Leaving on a jet plane!

I will be returning to St. Louis, MO on the December 12th. I am very sad to leave considering all of the wonderful experiences I’ve had and especially considering the wonderful people I’ve met!

In particular, my host family, the Ndours

My work, the children and teachers at La Liane

My host club, Rotary Saint-Louis

and of course, friends I’ve made here!

My Rotarettes!!! (Yes, we are that nerdy)

Emily, the best coordinator, ever!

And how can I express missing a whole city, or a whole country in pictures? It’s actually impossible either in pictures or words. I’m just so thankful for my time here in this beautiful city, in this beautiful country and with these truly beautiful people. On my return home, I am looking forward to the opportunity to share what I’ve seen and done with many people, Rotary and non-Rotary. It’s a small gesture in return for the national hospitality that this country is famous for, and that I have sincerely felt my three months here.

Au revoir, Senegal! Or rather, A la Prochaine!!

On the Pont Faidherbe (Faidherbe Bridge) – built by Gustave Eiffel, it is a national landmark and the pride of Saint-Louis

And ‘salut’ to the US, Edwardsville and District 6460! We will be seeing each other very soon!

Meeting Simon Kafando

A couple weeks ago my host club, the Saint-Louis Rotary Club hosted the District Governor and Lieutenant Governor for our Rotary District 9100.  I’ll give a little explanation of what this means to non-Rotarians.

Within the organization of Rotary International, there are clubs, districts and zones. Rotary clubs are made up of individual members called Rotarians, and are led by a club president and officers. These clubs represent smaller geographic regions such as towns, but that doesn’t mean that there may only be one Rotary club per town (for instance, Dakar has five Rotary clubs). At the next level, the Rotary District is comprised of a number of clubs. They are also representative of a geographic region. For instance, my host district 6460 serves West-Central Illinois is comprised of 50 clubs in that area. The leader of these districts is a District Governor who represents the Rotary International board of directors within the district. Then there are zones which are made up of about 15 districts lead by zone directors who are also on the board of directors for Rotary International. These zones can have international boundaries.

So, basically for a club to host a district governor, is a pretty big deal! It was really cool to meet Mr. Kafando and listen to the achievements of my host club within the past year. He also explained some of the goals that he has for our club and our district in general. We hosted the governor at Dior’s hotel (she’s the president) on Tuesday, which is the normal meeting time for our club. The difference with this meeting, besides the different meeting place was also the timing and attendees. Usually our club meets from 7:00pm to 8:00pm, but this meeting lasted from 6:30 to 11:00pm!! We had our regular meeting from 7:00 to 8:00pm, in which everyone was introduced, including the Rotary scholars (there are five of us), and a group from a Belgian Rotary Club. These members had come to visit to see  how the work was progressing on the match grant project that had been started between the two clubs. This project consisted of buying farming equipment and financing school renovations for a small village just outside of Saint-Louis. The meeting continued with Governor Kafando speaking as well as President Djiane, after which the governor opened up a forum for questions, which I thought was a really cool idea. After the meeting was adjourned, we had a delicious dinner and just enjoyed each other’s company.

Here are some pictures from the event:

Rotary Scholars! Although…I’m not sure where Vanessa is!

President Djiane and Governor Kafando Exchanging banners

Exchanging gifts

For anyone who wants to learn more about District 9100:

http://www.rotary9100.org/search.php?lg=en

Tabaski-La fête du mouton

Tabaski!!

Eid-al-Adha (Arabic)

Tabaski, or in Arabic, Eid al-Adha means «Festival of Sacrifice .» Colloquially, it is known here as “La fête du mouton” or the Sheep’s Holiday. And I completely understand why…as I’ll go on to explain. A little background: For Muslims, this holiday commemorates the sacrifice that Abraham was willing to make when God asked him to sacrifice his first born. As it was explained to me, every working Muslim, over the age of 18, who has the means to buy a sheep to sacrifice, should. If one can’t afford a sheep, a goat is also acceptable, or a chicken. But the most important thing is the act of sacrifice and the spilling of blood.

**warning – I’m discussing a holiday where the objective is to sacrifice sheep, so I just want to warn anyone who might be squeamish, or not appreciate reading/seeing what that entails.**

Fête du mouton is not an understatement!

Today was crazy. I woke up and went downstairs in time to greet the men who had come back from the mosque. The women were finishing breakfast, and as soon as the men arrived, they changed out of their boubous and we just got to it..

