A lot of the news surrounding West Africa in the recent year has revolved around Ebola. News sources around the world have been rampantly theoreticizing what would happen if the virus were to reach the outer world. Recently more serious journalists have begun discussing the West African communities actually in the midst of an outbreak.

The most recent outbreak of Ebola is thought to have begun in the southern region of Guinea. Poverty is rampant in the area and many eat “bush meat”; this includes animals such as monkeys and bats, both of which can spread Ebola. The virus spreads through contact with bodily fluid (blood, sweat, saliva, tears etc), and is easily killed by contact with sunlight or soap.  In many of these communities, however, hand-washing, especially with soap, is not common.

 What began as an isolated case in an isolated village in December 2013 has blown up. With (insert number) of deaths as of December 10, 2014, the disease continues to plague Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, and worry the global community, despite assurances from public health officials that an outbreak is unlikely if not impossible in Western states (America included).

I was asked to write this post because I live in West Africa. Fortunately this is all information that I have read or researched. Senegal had one case of Ebola in September 2014, a university student from Guinea.  He has since recovered and been sent home.  This was actually pretty embarrassing for Senegal, as he had been to multiple health clinics and been diagnosed with malaria before the diseased progressed enough for health workers to test him for Ebola.  Since August, health clinics have ramped up their structures.  For example, my closest health post has a quarantine tent, a protective suit, and proper medication is available 15 km away in Kolda.

Handwashing Station in Nigeria.

But how has Ebola affected Senegalese life? Radio has been a big component in educating the masses on how to prevent Ebola.  Community health workers have been conducting home visits to make sure people understand prevention and outbreak signs. Hospitals and public buildings have “wash stands,” sometimes with soap and water, sometimes with bleach water.  But everyday life has not been effected much. Schools and businesses are still open. Everything is still business as usual, with an unconscious awareness of the danger immediately south of the border.

CDC Ebola Fact Sheet

Economist- Graphs on Ebola

Goree Island and the Slave Trade

Goree is a small island 3km off of the Cape Vert Peninsula and now part of the city of Dakar. Goree was principally a trading post, trading beeswax, hides, grains, and most notably, slaves.

The shipping of slaves from Goree began in 1536 when the Portuguese launched the slave trade and the French continued it when they gained control in 1688 until it was halted in 1848.  On the island there is a small fort known as "Maison des esclaves" (Slave House).  This served as a slave warehouse through which Africans passed on their way to the Americas.

 During the Transatlantic slave trade millions passed through the island and other similar trading posts to work in the plantations of the New World, including those in the United States and the Caribbean.

President Obama visits Goree in 2013.

The island's small size made it easy for merchants to control their captives.  The surrounding waters are so deep that many attempt at escaping would mean sure drowning, especially considering the fact that most captured Africans wore a 5 kg metal ball permanently attached to their feet or necks.

The Door of No Return

The island's remained continuously French until 1960, when Senegal was granted independence. In 1978, Gorée Island was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is now a popular destination for tourists and school groups looking to learn more about the history of the slave trade in West Africa.

Above excerpts courtesy of:
the official!Peace!Corps!Senegal!website,!www.pcsenegal.org,!February!2009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senegal#Ethnicity,!February!2009
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3054442.stm,!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goree_Island,!February!2009

Conversational Pulaar

I've got less than a year left and I've realized I've never fully discussed my local language.  So here it is! The low down on Pulaar.

The language we speak down south is broadly know as "Pulaar" but can be broken into several different types, and in Senegal we have Fulakunda and Pullofuta.  They're only slightly different, and for the native speaker only slightly different; it's like an American speaking to a Brit or an Australian, slightly different yet they can mostly understand each other.

I learned Fulakunda during training, as the majority of Pulaars in Kolda are Fulakundas.  What a lovely surprise it was to find out that my immediate village would not be Fulakunda, but a mixture of Pullofutas, Bambarans, and Mandes.  The good news is that everyone speaks Pulaar, the bad news for 2013 Kim was that it was Pullofuta Pulaar.  It was a bit of an adjustment at first, but that's exactly what those first couple months were for, and once my village realized that I knew more Fulakunda words than Pullofuta words, they'd either switch to Fulakunda when speaking to me or yell the Pullofuta word at me until my brain remembered it.  Both techniques worked.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, greetings are especially important in all Senegalese cultures.  The first thing you do when you see a person is greet them, and exchange that can last for 2-100 back and forths.  Some Westerners find this annoying, but I find it wonderful.  What an easy way to make people happy!  And the best part is you can repeat the same greeting and even throw in some"Ca va?" and you're golden.

Here is a typical morning exchange with a neighbor:
Me: Walle-jam! (Good morning, or literally, sleep in peace)
Them: Jam toon! Tana finani? (Peace only! Good morning, or literally, you woke up?)
Me: Jam toon! Hono bimbi o? (Peace only! How's your morning?)
Them: Jam toon! Hono bandu ma? (Peace only! How's your body?)
Me: Jam toon! (Peace only)

Now this conversation can go a lot of different ways.  My favorite way it can go is just pointing out the obvious.  Senegalese people love to point out this obvious.  This is another cultural quirk that some people find annoying and I really love.  Again, less work for me during a conversation.  I can be doing anything, reading, pulling water, sitting, etc, and someone will inevitably ask.  "Oh, you're reading?" "Yes, I'm reading."  "Oh, you're eating?" "Yes, I'm eating."  "Oh, you're pulling water?"  "No, I carry full buckets of water around on my head for exercise." "Oh Aissatou, you're so funny!"

