't wanna practice that! Geez. So I'll let you know when I start these lovely meds, but just to re-emphasize, this is not a big deal. Just sucks, you know?

Anyways, I'll be actively-latent for the next 9 months.

Today is Kristofer's Birthday - Happy 25th Tof! And Happy 27th Anniversary Mom and Dad - I am so proud of you guys! And Happy Birthday Grandpa! What a happy day!

My typical service

I made it through another Muslim holiday and was so classic Senegalese I even scare myself! I bought expensive fabric and had it tailored and embroidered, bought matching sandals, and got my hair braided. After my hair was done, 2 days before the holiday, my sister even mentioned I was ready before her. The night before Tabaski, I went to the market – kinda like the mall Christmas Eve, but at midnight, where you can get run over by horses rather than pushy moms. I then was invited to have tea and was in bed rather late, giving me full permission to sleep in and avoid festivities until late morning…

That didn’t really happen though, since I was assigned to peeling and slicing the 3 dozen onions immediately after getting out of the shower. They made fun of me for how I cut potatoes so I was demoted to peeling garlic. All this is done, by the way, without a cutting board, but after all these holidays, I managed to get by with only one cut! The sheep wasn’t so lucky. Find pictures in the album called At Home in Senegal. We ate “breakfast” at 1 consisting of liver and onions and some ribs. I can’t say that I love or hate it: I don’t mind it. But it’s the liver after-taste that killed my appetite for the rest of the day. Besides a few polite bites while visiting a work partner, it was my only meal, unless you count a package of cookies at 10pm.

2 days following Tabaski, I was on my way to Dakar. A friend and I pretended we were rich for the afternoon and did something I have never done before: got my legs waxed! Ouch! But about a quarter what it would cost in America, so why not! After that, we bought food to make an incredible dinner and a Bordeaux Red Wine. Typical PCV day right?

Friday we had a regional meeting, welcoming the 6 new volunteers to the region who installed in November. Saturday we lost our first softball game of the season, but won our second so we are 7-1. Not too bad. Except when you consider this is an American sport and the only team we lost to is Senegalese…

I am still hanging out in Dakar for my medical mid-service. No cavities Dr. Don! Peace Corps takes pretty good care of us and I doubt I will ever again have full, free health care! I hope to meet with people who sold Joal garbage cans at a discount for their compost project while I am waiting for my TB results on Wednesday. Gives me something to do I guess. Since you would not believe how COLD it is here! I cannot simply layout at the pool, and wouldn’t even think of swimming in it! It’s so windy and chilly and… ok it’s not below zero and we don’t have snow but geez! I guess I am used to the Senegalese heat that I used to complain so much about. Yesterday I spent the whole day in the hammock wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt with a blanket, reading. Perfect lazy Sunday!

Honestly, if you are looking for the blog of a typical PCV, I guess you need to go elsewhere. Life is good.

Goatee

The week went well! Surprisingly, I got a few things done off the list. Bringin Djebaye to Joal was a success, although it made for an extremely long day. We left here at 8 but had to wait over an hour for the bus to fill. Then it just took forever! We got to Joal at 1. A little info about Fridays: they are the Muslim's holy day so they go to the big mosque and pray at 2ish. And then it's the weekend (thank you French for that influence). So normally there is not a whole lot that happens until Monday. I was so worried on the road that it would be a waste of money to go all the way there and see nothing. But it went so well! We met with someone who was very knowledgeable and told Djebaye the whole history and problems and solutions. After that, we had a great lunch, talked with the current volunteer there and 2 charretiers (donkey-cart drivers like Djebaye). Then we went to a government official who talked to us more about the project and how it has expanded. They are in the process of building a beautiful new compost site. Needless to say, Djebaye and I are jealous and motivated. We will start right back up with more trainings and collections after Tabaski!

But now it's time to relax, while everyone prepares for this big holiday Tabaski. It's in the Bible too, where Abraham sacrifices a sheep. So why don't we have this tradition in the Christian world?! It's fun! I have my hair braided (pics coming soon), new clothes, new sandales that mom bought me and plenty of invitations to spend the day with friends and work partners. I am ready to have this holiday over so I can get back to work but it is cool that this is my second. I know what to expect, and instead of being shown around as a guest, I get to go and do my own greetings and take pictures with people. Should be fun.

Oh, and we have a new member of the family. Population of this house is always changing. My favorite maid left to go work for her sister in Dakar. :-( It was rather lonely for a few days since mom and sis were at school and the other guy that rents is working out of town. But now my sister is striking at school til the 15th so I have company. The new addition is a baby goat! I call him Goatee. He was born 2 nights before I took this picture, where he is actually peeing. He will soon learn manners. He's so cute. He jumps and twitches when he gets excited. We have 2 other pregrant goats, hopefully one will have twins since she's much bigger that they other 2. Who knows what we will do with all these babies, but at least they are cute and don't make as much noise as other animals! My host mom, like I have said before, is good at investing. We are in the process of building a structure to house 50 chickens to do a raising project. I hope they become dinner more often!

After Tabaksi, I am heading to Dakar for the weekend. Then I'll be back for a week before Christmas! Staying at a house on an island. Be jealous. It's no snow angels and cookies but maybe I can work on my tanlines again!

To do List:

1. Visit compost site tomorrow. (we were supposed to start collection today but had to pick up a wheelbarrow, pitch forks, and a rake - to no surprise, that took 2 hours)
2. Critique the work of my charretier, Djebaye (donkey cart driver) since he doesn't yet completely understand the project
3. Pick up boots, gloves and a mask from the health center on Wednesday
4. Go around with a woman door-to-door to all the same 35 houses to fully explain the project. Djebaye explained horribly the project to the "manager/men of the house"... they aren't the ones who sweep and clean - "managers of the compost". For some reason, when I say compost, he translates it to sheep/goat poop. Hmmm
5. Bring Djebaye to Joal, where this project originated with PCVs 2 years ago and has grown to be quite a success. He will then hopefully understand what we are trying to do and be able to ask questions of the compost employees there.
6. Convince the women of the neighborhood and the women's group to put money in. This will have to wait until after Tabaski, but we need funds and I am not white and made of money!
7. Build our site - make a fence, build a shade structure and buy a barrel to store water.
8. Find other people to help out Djebaye, other charreties, and people to manage the site. I need to meet people already employeed by the Mayor's Office since that's the direction I want to go, the government needs to pay for this!
9. Form a budget to ask for some money from a Peace Corps Partnership. But honestly, I am fully willing to write this, but it will need to be finished and turned in before my last 6 months of service. That is rapidly approaching. So I may just leave it for my replacement to do with whatever he/she wants.
10. Improvise... there is going to be a lot else to do as this moves along

And that's it! I think I have my work cut out for me...

I was so stressed out yesterday, thinking about this list and wondering what today would be like. I was anxious since the last 2 nights I went to meet Djebaye, he wasn't available to meet with me and Astou Kan, the women's group pres was out of town for 4 days. But this is going to be good work so let's hope this goes well! Keep your fingers crossed.

Oh, and a funny picture to think about: me wandering around with Djebaye, pulling a donkey with a cart of garbage all around town, between houses, in sandy "streets" all the way to the Mayor's Office and even through part of the market on MARKET DAY. Needless to say I attracted a bit of attention.