The title of this blog means "May God give us another car!" in Wolof. In case you hadn't guessed, this entry is about the Senegalese trasportation system, which I have mentioned randomly in previous postings. Transportation here in Senegal and in many parts of Africa is infamously unreliable and crazy, although until Wednesday I had been having pretty good luck with it all. I live in between the two largest cities in Senegal and so my transportation situation is nothing to complain about, at least not for me. At first, the system took a little while to figure out; where to go, what to pay, how to ask for things, schedules, etc. However, a year in I've got it (almost) figured out. Or so I thought.
Having just passed the year mark, the group of volunteers that I arrived in Senegal with decided to throw ourselves a reunion party where we would come from all over Senegal to Kolda, located in the south of the country. I was really looking forward to the opportunity to see a new part of Senegal and to get to travel through the Gambia, which is necessary as the Gambia intersects the middle of Senegal (well planned, Brits). I met up with some other volunteers in Kaolack, a three hour trip from my site, so that we could all travel together. We had heard it would take us around 8 hours to get to Kolda from there so we were at the garage by 8 ready to rent a car and leave.
When we pulled out of the garage, we noticed that the exhaust from the car wasn't going out the back but into the car which made it kinda hard to breathe. This is not an uncommon occurance here in Senegal and we thought about asking for another car, but decided that even if we did we couldn't guarantee the new car would be any better so we decided just to stick it out. After all, by now we were all seasoned 14 month in volunteers and could handle anything, right?
The first two hours passed quickly and at the Gambian border the driver stopped at a mechanics shop to get the car repaired. This was a typical Senegalese mechanic shop and so all the work was done outside while we all sat on a bench in the shade. We had been there about half an hour when our driver told us he would be back in 2 minutes and took off. With all our stuff in the car. We didn't think much about this at first, but were getting kind of nervous after an hour. He finally showed back up and we were off again.
Passing through the Gambia was easy enough and we got to take a ferry across the Gambia River. After getting off the ferry we made it all of 20 Km before our car broke down. The road is an absolute maze of potholes and while driving through them we had lost several lugnuts on one of the tires and it was hanging on by one. So we plopped down in the shade again to wait for our driver to go to the next town over to get some parts. This of course happened during the hottest part of the day and we quickly ran out of water. Three girls went to find a village where we could ask for water. While we were gone a man drove a donkey-cart past with full bottles of water. Only problem was, we had sent all of our empty water bottles with the girls. He was nice enough to give us a few cups of water and the girls got back soon enough so that we could continue sitting in the shade. After three hours, our driver came back and changed the tire with a borrowed jack, as he didn't have one in the car of course. We managed to get out of there around 5:00, which was just in the nick of time as we had to make it to the border crossing before close since we didnt have an overnight visa to stay in the country and there are hyenas.
As soon as we reentered Senegal there was a loud pop in the back of the car and the exhaust pipe had fallen off and was dragging on the ground. Driver acknowledged that it happened but didnt stop to do anything for another hour or so when we stopped at a big intersection known as Carrefour (French for intersection). Our car was obviously not doing so hot, so we asked around for another car leaving to Kolda, but were told there weren't any more leaving until the morning.
While there a group of men came up to help with the car and as it was already dark asked if we had any flashlights. There is one on my cell phone and so I lent it out. After dinner, I came back to the car and asked where the man with my cell phone had gone and no one seemed to know who I was talking about. Awesome. I hadn't gotten his name, all I knew was that he was really short. Shorter than I am. The Senegalese men at the garage yelled at me about what an idiot I was to give my cellphone away, which I was PERFECTLY aware of at that point. I was so upset I started crying. Daniel had been calling my phone repeatedly and we finally got ahold of the guy who had it and asked him to come back. We had a Senegalese communicate that part of the message so there was no misunderstanding. Nobody can yell like a Wolof, after all.
When Lamine got there all the men at the garage who had been telling me what a ridiculous, stupid tourist I was suddenly switched teams and surrounded this poor little man like a lynch mob. Everyone started yelling and I thought they were going to beat him up. All I could do was stand there yelling that I wasn't angry, I forgave him and wanted to go to Kolda. The moral of the story is that it was really quite frightening, but eventually ended and we finally got to leave that Godforsaken intersection heading to Kolda, after spending 2 hours there. We finally found a driver who was driving home to Kolda and agreed to take us. We had already paid the price all the way to Kolda, but had to pay an additional fare on top of this one to get there. After the day we had had, none of us objected. We just threw our money at the driver and begged him t get us out of there.
Praise be to God we pulled into Kolda around midnight, 16 hours after leaving. It was such a long day and I have never been as glad to be anywhere as I was to pull into Kolda that night.