I know.

Islam in Senegal and Ramadan

In an overly simplistic summary, 95% of the Senegalese population became Muslim over hundreds of years of cultural exchange with the North Africans.  Over the years Islam developed from a religion of merchants, to a religion of the upper class, to the religion of the masses. Muslims resisted conversion to Christianity and even used Islam as a rallying point against colonization.

As mentioned before, the majority of Senegalese are Muslims, but that does not mean they are all the same type of Muslims.  Just as Christians are broken into Catholics and Lutherans, Episcopalians and Presbyterians, the Muslims of Senegal have options between sects, or brotherhoods.  These are distinct branches of Sufi Islam, which is based in mysticism and different from the Sunni and Shi'ite branches that are more prevalent in the Middle East.

One of the two largest of the brotherhoods are the Tidians (Ti-jaan).  This brotherhood was founded by an Algerian in the 18th century and is considered an Islam for the poor, as it was founded in rebuttal to more conservative brotherhoods.  It is now the largest Sufi brotherhood in West Africa, and in Senegal is especially popular among the Wolof ethnic group.  My village is also primarily Tidian, although it does not come up in conversation a lot. Today the Tidians put a great emphasis on Koranic learning and have even established schools for girls.

The other major brotherhood is the Mourides.  While the Tidians are popular throughout West Africa, the Mourides contain their following in Senegal and the Gambia.  Their religious city is Touba, where the founder of the Mourides was born; every year Mourides make a pilgrimage to Touba on their holy day.  They make up approximately 1/6 of Senegalese population.

The smallest brotherhood is the Qadiriyya.  It was brought in from North Africa by missionaries, and it is a more fundamentalist group that either the Tidians or the Mourides.

Islam is a central part to life in Senegal.  Each brotherhood has a leader, and you can see their faces hanging everywhere.  People love to show their support for their brotherhood.  They have tapestries they hang int heir houses, in their cars, buses can have decals on the windows.  These men wield a lot of power.  They can be politically influential if they so choose, and that means that political groups hoping to win will intentionally cater to brotherhood leaders.  The leaders can reach their followers mostly through the radio, but also television and newspapers.

What you all really want to know about though, is the holidays, am I right? I'm writing this in the middle between Senegal's two biggest holidays: Ramadan and Tabaski.  During Ramadan Muslims will fast from sunrise to sunset, and break the fast lavishly.  This means no food or water.  People will often wake up just before dawn to eat last nights leftovers in preparation for the day, and then depending on the time of year either go to the fields to work while they still have energy or go back to bed.  Work does not stop; women still have to do laundry, prepare a meal for the children if funds permit, and see to the compound.  Men still have to go to the fields and tend the animals.  If someone has a conventional job in the government, with NGO, or in a hospital, they still must go. 

To break the fast in my village we would drink instant coffee and powdered milk with a small chunk of bread.  Some families would also eat mogni (moe-knee), a millet based soup that tastes excellent with copious amounts of sugar.  People then take a break while the women cook dinner.  During Ramadan families try to have one lavish dinner each night, spending extra money on fish or meat and vegetables.  

Children, the sick, the elderly, and pregnant or nursing women are not obliged to fast as the others are, but they often still do, with negative effects on their health.  In my village the children would eat one mid morning meal of white rice with a bullion cube crushed up, and their parents would try to buy them snacks during the day.  Last year Ramadan was during mango season and those who weren't fasting snacked on mangoes all day.

Ramadan lasts for a month and then there's a big party! This party is called Tabaski.  Everyone will get all dressed up, cook an extravagant amount of food, and go see all of their friends and family.  This year my host family killed a goat and we had loads of meat!  I'll leave you with some pictures:

My host sister Ramatoulaye and host brother Yaya

The neighborhood kids doing some greetings

My host mom Oumou and me in our finest

My neighbor Sira posing for the camera

Some Political History

The country of Senegal did not have the modern borders until after 1963, when it reached independence.  Before the mid 1900's, the lands that would come to be known as Senegal went through several different waves of rule, and was often not actually under anyone's power.

French Colonial Possessions

The Mali Empire, which was based out of what is now Mali, held control for a time until European colonialists arrived in the mid 13th century. Over the years Portugal, Holland, Britain, and France all had colonial dealing in Senegal, but serious colonization by France didn't begin until the mid 1700's, when they reached farther into the interior searching for slaves, ivory, and Arabic gum, and they unsuccessfully encouraged the growth of cotton and cocoa.

Leopold Senghor

During the toil in Europe of the 18th century (revolutions, the Seven Years War, Napoleon, etc) all colonies of both Britain and France, including Senegal, became pawns in a larger game, and Senegal was lost for a while to the English, who had already retained control of what is now the Gambia.  In 1895 Senegal officially became a French colony.  France invited all of her colonies to join the French Union, offering citizenship to all those living in their colonies.

