I Do Work Too

So  here are a few pictures from various projects I take part in: 

This is one of the two classes I work with at the special needs school. We outplanted lettuce back on Thursday. I go to the school a couple times per week with my counterpart, Abdul, (pictured here wearing a ballcap). Sometimes the kids are little snots, but Abdul can usually set them straight with some humor added in. 

Here a picture of the English Lovers Association prepping for a competition. If I had written this post before Saturday, I could have told you they were undefeted. They seriously are English lovers. They practice every day after class for a few hours. Some of them have English better than their teachers (I think). This practice session they had a choir come in and sing in English too. I was impressed. I go to the high school usually once per week to help with pronounciation, grammar, and fluidity. 

IN the field of the new Mboro Master Farmer (pictured in a cowboy hat). I had just given a training on compost. We have started having regular trainings. It is helpful that he is so well connected in the community and can call people. Speaking of composte, today I did a radio show on it this morning (not pictured). It went OK- way better than the first time I was on the radio. 

This one, admitedly, is not work. This past Saturday I went to part II, reception I of a friend of the family's wedding. I don't know if I will honestly understand Muslim Senegalese weddings in my stay here. Everyone is all dressed up. They look tired because it is around 11pm and we haven't had dinner. We had been sitting in plastic chairs with music blaring at us for the past hours. Don't they look pretty though? The colors clash until they are no longer clashing, right? The one in the green/purple is my older sister, Maimouna. She is married into the couple on the groom's side - a symbolic role I'd compair to being a godmother only for weddings. Just one of the many roles Senegal has for people to be closer to each other. The person wearing the pink and looking all mean is my little sister, Hadji. She usually doesn't look so mean. 

Book Review: IMAGINE

I sent this book review in to our Peace Corps Senegal newsletter, the Sabaar, but only a portion of it was published, so I thought I'd publish the entirety of it here.

Book Review: Imagine by Jonah Lehrer

            I picked up Imagine at Liberte VI over Thanksgiving and it has been one of the more fun reads I’ve stumbled upon in a couple months. If you like Gladwell’s Blink and the like, Imagine has many of the same pop-psych pop-sociology pop-statistics that make it a tasty candy to consume. Basically Lehrer dissects different formulas to exploit the height of human creativity. He talks about the brain and trends in cities. I spotted a few holes in the logic and it was clearly focusing on the “developed” world, but there was a lesson in the final chapter that reinforced in me an idea that I’ve been thinking about for a while. I live in a city with a high school in a family with high school students, so I’ve gotten a little intimate with the school system and from what I can tell it boils down to memorization. Whether it is verb tenses for English class, a poem for French class, or a formula for math class, the core of the education here seems to be memorization. While I don’t discount that there is a place for memorization in the education system, to the extent that it is used here seems in my observation to be a hindrance. Students lose sight of the forest for the trees and instead of holistically understanding their homework; they only know how to conjugate the appropriate verb. If my observation is correct, the master’s tools (this is the French education system) will not dismantle the master’s house.

This is where we come in. While many of the US’s surges in innovation can be accounted for through generations of immigrants, in the words of Jack Donaghy in 30 Rock, “The first generation works their fingers to the bone making things. The next generation goes to college and innovates new ideas. The third generation snow boards and takes improv classes.” (remarking on how immigrants shape the US). Among the loads of other resources that makes it impossible to compare to any development/innovation here, the core may be just as Lehrer insinuates, based on creativity. He cites a school in New Orleans made up primarily of students from low income backgrounds of which 98% of them go to college with the average student receiving more than $99,000 in financial aid and the organization of the school is free time in the arts. Many of the students study tap dancing, for example, and go on to have careers in business or other completely unrelated fields. “I asked [a student] if she planned on becoming a professional dancer. ‘Probably not, I love to dance […] but dancers make no money. I want to make money.’ Then I ask Tiffani if she thinks her dance training will still be useful. Wouldn’t it be better to go to regular school? ‘Oh, no way I’m not just learning how to dance here. It might look like that when you look at our classes because we are always dancing. But that’s not it. What I’m really learning is how to say something.’”  If we can encourage the youth we know to create whether it be visual art, theatre, music, writing, dance, sculpting, storytelling, -anything we may be helping far beyond what we can see.

Not to say creativity doesn’t already exist in Senegal- we can see it in the hairstyles, new dance moves, and slang (to name a few) that are in constant turnover, but within the school system it is not encouraged. We can see in the US too, the way we talk to children is usually in forms of discipline, telling them to stop goofing off, which Lehrer claims is a smothering of creative time; Just think of how often teachers now are forced to teach to the test. Sometimes when I think about our job, representing the US, trying to bring ideas of the US here, it makes me scared that I’m contributing to the negative effect of globalization of whitewashing the world, but when I think of the idea of encouraging creativity, I’d like to think that the people I’m trying to help would be able to bypass the American filter I put on it and take it in their own hands and put their own style on it and forget me altogether. “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.” As I’m sure many of you do already, encourage the kids in your life to explore their imagination and read Imagine by Jonah Lehrer to help get a better understanding of the positive impact that doing so may cause.

