Back to Guede

So I had to go back to Guede this past week, and although I dreaded it last time, I have to say it was great to have gone. It is something that we forget to do so often, and it is so important, you gotta say goodbye, you have to honor everything that ends. closure. i got to say goodbye to so many people that meant so much to me there.. theres my dad, and all the families and people that treated me with such teranga (hospitality). indeed i will miss guede and indeed guede has meant a lot to me. i hope i get to come back one day.

actually. people who don't have closure have lung problems... do you every get that... when you don't have closure you fee like you can't breathe...? or maybe if you can't breathe you should examine your life to see if you need some closure on something.

anyway. I have one more week in this country. and im going to just take the time to see all my friends and hang out with my family. go the market. go to the beach. just chill and also say goodbye.

in other news... there was a student strike at Gaston Berger, the smaller and best university in Senegal over rising fees and the government brought out the tear gas on the streets of Saint Louis, the second largest city in Senegal. Wow. no news on that, not even on local television.

Lets Call it Something... Soporific

Ok... so its been mad long, for the past month, I have spent most of my time in the village of Guédé Chantier, finishing up my role in the projects. I basically brought some money, and gave all the projects a kick in the ass. Trees to the gardens, books to the library, a grant to the women's group for their business in food processing, and some money to the health center for drugs and transport costs.

Thats my job, but i have to say personally, I need to get back to my country for a bit. Something about being in the village and being the only american, or the only sane one is a little stressfull. i was talking to a friend, and I think I am in the "abyss", thats a place where you can either grow a lot or get into really bad drug habits and the like. I think im safe, even if i wanted to get into that kinda stuff it would be hard with the people i know here. so thats good. It is jsut a state of being completely uncomfortable with everything and questioning everything. Its just a little stressfull, and i find myself smoking and chillin.

hanging out with the other american interns has been hard too... they are all going through crazy culture shock, and im just as glad as they are that they are leaving. Not that i don't like them, they are very cool people, all of them, its just im seeing the worst, and its bad... anything from getting angry at taxi's and other people when they get ripped off 1000 CFA, about a dollar US. i mean, yeah, that sucks, but its a dollar, and of course they are going to tryto get some more money from you. People that live in my district, which is moslty middle class, sometimes can't afford to buy food to cook dinner, and sometimes they cant feed their kids, and i think thats a damn good reason to charge a foreigner who you know has money an extra 1000 cfa.
anyway.

whats with the fact that people who have the most money get the most pissed off when they get ripped off? Why do poor people give the most? so many paradoxes and they all make so much sense.

anyway, so im in senegal for two more weeks, and i have nothing to do since the reason i was staying was to do a job that was given to another person here at the NGO.

So here I am, culture shocked, home sick, and yet i dont want to leave, but i got to.

Whats really good?

Hey Toubab

June 21

I’ve been in the village of Guédé Chantier for about 2 weeks now, and I’m having a ball. It is a completely different experience, but it’s still amazing. I’m here with my friend Allasane Barro, a Senegalese University student. He is my partner for the project. Barro is awesome, though he is very fond of himself, like most Senegalese women. He is very smart, and he speaks Pullar, which is great in Guédé since many people don’t speak anything but that.

Most of the time I just chill with my family here, which are a bunch of crazy characters. There is Mariama, one of my little sisters. The first week I met her she told me that she didn’t like my hair and that I was stupid because I couldn’t speak Pulaar after being in the village for a week, when little kids could speak it fluently. We’re cool now though, she’s watching as I write this right now actually. She’s a little too smart for here age. Anyway, then there is Ibrahime (Ibu), one of my big brothers, Hamady, the brother who is my age, and Mamadou, the biggest brother who’s wife Atcha lives in the same compound with the family. Then there is Pwee, he is a Talibé, a student of the Koran who lives in the compound with us. Then there are the other sisters. Fatou is awesome but a little crazy and the oldest that lives at the house, I remember she came home one night and was ranting about good her boyfriend was and grabbed one of the cousin’s boobs and went on…. awkward. That cousin is Aissata, whe’s here to study at the school in the village. Assa is the second oldest and laughs at me every time I speak a word of Pulaar or Wolof. Then there is the smallest, Chilla, who is out of her mind, and is constantly twitching and dancing. Then I have many many little brothers. There is Ali, Mamoudou, Thierno, Idi, Harouna, and Saidoudjieby. Thierno is the smallest, and my best friend. We chill all the time, and I tell him to stop touching my computer and he makes fun of the little things I do, like sucking my teeth, which he will just do for like 5 minutes at me when I do it. Yesterday I was sitting on the ledge of the roof, and he said to me, “Cody, if you fall, it’s not my affair.” All the kids here have so much attitude and wit, its hilarious. Then there is Moussa Bâ, he is the little brother on one of my mothers, Bambi Bâ (who is the first wife of my Dad, Aliou Thiam). Then there is Houray Bâ, the second wife of my dad.