The sheep were lead out one by one outside to the side of the house. There were holes dug out in the ground where the blood was drained as the sacrifice took place. I could only witness the first two, and then I had to go inside. I tried to be as objective as I could be, but despite myself I just couldn’t watch. Of course for everyone brought up on this tradition, this is just something that happens. Also I’ve notice here that no one is squeamish about blood or animal’s being slaughtered as all the meat is brought home very fresh, so this is something that is just part of life. And even when it’s not Tabaski, people have their own sheep that they use for food. But for me, I’m still new to this whole thing, so I decided to go help inside instead! Afterward they brought all of the carcasses in to the main entry way and started removing the skin, cutting of appendages, etc. The men did this while the women started cooking. They were on separate parts of the house, and the meat would be brought over to the women after it had been properly removed from the rest of the carcass (I have no idea what terminology to use here, so bear with me, if it’s not technically correct!). The women started by cooking the liver, and the kidneys. This reminded me a lot of Korite, which was in September. Soon the kitchen area began to fill up with body parts and meat. I have never seen so much meat in my life!!! By the way, because the commandment (if I can say that) is that each working Muslim, over the age of 18, who has the means to buy a sheep to sacrifice should, that means that in my family we sacrificed 7 sheep. SEVEN SHEEP!! That is soo much meat!! My family has a freezer (this is a big luxury here) so they will freeze as much meat as they can keep here. My oldest host brother and his wife and their baby are here, so they will take some home back to Dakar when they go. And the rest is given out to family and friends who couldn’t afford a sheep.

So all of today has literally just been cooking. Everyone is working quickly to cook to the meat or prepare it so it can be given out. It has been really interesting to see each step of the process. I think we will be eating mutton for a long long time!

This holiday is a lot bigger than Korite, from what I can tell. For weeks all of the major companies have been advertising promotions or lotteries to win a sheep for Tabaski. For instance, there was an Orange (which is a cell phone provider) advertisement where if you texted “Tabaski” to #2341 (or something like that) you would be entered in a drawing to win a sheep! And the markets are all closed today and the fishermen don’t fish. So that means my host mom did all of her weekend shopping at the fish market yesterday. She brought home this big bucket of fish!

Also, the tailors have been working 24 hours a day. I think I mentioned in my Korite post how most people have a certain percentage of their clothes tailored, as it isn’t very expensive. All traditional clothing is tailored. And all holidays call for traditional clothing (I think all holidays might be religious, except for Independence Day…I’ll have to look into that). So here that means that most people want a new boubou for Tabaski. My sister, Coumba explained to me that even though Tabaski is today, Saturday, everyone is going to dress up tomorrow. Because there is so much work to do today, there won’t be any time.

A little note not related to Tabaski exactly…but my oldest host brother, Moctar and his wife, Khady (ha-dee) are here with their newborn (2 months old), Macoumba (he is named after Moctar’s father and my host father, Macoumba). This baby is sooo cute!



Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Tabaski! (on Saturday)

So today is Thanksgiving in the States and it feels a little bizarre not to be eating turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes and gravy (oh my gosh, I’m making myself really hungry!) with my American family and friends! The American volunteers at Projects Abroad have organized a Senegalese-style ‘Thanksgiving’ to be held this evening at one of our favorite Senegalese restaurants, La Linguere. Of course this dinner is open to everyone of every nationality, and I’ve heard we are going to be decorating the restaurant with Thanksgiving type decorations! Ha : ) As Americans, it will be cool to share a little bit of our culture while abroad with the Senegalese and other nationalities attending.

This Saturday is also Tabaski! And EVERYONE in Saint-Louis, and throughout Senegal is preparing! This holiday is a Muslim holiday (so it is celebrated world-wide). In Senegal school has been officially canceled since yesterday (Wednesday) and it will be out until next Wednesday. This allows families to travel to each other in order to be together for the holiday. So it has been officially cancelled since Wednesday, but unofficially canceled since Monday. And there’s a story behind this:

So I went to school Monday morning to have my French classes which are held at College Guillabert in the teacher’s lounge. We start at 8:00am and around 9:10, 9:15am some of the teachers walk in and my French teacher, Mr. Kande asks them what’s going on? “The students are on strike.” (literal translation from French). But how can the students be on strike I ask? Mr. Brown, the English teacher came over and joined our conversation. Mr. Kande (Kahn-day) and Mr. Brown discussed in Wolof what was going on, it seemed as if something my teacher had said had been confirmed. They explained to me that in Senegal, a couple years ago there was an educational reform set forth which has completely debilitated the system. From what I understand it restricted teachers from punishing students that act out in class. This piece of educational reform, in a country where rule enforcement in general is a difficult task, sort of just set the stage for student-run schools. I say this because Mr. Brown explained that literally what had happened to him that morning, was that one student came to his room and told him that he wasn’t having school. Mr. Brown responded that he, in fact was having class and that the student himself should get back to his class. This student responded that class was canceled because of Tabaski and then he told all of the students in Mr. Brown’s class to leave. The students complied. And this happened in every class! Some student coming to the door and instructing the teachers and the classes that class is canceled! I asked, but can’t they punish the student letting all of the kids out? But apparently there isn’t a system to deal with this type of behavior. Mr. Kande explained that when he was in school they would have days set up for misbehaved students to come and clean or do extra homework, but that doesn’t exist now. He also told me that these students that let the others out sometimes go to extremes to scare students who try to continue to stay in class. They will go outside and throw rocks at the windows. If the windows aren’t covered with a grill (not many are), then the glass will break, and if this has already happened then there is no glass left and the rocks come in the room. Otherwise with a grill on the window it makes a scary noise and the students get scared. I could NOT believe what I was hearing. This seemed crazy! But apparently here in Senegal there is always a ‘greve’ or strike. Either the students are striking (ie: cancelling class to get a longer vacation) or the teachers are striking (for real) because they are underpaid, overworked and they work in a system where the students make the decisions. But even with all of this mayhem, Mr. Kande, Mr. Brown and the other teachers still love what they do, even if it’s a crazy system. And of course we laugh about it, because even to these Senegalese teachers, who are familiar with the system, it is still a foreign concept and there is some humor in imagining students cancelling school to party.

I found the same situation at the next school that I went to, Lycee Ameth Fall. It’s an all girls’ school and we’re going to be doing a pen pal exchange with a Sister Cities program in St. Louis, MO. I was supposed to come and collect the letters on Monday, but when I arrived my teacher told me he had collected 7 letters as those were the only girls who came to school that morning since school had effectively been ‘canceled’ so the rest didn’t come. And as the break for Tabaski is a week long, it will be a week before I get the rest of the letters (and then that is if the students remember to bring them at that point!). This is a tiny glimpse of how things are never certain in Senegal and you have to always be prepared for change and be prepared to be flexible! Here in Senegal we say, “Insha’Allah,” which literally means “God willing.” I’m beginning to understand why we say this so much! Nothing can ever be totally certain to come to pass the way we imagine.

Coming up: What is Tabaski? & Meeting Rotary District 9100 District Governor

Also, some pictures from our dinner!

Juliette’s mom was here last week, visiting from the US, and she brought over gravy and cranberry sauce in cans. It was a nice little touch! Though I have to say, eating gravy from a can definitely does not compare to my Aunt Kathy’s!!

I am so thankful for so many things! Above all, my family and friends. Everyone who has been supporting me while I’ve been away. I appreciate all of the messages and emails : ) I am also so thankful for my country. I suppose it isn’t ironic that all three of these things/people happen to be what I miss the most.

I am also thankful for my Senegalese family. They have been so wonderful to me and completely taken care of me like a member of their family.

And I am thankful for the opportunity to experience Thanksgiving in Senegal.

Thanksgiving snapfish album:

http://www5.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=619468026/a=775175026_775175026/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Centre la Liane

So much to write about!!

So as I mentioned before, I’ve been looking to get involved with some of the humanitarian/development work that is happening here in Saint-Louis. There are a lot of organizations here such as CMVS, Plan Senegal, Medicos del Mundo, US Aid, and other names that are alluding me at the moment. I’ve seen other co-ops with Japan, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and Portugal. But even though there are so many groups working here, it has been rough finding one that will take a volunteer! For the most part all of the organizations that I mentioned are well organized, so they don’t really work in the more grassroots style of “hop on board.” When I met with the director of the Saint-Louis, Medicos del Mundo organization and I asked him if he had any need for un-paid help, he looked sort of confused and explained that they usually don’t work with volunteers, especially without a CV (I don’t have one of those yet! …although I have a resume, it’s not quite a CV and it’s definitely in English). So after learning this, I spoke with Cheryl another Rotary scholar, who shared with me similar experiences at other organizations she had spoken with…so were preparing for the worst when we went in to speak with the director of Plan Senegal (Saint-Louis), Mr. Sow. Undaunted, Cheryl and I met with the director at Plan Senegal (they work with children and mothers: pre-natal health, childcare, immunizations, vaccinations and a lot of integrated approaches for health education with the children and the moms). He explained that it would be possible to work with us, though we would have to write up what we would like to do/learn and the number of months we have to work. Paperwork which he would be send to headquarters in Dakar. For Cheryl…who is here for a total of 4 more months, this seems like a pretty viable option, although for me, (at this point I had a month and a half left), it wasn’t really that great of an idea considering the length of time things take here.