One positive thing is that having lived here for 14 months., I was really well equipped to handle these situations and could laugh about them and hang out on the side of the road for several hours knowing (well, somewhat hoping) that things would work out, which they did. If this had happened at this point last year, I would have completely freaked out. I am very proud of the ways in which I have grown over the past year.
10.31.2008
10.20.2008
Class, Class, Class
Back in Thiès where I have finished Microsoft Word lesson #2, and am currently waiting on Astou to finish work at her shop so we can go over her recordbooks that she kept while I was away. There are several pieces of information missing from her entries and I am also hoping to add the totals to see how much money she made during the month of Ramadan, or didn't make.
In Pout I continue work with Ousmane. We are still working on the grant application, which has proven to be rather lengthy, but once that is done I can turn it into Dakar for approval. Hopefully by November. Although Ousmane is a great work partner, the application process has been slowed down by his showing up late, leaving early, and constant smoking breaks. What can I say? I take what I can get. And he shows up at all, which is what makes him a great work partner.
I met with the principal of the middle school who informed me that both him and the high school principal have been replaced, so I have two new principals to work with. Shame, as I really liked these ones and they were so easy to work with!!! I am visiting the middle school again tomorrow to meet the new principal. Wish me luck.
I have also been helping out with training a bit with the new volunteers, as I mentioned last week, which has been a lot of fun. After the meeting with GIPS, I helped out with a talk on how to handle unwanted attention, and this week I am going in to talk about gender roles and SeneGAD (PC Senegal's gender and development program) as well as the women's health talk. Oh to be a woman in Africa :) I look forward to spending more time with the trainees. The more I get to know them, the better I like them, although it's still hard to think of them as replacing the volunteers that are currently leaving and who I adore. It will take some time to get used to. Until I leave.
A recent idea for a project has been to get english language books donated to my youth library. I have emailed several NGOs and family members in a search for information. I have found several that are willing to donate the books if I can get them to Africa from the states....which I can't, any help? Also if you would be interested in shipping any books over, bismillah and feel free to email me for more information! Those of you who know me know that literacy causes have a special place in my heart. Which means that so will you should you help me get some books over here for my kids to read.
In Pout I continue work with Ousmane. We are still working on the grant application, which has proven to be rather lengthy, but once that is done I can turn it into Dakar for approval. Hopefully by November. Although Ousmane is a great work partner, the application process has been slowed down by his showing up late, leaving early, and constant smoking breaks. What can I say? I take what I can get. And he shows up at all, which is what makes him a great work partner.
I met with the principal of the middle school who informed me that both him and the high school principal have been replaced, so I have two new principals to work with. Shame, as I really liked these ones and they were so easy to work with!!! I am visiting the middle school again tomorrow to meet the new principal. Wish me luck.
I have also been helping out with training a bit with the new volunteers, as I mentioned last week, which has been a lot of fun. After the meeting with GIPS, I helped out with a talk on how to handle unwanted attention, and this week I am going in to talk about gender roles and SeneGAD (PC Senegal's gender and development program) as well as the women's health talk. Oh to be a woman in Africa :) I look forward to spending more time with the trainees. The more I get to know them, the better I like them, although it's still hard to think of them as replacing the volunteers that are currently leaving and who I adore. It will take some time to get used to. Until I leave.
A recent idea for a project has been to get english language books donated to my youth library. I have emailed several NGOs and family members in a search for information. I have found several that are willing to donate the books if I can get them to Africa from the states....which I can't, any help? Also if you would be interested in shipping any books over, bismillah and feel free to email me for more information! Those of you who know me know that literacy causes have a special place in my heart. Which means that so will you should you help me get some books over here for my kids to read.
10.13.2008
Back in the Game
Now that the holidays are over, I can get back to work.
I have set up my computer classes in Thiès with GIPS and Astou on Mondays and Wednesdays until further notice and just finished my first lesson on Microsoft Word. I now have 5 students and we have planned out classes until the new year working on Microsoft Word, Excel and using the internet for business purposes. So far so good.
I am spending the day here at GIPS office waiting for the new group of business volunteers to show up for a presentation. My students will introduce their business and how they work with women's groups in the community and also talk about our computer lessons and (hopefully) how much they have helped over these last few months. I get to sit back and pretend to be important.
I have also been spending a fair amount of time at the mayor's office working with Ousmane on a grant application to receive funding for two weeks of business trainings with ASC, a youth organization in my community, in an attempt to encourge entrepreneurship. My supervisor has given us the go ahead and all looks promising, so my hopes are up really high. This is very dangerous, but I cant help but be excited about this potential project!!! More news on that to come.
