6 months down, 18 more to go! #sweet2senegal

Okay, so I have been living in Botou, Tambacounda for 6 months. That’s right, half of a year I have been living in a hut, struggling with a language, and honestly, I am still adjusting every day. It hasn’t been easy and it hasn’t been the picturesque type of experience that I built up in my head. I am growing and constantly learning, which makes this one of the most rewarding (and exhausting) experiences of my life.

Since arriving at site I have tried to stay busy by joining organizations through Peace Corps, work on site projects, give demonstrations, travel around a bit, and still learn about this culture. It is difficult to not have the same amenities that I had in the States. With constant available service to call my family and friends or even to Google questions that pop up in day to day life it makes you realize that you need to rely on yourself. I have had to rely on my community to make projects go smoother and to remain resilient even when projects go south. Failure has been another word that I have been having to deal with since arriving and it isn’t a good feeling. Yes, I have had ideas and projects fail. BUT, I have seen successes in my community and successes in my day to day life that outweigh the failures that pull me down.

I have made friends and I have found out who I would rather not work with/see. I am still constantly learning about my community. I have come to love and respect my host mother and father and equally love and respect my host siblings. They make me feel like I belong and I feel comfortable being there. Even though there were two volunteers before me, both amazing volunteers and people, my family accepts me and my quirkiness and for that I am so grateful.

Senegal is changing me. Is it for the better? I think so. I am becoming more curious about the world, learning how I can maintain my mental health myself (so important!), and molding myself into the person I want to be. I have even started looking in some next steps (grad school maybe?) in my career but as always focusing on constantly being present!

Peace Corps Senegal said it best at staging; “This is the toughest job that you’ll ever love.” Luckily for me, I love it still. 

*Even though these are all ramblings, thank you for reading!* 

Celebrating Ramadan in Botou #sweet2senegal

“Kong, Kong, Tiguida, Tiguida, I be kunnina wa?”

It is 4am, it is the middle of Ramadan and it is time for breakfast. Every day this month I have been waking up at 4am with my family to celebrate Ramadan and fast with them. Each morning I eat porridge, return to sleep, and will not eat or drink until sundown and we break the fast. Although some days I sneak a little water, I have kept true to my word and have fasted food with my family except when I am traveling around the country to different villages or I am at the regional house which is considered “little America”. Do I enjoy it? No. Am I learning a lot? Absolutely.  

                Ramadan is the Islamic holy month of fasting in which Muslims may not eat or drink during daylight hours. It is celebrated because it is said that this is the month in which the prophet Mohammed received the first ideas to create the Quran. The Quran is like the Bible for Muslims. Ramadan begins with the sighting of the new moon and continues until the end of the moon cycle. All day Muslims abstain from water and food until the end of the day when a break fast occurs. Around 7:30PM cold water and bread is shared, we all go to the Mosque to pray, and we come back and feast on dinner. A full month of reflection, fasting, and being with each other.

                Although you may be thinking, WHY ON EARTH would a non-Muslim participate in this... I honestly just wanted to see if I could do it. Every day is a constant struggle of wanting to sneak to my room and eat a little snack or not participate in the prayer at night, however I have been able to push myself mentally and believe it or not, spiritually, and do this with my host family. They pray 5 times a day and are truly fasting, how could I NOT give it a try? However, we are only half way through.

                Each village has their own way of celebrating Ramadan and their own traditions. My town is especially interesting. After 15 days of fasting, we just celebrated a day like the American holiday of Halloween. The kids of Botou covered themselves in wood ash, made silly hats, collected sticks, and carried around buckets to collect food from their neighbors. Although it wasn’t candy, I participated in the event and walked around with my 2 host sisters. To get food from neighbors you had to perform a song or do a little dance to then be rewarded with either, corn, peanuts, cowpeas, sorghum, or even money. My bucket was full at the end of the night and I have never had so many adults laugh in my village at the same time when I was dancing around singing, “ A salaam wali wali, A wali saalam!”

                As it is getting closer to June 25^th (14 more days!), we are going to start preparing for the end of Ramadan with the holiday called Korite. It will be the end of Ramadan and it is celebrated by slaughtering a goat and feasting on it until it is completely gone, usually takes about 3 days. The town dresses up and we feast (my kind of holiday!).

                So far, I haven’t passed out, died, or anything that my host family thought was going to happen. I get called a “janbar” on the regular which literally translates to warrior. Can I put that on a resume or nah? 

 I look forward to the remaining days of fasting and centralizing myself everyday with reflection with my family.

As always, thanks for reading and Herra Doron. 

Mafé and Me; Cookin’ with Camissa

Here’s the thing, back home in America I never cooked. In fact, I somewhat loathed the idea of it. The heat, the preparation process, and especially the clean-up. It takes time and you have to do it every day because well you gotta eat, right?

Get this, I cook and bake all the time here now. That is right, Olivia/Tiguida cooks and ENJOYS IT.

Thanks to amazing Senegalese women who have taken me under their wing, I have learned how to prepare some traditional Senegalese dishes that I will hopefully (fingers cross) cook when I go back to America.

Without further ado, let me introduce you all to a dish called Mafé. 

Ingredients: 

- Rice

- Peanut Butter 

- Water

- Okra 

- Hot Pepper

- Pepper, Seasonings

- Onion

Step One: Steam the Rice in a bowl over a fire until it is softer. Traditionally. in Senegal there is a bowl that has boiling water and then rice in a separate bowl in the top. The women tie a piece of fabric around the boiling pot to create the steam that cooks the rice. Then they add the rice to the boiling water to finish cooking it. 

Step Two: Get a second bowl and add water and peanut butter sauce to the pot. Add in mushed up okra, onions, hot pepper and different seasonings. Let it simmer and wait till it gets thicker. 

Step 3: Enjoy over rice and add some more hot pepper (if you dare!) 

I have had this meal more times than I can count, but it never gets old...not yet anyways. 

Look out for my next Senegalese dish of Rice and Fish!