For example:

Cheryl and I attempting to meet with the director was a funny process. We set up the meeting two weeks in advance. We went to the meeting at 10:00am. We found out Mr. Sow was ill, so the guard told us to come back the next day..which we did, same time. We waited, and waited. The guard told us Mr. Sow was on his way from Dakar, that he would be there soon. Around 12:00pm, Cheryl had to go to class, so I continued to wait. Then I asked if there would be a better time to come around. He told me maybe he would be in by 3:00pm Haha! What?! How far away was he? I’ve learned that here people don’t like to give bad news, so they try to give you some hope, even if it’s might seem slightly misleading. Like for me, I would rather hear, “he just left Dakar, you should come back at 4:00pm” or something like that. But I’ve noticed that in situations like these, most people will tell you “he’ll be here soon” and just have you wait for as long as you’re willing to wait and then you say when it’s been too long, and you decide that you’ll come back. Rather than them being the ones to tell you that you need to come back.

So I come back at 3:00 (with Cheryl at this point). Then he tells us that Mr. Sow is tired (understandably so, it’s at least a 4 hour drive), and if we can come back tomorrow. At this point, we are a little frustrated, but not visibly so and we decide to come back tomorrow, same time. Thankfully it works out the next day. But it was quite the process!!

So I have decided to try another route. I talked with Rotarian Yves L’amour, here in Saint-Louis, and I explained to him that I am looking for contacts with some of the non-profit organizations. I had been hoping to work with children, and in some way address the problems of the street children. He put me in contact with Claude (I can’t even begin to spell her last name…), a French woman who runs a center for children on the island. It’s called, Centre La Liane – Hébergement de Jeunes Vulnérables. La Liane is a center for children who have limited or no prospects. At the moment there are 18 boys who live in this center, from ages 5 to 17. Some of the boys go to school, others do not. Some of the boys have families which keep in contact with them, while others aren’t that lucky. Many of the boys are Talibé (tah-lee-bay). Here is a short synopsis of a problem afflicting Senegal and West Africa involving the talibe system:

Child beggars are one of the most recognizable images of poverty in Senegal. Most are young boys, called talibés, usually between the ages of 7 and 15, often barefoot, wearing ragged clothes, carrying red tomato cans and asking for food and money. Talibés in Senegal are sent by their families to Qur’anic schools (called daaras) to learn the tenets of Islam. Though occasional begging was always a part of a talibé’s education as a means to teach humility, in recent years, talibés in urban centers spend increasingly more time on the streets begging, instead of in the classroom learning.

Talibés in urban centers often face unacceptable living conditions. Not only do they spend long hours in the streets, but they frequently suffer from malnutrition, dehydration, and skin diseases. The daaras are often unsanitary places and children are left unattended for long periods of time. The daara system has devolved from one providing sound religious instruction to a socially accepted form of child exploitation

While religious study is simultaneously an honor and an expectation, many poor families send their young boys to daaras because they simply cannot afford to support them at home. Unlike other religious educational institutions, these Qur’anic schools neither charge tuition for their students, nor do the schools have a source of income other than begging. Today, over 100,000 talibés are studying in cities across Senegal, often hundreds of miles from their families.

When the daara system was first established, families would send young boys to a daara within the community or in a neighboring village. Talibés’ families would then financially support the marabout (the religious teacher who runs a daara) in exchange for religious education for their children. Communities provided necessary services for the daaras and so the schools were initially dependent on and responsible to the local people. The close proximity of daaras enabled families and talibés to remain in close contact as the talibés could return home for meals, to bathe, and to do laundry. T he young children thus received the affection and connection with family that every child needs. Talibés were only sent to beg with the purpose of learning humility, and not on a daily basis to provide money for the marabout.

Migration of Talibés to Urban Centers

Over time, the daara system changed as marabouts migrated to major cities. Once in cities, far away from talibés’ families, marabouts lost their means of support. Increasingly, marabouts sent talibés out to beg to collect funds to sustain the daaras.

Child begging has now become a primary source of income for some marabouts. While it would be inaccurate to say that all marabouts deliberately take advantage of talibés, it has become common practice for them to send talibés to beg for long periods of the day—with the hours spent begging far exceeding the hours spent studying. In some cases, the boys face corporal punishment if they fail to collect a certain amount of money per day.

(http://www.tostan.org/web/page/694/sectionid/547/pagelevel/3/interior.asp)

I took this from the Tostan website. They have a project in Dakar which addresses these issues.

La Liane is non-religious and is solely interested in raising awareness of children’s rights. Also, it is worth noting that not all street children are talibe, and nor are all talibe abused (it is a system used throughout the world), but the Daara system in West Africa is particularly known for exploiting and abusing children.