Anyway, on the subject of work… Things are ok, and most of the projects are going well. For the most part, we are providing some funds for the projects. We are buying some trees for the community garden and the school garden. We are providing some money for startup costs for the women’s group that does food transformation. We are buying medication to cure bilharzias for 1,261 children in the village, and providing funds for transport and demonstration costs for the group that does sensitization on health. And for the compost group, we are just watching and giving a little advice and encouraging the farmers to experiment with the compost. The hilarious part is that the NGO sent me her with no money, and looking at what I am doing, it would have been impossible for me to do much without some money at this stage in the projects.

My dad, Omar Bassil Diop is doing well, and I go and see him once in while. It difficult to communicate, since he only speaks Pulaar. I went once without Barro, who speaks Pulaar, and had a hilarious day of trying to communicate, us both with out broken French, and hand motions. He’s a very magical person, from the vibes he gives to the fact that he is the traditional healer of the Thioubale, the fishermen. They make charms you wear that protect you. For example, someone can try to stab you and the knife will break, or they can try to shoot you and the bullet will not penetrate. There’s a lot more, but I can’t talk about that here. But magic exists, as do magical creatures and everything you dreamed of when you were a kid, or I like to think there is still hope for all those fantasy nerds out there. Come to Africa.

here we go

The program has ended, and two of the Americans have already returned to the US. I have to say I have been absolutely amazed with the quality of work and dedication of every student involved. The final projects were very helpful, and although I had heard every single student’s problems during the projects, I was incredibly amazed with the outcomes.
A few of the program administrators and professors had mentioned to us how cohesive our group was, and how that was different from previous years and this was also confirmed by another student I met who had participated in the program before us. He told us of how his group was segregated, with the Americans sticking to themselves and the same with the Senegalese. I can say without a doubt that I have made close friendships with many of the Senegalese students in the program. I really think that was what made it such a great experience as well. We have definitely learned an amazing amount from our classmates.
I have also managed to get an internship with GENSEN for the summer months. I am to go back to Guédé Chantier and ensure the sustainability of everyone’s projects. I really see my role there as simply connecting people with resources, as I feel that was one area where we all could have done better in. For all of the projects to really be sustainable, we need not only to work in partnership with the community but enable them to get access to the resources that we had provided them with.
Personally, I am very excited to go back. It is one thing to be in the village with the program, but to go there and be the only white person, and the only outsider will be interesting. However, I am not alone, and I have made friends with many members of the village, not mention the fact that there are now many groups of people who are dedicated to working on these projects.
I went to see my friends Gospel concert last night. The most hilarious part is that they are serving beer at the event. Yay for Catholicism

Back from Guédé

Wednesday April 8

I’ll be in Guédé a week as of tomorrow. Things are going slowly, but they are going. There seems to be a lot of sitting around, and I have been keeping myself occupied with many things, mostly the people around me. Whether I’m trying to teach the village kids play some guitar, which is more of a test in patience and my ability to deal with a dozen kids all grabbing at my guitar at the same time than anything else, or having my host sisters teach me some Pulaar, there is always something. It seems I’m speaking more French than before too, mostly with my host siblings who are like 10 years old than with anyone else. My little sister here told me she didn’t like my hair and that I was very stupid since I could not speak Pulaar. She said even the little children could speak Pulaar. Sigh… I’m always getting burned like that by my host family here, though it’s mostly hilarious.