Weiss is starting the long process of starting an inventor’s club at her local high school. If you would like to exchange ideas, give suggestions, or help brainstorm puzzles, please contact her weissritaj@gmail.com or 77 360 7131

They call now Starvation Season

Until people reap their harvests in the fall. Food is scarce in some parts of the country.

http://www.economist.com/node/21558315

What to do when you lose your ATM card in Senegal (Peace Corps version)

What to do when you lose your ATM card in Senegal (Peace Corps version)
1. Go to the gendarm and report it missing.
2. Go to the banks and give them that piece of paper that makes it official that you lost your card. Be sure to have your Passport. Your driver's license nor your Peace Corps ID will get you anywhere. Passport rekk.
3. They will fill out the paperwork and your card should be available in 45 days. Not sure if that's business days or what, I'm still waiting.

Now you wait.

That's about all it takes, but I wish someone had told me. Also, I had hope that Peace Corps would make a few calls and take care of it all for me, but alas, no it is not their job and in fact have no part in helping get a new ATM card. When am I going to stop losing things in my life? Also, make a note to your host dad in writing that there is an issue. He never remembers anything anyway.

OK I admit it, I'm American

In lieu of the 236th Anniversary of the United States Independence from Great Britain, a little late at this point, I've decided to come out and admit it: I'm American through and through. Since the time I started contemplating it until coming to Senegal I considered myself as somewhat outside the system because my family always had international friends coming and going, from my dad's international grad students to the Israelis in the synagogue and a bunch of my friends growing up had at least one parent not born in the States. Once I got into college I got to do a little traveling and thought that I could really live anywhere without being able to get over a mild culture shock.

Another reason I wanted this separation from the title 'American' is the dumb herd status we are often donated through our international education rankings, religion influencing government, international health care rankings, capital punishment is legal, race in the prison system, race relations in general, our dumbed-down media, and our food system to name a few.* We as a group seem to prioritize personal freedoms over the collective good. These are embarrassments to me as an American and cause to say 'that's not me I'm not like that.' But I am.

In coming to Senegal and doing my best to integrate, I see now how different I am and not just because I am usually the fairest of them all. Because of the basic education I received through high school I am able to read and understand a map and know what lightning and thunder are, I understand why it is important to use soap, among so many other things that many Senegalese haven't a clue about. It brings a sense of appreciation for the education that so many kids grumble through and skip. We don't realize how good we got it. There are, of course, Senegalese who are educated, my host family being among them. If the kids do their work and succeed through school, I am sure that their school is actually more demanding than my high school was: they study in a language that they do not speak entering school, French, and they usually study at least one other language whether it is English or Arabic or Spanish in addition to the seven other courses they are required to take that we too were required to take. Additionally, since theirs is a system based on the French, many of their subjects have a European core despite the fact that most of them will never step foot outside of Senegal for their entire lives. They also study many African  literature and continental facts. A Senegalese high school student can be expected to name the capital of Eritrea, the president of Sierra Leone, and the mountain range in Ethiopia, and the author of Madame Bovary all in their second or maybe third language (that is if they can make it to and through high school which SO MANY don't). Could you name all or any of those?

In admitting that I'm American, it's important to realize the privilege that has come with being born into this society. From the basic education to the government protections such as treating our water, or beautiful privileges like libraries. Another liberty to be thankful for as Americans is our knowledge of our rights. I'm guessing that it is due to the fact that this country was not rebuilt once after the American/French Revolutions and again after WWII as a reason that there are so many people here who don't know their basic human rights as debated and decided by the Western world (though who knows if colonization actually began or exacerbated the breaking of these in the first place): http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ . Luckily there is a beautiful organization that works here in Senegal called Tostan http://www.tostan.org/ that trains local community member to hold meetings and sensitize that everyone has a right to speech, health, and so many human rights we take for granted.

I met up with a few of my best Peace Corps friends in Senegal for the 4th and someone half-joked that Peace Corps is a government scheme to get us all to love our country. We all had at least a grain of escapism in joining PC, but at this point so many of us feel so far from the comfort of home. Which brings me to another concept that I have always had a hard time bringing myself to accept: nationalism which I categorize in the same arbitrary vein as sports allegiance when I'm feeling sassy. I often hear the sentiment that the US is the greatest country or that Americans are the hardest working or whatever it is that Americans are self-titling themselves. While it is true that this experience has helped me appreciate where I am from, I do not think that the positive aspects of that experience should inherently be limited to the US and find it sad when I hear these affects.

Beyond that, I admit it is such an assuaging feeling to listen to 'my' music, speak in English to people who know me- express exactly what I want to say in the words I want to say them in which includes silly Wolof that PC throws into conversation, to wear shorts and not feel unprofessional and regarded (I have never worn shorts at site in public or even in front of my family)

Though I still don't believe I have to defend American mass media nor support the death penalty nor chant "USA! USA!," I wonder how this newer feeling of pride will influence my life when I come back to live in the States. In writing this, I hope that rather than thinking about a nationalism as a pledge to a flag but to the idea of human rights the American Revolution and so many other struggles have been faught. To take full advantage of the power we hold as citizens- vote or even run for office ( http://erichbishop.com/ ) and put a foot forward to make the US a country we don't have to cringe, smile, and sheepishly admit to being a citizen.