I still need to meet with the principals of the local middle and high schools to discuss how I will be working with them over the course of the school year but, I will admit, I have been procrastinting.
In other non-work news: Ellie is in heat. Not fun. She has lost her outside privileges until she stops begging to be humped by anything. No kittens, please. I can't wait for this to end so that I can get a decent night's sleep again.
I have set up my computer classes in Thiès with GIPS and Astou on Mondays and Wednesdays until further notice and just finished my first lesson on Microsoft Word. I now have 5 students and we have planned out classes until the new year working on Microsoft Word, Excel and using the internet for business purposes. So far so good.
I am spending the day here at GIPS office waiting for the new group of business volunteers to show up for a presentation. My students will introduce their business and how they work with women's groups in the community and also talk about our computer lessons and (hopefully) how much they have helped over these last few months. I get to sit back and pretend to be important.
I have also been spending a fair amount of time at the mayor's office working with Ousmane on a grant application to receive funding for two weeks of business trainings with ASC, a youth organization in my community, in an attempt to encourge entrepreneurship. My supervisor has given us the go ahead and all looks promising, so my hopes are up really high. This is very dangerous, but I cant help but be excited about this potential project!!! More news on that to come.
I still need to meet with the principals of the local middle and high schools to discuss how I will be working with them over the course of the school year but, I will admit, I have been procrastinting.
In other non-work news: Ellie is in heat. Not fun. She has lost her outside privileges until she stops begging to be humped by anything. No kittens, please. I can't wait for this to end so that I can get a decent night's sleep again.
10.04.2008
Korité: Take 2
So after my second Ramadan in country was over (mind you I was in England for most of it) came my second Korité. It feels really good to have been in country long enough to start experiencing things for a second time.
This years Korité was almost exactly like last years with the exception that I knew what the heck was going on and actually had a little bit of fun this year. In case you missed last years post, here is a typical Seengalese Korité:
8:00am Wake up. Men get dressed up and go to lengthy religious ceremony at the local mosque, women begin preparing the meals. Sexist, yes, but them's the rules here in Senegal. I helped my host mom peel and cut up vegetables, pound the spices together and cut up the meat before being asked to leave the kitchen (way better than last year!!!)
2:00pm Lunch. Food is alwas amazing on holidays. My family ate lamb (which is already a special occasion as we never eat anything but fish) with a sauce made of peas and onions. It was DELICIOUS. Host mom also gave me more credit. Also, I told my host mom I was full in Pulaar, which is her native language, and she was thrilled.
8:00pm Over to Fatou's house for dinner of chicken with an onion sauce. I helped her pick out the chickens and she let me carry them home the day before. I had named them Ane and Reer, which means lunch and dinner in Wolof, and thus felt a special bond with them. Felt wrong to eat them a little, as we had been friends, but can't pass up protein.
After dinner: Dress up in your best clothes and make the rounds. You spend the entire evening walking from house to house asking people to forgive you your sins and then blessing the year to come. Its the same script every time, but having a white person say it is always fun. Especially when she is in a boubou with her hair all braided.
Made the rounds until midnight, by which point both my camera and I had both overheated and called it a night.
This years Korité was almost exactly like last years with the exception that I knew what the heck was going on and actually had a little bit of fun this year. In case you missed last years post, here is a typical Seengalese Korité:
8:00am Wake up. Men get dressed up and go to lengthy religious ceremony at the local mosque, women begin preparing the meals. Sexist, yes, but them's the rules here in Senegal. I helped my host mom peel and cut up vegetables, pound the spices together and cut up the meat before being asked to leave the kitchen (way better than last year!!!)
2:00pm Lunch. Food is alwas amazing on holidays. My family ate lamb (which is already a special occasion as we never eat anything but fish) with a sauce made of peas and onions. It was DELICIOUS. Host mom also gave me more credit. Also, I told my host mom I was full in Pulaar, which is her native language, and she was thrilled.
8:00pm Over to Fatou's house for dinner of chicken with an onion sauce. I helped her pick out the chickens and she let me carry them home the day before. I had named them Ane and Reer, which means lunch and dinner in Wolof, and thus felt a special bond with them. Felt wrong to eat them a little, as we had been friends, but can't pass up protein.
After dinner: Dress up in your best clothes and make the rounds. You spend the entire evening walking from house to house asking people to forgive you your sins and then blessing the year to come. Its the same script every time, but having a white person say it is always fun. Especially when she is in a boubou with her hair all braided.
Made the rounds until midnight, by which point both my camera and I had both overheated and called it a night.
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