I’m a little worried about a few of the other Americans, they seems to be letting stress and culture shock get the best of them, combined with some conflict in the groups, and other things. A lot of us are sick this time too, with all kinds of stuff, from Dirty D to asthma to stomach problems and colds. Surprisingly I am very well physically, which is funny since I was deathly ill last trip and ill the first trip as well. And emotionally, well I’m good unless I go around the people who are having psychological issues.

We have only met with our group once during the trip so far, it seems they are always in the field working, and have no time. The last meeting went well though and we have a plan set for the next weeks. We are trying to make he group official, but are having difficulties. The real Health Committee is a group of elders that serve as a relay between the people and the Health Center. We want them to allow our group to be an extension of the health committee, so that there is official status for the group and they continue to work after we leave. It seems that the old men don’t want to give up any power, but we will try to convince them that they will lose nothing and even have more power. We have arranged to do sensitization in each of the 6 districts of Guédé, having the first meeting on the home of the President of the Health Committee.

Including the traditional healer in our plans has been difficult. We initially wanted to include him as a main proponent of the project, but we have been unable to do so. We are just going to him and asking for advice on what we are doing and for his approval. I really hope we can find a way to include him, as the traditional healers command much respect in the village, more than that of the modern doctors at the health center and maybe more than that of the health committee, not to mention the fact that they are the main source of healthcare in the village. Indeed we need to find a way to include them, especially since our mentor, the healer of the fisherman, took me as his son, so my Senegalese name is now Medoune Mousse Fall Diop.

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Wednesday April 15, 2009

So today is the second day of the actual sensitization. We began yesterday, at the president of the health committee’s house. It went well as far as I could tell, although I can only grasp the gist of what is happening if anything at all, since everything was in Pulaar.

We have met with another group of younger people who had done some training for a sensitization campaign on health before long before we had arrived, with ENDA (another NGO) but had stopped. ENDA had not provided any follow up mechanisms in their techniques, so low and behold, nothing was happening. At least all that training will not go to waist.

The group is taking a lot of initiative, and we have left the work of communicating and explaining the sensitization materials to the population to them. Already they have decided to change the way they are doing things. They are doing action research, as we say, or reflecting on the methods they are using and seeking to improve them. Rather than just talk to the people that they are trying to sensitize, they are going to create a sort of dialogue, and ask the people what they know first, and then expand on that. And after every sensitization they sit and discuss what could be changed for next time and what is working well, etc.

We had our first run in with the power situation and the health committee. Aicha, my partner in the project, and myself were thanking the president of the health committee for letting us use his house, and Aicha made the mistake of posing an idea to Eliman, our mentor for the project, that the president had given to us. The President got very agitated, from what I could understand, he wanted all the credit, he said it was not Eliman who decides this, it was him, he was the president, he was in charge of Eliman. Wow…. We have to be careful when comes down to this. We have managed to make the group semi-official, under the health committee. Basically giving the health committee the power to tell the sensitization group what to do. It’s very difficult to just empower everyone without disempowering anyone, but I think we are doing alright so far.

The president of the health committee also promised me a house, a field, and a wife if I convert to Islam.

The actually sensitization went well, and we sat on mats and about 15 to 20 people showed up plus our group of sensitization, about 20 to 25 people. I found it interesting, during the meeting one of the women who was speaking, her baby began to cry, and so she just started breastfeeding right there, and continued talking. It was no big deal. Can you imagine of that happened in the US, at a similar event. Even in Dakar, that would be a little riské. It seems that urbanization and westernization also brings with them an objectification of the human body.

I’m really starting to enjoy the village life, although I don’t have to go and do back breaking labor in the fields all day. My siestas and joking with my host family or freaking our small children who come up to me screaming “TOUBAB! TOUBAB!” Well many kids actually know my name now, so they just scream that now. I think I will miss Guédé Chantier. Although, my skin is going a little crazy, its like being in junior high and other people are braking out in rashes all over their body, or fungus, or are suffering from horrible diarrhea and fevers. We’re a sad bunch. I think a lot of westerners would not be able to handle it here for a few reasons though. On example is my Turkish toilette here… which has all kinds of shit flying out of it… from maggots to flys to ants to things I can’t identify… maybe ill take a picture next time so you can really see it all.