La Centre la Liane Maison d'accueil et d'hebergement

At the center, there are 18 boys lodging, but the doors are also open during the day to any of the Saint-Louis street children. The idea is that they have a safe place to play and visit, and on certain days, eat breakfast (bread and milk is handed out on certain days of the week), wash their clothes, and participate in some of the activities that go on at the center.

I have only been there a short while, but it has been an amazing experience already! The boys are so silly and happy despite the obstacles they face. Also, the teachers that work there are really dedicated to the cause of children’s rights. I am going to bring my camera this week to take some pictures. There is this one little boy named Alph who is absolutely adorable! He is 5 years old and so calm. He’s like an old man in a little boy’s body. I’ll be sure to point him out in the photos : )

Mon ami, Alpha : )

If I thought I was busy before I started on this project, now I’m SUPER busy! I am literally meeting myself coming and going at certain parts of my day. Along with work and classes, I have been working on side projects that have come up in the last two weeks. I wrote up a short essay for Projects Abroad, along with trying to help out a friend who is seeking financial aid for his schooling (this is still in process). On Monday I am going to be giving a presentation at Lycee Ameth Fall, an all girls’ school, about life in the U.S., particularly Saint-Louis (the interest is Saint-Louis to St. Louis). This is part of “Sister Cities Saint-Louis” project, and I am sort of working as the liaison while I am here. This will be my first meeting with the girls. The amazing thing is that I found out my host mom is a director at this school and she knows the teacher of the class! I thought this was cool.

I’ve also been working with our Rotary Club here. They want to potentially fund a project called Bridge-Kids, and I’ve been helping out with the English as it is a project that a US Rotary Club invited our club to join in on.

Whew!!! So much!!

I’m trying to just take it all in. Time is going by really fast. This weekend I just decided to not do anything and spend some time with my family as well as hopefully get some administrative things done (for when I’m back home). It’s been a nice break, and I’m ready to head into another crazy week : )

Parc National des Oiseaux du Djoudj

Djoudj National Park Bird Sanctuary

Pelicans au Parc

Last week we went to the National Parc Djoudj. It is world-renowned as a national park, more specifically as a bird sanctuary. We just took a day trip since the park isn’t far from Saint-Louis. Maybe like 2 hours. Though I didn’t see a great variety of birds (I hear it’s still to early. The real bird-watching season starts in December), I did see A LOT of birds. Namely pelicans!! It was amaaazing! Our guide called it the “International Pelican Airport.”

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/25/

On our way back from the park, we stopped by a Puul village. They are one of the many ethnicities of Senegal. This group of people speaks Pulaar, which is different from Wolof. Wolof is not the national language, although it might as well be as it is spoken by an overwhelming majority of people. Most people who speak Pulaar can also speak Wolof, but it doesn’t always work the other way. So it was very interesting to learn about this group since they aren’t as predominant as the Wolof. We were given a brief history and shown around the village. Honestly, at first it felt weird to be just walking around these people’s homes and looking at their stuff. But after being there for a bit, we realized that they are used to having tourists come and see their way of life, and actually it is a means of revenue as our guide pays them (I don’t think we were aware that it was part of the package when we started off…but it ended up being a good experience as well).

 

Link to album in Snapfish: http://www5.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=563633026/a=775175026_775175026/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Experiencing Rotary Saint-Louis

Last weekend was full of Rotary activities! On Friday night we had an induction dinner for the two new Rotary members that are joining Rotary Saint-Louis- Mr. Diallo and Mme. Sota (though I think I have misspelled her name). The dinner was at The Hotel Sindoné located on the south-side of the island.

Saint-Louis is made up of three parts—the Langue de Barbarie (the peninsula) Saint-Louis (the island) and Sor (the mainland). All are referred to as Saint-Louis, though it is the island that has most of the government buildings, the beautiful French architecture and the pretty hotels.

This night was really cool because Cheryl and I got to experience a Rotary induction in French. I’m going to attempt to upload a video—Jean is giving an introduction and he introduces the 4-Way Test. I thought it was really cool that I was hearing this induction in French and I was proud of myself that I could pick out the Rotary 4-Way Test. To all non-Rotarians, the 4-Way Test is a set of principles, set out by Rotarian Herbert Taylor—entrepreneur, that guides the endeavors of every Rotary Club across the world to this day:

1. Is it the truth? 2. Is it fair to all concerned? 3. Will it build good will and better friendships? 4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

The two new members are Mme. Sota and Mr. Diallo. The evening was very laid back and an all around pleasant experience. I was able to talk with one of the Rotarians, Marie-Caroline, who is Senegalese-French. She worked for a number of years in Chicago and so we reminisced about Illinois together : ) We also talked about the current state of things in Senegal economy-wise, and she explained to me what she hopes to give back to her country (she is a business woman who has many years experience working between the US and France. She is interested in helping entrepreneurs and new businesses to start up and learn how to better sustain themselves). It was an all-around interesting experience. And you’ll notice our club is an interesting mix of Senegalese and French Rotarians : ) And now we’ve added 5 Americans—we’re getting to be quite the eclectic group!