Around this time emerged and important figure: Leopold Senghor.  He initially ran the government on the interior of the country and eventually formed the Senegalese Democratic Bloc (or Socialist Party, SP), which we will hear more about soon.

Abdoulaye Wade

In 1958 France gave independence to their African colonies, with the West African colonies becoming the Mali Federation.. The western part of the federation withdrew in 1960, establishing two separate countries: Senegal in the west and Mali in the East.  Senghor became the president of Senegal and Mamadou Dia became the prime minister.  Dia staged an unsuccessful coup in 1962, ultimately leading to stronger presidential powers in the new constitution written in 1963.

Macky Sall

In 1981 Senegal and the Gambia attempted to join forces, each maintaining their political independence but consolidating their economies, defenses, and foreign relations.  It did not work and dissolved in 1989.

From independence until 2000, when Abdoulaye Wade won the presidential election in a run off, the SP ran Senegal.  In Jan., 2001, a new constitution was adopted, establishing a unicameral parliament and reducing the president's term to five years.  Despite Wade's strong start, some of his actions over his second term were seen as corrupt.  He tried to create a vice president in the government, presumably for his son, his second election was labeled as fraud by his opponents, and tried to run for a third term, despite precedent.  He ultimately lost in 2012 to Macky Sall, who achieved a landslide victory.  What is so amazing about this election is that Wade actually stepped down.  Generally Africa is no stranger to coups and politicians ignoring election results or just outright changing them; although Wade continues to be politically active and his son as political aspirations, he has made no overt attempts to take over Senegal.





SOURCES:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sg.html

Senegal: History | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/world/senegal-country-africa-history.html#ixzz3D2fm6xZ2

Sare Koutayel School Garden Project

     The garden was constructed and planted by early February.  Teachers, kids and community members alike are excited.  I can't tell you how many times a day I'm asked how my garden is and how the plants are doing.  "Jam tan," I tell them, "but it's YOUR garden!"

    My villagers also like tell me when things aren't going well!  Full disclosure, I've been insanely busy these past couple of months, and only made it out to the garden a couple of times a week to check and see that everything wasn't dead.  I'm also not a gardening expert, and while I've had some training and own a manual, there's a lot you can't learn from a book.  So my neene told me the lettuce didn't look good, and sure enough, the sun was burning it all; I talked to the teachers in charge, Monsieur Kande, and we're getting some shade.  Organization also needed to be readdressed- the kids are the ones taking care of the garden, but a lot of them don't know what they they don't always know what they're doing.

     To remedy this, I brought in Sustainable Agriculture PCV Brad Berry, to the the kids a better idea of how to take care of a garden.With the help of Monsieur Kande, we used a question and answer format to discuss how to properly water beds, mulch, space plants, and maintain plant nurseries.  For practice, we thinned the carrot nursery.  Next time, inshallah, we're going to transplant the onion nursery and learn how to properly prepare a bed with all of the amendments.

     I love this project because it covers several different areas.  Aside from the physical benefits (VEGETABLES) and giving the children a project of their own (instead of making them do all of the work and reap none of the benefits), several volunteers and I are going to be doing regular classes on nutrition, gardening, and trees.  I think it's really powerful when a bunch of adults give children this much attention, especially here.  School is a lot of memorization, and these activities can give kids a reason to get excited to love school!

Brad and me with our training group

A Peace Corps Volunteer's Job Description

So what exactly do I do over here in my tiny African village?  There are several different types of volunteers: agriculture, small enterprise, teaching, and health.  I am a health volunteer, so I work on health related activities in my community.

In Senegal health volunteers have three different sectors we work in: water and sanitation, malaria, and nutrition.  As secondary projects we can also work on health in pregnancy and youth and gender.

Water and Sanitation
In Senegal, especially in rural areas, there is little to no running water.  This mean no showers, no flushable toilets, and no sinks. Granted, cities tend to have these amenities more, but a village is lucky if they have a "robinet" or faucet.  In villages these are used primarily for drinking water, since they are harder to contaminate.  In my village we only have wells.  Women are responsible for pulling water for cooking, dishes, laundry, drinking, and every family members shower.  Some wells dry up seasonally, some are not safe to drink out of, and they can be far away from compounds.

Safe drinking water is a concern, as contaminated water can cause diarrhea.  Now, I know diarrhea is kind of a joke, but people, especially children, actually die from diarrhea every year.  (WHO says there were 1.7 billion cases of diarrhoeal cases last year, with 760,000 children under 5 dying in 2013 alone). These diseases can also be spread because people don't wash their hands, and those who do don't often use soap or another cleaning agent.  That means people don't wash their hands after going to the bathroom, dealing with animals, before cooking, before eating (most women eat with their hands), etc.

Volunteers help battle these problems, by building wells, well covers (to reduce contamination), and teaching people why we need to wash our hands and about the consequences of not having proper sanitation techniques.

Malaria
In 2012 there were approximately 207 billion cases of malaria, resulting in approximately 627,000 deaths.  The good news is that increased education, access to medicine, and promotion of insecticide treated bednets saved 3.3 million lives since 2000. (for more information see http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2013/world-malaria-report-20131211/en/).