Anyway, that’s all for now.

Mauritanian Snow

Sorry it has been forever since my last entry. I’ve been in the village of Guédé Chantier for a week, which is in the north of Senegal near the border with Mauritania. I was lucky enough to get really sick the night we left, and was just as sick the entire 10 hour bus ride home, which happens to have been my birthday. I’m better today, and I don’t think I have malaria, so that’s good.

There was a coup in Guinea Bissau about 2 or 3 weeks ago and the Senegalese were hardly concerned. We asked about it the day it happened in class, and my teacher said he was not surprised at all, and that it would happen again soon. He made the example of a friend he had there. This friend went to engineering school in Europe and got a degree, then came back to Guinea Bissau and got a job as an engineer at a power plant earning 24,000 CFA a month, which is about $12 US. To put that into perspective, a doorman at a hotel in Guinea Bissau makes 27,000 CFA a month, and a bag of rice that will last a month costs 17,000 CFA. It is just amazing to see how people here are just as complacent about the coup as one would find in the US, even though Guinea Bissau is just below Senegal.

Ok back to Senegal and the program.
Things are going incredibly well in the village with our project in Guédé and it is amazing to see what development really is and to really be here doing it. Everyone always views working for social justice or for development as a really glamorous job, when it’s really nothing of the sort. When it’s not too hot, and when we can find the people we need to meet with, we are usually just talking, although it is really exciting to see people taking the initiative to make change in the village.

When it comes down to it, I feel like our presence here is just as a spark with the challenging of setting up a structure where the fire will keep on burning when we leave. Or even more so, I would like to think that we are just creating opportunity and providing a little bit of motivation and maybe some materials, empowering people to do what they want to do. I think the topic of health is also one that doesn’t need as much encouragement, as it is such an important part of people’s lives, and going along with that, it is the cornerstone of development.

I feel very positive about or project so far, and I’m very excited to see where it goes in the next stage, implementation. It has shifted from creating a health guide for use in the village to creating a some materials for use by a group of villagers we talked to that will sensitize the population about the causes and how to prevent various diseases that are common in the village, as well as contraception, nutrition and basic sanitation practices. These are all things that the villagers have expressed they want to learn and to spread knowledge about. That fact is the most important one to take away from this, we are just asking what people want and then assisting in organizing people to accomplish that. Ideally it would just be that, organizing and teaching to organize, although it is impossible to be completely objective, I would say I am just trying to be very conscious of where I am putting fourth my opinions and making sure it is positive when I do so.

It was a little interesting working in the village this past week, as local elections are on the 22nd of March and many people in the village were attending political meetings most of the time, and it was hard to find times to meet. Campaigning in Senegal is very different from America. You’ll see caravans of about 20 cars with the candidate in one of them standing up through the moon-roof waving to the villagers they pass through a town and the cars behind him will have a ton of people in them and huge speakers blasting traditional music. So the caravan will drive around the desert and go to each village, causing a commotion and such. But it does attract a lot of people here, and when the political caravan comes through town, with that all that funky music playing, the whole village comes a runnin’ out of their houses and my god can they dance. Get out the vote, Senegalese style.

My home life here in Guédé isn’t as good as in Dakar, as not every member of the family speaks French, and most are fluent only in Wolof and Pulaar. They always complain to my Senegalese roommates that I don’t discuss with the family enough, but I only understand a few words in both languages. I know how to say hi and ask for ones name, but that’s about it. It’s a little frustrating, but I’m getting by. However, things are better than they were, as I’m learning about the culture and the language bit by bit. You have to say hello to every single person in the family or they think you are upset with them. However with that, the hard part is that there are so many people in the house, and so many friends and extended family that are always visiting that it has taken two weeks for me to be sure of who is in the family and learn everyone’s name. It’s also something universal in Senegal that the more you shoot the shit and have small talk with someone, the more you care about her or him. So being American, it’s a little difficult, we are very goal oriented and are always trying to go somewhere, and saying hi in passing, rather than stopping and really talking to people. It’s really important, and especially here, to really just be somewhere and to really be there with the people that surround you.