Khady Ndiaye--My host Rotarian et Moi

Our next Rotary adventure was on Saturday. Rotary Saint-Louis has been actively involved with the development of a school called, L’Ecole Saër Saye. It’s a primary school, that from what I understood has been working with Rotary Saint-Louis for many years. This past Saturday was the presentation of the school renovations completed with the help of Rotary Saint-Louis. Previously the school had no running water—so no toilets with plumbing either. Rotary Saint-Louis funded the project to provide the school with these necessities. It was a really big event! All of the students and parents were invited and the students gave a number of performances for the audience. There was a poem that had been written, as well as a planned fight – traditional Senegalese wrestling known as Lutte Senegalese or Wolof Laamb. There was also singing and dancing. Definitely dancing!!! I am still amazed at how good these people are at dancing!! It seems like everyone has wonderful rhythm or knows the steps to the dance if there is choreography. For instance, Mbalax is a popular genre of music that has it’s own particular style of dancing…the kids I see doing this dance never cease to amaze me! I’m going to also try to upload what I caught of them dancing at L’Ecole Saer Seye. It was great!

The director and some of the teachers at the school gave very moving speeches. Though I couldn’t understand every word, there’s something that transcends language and that is emotion. Everyone was in great spirits and very happy to start the new school year with improved facilities.

Mural at L'Ecole Saer Seye

please check out the snapfish.com link to see pictures from these events!

Or click here for L’Ecole Saer Seye: http://www5.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=501298026/a=775175026_775175026/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

And here for the Rotary Induction: http://www5.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=502301026/a=775175026_775175026/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

School days

So I figured I have been giving lots of highlights, but not a very good picture of what my day to day consists of here in Saint-Louis. So I’m going to attempt to do that, and also share a little bit of what I’ve learned. So I’ll see how it works out to do a bit of an installment-like setup.  A little bit about my French classes:

As a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar with Projects Abroad, I’ve been taking 3 hours of French class a day Monday through Friday. The classes are private, just myself and my teacher. Both of my teachers have full-time jobs as French teachers at the local schools. My last teacher was Ngoné Lo. She and I have become friends through our classes together, and even though she is no longer my teacher, I still keep in touch with her. In the entry where our school was flooded, it was Ngoné who invited me to have class at her home. When I arrived in Senegal in September the schools were still on their summer vacation, but these past couple weeks have seen students and teachers going back to school. The school system is something that I still have yet to figure out as it seems that neither teachers nor students really know when it is starting. From what I understand in asking my professor and other students is that there are a couple weeks of registration, where there might be classes, but it doesn’t really get into full swing until late October. For example, I started the second half of my French classes (I switched teachers at a month and a half) last week, and it was this same week that my teacher got his teaching schedule. But technically, school had been ‘started’ for maybe two weeks before. At least this is what I understood.

My classes have been held at a high school: Lycée Charles de Gaulle. It’s about a 20 minute walk from my house. I could take a taki, which would cost me 450cfa (appx. $1.00–this is a fixed price to get anywhere in Saint-Louis), but I always walk. Up until the last two weeks or so, the classes have been empty because of the vacation, so Ngoné and I would have our class in an open classroom. You might be wondering how it is possible for us to have class in just any classroom, but the school building isn’t locked up—though some of the rooms are—during vacation. So there are always kids playing soccer in the open area, and other students studying in classroom (for instance, if they’re studying for the bac, this preparation starts very early). Ngoné explained to me that other schools typically close during vacation, but for some reason Charles de Gaulle stays open. From what I understood, it was the kind of thing where “kids will jump the walls and get in no matter what, so there’s no use fighting it” idea. So if you can imagine from the end of June to October (summer vacation here) with kids running around through the buildings, and then on top of that, it’s the rainy season so there is always flooding…the buildings aren’t suitable for teachers or students to start. So there is a cleaning process that takes about two weeks or so, with the sanitation department coming in to disinfect, and the firemen come in to drain the water if there is flooding (and there definitely was this year…check out the pics on the snapfish link). One day Ngoné and I got chased out of our classroom because they were disinfecting our building. This might seem strange if you are imagining, closed in buildings—like you would see in the parts of the US that don’t experience tropical weather, but here most buildings are open to allow for breezes to circulate and alleviate some of the heat, which also allows for the disinfectant to dissipate and not linger in the building. I’ll put up some pictures of my school (after the cleaning process) when I can muster up the courage to take them (now that school has started, having a camera out always makes you very popular when there are crowds of people, especially children!).

