So lots of little things and big things happened this month. All in all, it was an exausting month, though I cant claim i was real productive or anything at any point.
A few weeks ago i had a wwoof volunteer come and stay at my house for nearly a week. She was working with the organic farmer who lives in Dakar but owns a compound on the coast near me and a large garden in my village. She worked everyday spreading good 'compost-esque' material over the relatively rather dry and nutrient deficient soil in his plot of garden space. It was interesting haveing a guest for that long though i ended up just talking and talking and talking to her about everything that was going on with me and that I was planning. Prolly not the most interesting stuff ever, but i find when i am around english speakers and given half an opportunity i will just babble on and on about anything.
A few days after that, and after some other Seereer related adventures, another young woman appears at my house, this time working with a micro-finance NGO. It was really interesting getting a new perspective on things, things going on in my very village that i didnt really totally understand. It is an interesting endeavor, making loans for various projects and hoping against hope for success. But then that wasnt half as interesting as the dinner we had her second and last night at my house, a big ole fold of cow skin, with peanut sauce over couscous. Not the best thing I have ever eaten. One of the strangest, if not the strangest thing i have ever actually eaten. It was like a giant skinned ankle and tasted less chewy but no better than sheep stomache.
The next week I felt like I was actually doing something. What that something was, not so clear, but I was at least around when things were being done, so that some one could easily mistake me for having a hand in what was going on. I did two days in Mbour helping jen with an urban agriculture training. Well, helping is a strong word, I took pictures, which will be up soon, and provided moral support to the nearly entirely wolof presentation. It was of course really interesting though. We (jen me and a next closest volunteer up the coast, Ankith,) gave instruction on how garden plants grow, what they need, how they grow best, what to plant, how to plant them and so on. We also showed how one can plant in a variety of containers given that in urban areas, space is usually on the premium and soil quality is at the minimum. We cut open tires to plant in a Jen's garden demonstrates other amazing containers, from rice sacks to bottles, buckets and tables. In the end, I am assigned to help out one of the new gardeners, a Seereer speaker that lives out near me, so I will be giving gardening advice and all that whenever she needs it.
Later that same week then I randomly was asked to help out i a mosquito net distribution in my area. It was really cool but i didnt really help anything in the slightest except provide some entertainment for the health workers and garner interest (cause just what is that toubab doing in our village, anyway?) with locals at each of the nearby health huts. Basically there were a huge number of mosquito nets given out for free, based on the number of children in the household. First, health workers went around, talked to people and gave out various doses of vitamin A for kids under 5, then they got coupons to come to the health hut to get thier bed nets. I went around with them talking to families and giving out the vitamin things in the slightly larger Louly, two Louly's over from me. For some reason I had no idea the dispansaire there was so nice and taken care of, doctors, med students, a nurse from spain, tiled floors and clean rooms, it was amazing. I also spent much more time on the supervising team, going from health hut to health hut in different villages, maybe seven or eight in all, checking on their progress, inventorying supplies, refilling and redistributing vitamin a pills and bed nets. It was amazing seeing something so well organized and for such good purpose going on in my very area, with my very neighbors. My village wasn't exactly part of it. First, because we have no health hut so we go to the one one Louly in the other direction. But also, most folks in my village (or as they say, everybody) has a mosquito net. NGOs like to come and throw them at school children and sprinkle them out for various events. And so my village was one of the sources of help and not part of the recieving population for the most part.
Also that week, I went out to a Seereer town east of me with jen. Seh had to give seeds out to this farmer that she knows there but somehow we keep missing and failing to give seeds to. We had a confusing time not getting where we wanted to go and eventually dropped them off with some nice guy, got free fantas, and my month of good work was at an end.
A few days after that, and after some other Seereer related adventures, another young woman appears at my house, this time working with a micro-finance NGO. It was really interesting getting a new perspective on things, things going on in my very village that i didnt really totally understand. It is an interesting endeavor, making loans for various projects and hoping against hope for success. But then that wasnt half as interesting as the dinner we had her second and last night at my house, a big ole fold of cow skin, with peanut sauce over couscous. Not the best thing I have ever eaten. One of the strangest, if not the strangest thing i have ever actually eaten. It was like a giant skinned ankle and tasted less chewy but no better than sheep stomache.
The next week I felt like I was actually doing something. What that something was, not so clear, but I was at least around when things were being done, so that some one could easily mistake me for having a hand in what was going on. I did two days in Mbour helping jen with an urban agriculture training. Well, helping is a strong word, I took pictures, which will be up soon, and provided moral support to the nearly entirely wolof presentation. It was of course really interesting though. We (jen me and a next closest volunteer up the coast, Ankith,) gave instruction on how garden plants grow, what they need, how they grow best, what to plant, how to plant them and so on. We also showed how one can plant in a variety of containers given that in urban areas, space is usually on the premium and soil quality is at the minimum. We cut open tires to plant in a Jen's garden demonstrates other amazing containers, from rice sacks to bottles, buckets and tables. In the end, I am assigned to help out one of the new gardeners, a Seereer speaker that lives out near me, so I will be giving gardening advice and all that whenever she needs it.
Later that same week then I randomly was asked to help out i a mosquito net distribution in my area. It was really cool but i didnt really help anything in the slightest except provide some entertainment for the health workers and garner interest (cause just what is that toubab doing in our village, anyway?) with locals at each of the nearby health huts. Basically there were a huge number of mosquito nets given out for free, based on the number of children in the household. First, health workers went around, talked to people and gave out various doses of vitamin A for kids under 5, then they got coupons to come to the health hut to get thier bed nets. I went around with them talking to families and giving out the vitamin things in the slightly larger Louly, two Louly's over from me. For some reason I had no idea the dispansaire there was so nice and taken care of, doctors, med students, a nurse from spain, tiled floors and clean rooms, it was amazing. I also spent much more time on the supervising team, going from health hut to health hut in different villages, maybe seven or eight in all, checking on their progress, inventorying supplies, refilling and redistributing vitamin a pills and bed nets. It was amazing seeing something so well organized and for such good purpose going on in my very area, with my very neighbors. My village wasn't exactly part of it. First, because we have no health hut so we go to the one one Louly in the other direction. But also, most folks in my village (or as they say, everybody) has a mosquito net. NGOs like to come and throw them at school children and sprinkle them out for various events. And so my village was one of the sources of help and not part of the recieving population for the most part.
Also that week, I went out to a Seereer town east of me with jen. Seh had to give seeds out to this farmer that she knows there but somehow we keep missing and failing to give seeds to. We had a confusing time not getting where we wanted to go and eventually dropped them off with some nice guy, got free fantas, and my month of good work was at an end.
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