*Most of these rankings are brought down by intercity figures which is all the more embarrassing- the rich are able to care for and protect themselves while those born into a family of a single working parent, welfare, crappy education system, no grocery store etc. must suffer. This is also directly linked to American race relations.

Projects or What I Actually Do Here

Ever since the ending of Inter Service Training (IST for those of you who love acronyms as much as Peace Corps does), we have been given official permission to begin projects. IST ran for a couple weeks in February and gave us more technical knowledge we will surely be using throughout our service. So I have a couple up-and-coming projects that I feel I have laid at least enough ground work to begin to talk about them.

An image from IST. Austin, our PCVL, taught us about how to work with the level of the land to take full advantage of water flow.

1. CREPE (pronounced like the food)
Three times a week my counterpart, Abdul, and I bike to the other side of town to a special needs school called Crepe. It is funded by a Belgiumish organisation, if I'm not mistaken. The buildings are clearly quite new- they've probably only seen a couple rainy seasons. That, or they are very well maintained. There are about a dozen teachers, all Senegalese, and each class has about forty students with, oh, about five classes in all. Abdul and I talk to only two classes. We talk about agriculture and nutrition. Usually the set-up is me preparing a lesson and Abdul helping them understand me since my Wolof is by no means perfect (I usually use French as a crutch) and these kids have very limited French. After the classroom lesson, we usually go outside and get hands-on. So far, we have planted two 1x3m Moringa olifera beds, built five tables, which in case you are wondering what a table is:
http://iqraba.org/en/component/k2/item/13-micro-gardening-projects-action-oriented-learning.html

Here is my counterpart showing off the tables we built with the kids

The Senegalese government subsidizes the materials used to build these tables, which are still quite shoddy. These tables do not last long, in fact a couple have already started to fall apart there. Between uneven surfaces, poor construction, and rainy season on the wood, the break quickly. Then, just this week, we planted lettuce with proper 15cm spacing in the tables. The transplants came from my pepiniere on the other side of town at my garden. So that made me feel pretty good. Unfortunately when I came back not even a week later all the lettuce had died.

Abdul teaching about seeding Lettuce

Someday my language will be good enough that I won't have to rely on him Inshallah

Kids beg me to take their picture

The kids have way too much fun watering, they often overwater, but it's fun to see them scurry around

2. Moringa Seminars
After collecting many hundreds of seeds around Mboro and Thies, I began seeding into tree sacs. The literature would dictate that these trees are hardy enough to direct seed, and I know that, but I have something bigger planned. In coordination with the local NGO, Projet Jappoo, I am planning a series of seminars to various city demographics such as new mothers, pregnant women, farmers, people who work at the health posts, people who work with talibe (http://www.worldvision.ca/ContentArchives/content-stories/Pages/questions-and-answers-talibes-of-senegal.aspx basically young boys who are poorly taken care of who go out begging for religious leaders, marabouts. Hopefully I'll be able to do something like this later http://pcsenegal.org/page/view/an-agriculture-workshop-for-talib) etc. During these seminars I plan to extol the nutritional and gardening benefits of moringa and then hand out a tree to each participant. Hopefully there will be money in the budget to make a sample dish with moringa to help expand the diet. As of now I have a few hundred trees germinated with more seeds to be planted, and my seminar proposal is in at the NGO. Fun fact, in both French and Wolof this tree is referred to as Nebadaye which they say is a derivative of the English 'never die.'

Some of my germinated moringa ready to give out to townsfolk. 

I have over 300 germinated,

now we just wait on the NGO.

3. School Garden
Right now it's in the planning stages. I am in contact with the school director, teachers, and the mayor about budgeting. As soon as that is figured out, I will submit my grant which I think goes through USAID.

The future site of Jardin Ecole Cite 2000, pure sand and on a slant, but we'll figure it out

City Planning

All these pictures were taken in Mboro

See the curtain hanging as a wall on the side of this structure? That's how you can tell delicious bean sandwiches are sold inside. The ingredients are usually beans, onion sauce, eggs, machine bread, and mayo. You order each ingredient by the price ie "50CAFA onion sauce"

For more information see http://lavieafrique.blogspot.com/2011/12/bean-sandwich.html

Here is another kind of resto here in Senegal. They are all named Tangana.

All the coiffures, or men's hair salons, have a picture of a head in front.

Here is a little picture in the market. I am really lucky with the market in Mboro. It is known throughout Senegal for having all the veg Senegal has to offer. Also, we have Fuk y Jaay everyday which Wolof for Shake and Sell; basically it's thrift store on the street.

The future site of my garden!!!!

Quiz time. What would I find behind this curtain?

*Answer: something tasty.