Last week I said goodbye to Ngoné as my teacher (but we are still friends! I am actually going to visit with her and her family this weekend), and I started classes with Mr. Omar Kandé. At first I was really nervous to switch teachers. I felt like I had learned a lot with Ngoné, I got along well with her, and I was in general just nervous of a new teaching style and personality (especially since I felt like I already had something great going on), but these fears all proved irrational. Mr. Kandé is AWESOME!! He is a really good teacher, and he is a very unique Senegalese man (in regards to his attitude on polygamy…a slightly polemic topic here –no pun intended…). We often have discussions about life in the US and life in Senegal and the cultural differences. I always discover something new with every conversation we have.

Typically our classes are very relaxed. He has a grammar book that we’ll do exercises from, but a lot of times grammar questions will pop up in conversation—whenever I can’t say something, or say something wrong—and we’ll just take it from there and that will be our lesson. This is usually accompanied by conversation. Because school has started, it is difficult with his schedule to meet for three hours at the same time every day. So some days we’ll meet for two hours, another day, we’ll meet for 4. But I always have 15 hours of French each week no matter what.

I really do feel like my French is improving, which is a really great feeling! I’m very very far from fluent, but I’m imagining back to my first week when I couldn’t understand anything, and I could barely express myself. Now I understand most conversations (unless they are talking quickly or excitedly), and I can communicate pretty effectively ( I mean, I can at least get some semblance of a French sentence out now!). It’s a really really cool feeling!

Oh!! And I wanted to mention that I am not alone as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in Saint-Louis! Nicholas Boatwright, Cheryl Dietrich Vanessa and Patrece Moore (Vanessa just arrived, so I haven’t gotten her last name yet). So we have quite the little Rotary family here in Saint-Louis : )  All of these students are partaking in the same Rotary Ambassadorial Cultural Scholarship –though Cheryl and Vanessa are here for 6 months–so they have the same setup with French classes.

Braids!

So it has been quiiite some time since I’ve last updated! Really there has been a lot going on, but it’s mostly just my daily routine (ironically which is a routine where I know I have no routine) that makes it difficult to find time to just sit down and write about what that day to day stuff has been. I’m going to do a couple installment posts to catch up to what’s going on now.

So I suppose I should work forward from my last entry chronologically. Well, first and foremost…my dream came true—I got my hair braided! Or ‘les tresses’ as they are called here.

My host family – particularly my host mom and my sister Coumba, were so excited for me to get my hair braided. They invited a friend – Adja- la tresseuse (a woman who braids hair) to braid my hiar. So we ended up starting around 5:00pm, with Coumba assuring me that it would only take a maybe 2-3 hours at the most, so I shouldn’t worry about my plans for that night which were starting at 9:00pm –dinner in town with other students. Adja asked me what I wanted, and I tried to explain to her through hand motions the types of braids that I wanted. Coumba helped me to translate (Adja speaks a little bit of French, but mostly Wolof). So I tried to explain that I wanted medium-sized braids…as she started braiding I remember thinking to myself, judging by what I felt her doing with my hair,“hmm these braids feel really small…” but then I just figured maybe it was my imagination. More than that I figured I have no idea since I’ve only had my hair braided with full braids one other time. My concern with having small braids was that I had heard that it took a long time…one girl’s braids taking 10 hours! So I tried sitting as still as possible and watched tv as she continued. But then after maybe an hour or so, I realized that it definitely wasn’t my imagination, she was braiding tiny braids! These ended up taking us 5 hours (with a stop for dinner). Needless to say I ended up skipping my dinner in town with the other volunteers! All in all, after the rubber bands were put in, I ended up finishing around 11:00pm (so 6 hours in total). But I have to say, the results are amazing! Adja braided these unbelievably tiny braids, and she even braided in a design. My host mom and sister were very pleased and they told me that now I am a true Senegalese woman! People in the street have been stopping me to tell me that I have “jolies tresses” or pretty braids. It’s quite the conversation starter for sure : )

To check out the pics: http://www5.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=500305026/a=775175026_775175026/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Rotary Club Saint-Louis

Madame President Dior Diajne and I have just finished exchanging club banners. I was presented with a banner from Rotary Club Saint-Louis, and in return I presented my host club with a banner from the Edwardsville Rotary Club. Upon my return to the US, I will present this banner to my club. These banners are an important Rotary custom because they represent goodwill and peace--not only between clubs and districts, but also between countries.

