It feels like Home. #Sweet2Senegal

50 days before I left for Senegal I was working in Philadelphia at the Penn State Center as a Community Schools intern. I was interviewing people in the city who were actively trying to engage the community to become responsible and to fight for their children’s public education reform. However now, it has been 50 days since I have been installed living in Botou. Can you guess where I am in my village? In the school of course!

Living at site, I was trying to find a purpose and direction on where I was headed as well as what projects I would want to start in the future. I honestly was lost. Until I thought about it, my home is the classroom. It is where I feel comfortable, where I can be myself (even act a little goofy), and I feel that I can set objectives and conquer them. Although the classrooms here are a little different because I have to speak a mixture of French and Bambara, I felt as if I got my courage back and life sprung back in me. So what did I do you may ask? We had ourselves a little competition in Botou!

In the Peace Corps we are encouraged to do mini projects to keep ourselves busy while our main projects are taking form or if we are waiting for grants to pass. It seems through a lot of Peace Corps projects murals have been very successful and a way to beatify an area. The only problem that I see is that the murals are never in the hands of the community and what they would like to see. Idea time! Why not have a healthy competition in the classrooms and have the students draw what they would want to see in their classroom! However there had to be rules like every good competition. The students would need to write what they were studying that year and then draw a design of what they thought would look good in their room. After talking with the students and the teachers (in very broken French!) the competition was off! The students, and of course myself maybe more than the kids, were so excited. For an entire week, students would come to my hut and ask my opinion or if they could borrow my colored pencils to add in a couple more designs. At the end of the week I went to each classroom and lined up all the designs and had the kids vote on which ones they liked the best and then we had the winners! Although some of the ideas may need slight adaptions because of what they are actually learning in school, I have never seen the kids so excited and proud of what they accomplished.

After I went home that night, I felt it. I felt the feeling I have been waiting to feel since I have been here. After being in the classroom I finally felt home.

Peace Only. 

Not the type of Roller Coaster I want to be on... #Sweet2Senegal

I have now been living in Botou for over 5 weeks now. 5 weeks of difficult language learning. 5 weeks of feeling as if I am on an emotional roller coaster that seems more on the down slope than the upward pull. 5 weeks of meeting my village of over 1,500 people and trying to figure out where I exactly belong in it. No day here has been perfect yet. I know there probably (in challah) will be one, but for now I have been trying to enjoy the upswing of my roller coaster and trying to avoid staying in the dips of the low points.

Here is the thing, I have been living in Senegal for over 110 days and honestly I still don’t know what my job is and what direction I am going in. Although I have not been changing the world every day during my service, I have been changing MY world and have been allowing myself to be selfish and just take time to figure things out.

I have been practicing sitting still. Crazy I know right? I never sit still unless I had a big bag of Doritos in my hand and I was binge watching Netflix under my fluffy blanket in America. This is a different type of still. I have been watching life pass me by and taking time to understand how things work. I watch my mother crack peanuts from when she wakes up till when she goes to bed. I watch and hold a flashlight in the dark so that my brothers and sisters can study just a little more French before they go to bed at night. I watch my aunt cook amazing food to feed our big compound. I also watch my dad plant in his garden and come over when he tells me I need to learn this new Senegalese farming technique. Every day I watch, listen, and just am still.

With all that time on my hands through observing and listening, my Bambara has slowly improved. I have noticed that through my own personal learning process I am reminded of my students that I taught in Philadelphia. My amazing students who all craved support and acknowledgement that said, “Hey, look at me I am doing it right this time!” I CRAVE IT! I don’t understand why right now in my life I need to feel that support and in the Senegalese culture they are not ones to point out the good things every day. They more point out the fact that I have a pimple on my face or I ate too much food that day that my stomach is getting bigger. Definitely not the support I was looking for. However, I have been enjoying my time and trying to remind myself that my community needs me just as much as I need it.

I know this is a lot to put in a blog post however I strive to be transparent with my friends and family back home. This job is one of the hardest things I have ever had to explain to them (just ask my mother… I am surprised she still takes my calls when I talk about culture problems with her!).

 My job is irritating, amazing, frustrating, and drives me insane all the time that the Malaria medication isn’t the only reason my hair is falling out.

I am simply ready for the upward pull of the roller coaster.

Herra Doron

 {Peace Only}

Welcome to Botou! #Sweet2Senegal

Sometimes words are not enough to express what I have been experiencing in Senegal. I call friends and family and try to explain however sometimes people just don't get it (a common feeling for travelers and Peace Corps volunteers). I have been covered in dirt, laughed or cried all day, had my FOMO moments from missing home, been forced to hold random babies or children while mothers just walk away, taught how to dance and cook, explored several bush paths in Tambacounda, and even got into an argument in a market over fabric prices even though in America the fabric would only be around 4 dollars.... it's the principle of it. 

More importantly, I have been having an amazing time in Senegal.  

To explain some of my experiences, here are  are some pictures to show what I have done or seen so far in Botou and other locations around Tambacounda! 

How do you travel around Senegal? In old Station Wagons
with friends! The car usually fits around 7 people
however Peace Corps bought the car for 3 of us and ALL
of our luggage. 

Swear in outfit with my Alma Mater 

Welcome Home!
My host father Bouna, my
counterpart Tening (holding my favorite
food that was just for me!), and my little sister
in front of my hut! 

The welcoming committee of women and children who
came to dance and welcome me to the village. 

School let out so the party grew! 

Speaking of school, one morning I was joined
by the local schools 3rd grade class who were learning
the French words for farm animals. What better
way to learn than by going on a field trip
to look at some?! 

According to my Senegalese sister, I am going to make a
fantastic wife. 

My beautiful sister and Tamba! Sokanah is always
patient with me and my terrible Bambara! 

My adorable brother and sister Fili and Tene (left to right).
They both love to constantly follow me everywhere
I go and always beg to be tickled. 

My daily dancing lessons in front of my hut. 

Meet Tamba! I was presented
with this cutie when I told my friends
counterpart that I loved dogs! 

Peanut harvest is always a long day.
My mom and sister work all
day shaking peanuts to separate the peanuts and
the plant material.  

First murals completed in Thiawor! My friends and I painted
the Case de Sante! 

My amazing counterpart Tening Konte. She
makes me my second breakfast everyday,
takes me on walks to meet
people in town, and always makes me feel at home
in Botou.

More pictures are to come but for now these are it! So many fun things and experiences are to come soon. 

As always, Herra Doron .