So anyway, some fun Pulaar: “Be careful of me” is “Ray no me” (roll the r a lil bit). One way to say “Hello/how are you” is “mbada” and “jarama” is “thankyou”.

However, one thing I’m learning from being submersed in so many languages I don’t know is that talking smack is universal. One always knows when someone is talking smack no matter what language its in.

Bay Fall Rastman

So my host cousin was upset with my senegalese name, and renamed me Mousse.

Anyway, lets talk about Senegal.

I want to talk about something. Bay Fall is this brotherhood of Islam in Senegal as I understand it, and they happen to all have dreadlocks. But as a white boy with dreads, my interactions with them are... interesting. There tends to be a few Bay Fall begging on the walk to school everyday, and as soon as they see me, its like lions on a gazelle carcase. I try to talk past, but sometimes they even corner me or jump the high way barriers I have to cross on the way to school, blessing me and such, then asking for money. (I have to cross a highway and dodge cars every day on the walk to school) ballin

So I was looking up the financial situation in Senegal. Currently it is considered a Highly Indebted Poor Country. In 2002, the external debt accounted for 70 per cent of the country's GDP. The imports are twice as high as the exports (CIA World Factbook). And the population of undernourished is rising. It's a hole that's only going to ge deeper and deeper if things continue the way they are now. So what's going on with that development thing anyway?

What's This?

so I forgot to mention...
My Senegalese name in Médoune Fall.

I am in the middle of my third week here, which has not been so much fun since I brought back some friends of my GI tract from the village... but I'm getting better... slowly....

This week has been full of fun lectures!!! OMG! We had one about recycling/cleaning water using bacteria, as well as the need to respect ones culture when developing. The example given was about the people of Casamance, who have a tradition that when one is buried, various trees will be planted on the grave plot. The tree that thrives the most is the one that has absorbed the buried individuals spirit, and that tree is regarded as that person from that point on, and therefore as part of the community. You can imagine the problems that would emerge if the government permitted a company to cut down the trees...

The other was about the need to acknowledge ones cultural background when trying to cure him or her. You canot cure someone who is suffering from an illness that des not exist in western medicine with western medicine. For instance, if one is possessed then you cannot just throw some xanax at the person and hope that the spirit will leave. African medicine has an almost metaphysical view off the world, acknowledging the interconenctedness of everything. So basically when you are sick, the universe is sick.

Both of these seem to go very much along the theme of our independent study/service learning projects, which are based on "action research", or basically continuously analyzing ones actions and research as one continues on a given project. It's amazing that one has to be taught this, and it makes me wonder how horrible out of context the development of the past was.... I want to ask if it was white westerners going to a developing country and putting infastructure in place without knowing the culture but with good intentions, or was it more cynical. Was it westerners going to a country and developing it for the economic gain of private companies, disregaring the people that live there. I wish it was good intentions... but i have a feeling it was all about the money.

Guede Chantier Strikes Back

Tuesday 10 February 2009

It has been a few days since we have arrived at Guede Chantier, and life here is taking a little bit more time to get used to. I am living in another homestay with a family here, but this time I am living with two Senegalese students, Marcel and Emanuel. The culture in the village is very different from that of the big city, and it is like getting used to a place all over again. Again I don’t know the language or customs. Becoming fluent in French is also going to take a lot longer and a lot more work since I am being submersed in 3 languages at once, French Wolof and Pulaar. My family here teases me a lot since I don’t know the languages well. Even when they speak French, the accent is so different that it is difficult. But it is only week number two in Senegal, and I have many translators/classmates to help me when I am in doubt.

When we first came here, it was a bit overwhelming, and the entire population of children came out, and I could not turn my face anywhere without having some ones eyes on me. Here, I cannot walk but two feet without some one yelling ‘toubab’ at me. It is very interesting indeed, but I am getting used to it finally.


