More Photos

Papa, Budderra, and Fatou. I had dinner with them everynight.


All of the farmers have harvested and bagged their rice. This is inside the microfinance insitution.

My last night in Ronkh there was a wrestling match. If you click on it it will enlarge and you'll see that it looks like the audience are a bunch of glowing eyes.


The market on my last day.


Some of the best volunteers in all of Senegal. My last day.

Back in the US of A

Now that I'm back I thought I'd post a few more pictures to wrap things up. Adapting is going just fine, minus the weather. It's soooo cold here!

When I'm up in the middle of the night enjoying my jet lag I think about Senegal. I'm sad that I had to leave so early and obviously wish that I hadn't reinjured my ankle, but I'm happy I was able to experience what I did. When I think about the things that I learned, about culture, another area of Africa, a new language, the Peace Corps, the great people I met, and the things I got to see I'm quite happy about it. It was only just over 4 months but I feel that that short period was packed with enough for a year. I feel fortunate to have experienced Senegal and will always treasure those memories and friendships.

So what's around the corner next....Work? Grad school? Right now, all I know is that I'll be undergoing physical therapy, probably easy terrain for the next year at least, and the rest will work itself out..."In shallah" (I now feel the need to say that after almost everything.) Hope everyone enjoys the pictures, hope to see everyone who lives in Washington State soon, and those who don't a bit later:

This girl has amazing orange eyes.

Most of the people in my compound

Paying my final respects to Mydiop Reemba Diop. He's the Imam of the village and is the man I was named after.

MRI

I got the results of my MRI a few days ago and there's some good news and some bad news. The good news is that all of my ligaments are attached. The bad news is that two are damaged and have substantial scar tissue around them. Unfortunately to remedy this I'm going to have a good physical therapy program for a year or two which I can't really have in my village. Therefor I'm being sent home in about 4 days.

Right now I'm very sad about leaving my family and my village, but know that this is best for my health and that it's what needs to happen.

I took some more pictures of my village and will have those up soon.

Hope everyone is doing well.
~Steve

Few more photos

Xadi and Minatta. Working hard, as they always are.

Wrestling is huge here. My host brother in the green is taking on a neighbor

A few more pics

My host mother Fanta, and her daughter, Tomme.

Babedine climbing on my legs.

Eating lunch. 12 bodies around the bowl if we include baby Alen.

My friend Sheikh. On our way out to see the monkey he shot, (they eat his melons.)

Sunset behind one of the few trees in Ronkh

Update

I just had a nice visit with the 2 heads of the Peace Corps Small Enterprise Development program in Senegal. They were helpful and sympathetic about my joint issues and it was nice to be able to tell them a little bit about Ronkh.

When talking about Ronkh I couldn’t help but reflect while speaking:

I think of Senegal as the unlikely friend who you were forced to bunk next to at camp, the random roommate or the crazy coworker. At first you think to yourself “you’ve got to be kidding me,” but then little by little you get closer, bonding occurs and after a while your friendship almost means more because of the bridges you’ve had to build across a void of difference.

I feel like Senegal and I have built those bridges and the harsh irony is that I love it here on the brink of a very hard decision. Is staying in Senegal going to be good for my health? Is it going to allow whatever injuries I have in my ankle and now in my knees and hips to fully and correctly heal? My greatest hope is that on Tuesday when I have the MRI I will at least know what’s wrong, and then can decide what’s best. Wish me luck :).

Parc de Djudge

I had the opportunity to go to the Djudge Park, which is Senegal's big bird park. It’s one of the first stops for birds from Europe once they cross the Sahara and has fantastic bird populations. I went to work with another Peace Corps volunteer there to help with some bird information sheets they are hoping to market to tourists. I took a number of pictures for them and loved doing it. I could take pictures all day. I’ve posted a few of them here. The pelicans were by far the most amazing and easy to photograph.