Malaria is a huge issue in Africa, and has seen a lot of attention from governments and NGOs alike, and what's really cool for me as a PC Senegal volunteer is that Senegal is on the forefront of a lot of the work being done.  In association with USAID, the Senegalese government is in the second phase of a universal bednet distribution, which aims to get every single person in Senegal to sleep under a bed net every night, all year.  This would ultimately slow the spread of the disease, which is mostly spread at night.

Volunteers participate in government funded events (remember the net distribution), but mostly do a lot of teaching and myth busting.  We spread what treatments are available at the health posts, how much they cost, as well as how the disease is spread and how they can stop the spread of disease.  April is International Malaria month, so look for some future posts about what we're doing here in Kolda!

Nutrition
Access to a healthy variety of foods can be a challenge in Senegal.  Students are not taught the food pyramid or other nutrition facts, and what they learn is mostly from home.  Sugary foods, even more than most places, are favored.

Volunteers help bring gardens to communities, teach nutrition facts and good practices, and teach mothers how to properly feed and wean infants to ensure a healthy growth pattern.


So that's a summary of what health volunteers in Senegal do! I'll be posting some of my projects as well, and any further questions can be sent to my email!

Jam tan,
Kim

Chebu Jen and Tentalu

So what, you ask, do we eat over here in Senegal?  That depends, firstly, on location, and secondly on family income.

    Cheebu Jen is the national dish of Senegal.  It consists of primarily rice with fish, but if the family has the money (or a garden) also includes vegetables.  They can add spices or a seasoning packet to the rice for an extra kick, but it can also be plain white rice.  They'll obviously gut the fish and de-scale it (that's the technical term).  The more vegetables in the bowl the more "patron" the family is, and in the culture the higher up you are on the social hierarchy the less of those good foods you get to eat.  It's a pretty ageist society, with elders getting the most of everything.    Eggplant, carrots, potatoes, hot peppers, bitter peppers, okra and and sometimes even cooked mangoes end up in this wonderful dish.  Cheb is a great dish, but with all the fish and veggies a good bowl of cheb can be pretty patron.  People in the cities tend to eat more cheb than people in the villages, and it's the typical party food for weddings and baptisms.

Meat Cheb at a Baptism

    This time of year there is a lot of mafe gerte, at least down south where I live.  This might be connected to the fact that my fathers are peanut farmers.  I love plain mafe gerte.  They grind of the peanuts and make it into a peanut sauce similar to peanut butter and then water it down.  If they're feeling adventurous they might add dried fish, tomato, or tentulu.  There are other types of mafe as well, the next most popular being leaf sauce.  It's ok and can be eaten with rice or cous cous.  We usually eat this for dinner.  Something I did not really grasp in my first couple months at site was that there are all different kinds of leaf sauce!  The best is moringa, which in the developing world is something of a miracle plant- it's got crazy, amazing amounts of vitamins and micronutrients, so obviously I push everyone to eat this.  Sometimes, though, it's not available, and we can also eat leaves from peanut plants, cassava plants, baobab trees, and bissap plants. Crushed hot pepper on the side makes it even better.

     What is this tentalu I speak of?  It translates into palm oil.  Here comes my first conundrum as a health volunteer.  I hate tentalu.  I've tried it several times and think it is absolutely disgusting.  Unfortunately, it's actually pretty good for you.  Generally, Senegalese people LOVE tentalu. My host mother was crushed when I told her I did not like it, but has since not made it when I have been home.

     Nancatangis a new favorite.  It's rice mixed with spices, peanuts and sometimes bits of dried fish.  It's good on it's own but again improved by crushed hot pepper.

My host mom cooking

     If there's some extra money or a special occasion cow, goat, sheep or chicken can be added to the dish.  I've eaten goat stomach, and once you get past the texture, it ain't too shabby.

    Those are pretty much lunch and dinner dishes, but we sometimes eat leftovers for breakfast (without meat).  There are also two types of porridges.  Gosi is a rice porridge often had with crushed peanuts, while mogni is cous cous porridge and one of my favorite things in Senegal.  You can add powdered milk or yogurt to add taste or texture.

     There are also bread stands all over the place, and here you can get a sandwich of sorts.  They will have beans, peas, mayonnaise, and sometimes eggs, which can be hard boiled or made into an omelette.  Eggs are semi-expensive though.  This can be complemented by a nice cup of cafe Touba or Nescafe, loaded with condensed milk and sugar.  It's delicious.

Beneits Before and After

Snacks are great too! We can get beneits (essentially fried dough), untu (fish balls), fruits, and glace (frozen juice- this is more impressive when you remember not many people have electricity).

   While eating out, which I tend to do in Kolda since I'm so lazy, there are several wonderful items you can eat.  There are chicken plates, and plates of beef, and spring roll-esque food called nems that I devour, but the unquestionably best and most delicious is the Senegalese variation of the hamburger.  American hamburgers generally have a bun, meat patty, lettuce, tomato, onions, ketchup with French Fries on the side.  In Senegal it's a little different.  Here there's also mayo (surprise!), an egg, and French fries inside the burger.  Take my work for it, it's delicious.

