11-20-06
Hey Everybody!
I’m finally here in Kolda! The ride down was obnoxious but that is the general rule. We had hired two sept places (pronounced: SET plahss) which literally means 7 places or seats in French, they are basically like station wagons with an extra row of seats in the back. We planned to fit three of us in each with all our baggage and our bikes on top, but when the guys got there in the morning they kept stalling for more money because we had “so much luggage” We finally got it worked out and got on the road after one of the PC staff came down to tell the guys to suck it up. This routine is just that, routine, but I deeply hate confrontation and situations like that. I guess that’s one of the reasons I’m here because dealing with that stuff is part of being an adult and here I have little choice but to deal with it.
The ride down took like 13-14 hours because the roads are so bad, our driver kept stopping for odd reasons, we had car trouble of course, and because this is Senegal. At one point our driver stopped to try and buy a watermelon, they are in season at the moment, from one of the many stands along the road and when he brought it over to the car he tested its ripeness by hitting it with the butt of his palm, and apparently is was a tad too ripe because it exploded all over my window which luckily was all the way up!
We got here pretty late and when we made it here the current volunteers had burgers, mashed potatos and watermelon waiting for us which was fantastic! Our regional house is pretty interesting, for those of you who know the B-Side in Hiram, it kinda looks like that on the inside, lots of flowers and sunshine painted on the walls. There are a couple gaurds and they actually do a pretty good job, I’d say the security is better here than in the main center in Thies.
We did all our prelim shopping yesterday and today, tried to get the bankaccounts set up, and got our P.O. boxes set up, or as they say in French speaking nations B.P. aka Boite Postale
the b.p. number for me is:
Zachary Morrison, P.C.V.
b.p. 347 Kolda
Senegal, West Africa
pretty simple, no zip codes or anything. Mail is appreciated, but email is relatively available too, the general rule for packages is the less appealing you make something the less likely it will get stolen en route. For example if you put on the customs form that the package contains used books and feminine hygene products the men here will have no real reason to open it, I have heard of people emptying cleaning detergent bottles and filling them after they were thoroughly rinsed with alcohol because the customs guys here would definately recognise a bottle of Jim Beam but would also recognise and therefore ignore a bottle of “Liquid Detergent”
As far as what I would like, because some have asked what they could send, I don’t really need too much but little things like American quality pens and paper would be nice, ready to go flavored drink mixes any flavor, or maybe the odd tube of Pringles or beef jerky would be much appreciated. I have been told that the Post Ofice here is pretty good on not stealing things and there is no reason to send anything more expensive than a package of bic pens should anything be stolen. Also AA and AAA betteries are the only ones I would need, but I can get them here in town if need be. Mostly what I’m interested in is you all!
I have heard from some, and I know that when I was writing to Rachael when she left for Micronesia I always felt like I had nothing too interesting to say, but now that I’m in her position I enjoy reading whatever y’all write!
Kolda is beautiful! Because its so far south it get lots more rain and so has much more wildlife and vegetation, there is actually a monkey tied to the window at the one bar that we have been to! It is a two level deal with an upper patio that looks out over the town and over the river. Even in town here there is so little light at night that the stars are amazing! And the people are much poorer than the rest of the country and as a result the people see far fewer white folks and so are more low key about asking for money or trying to scam us. Plus it is truly gratifying to here people speaking the language I’ve spent 8wks learning!
Oh well, got to go,
-Zack
12-04-06
Hey, I survived my first real week in the village, though just barely.
My village is gorgeous and located about a half hour walk north of the main road. There are no signs to indicate its existence, just an opening in the head high grass slanting back into the bush. As you walk back you are surrounded by the high grass on both sides and hidden behind the grass are the peanut, corn, millet, and Cotton fields that my villagers tend. The path leads through stands of massive palm trees as you approach the river, and when you reach the small concrete bridge that crosses the river the view opens up on either side. To the left and right as far as you can see are vivid neon green rice fields in the shallow river valley with tall palms framing the scene. I actually feel like I’m in Africa! Its the first time I have seen something truly different from Ohio since I’ve been here.
As you walk on you head through more forest and skirt more of the fields until the view opens again on a large expanse of grass land that has recently been scorched by “controlled” brush fires leaving everything either black or grain gold. And beyond that a ways further, among giant Baobab and Cashew trees is my village.
When we first got there the entire village was there, all 120 people with the men to one side under one of the large shade trees and the women and small children next to one of the few public concrete buildings. We made introductions, I greeted my counterpart who is also my brother in the village, and I greeted my mother in the village, and all the village elders, and the new (young) chief of the village. Then they gave me my village name: Mamadou Balde.
After visiting the compounds of the chief and village elders we went to my hut to unload the PC Land Cruiser. Everyone took something and it was all in my room in no time. Our compound is large, if not for the large Mango tree in the center you could fit a little league baseball diamond inside, and the ground is about as sandy and devoid of plant life. My hut is large, roughly fifteen feet in diameter, and a perfect circle. The grass and bamboo roof meets the top of the outer wall at about 7-8feet and the roof line ends at my chest height so I have to stoop to enter.
