I Participate in Subsistence Farming and Eat Food from the World Food Programme

I never thought I would write the words of the title of this blog. It has rained a bit but not as much as everyone had hoped. Nevertheless, planting corn, cotton and peanuts has begun. The women in my family each have small plots of cotton that they tend to by hand, but the men plow out large fields with "machines" pulled by horses or cattle. (We are fairly well-off; most families have donkeys.) After plowing, you take the same metal machine with a different attachment and drop the seeds. A final run covers the seeds and we move to a new field. The men usually work both mornings and evenings. I usually join them for part of the day and they appreciate the help. Plus it is nice to do actual hard work, feel tired, and feel somewhat productive and proud. It's pretty amazing to think that our planet can support food production for so many people. It's also amazing that so many people grow their own food. People from Yuba City are familiar with farming, but otherwise, many people in the States have (probably) never met a farmer, when it is the primary "occupation" in the world.

As for the World Food Programme, they give yellow peas, oil, rice (I think) and probably other goodies to my school, which distributes the food to the families for the students. I haven't seen anything from the US yet, but definitely Canada. Thank you WFP.

Not much else has happened in the village... except that the monkey next door apparently died from a fatal kick from a donkey and the chicken that someone gave me as a "hut-warming"present now has four chicks. Exciting. =)

Going to Kedegou for the 4th of July was amazing. I found a bright pink and yellow shirt with an American flag on it at the market. (Amazing the stuff you can find in markets here!) Going up to the waterfalls was incredible and a beautiful spot on this planet. We biked two hours from Kedegou and then hiked for a bit; one of the hardest mountain biking experiences of my life. Definitely fun, and definitely worth it. The landscape was lush -- really indescribably beautiful. Later in the evening we saw baboons and also a chimpanzee nest in a tree.

So... life here goes on. In August we will be back in Thies for 3 weeks for the last part of our training. It will be nice to go back to my homestay family there and to see other volunteers (and also get some more formal language and technical help). I'll final post some pictures of my site and of Kedegou when I get there, too.

Again, your emails and letters (and packages) mean a lot, or even just quick updates about what is going on. I often forget what day and sometimes even what month it is. Sometimes it seems like I have been here forever and I have no clue what is going on in the world or with anyone else.

Love from Senegal!

Happy 4th of July!

Thankfully things are slowly but surely getting better with me. The language is still slow but every once in awhile I tell myself that I should not be so hard on myself since I really am learning 3 languages at once, French, Jaxanke and Bambara. As people in my village are getting more used to me they know what I can say and what I cannot, so conversations are at least going a bit smoother. The few rains that we have had have also made for a beautiful landscape. I have started to go on runs in the evenings, and it has become one of my favorite times of the day and a great opportunity to appreciate some of the beautiful trees and birds in my area. I have also started to go to the health post in the main town (Missirah, 8 km away). It is sometimes a bit awkward since I do not have an official role and do not have a medical background, but I have assisted the midwife with two births which have been great learning experiences for me. Going to Missirah has also been a nice escape from village life.

School just got out so the two teachers have left for vacation. In anticipation of the rainy season and also the planting season there have been several marriages in my village; for a few days there was a tamtam (drumming and dancing) every night. It was also nice to talk to new people who came in from other villages.

I decided not to bike down to Kedegou for the 4th of July party but am still going down with a few other volunteers today or tomorrow. I am REALLY looking forward to seeing a new part of Senegal and of course spending a few days out of my village. Kedegou is south of here and gets a lot more rain so it is more lush.

If anyone would like to give a gift to my village, I would like to get a copy of Where There is No Doctor and A Book for Midwives in French from the Hesperian Foundation. (www.hesperian.org I think.) Once school starts again and the teachers return I would also like to work on getting the school a cement floor as it is dirt at the moment. They estimate that it would be 200 USD, so if anyone knows of an organization that might have funding for this sort of thing, let me know!

Hope you have a great 4th of July! =)