Jam tan.

Net Distribution

Yay free stuff! Universal net distribution was recently in my village and I was lucky enough to be involved in the entire process! Net distribution is a government organized, USAID funded program with the ultimate goal of every person to have a net to sleep under, every night, all year long.  While there are flaws to this plan, it is not because of the project structure.  People just don't like to sleep under nets.  Some people find them too hot, others think the pesticide coating causes itching, and many people simply say they don't have enough money to buy them.  Net distribution addresses the last excuse.

The process for me began with a census.  I went with my counterpart and the other relais from my health area (Bignarabe) and went house to house, asking how many people lived in each compound and looking at each sleeping space.  Why not beds? you might be asking. Not everyone has a bed, and kids often sleep on a mat or mattress on the floor, and other people have areas set up outside.  These are all included in the census.  I hit 7 villages in 3 days and went to approximately 200 compounds.  This was just a fraction of the villages and compounds we were expected to cover, but other relais went to other villages.  Once we were done we brought our results back to the health post, who took them to the regional capital in order to actually request the nets.

Fun midway fact, I was the only female involved in the census.  I pointed this out to my counterpart, who has come to understand my sensitivity to gender differences, and he said it was because women can't ride bikes, and the whole census was done on bikes.  That's ridiculous! I ride a bike.  Then I asked Fatou, my female counterpart, and she confirmed it- none of the women could ride a bike, and the only one that could was a teenager and needed to go to school instead.  Thinking about it later it would have been hilarious to see these cheb mama women riding their bikes through bush-beaten tracks.  But I digress.

We had two days of distribution prep and a full day of actual distribution.  Prep involved unwrapping each net and writing the name of the head of household, town, area, year, and date.  We were provided with four pens, all of which ran out on the first day.  We poured water into them to get every last mark we could, and we able to borrow two pens from the Totstan teacher.  Things would have gone much quicker and a little less frustrating though if we were all able to have pens.

The day of was very simply people coming to my village and picking up their nets.  We tried to give a talk beforehand, but we hadn't told anyone this was a requirement and everyone thought they could just pick up their nets and go back to cooking or the fields.  The rest of the day went well though, and I got to see everyone from my village as well as meet people from the surrounding villages.

Bismillah e Fuuta (Welcome to the Fuuta)

     Hi all! For this post I had my PCV friend Anna from the north give some information about what it's like to live in the North, and she also gives a little information about living in a city!


     The Fuuta refers to the northern regions of Senegal, where I have been living

for the past 10 months. I am a Peace Corps health volunteer and my name is Anna

Adams, though my family here calls me by my given Senegalese name, Halimata Sow.

Specifically, the city I live in, Ourossogui, is in the northeastern region of Matam only

about 10 miles away from the Mali border.

     Although Senegal is roughly the size of the state of South Carolina, the northern

and southern regions of the country vary greatly. The most notable difference is the

climate. Whereas the southern region has a lush, moist and tropical climate, the north is

a dry desert landscape with temperatures that regularly exceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit

during the summer months. Multiple showers in a day are very important! There is

minimal vegetation due to the sandy soil and rain only occurs for one month out of the

entire year. Sand storms are also a frequent event throughout the spring and into the

month of June.

     My site is also different from the traditional Peace Corps site since I live in

a fairly large city with a population of around thirty thousand people. Unlike many

volunteers, I have electricity and running water from a spigot on a daily basis, though

usually not for the entire day, especially during the hot season. Due to the heat, water

shortages and power outages are common. The city is divided into 11 neighborhoods,

each with a chief de quartier that serves as a community leader. There are two main

national paved roads that run through the city and smaller unpaved sand roads throughout

the neighborhoods. Along the main road, many sellers set up stalls to sell fruits, sandals,

and other household goods. There is also a mayor’s office, daily market, and small one-

room stores that sell food products, hardware goods, and cleaning products. Even though

my city is large, there are no chain grocery or clothing stores. All produce and meats are

purchased at the daily market and for clothing, people usually buy meters of fabric to

be taken to a tailor. The city also offers recreational activities and every summer there

is a soccer league that takes place at the local stadium with teams representing all the

neighborhoods. My city also has five schools, eleven mosques, a youth center, hospital,

and radio station.

     The northern culture is a unique blend of Senegalese customs and Muslim

religious traditions, which is reflected in their daily lives. The kids in my family attend

Koranic School, where they study the holy book of Islam the Koran, to receive a religious

education in addition to elementary school. Both men and women are also more reserved

in their dress, for example, long pants and skirts past the knees are required despite the

heat. Shorts are only acceptable when exercising or participating in a sport activity.

But don’t let the harsher climate, sand storms, and more restrictive dress code

scare you. The Fouta is my home and I really do enjoy it here. My family and most

people in my region are ethnically pulaar and speak a dialect of pulaar that resembles

the language spoken in the south. Pulaars are fun, outgoing, and welcoming people that

above all believe in respect and “teddungal” (hospitality). A guest will always be invited

to stay for lunch and three cups of tea will be served after the meal as another sign of

hospitality.