The facilitators of the classes here have stressed the need for us to be flexible, and I am beginning to understand why. Nothing is certain here, and everything is left to the whims of fate. No stress.

We have formed our groups to work on our development projects, and I am working on health in the village with a Senegalese student named Assiatu, or Aicha for short. We have been given the project of creating a guide for basic health issues in the village that unites traditional and conventional treatments. So far we have met with our mentor from the health clinic in town and gotten a great deal of great information. I am still very curious to see how the traditional doctor and the health committee in town will answer the same questions we asked at the health clinic, which were about the major health issues in the village, the prevention, and how to cure them. However, through the first interview I have discovered many things that are pressing, such as a few issues with malnutrition caused illnesses and some problem with people drinking un-potable water. I wonder if my energies can be put to better use with a nutrition program or a sanitation education program, but we shall see. We have only just begun our research.

The village is very peaceful, especially at night. Though I can always here the distant scream of a child who might have seen me out of a window, “ HÉ TOUBAB!!!!”








Wednesday February 11, 2009

Today was very slow, and the entire morning was spent waiting for people to make appointments with other people so my group could continue our project. Something very funny happened though. I happened to be walking past the elementary school when it let the students out for lunch and I was chased by about 30 children chanting “toubab” to a rhythm. T’was hilarious until I was struck with a mob of children with runny noses that all wanted to shake my hand. We managed to meet with everyone we needed to meet with. Everyone was glad to work with us, which I was relieved to find out since the medecine traditionelle had a few bad experiences with people taking his secrets.

So sleepy...

Senegal is quite the place. One thing I found interesting is that water is more expensive than beer although very few people drink since the town is mostly very strict muslims.

Ok, so a little about my house. I’m living in my first homestay with the Fall family. My mom, or yai in wolof, is a divorcee and runs the house (VERY rare in Senegal, as if you are divorced or your husband dies, you are supposed to go and live with your father’s family if you are a woman). Yai is also a math teacher at the local school. I have two host brothers Libasse and Pop. Libasse is 24, and primarily a football player going for the Senegalese nation team and Pop is 19, and in the final year of high school. My yai’s sister lives in the house too, but I am not sure what she does. We also have a cousin of the family living with us, Daouda, who is in a masters program for geography and history at the University of Dakar. We also have a maid in the house from Monday till Saturday whose name is Lai. And finally, there are the toubabs, Pete and myself. Pete aka Bouba is also a student from UMass. Pretty much everyone has their own room, save for Libasse and Daouda who share a big room. We have an outhouse with a Turkish toilette and an outside shower. There is no hot water at my house either, when the water is running anyway (we have “water-outs” just like there are black outs all the time).

A typical night here involves having a late dinner, around 8 or 9 in front of the TV, around the communal dish. Everyone typically goes to bed at 10, and there are all sorts of crazy noises, like cars driving around all night that have huge megaphones on them blasting Arabic chanting to collect money for the mosque. Then at 5 am every morning, there is a call to prayer.

Typical small talk for a Senegalese guy trying to talk to a girl: “I love you, do you love me?” They go there right away.

The Land of Hospitality

salamalekum! nanga def! bonjour! ça va?

I had my first experience with Senegalese Hospitality today. I had lunch twice, because in Senegal if you refuse to eat a meal when someone offers it, it is very very rude, unacceptable. And here in Senegal everyone always offers you food. I think I may get a jaay fonde yet... ( thats wolof for a big booty)

Anyway, lets flashback to the beginning.
I arrived in Senegal last wednesday at 5 am and was taken directly to my host family. I managed to get a few hours of restless sleep before I was sent off to the first day of class, which was just a meet and greet because the professors didnt have anything for us to do. but it was no problem, and I was told it happens often. There are 6 toubabs (white people) and i think 8 or 9 Senegalese students, who are all english majors and quite fluent, thought there are still many miscommunications and its very difficult to get points across sometimes between the two groups.

The vibes here are so different. And time doesnt exist as I knew it, and it seems like there is more time in every day. It almost feels like I have been here for a month or two. Anyway, its late saturday here and my batery is almost dead.

Much love