It was really interesting staying with Kristaa and seeing her village. She lives in a Nar village and I found it to be so different from my Wolof village. They were really wonderful and I found them to be smiley and welcoming, even if I didn’t speak any Nar, (that's not to say that my village does not have it's welcoming qualities.)

We got around on bikes and after a boat trip we rode out to this remote are to try to find warthogs, jackals and if we were lucky pythons. While riding out there I was having a really hard time biking and wasn’t sure if I had a bad bike or was just really out of shape. My knees were also hurting and occasionally popping which was not good. We got to our destination and after a baguette and sardine sandwich for lunch we turned around to go back and Kristaa noticed that my tire was completely flat. We pumped it up and it was flat again in a minute.

I rode it for a while flat but ended up just walking it. As thirsty as we were we laughed about our situation walking through desert terrain in the middle of nowhere without any water. My ankle really did not do well and that made me realize that I can’t ignore these joint issues, so next time I had reception I called the medical office of the Peace Corps. I will have to go to Dakar now to have an MRI done.

Even with this news it was still a great trip. I’m sad to be leaving my village again but hope that this MRI will have some answers and will hopefully explain the odd bump beneath my left ankle.

Am still waiting to hear when I have to leave for the MRI. Wish me luck.

2 Amazing Women and a Funny Kid

Babedine always has snot/dirt all over his face. His yelling and screaming is heard constantly but he's a great kid who just loves attention.

Tomme, my little sister. She's hilarious, always doing everything with plenty of gusto. Tomme for president two-thousand....who knows in Senegal. That in the background is her brother Ahmed doing his business, thankfully it's blurry.

This is one of my mothers, Fanta. She's the woman I've started consulting with. She's a wonderful woman who I've had some great conversations with and on top of it all she makes the best tea.

Few more pics

With fellow volunteers Megan, Kristaa, Lisa, Christine, and Devon

The nicest bridge in all of San Louis. You have 2 choices the sides which could break at any time or a rusty middle beam.

Barely Surviving in Djudge

The back tire went completely flat in the middle of nowhere

We almost didn't make it...Water!

A python. I got too close and scared him away

A small croc

The Birds!

Krystaa my guide

Pelicans fighting for a fish

In the Irrigated Green Havens of Ronkh

Anyone who thinks farming is easy needs to try this man's job.

Back in Ronkh Photos

I was asked if I look the same -20 or more pounds and I think so for the most part.

This is our mosque

Photos of Tabaski

The Morning Prayer

Marlboro advertisements in the middle of nowere.

Trimming the Sheep

Logos seem to be big everywhere authentic or not

Another Night in Ronkh

Had another good night. For dinner I ate sheep stomach and sheep head. As odd as it sounds I tried to avoid the stomach more as I don’t like the taste and instead ate more of the face including a whole eyeball, (for anyone who is concerned about their eyeballs popping out let me assure you that your eyes will probably stay in your head…it took us a few minutes to get these suckers out with spoons and a knife.) I think the only things I haven’t eaten of a sheep at this point are the heart, lungs and tail.

Then I had a very interesting consultation with my counterpart about the microfinance institution. His wife and I spoke with him about a possible loan for her future restaurant and I ended up learning a lot about the microfinance institution and it was very interesting and stimulating. The insitution has such low interest rates that Im amazed that in can function. I also for the first time was really able to sit down and communicate on a descent level with my counterpart. Before he couldn’t understand my Wolof and his word choice often was beyond my limited vocabulary. I like him more and more and find him to be hardworking and dedicated.

Things are going better than ever but I am concerned about my joints. The physical therapy in Dakar was good and the time off of my feet in Dakar was great but I feel like since being back things have once again regressed to their problematic state. I am hoping that things improve soon but things could look better. If staying here is going to cause me joint problems then I need to do what’s good for my health but each day it gets harder and harder to think about leaving because of my growing connection to the people here. I’m going to continue my stretches and exercises and hope that things improve, wish me luck.