      Traditionally pulaars are herders tending to cattle, sheep, or goats. Since I live

in a larger urban city there are many herder families, as well as those that own food

stalls, shops, or work as clothing tailors or mechanics. Even if a family does not work

as herders, they may still own several cows or sheep as a financial investment to be sold

later or eaten at a holiday celebration. The frequent presence of cattle also allows for milk

production and one of my favorite treats, kosam. Kosam is a sweetened milk drink served

cold or over ice similar to frozen yogurt or a milkshake. It is by far the best thing to get

you through a hot day in the Fuuta.

More Questions!

1. What are some of the laws and their penalties(if rules are broken)?
Senegal has identity cards, licensing laws, and checkpoints on the road where they can make sure citizens and visitors are following the rules.  The police are called "gendarmes," which is just French for police.  There are a lot of laws that are not easily implemented, especially out in the rural regions.  For example, people are not supposed to get married until 18, but many young women get married before that.  Stealing, and murdering and all of the normal crimes are punishable by jail time, but how much these laws are enforced is another issue entirely.

2. What type of government does Senegal have?
Senegal is a republic.  The president is elected every 5 years, with the current president, Macky Sall, being elected in 2012.  There is a bicameral parliament with a National Assembly (similar to the House of Representatives) and a Senate.  These representatives are responsible directly to the president. Local marabous, religious leaders in Islam, also  exert some control via brotherhoods.  It can be very easy for brotherhood leaders to tell their followers to vote a certain way, and political officials in the past have had trouble pandering to these religious leaders.

3. Do you always dress in clothes from Senegal? 
Day to day my wardrobe varies. I usually wear a Western style top with a Senegalese wrap skirt (pagne) or pants I've had made here, but I also have several Western skirts and dresses I can wear.  This is how Senegalese dress as well.  Most women wear a pagne and shirt everyday around the house, but some of the teenagers are starting to wear pants.  Older men wear Senegalese style clothing most of the time, but the younger men tend to wear Western style clothing (pants with a t-shirt, jeans if they're visiting people).  If there is a meeting, or you're going to work or going to greet the community people will wear their nicest clothing, which is considered to be a Senegalese style outfit.  These are called complaits.  Looking fresh and clean is a great way to gain respect.  If you never shower and don't take care of yourself or your clothes people will most likely look down on you.

4. Do you have any jobs there?
My job is being a Peace Corps Volunteer.  My sector is health, so I work on educating my community on the importance of living healthy lives.  I have worked with mothers to reduce child malnutrition, doctors to decrease malaria, and schools to increase knowledge on water and sanitation.  This means that I don't go to a 9-5 job Monday through Friday, but I am constantly having conversations to promote the three Peace Corps goals (see first post).  

5. What is Animism? 
Animism is a minority religion in Senegal, although it is also present throughout the world, that believes spirituality is located in nature.  

6. Do you ever travel outside of Senegal?
I have yet to travel outside of Senegal.  The surrounding West African countries (Mali, Mauritania  Guinea and Guinea-Bissau) are more on the unstable side and Peace Corps does not allow us to travel there.

7. How many family members do most people have in Senegal?
It obviously varies family to family, but families tend to be on the large side.  There are not really any nuclear families- all generations live and work together.  My family is on the small side with two brothers living together with their two wives and combined 5 children (their parents both died last winter).  Other families in the village have five brothers living with all of the wives and children as well as the parents and a sister.  Women will move out of the compound when they get married, but they can come back for visits or if their husband passes away. 

8. Where do they get their food, or how do they farm, what tools do they use?
9.What do you do for fun?  
I read a lot! When I'm tired of reading I just sit around and chat with people.  People also love listening to the radio here.  Sometimes it's the news, or a comedy routine, or just music.  In the cities people have TVs and have those on most of the time.  People love soap operas, especially the ones from India.  American movies are on TV, dubbed in French, as well.

9. How long do you stay there?
I arrived in March of this year (2013) and my service will be over in May of 2015.

10. Where do you get internet?
I come to my regional capital for internet.  Peace Corps has a house and I can go to restaurants as well.  

Questions!

Hello all! Thank you so much for your e-mails! Let me try and answer them all right here:

What is The weather like there? 
Right now it is very hot and humid.  We have seasons here too, they're just not the same as New England.  Around November it will get "cold"- around 60 degrees at night, but that's pretty cold when you don't have a comforter or a warm sheet.  Then we'll go into hot season, where it can be over one hundred degrees! Thankfully people don't have a lot of work then (most people are farmers), and we just rest for a couple months.  Then we come to rainy season.  Down south this means rain almost every day and up north in the desert it means maybe once or twice a week.  This is the planting and harvesting season and peope have lot's of work!

The Rice Field

What kind of animals Have you seen? 
Senegal is not known for it's wildlife.  Up north there are camels and down south there are monkeys and baboons.  Everywhere has lizards and salamanders and chameleons.   Mostly I just see chickens, donkeys, cows, goats, and sheep, none of which are penned up.

What part of Senegal do you live in?
I live in Kolda!  Down south where it's nice and humid and more green than anywhere else!



Do you have pets? 