My backyard is huge relatively speaking. Most volunteers are lucky to have room for a small veggie garden, but I could plant two small gardens and a small orchard in the back and still have room for a small tree nursery. I also have a large shower/toilet area which does not offer a lot of privacy, but it does allow for great views of the sunset out over the corn fields.
My time is almost up for now, but I hope to write more later today or tomorrow!
-Zack
12-14-06
Hey all, hope everyone is doing well!
Things have been going much better all in all. We had a belated Thanksgiving at the Kolda house the weekend after all the funeral bs happened. It was good to get away and spend some time with Americans! We ate a ton of food: pumpkin soup, three geese, mashed potatoes, white sweet potato casserole, green beans, and even cranberry sauce made from the dehydrated cranberry snacks Oceanspray makes. We ran out of propane halfway through cooking, but there was plenty of alcohol so we rigged up a pit oven using charcoal and ripped off the top half of the rusted oil drum grill to keep the heat in and it worked perfectly!
I spent the weekend in Kolda and just recovered a bit. Browsed the books in the house library and ate food that wasn’t rice with leaf sauce! We had a house meeting poolside at one of the fancy hotels in Kolda and generally had a nice time. I went back to my village refreshed and ready to assert my need for privacy and alone time. I bought some fabric to hang in front of my door so my family members can no longer peek in my room whenever they feel like it, and I’ve begun planning to build a table for myself out of the bamboo that’s everywhere in the bush. I even got my fence fixed for the outrageous (sarcasm) price of $6 dollars for twenty feet of hand woven bamboo fencing! Although I was enjoying throwing rocks and sticks at the goats and cows in my backyard!
I was sitting by the fire the night I got back feeling pretty good, I was happy to be back, the fam was happy to have me back, and I was thrilled that the worst of the funeral shit was over. And as I sat by the fire, watching the stars and waiting for some rice with leaf sauce (maffay lalo) I hear the now all too familiar sound of women screaming in the near distance… Someone else died…
Luckily (for me and only me) this time it was in another compound and it was a woman who had passed so the next day there wasn’t even a formal funeral to go to. I believe her name was Adama (this is for the benefit of my ancienne who is now on the email list) I never did find out the name of the first man who died, sorry Matt.
Anyway, I have lost a lot of weight which at the moment is still a good thing. I’ve never been huge, but I was definitely going through my “fat Chandler” stage as Nick Gatrell would say before I left. I have started walking a lot in the woods and riding my bike more, combined with pulling my own water I’ll be in pretty good shape when I get back.
We have started eating a little better now that I have been able to start contributing financially to the family. I give Neene 4,000cfa a week which is roughly $8, for food and they have begun buying some meat, veggies, and even macaroni once in a while which is great. The contribution thing is a really tough thing to figure out. We had a session on it in PST but the only useful info I got out of it was to not be too stingy with our families which I am all for. The problem is that it is different from family to family and between rural volunteers and urban volunteers. The PCVs that talked to us were all urban volunteers so their contributions on top of the rent that PC pays has to include things like utilities and the high cost of food in urban centers, they said that the bare minimum per month should be 15,000cfa and probably more than that. For us rural volunteers its a lot different. A lot of the volunteers down here will just buy a 50k bag of rice once a month and whatever veggies they feel like picking up when they go to market which could end up being a lot less than 15,000cfa a month, plus depending on the season you might need to give more just to help feed the family because food is so scarce at times. Bottom line I haven’t gotten a straight answer from anyone. I could afford to give 30,000cfa a month in theory but I realize that would be extremely excessive, a whole $60, so I have settled for low balling now with the 16,000cfa a month and I plan to increase that amount some over time. (Matt, if you have any advice I’d love it!)
Anyway, sorry for that financial digression, its just that this has been one of my main concerns so far and part of what stresses me about it is that we are talking about absurdly small amounts of money… money that the US gov is giving me, they give me more than I could possibly spend being in the village all the time. If I spent the equivalent of $40 per week just on myself I would still have $40 leftover at the end of the month not even counting what I contribute to my family and not even counting the extra money PC gives us for vacation, travel to Dakar, monthly travel, etc… and there is no possible way I can spend $40 a week in the village. It would be ludicrous!
Anyway on a more interesting note the wildlife has been a bit scarce but I see monkeys on a nearly daily basis! The expereince is a lot like spooking deer at home. They are about knee high and I’ve seen as many as a dozen in a group at a time. I have to admit as exciting and interesting as it is to see wild monkeys, I think monkeys are one of the few animals that really make me nervous. They are cautious, but also very curious. They are small, but deceptively so, even small monkeys are very strong. And they can be aggressive and unpredictable at times. It was fun though when one climbed a small scrub tree to my eye level and we chacked eachother out for a few minutes! I’ve also seen 3ft long monitor lizards, and the back half of a black fast moving snake! The snakes scare me too, but I know they want to get away from me far more than they might want to find out what I am.
Well, that’s about it, here is a link to some pictures that my friend Danielle has put up, there are only a few of me, but she has about the only picture of me in my traditional dress at the swear in ceremony!
|
Well got to go hope to hear from you all soo and I hope you all have Happy Holidays!
-Zack
|