April seemed to just fly by for all of us. We will swear in as volunteers in Dakar on Saturday May 12 and be installed in our villages on Tuesday, May 15. We are all getting more and more anxious but also excited to get to our villages... although we just got comfortable in Thies!
Our counterparts (who we will work with for the next two years) arrived last night and we have two days of orientation and training with them here in Thies. My local counterpart, Mamadou Dansokho, is also my "brother" and he seems very nice and welcoming. He speaks French in addition to Bambara and Pulaar and probably some other languages, so communication should be okay. It was really reassuring to meet him and get along with him. He also told me that they had a monkey at their house... but I won't believe it until I see it! =) He also asked me if I liked farming. He has peanuts (tiyool in Mandinka) and corn. The main health issues in the village are respiratory diseases, malaria, malnutrition, and diarrhea. It will be my main job to train health workers to educate the village and hopefully other nearby villages about these issues. Hopefully I will do some work with the primary school in my village also.
My new name for the next two years will be Ami Donsokho, after the daughter of my local counterpart. I think I have been pretty lucky with my Senegalese names so far. I can pronounce them and they are somewhat similar to my actual name!
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1 comment:
Ami,
I like the name:) Though I've already forgotten how to spell the second word after just looking at it:)
Love you Emily
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