My cat, Asamau

I personally have a cat, but Senegalese people don't have pets the way Americans have pets.  My compound has two dogs but they are encouraged to stay in the field and scare away any animals that come their way.  Animals are mostly used for livelihood- i.e. farming, eating, chickens laying eggs.  

Does everyone there speak French? 
More people here speak French than English.  School is taught in French, but not everyone goes to school or goes far enough to have a high level of comprehension.  Cities have a higher literacy rate than rural areas, and generally have better schools and more motivated teachers.  Often kids have to go into the city for high school, and if it's too far or their parents need them to help out at home they will have to drop out.  Generally, more boys than girls go to school and go to school longer.  A lot of people know a little French, but a lot of people here know a little of many languages. Everyone here constantly amazes me with their language skills!

What is the main method of transportation in Senegal. Do they mostly walk? Do they have trains? Buses?

There are all different kinds and it depends on where you live and how much money you have!  My preferred mode of transportation is my bicycle, but not everyone has a bike.  The women in my village mostly walk places to save money.  The men can usually borrow a bicycle from a friend or have someone give a ride on their motorcycle.  Charettes, donkey pulled wagons, are also an option for short distances.  In the city you can take a taxi or a moto taxi.  You can also take these into the bush but they can get expensive and dangerous depending on the quality of the road.  When traveling far distances we take a sept place (7 spots), which is like a station wagon, or you can take and "alham," which is like a hippie bus.  All of these cars are foreign models and rarely are they high quality.

We also want to know more about the culture of Senegal. Do they have festivals? Or holidays?

I could talk about this forever!  Senegal is a Muslim country, with approximately 95% of the population identifying with Islam and the remaining 5% divided between Christianity and Animism.  They follow the Muslim holiday calendar.  So far I have been here for Ramadan and Korite, and Tabaski is coming up soon.  Ramadan is a month of fasting.  Everyone wakes up before the sun comes up (around 5) to eat and drink water, and then they do not eat again until the sun sets (7:45 pm).  This does not include children or pregnant women.  Everyone still has to work.  It is a rotating calendar, so Ramadan moves up a couple weeks each year, and this year it was during one of the hottest and work-heavy times of the year.  At night we would break fast with bread and coffee, then eat mogni (a sort of soup), then around 9-9:30 we would eat dinner.  It was a lot of eating in a short amount of time.  Ramadan's end is celebrated with Korite, which is a big long party.  A holiday here means you wake up early and spend every moment around people.  You get a new outfit made at the tailor, the more extravagant the better, and sometimes give out small presents or change.  The village this year slaughtered a cow and we all ate meat, which is a real treat.  We also saw more vegetables than usual too.  People really go all out.  I'm expecting Tabaski to be similar, but since I'm not really sure I'll let you know in  couple of weeks!
"Denabos," or baptisms, are another huge event that happen fairly regularly.  When a baby is born the parents wait a week to give it a name.  They mark the name giving day with a huge party.  They shave the baby's head, slaughter an animal, and invite the whole village over to celebrate their new bundle of joy.  The mother will get a new outfit made and have her hair done, and people will bring her presents and chant her name and literally sing her praises.  All of her friends cook and there is food all day.  In the afternoon a DJ usually arrives and everyone dances until the sun goes down.

What do you eat there? Do you have a main kind of food? What do you drink?

We eats lot's of rice.  Most meals are rice based and sometimes it's cous cous based.  We eat communally.  The Pulaars (the ethnic group I live with) seperate the men from the women while eating; little children eat with their mothers but when the boys are around 4 they move over to their fathers' bowl.  Chebugen is the national dish.  This is fish, with an assortment of vegetables over rice.  We also eat a lot of "mafe" which is sauce; this can be made of peanuts or hibiscus or okra.  On special occasions we eat an animal, usually cow, goat, or sheep, and once in a while my family will kill a chicken.  Onions are in most dishes, but everything else is seasonal.  Our "treats" are also seasonal.  Right now were are in corn and cucumber season, so we have been snacking on roasted corn and a cucumber dish with oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and mustard.  We've also had a cashew season, mango season (my favorite), cashew apple season, and peanut season.
The healthiest thing to drink here is (obviously!) water.  Culturally, however, people LOVE to drink tea.  It's a hot tea they boil over a small stove.  They add sugar and pour it back and forth to make a foam.  They can cook the leaves three times and then it doesn't really have a taste anymore- the third one tastes like sugar water to me.  When people are resting or just hanging out or they have a guest  they'll cook tea.

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I eat with my family when I'm in village, and all meals are cooked by my host mothers.  I pull water from a well almost daily, and I use this for drinking (although I use a filter), doing laundry (by hand), dishes, and bathing.

What does the Peace Corps do and what is your job?  What do you want to do when you get back?
I am a preventative health volunteer, which means I teach people about how they can live healthier lives.  Peace Corps Senegal's main focuses are nutrition, malaria prevention, and healthier lifestyles, which includes promoting latrine use and handwashing.  My service is 27 months long, and I will be coming home for good in April of 2015.  I would like to go to law school or work for the foreign service when I return.