First Consultation

Today hasn’t been great from my joints but thankfully I had a good morning. Yesterday I told my café touba lady that I had café touba in Dakar and that her café touba was better. I was thrilled when I heard her bragging about it this morning. She was telling a group of her lady friends that I had café touba in Dakar and that hers was better. Those are the little things that make your day and that make me want to ignore my joint issues completely. (And by the way it’s true, hers is way better.)

I’m also proud to say that I’ve had my first business consultation. We’re not supposed to officially start work for another month and a half but my host mother asked if I would talk with her about starting a restaurant and I couldn’t refuse so it just started. She has a good idea and is a very intelligent and capable woman so I am optimistic about it possibly bearing fruit.

She wants to provide lunch to the teachers who are generally from areas outside of Ronkh. I have only met one female teacher which works to her advantage since the vast majority of the men here won’t cook. Cooking, cleaning clothes and washing are things that women are supposed to do. This person was saying that before his wife his girlfriend washed his clothes and if he didn’t have a girlfriend he made his little sisters do it. So Rashawn if we were born in Senegal you would be washing my clothes J.

Since most men won’t cook for themselves she hopes to cook lunch for them everyday. She tried this in 2005 and only had two clients so I’m trying to work with her to see how she could attract more clients. She will need to take out a loan to buy bowls and utensils (men in Ronkh are moving more towards using spoons though it’s still a personal preference.) I think that she may also be able to save the money I give her to wash my clothes so that in a fairly short period of time she can purchase what she needs. (This is exactly why I don’t wash my own clothes. It’s an opportunity to provide someone with another source of income.)

Anyways I’m really enjoying working with her and it’s exciting to start doing some work here.

Into the Fields

Today was a great day. I wanted to go visit the fields again. I try to do it once or twice a week to see more of Ronkh and to meet more of the community. The majority of people here are rice farmers and so I think it’s important that I visit them where they spend a lot of their time. I also like doing it. Ronkh itself is a very dry windblown kind of place so it’s nice to get out to see some green.

Getting out there proved especially difficult today because of the wind. Minus all of the sand that flew into my eyes and throat it was tons of fun riding out there. Riding into a sandstorm is exhilarating and then you’re in it and you’re struggling along with changing wind directions while you negotiate your way along with squinted eyes. It was great.

The fields were especially full of people. In the area where I was quite a few farmers had planted onions and were hard at work. The farmers were all very welcoming and seemed to take pride in showing me their fields and talking about what they had planted.

As often happens in my visits I end up in a straw structure eating melon with a few farmers. They are always very generous with their melons and often will give me some to bring back with me, (sometimes a mixed blessing since I have to pedal back through sand with a backpack stuffed full of melons. It’s a great workout.)

The rough part was on the way back when I realized that I had two flat tires and it was a long walk. My ankles were not very happy about that which isn’t a good sign. L.

Please send good wishes to my ankles. I’m really hoping that they improve.

Finally Back in Ronkh

Back in my office, it’s so good to be back!

I am sitting here pleasantly amused. The expression on the face of my boss is priceless. A farmer wearing a Moroccan hooded cloak has just come in to talk about his loan and my boss has the best smirk painted across his face. It says, “Oh no I’m going to have to explain this again.” I’ve come to respect this man more and more. He may sometimes spend a lot of time lounging on the mat, but everyone does here so I can’t hold that against him. He reminds me of a lion, proud and reserved but always ready to pounce.

I’m finally back in Ronkh and it feels great! Ronkh hasn’t changed much. It still is way out here. It still looks like it fell from the sky in the middle of a desert. But it feels like home and I’ve been looking forward to seeing these people for quite a while now.

A few things have changed. Papa, (cutest child on the planet,) now can say more than Papa. The wind has gotten worse here, which means that sand is flying all over the place. When I returned to my room a nice sand layer coated the floor. Even my bathroom which has 2 small and very high windows had sand everywhere. Thankfully Megan’s host brother in Ross Besio, who is incredibly helpful, gave me his head wrap. I am now sporting a black wrap, which I wrap around my head to protect my face from the sand. Whoever invented these wraps was genius, they work great. It’s nice to make it to work without a lot of sand in my throat.