In the past couple weeks, I have hit a couple milestones for my trip as well as for myself.

The first being that I was able to finally make contact with my host Rotary Club!! For those of you new to the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, each scholar is placed in a Rotary District (mine is 9100) and assigned to a ‘host’ club that sort of acts as a Rotary home base. My host club is the Saint-Louis Rotary Club. We are also given specific Rotarians, our host Rotarians, who aid us as much as they can by inviting us to Rotary meetings and helping us to find answers to questions we might have about the District…ie: if there are any Clubs close by and their contact information. I met my host counselor, Madame Khady Ndiaye, about three weeks ago. And just to give you an example of how things go here in Senegal – Rotary Clubs included—I had my initial contact with Madame Ndiaye the same day that I met my club. This meeting all came to fruition in such a Senegalese way: laid back with no worries. For example…I had contacted Madame Ndiaye via email, but hadn’t heard anything back. The phone number I had been given to contact her with wasn’t working or wasn’t turned on, so I finally decided to email her again, but this time including my cell phone number (I should have done this to begin with). A day or so later (Tuesday) I get a call from Madame Ndiaye around 4pm inviting me to the next Saint-Louis Rotary Club meeting. The meeting ends up being that night at 7pm!

Meeting my club for the first time was so nerve-wracking, but ended up being so comfortable! I met the president of the club, President Dior Diajne. She is the owner of one of the hotels on the island of Saint-Louis (I’m going to visit her hotel next week!), right next to the beach. She was very welcoming and even though I couldn’t completely express myself (speaking another language is that much harder when you’re nervous!), she didn’t mind and just let me take my time in asking questions and answering them. The first meeting that I went to was the week after Korite…Tuedsay, the 22^nd. It having been a holiday the Saturday, Sunday and Monday before, the Club turnout was a bit low…there were 3 Rotarians and 1 Ambassadorial Scholar present that day. Ha! I can only imagine what my Rotarians in District 6460 are thinking : ) It was so neat though because, again, the Rotarians present just went with it! They understood that Korite (which is a VERY big holiday here) was responsible, and that everyone was probably traveling or with family. Also, I think their might have been a mix-up in time? I couldn’t quite follow perfectly, but I think that they were under the impression that some Rotarians might have thought they were suspending the meeting due to the holiday…but anyway, the next week was more normal and I was able to meet the rest of the Club. And of course, they are all really wonderful!

One reason I can say that they are so wonderful is because I gave a presentation to them that lasted about 10 minutes, in nervous French, and afterward they smiled, clapped and congratulated me! Even in the moments when I knew that I was hard to understand, they continued to smile and follow along. My presentation consisted of introducing myself, my interests and my family. I then continued to describe the United States some, and then went on to give some history and facts about Illinois. I finished by discussing Rotary District 6460 and the Edwardsville Rotary Club. My visual aides were a map of the United States with Illinois highlighted, along with the cities of Springfield, Evanston, Edwardsville St. Louis, MO and the District of Columbia. I also have a photo album that has pictures of my family and friends and some Illinois landmarks. There is also a picture of Illinois with District 6460 outlined. And I’m sure District Governor Larry Thompson will be happy to hear that his likeness is in Saint-Louis, Senegal via a picture I printed from the District 6460 website!

I’m looking forward to working with my club in the next months, and also traveling to meet with some of the clubs in Dakar! Which brings me to my next milestone: October 6^th marked month 1 of living in Senegal! It seems to have gone by so fast! Though I don’t know exactly how much my French has improved, I know that I can definitely follow one on one conversations pretty well—something I struggled with a lot when I started here. A lot of phrases are even becoming second nature. For instance, I was having a conversation with someone in Spanish and I kept saying “il y a” instead of “hay” (which means ‘there are/is” in French and Spanish). “Il y a” is a phrase I use a lot in French and “hay” is a word I use a lot in Spanish too, so I kept mixing them up.

Which brings me to what I hope will be my next milestone (we will see…). Within the last year, a group of medical doctors from Spain have set up a clinic here in Saint-Louis. I am learning more about them, but it seems like they have a number of projects that they work on—namely AIDS awareness and Malaria. There name is “Medicos del Mundo.” I am going to see on Monday if I can connect with them and get involved with what they have started. Maybe I’ll be able to connect Rotary Saint-Louis with Medicos del Mundo? On Monday I’m going to talk to the director, so hopefully that will work out! And of course, how cool would that be to be able to practice my Spanish while here in Senegal?! We shall see…