What is a normal day for you in Senegal?
Right now a normal day in Senegal begins around 7 when I wake up.  The family eats around 8 and then the men and women begin their work: men go to the fields, women clean, or do laundry or go work in the rice paddy.  I use this time to go to different houses and get to know my community.  We eat lunch around 1, and then the family and any guests will usually sit around and drink tea.  This is the hottest time of the day so it is also acceptable to lay down or take a nap.  Once it cools down a bit is the perfect time for an activity.  This is when people are most likely to have the time and energy, so we do our causeries in the late afternoon.  If there's no work to be done I continue to visit with my family or neighbors, tend my garden, or read a book.  Then I'll pull my water for bathing and drinking the next day (I put it through the filter at night), and right around when I'm done dinner is ready.  After dinner people usually like to made tea again, but I don't drink it at night because of the caffeine.  


What are the houses like? 
In village we live in huts. My hut is square and made of cement, but the others in my compound are circular and made of mud.  In cities people live in houses made of cement and also often have running water.

My compound

Senegal's Geography 101

  Senegal is technically considered a Sub-Saharan African country, but in reality the Saharan desert is creeping further and further in.  One of the greatest differences two volunteers can have is region: the north is desert, like neighboring countries Mali and Mauritania, whereas the south is vegetative, especially during the rainy season, like Guinea and Guinea-Bissau.

   Despite the disparity, Senegal is considered a tropical climate.  It varies between hot and humid in the dry season and hot and damp in the rainy season.  It is generally flat, although the south-east region of Kedougou has more mountains and rolling hills than the rest of the country.

Kedougou during the dry season.

    A fun fact about Senegal's geography is that there is another country completely submerged within our borders.  Whereas Senegal was claimed by the French during colonization, the British claimed the Gambian river and surrounding land.  The Gambia is now the smallest country on the African continent and it's total land mass is about the same as Jamaica.  Although Senegal and the Gambia are two separate countries, the main differences between them tie into their colonial roots (i.e. French is a major language is Senegal, whereas English is taught in the Gambia); aside from this the culture and topography of the Gambia are very similar to southern Senegal.

There are several different climates within Senegal, and therefore different issues in each area.  Agriculture volunteers  in the north are battling deforestation and desertification.  This means there are less trees, making it easier for the encroaching Sahara Desert to extend it's limbs.  You might be asking, How do you just lose trees and vegetation?  People fell the trees in order to build, overgrazing animals is a problem, and slash and burn farming is also prevalent.  The soil is also very poor in the north (topsoil is non-existent), making farming extremely difficult.

Senegal has a large delta region as well.  This area is plagued by water salinity issues.  To help alleviate this PCVs have been planting mangroves, which not only helps absorb some of the salt in the water but attracts mussels that can be used for nutrition and commerce.  The downside, however, is that mangroves take about 15 years to reach full maturity.

mangrove seeds at a reforestation project.

Mangroves in Toubacouta.

Southern Senegal is extremely luscious in the rainy season, and it does not take much for plants to grow from July to October.  During the dry season, however, the rivers dry up and it takes a lot of watering to keep plants alive.


A big question I get from friends and family at home with The Lion King on the brain is, What is the wildlife like?  Sorry to disappoint, but Senegal's wildlife is pretty sparse.  We have an abundance of lizards and salamanders throughout the country, with a spattering of monkeys and baboons in the south and seemingly unlimited camels in the north.  I've been told there are hippos in Kedougou, but no one I know has ever seen one.  They do live in the Gambian River.  Senegal is actually known as "a bird country," which means we have lot's of beautiful birds. At one point Senegal had just as an abundant of a wildlife population, but since then poaching and desertification have taken their toll.  There are several animal reserves throughout the country, including a safari in the north-west, and a lion reserve near the delta, but they are used more as tourist attractions than natural habitats.

I hope that's a good introduction to Senegal! Feel free to ask any questions at all.  You can ask through Mrs. Boeri Boyce or email me directly at kimberly.a.boland@gmail.com.

JAM TAN! (Peace Only),
Kim

Bismillah! (Welcome!)

Hello to all of you!  I am very excited to start the school year off talking about Senegal and some of the Peace Corps work in country!  My name is Kim and I'm currently a Preventative Health Volunteer in the Kolda region of Senegal.  I just had my six month anniversary a couple days ago and I will be here until April 2015.  I am originally from Troy, NY, and I joined the Peace Corps my first year out of college.

For those of you who are just hearing about the Peace Corps, let me explain our goals and work.  We were founded in 1961 by John F. Kennedy with three goals:

1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

Peace Corps Senegal has volunteers working in several different sectors: health, agroforestry, sustainable agriculture, urban agriculture, and community economic development.

Now let me give you some super fun facts about Senegal:
It is located in West Africa.
It is a former French colony that gained independence in 1960.
French, along with Wolof, is the national language.  Pulaar, Mendinka, Jola, and Serere are also minority languages spoken.  I speak Pulaar, which is concentrated in the south-east and north of the country.  Mendinka has small holdings in the south east and a large area in the south-west, and Wolof, which is the national language, is spoken everywhere else.  The rest of the minority languages are found in pockets around the country.
Many people are subsistence farmers, with the main crops being rice, peanuts, corn, and millet.
Remittances are also very popular and most families have at least a distant member sending some sort of cash home.