It’s nice to see everyone here. I’ve been away for just over 2 weeks, which was much too long. I had to come to Dakar to meet with the Peace Corps doctors about my foot. Had different reviews on it from both PC doctors and received different advice from the Peace Corps doctor as I did from a wonderful couple that I know from Bahai pilgrimage in Haifa, who happen to live here in Dakar. Regardless I had 3 sessions of physical therapy and now have a platform with a ball in the middle of it so I can exercise my ankles. I really hope that this will do the trip. I had 3 months of physical therapy in the US before coming here though so don’t think that 3 sessions will be a silver bullet but am optimistic and hope that those sessions and the rest I had in Dakar prepared my ankles.

It seems like most people had a good Tabaski. My stomach was not doing too hot around the time when Tabaski rolled around. I would have had to have been in a car for 8 hours to get from Dakar to Rosso, a town where there may have been a car going to my village, or there may not have been. In all likelihood the trip would take a bit longer with stops so 10 hours maybe be more likely. This would be fine if…by necessity, I didn’t need to be near a toilet. So I couldn’t make it back to my village but I still had a very nice Tabaski, and thankfully after 2 weeks of not being able to really absorb anything my stomach is back in action! I now have lost over 20 pounds since I’ve been here. Hopefully now that I can take in food I will gain some of it back.

Tabaski is a pretty big deal here. People spent so much money on Tabaski, literally sometimes a third of their yearly income. Everyone buys new clothes and all of the men are supposed to have a sheep to kill. They all work together, holding it down and then slitting its throat. I watched this with mixed feelings. It was obviously horrible to see an animal killed but then I think that it’s really not and that’s just my American cultural perspective rearing its head. We are so detached from death in our everyday lives that it’s almost always a tragic thing, whereas here people die more often and animals are killed by adults and even children, who turn out fine. How many American children can say that they’ve killed anything other than a bug? We also may not see the deaths but we pay for the deaths of many more animals. If anything I tried to remember that it’s more natural to actually kill the animal than to pay for it to be killed somewhere far away.

The sheep was killed and then hung from a tree by its neck. It was skinned and then taken apart in pieces until all that was left was its head which was then taken (I was told for a stew.) We then ate this sheep throughout the day. For lunch we ate various pieces of meat. The pile was topped with the sheep’s testicles which I didn’t think I’d ever try but I figured why not…it’s a very soft tender meat and isn’t half bad.

My Tabaski hosts were great, they made sure I was VERY comfortable and welcome. I was able to go to the Mosque in the morning to pray with all of the men. It struck me as more of a traditional experience than a religious one. Part of that is related to the conversations that went on during the prayer. We went through the motions and maybe we would be bowed down on the mat and some guy would turn and start talking to his neighbor. Considering the prayer was in a language that people don’t understand I can hardly blame people. Regardless of why people were there it was a beautiful event. Everyone wore elegant boo-boos and after the prayer shook hands and said that they all forgave each other, a nice way to start off a day.

Still here a bit longer

Hi everyone. I talked to a few people about calling me after New Years, but my plans may have changed so I may be in my village for New Years...which means I wont have reception. I will be in Dakar Thursday and will hopefully leave Friday morning.
Oh and theres some good news. For the first time in over a week...well lets just say I think Im absorbing some of my food. YESSSssss Small victories right?
I also want to mention whats coming down the pipeline. Senegal celebrates Tabaski which is centered around the story of Abraham. Basically people here slaughter TONS of goats and sheep, one for every man and son, and spend 3 days eating the animals and feasting. This is great because this is one of my favorite types of meat so Im really looking forward to it. Without refrigeration and in all likelyhood without clean food handling lets also hope that I dont end tabaski with another sick spell. Im also curious as to what Ill eat. Should be good.
I hope that everyone is doing well. If I dont have another chance to write HAPPY NEW YEAR