ONE

***Note- This is a slightly depressing post. It's not as sad as "We are Family", but it's not a light entry either. You have been warned.

"Lonely, I'm Mr. Lonely." "One is the loneliest, one is the loneliest. One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do." "Loneliness has always been a friend of mine." As much as I love the Backstreet Boys (yes, I'm acknowledging this on the internet), I have never felt that loneliness has been a present emotion in my life. I grew up with 3 sisters, shared a room for 15 years, and am consistently surrounded by loving family and friends. I admit, I went through a "teenage angst" phase, where I was convinced that my family didn't understand me (in retrospect, this is absolutely ridiculous), and I would feel isolated, but not alone...

I am lonely. I am alone. Not in the "No one in the world understands me" way (there is a good portion of volunteers that understand how I feel), but in a conscience I am actually alone way. You know how celebrities say that they feel alone when they're surrounded by people? I didn't understand that until I joined the Peace Corps. I'm not saying that I feel like a celebrity or anything, but the fact that there are people around me constantly, I can kinda relate. In addition, there is a language barrier. My Pulaar is decent, but there are often time that I cannot express the way I truly feel. Those are the times where I feel the loneliest. My family is amazing and one of my sister-in-laws can read my emotions like a book, but it's not the same as venting to a close friend.

I think I had this realization after WAIST. This was a whirlwind week where I was surrounded by friends and could articulate my thoughts and feelings. Upon returning to village, I found that I was confronted with numerous occasions where I just couldn't say what I wanted to say. After that, I was in and out of village working on projects with other volunteers and had visitors, and then I went home. Talk about homesickness. I was ready to return to village and work on my projects, but that small dose of home made it really difficult to readjust.

What I see everyday when I wake up =)

I'm not writing this to gain sympathy, but to honestly express one of the emotions in my life. I'm not looking for reassurance, (I'm happy for the most part), but to share a part of Peace Corps life that may get overlooked. When I'm lonely, I call a friend or bike over to a neighbor's village and it helps (Thank goodness for our unlimited calling plan to each other). I get bouts of homesickness and waves of loneliness when I'm alone (HA), but then my puppy will wander in or Amadou will saunter through my door with a HUGE mischievous smile and it's all OK again. I miss my friends and family, but I'm forming other relationships that make me feel like I'm a part of something. I still love it here for the most part (I'm trying not to get too jaded), but I can't wait to be reunited with my family back home.

I miss you too...

Peace & Friendships

It's a Boy!

My woman aka my sister-in-law gave birth to a beautiful baby boy! On August 8, at 5am, she started having intense contractions and went to the hospital to give birth (YAY! Hospital!). It was day 6 of Ramadan, so I was told that they were taking her to the hospital when we were eating our pre-dawn meal. That afternoon, I visited her in the hospital, 30 minutes after she gave birth and was promptly handed the baby. He was so small and so young; it was an experience. I loved it!

This is the first time that my family has had a big event. All the other births and marriages occurred prior to my arrival. I get to be a part of the baptism! At baptisms, I usually give a little bit of money and a bar of soap, but since this was my sister, I went all out. I bought her 4 meters of fabric for her and 2 meters of fabric to wrap her baby in. It was so exciting and I told every person at lummo that this was for the new baby. The baptism occurs a week after the baby is born and it is at that point that they shave the baby's head and give it a name. They usually determine the name beforehand and that was the case in my family. They named the baby Sajo, after my brother who passed away in December (you may remember the depressing post). That name will now be associated with something happy, rather than the tragedy that occurred.

It was so much fun (but kinda boring) hanging out with my sister and her newborn. The newborn isn't allowed to be taken out of the hut until after the baptism. Since it's Ramadan, I'm super bored and spent everyday hanging out with baby and momma. The baptism happened on the 15th and my closest neighbor, Katie came to celebrate with my family. It was chill, but anticlimactic due to Ramadan- there was no dancing and fun drumming. But there is a new baby in the fam and I can't wait to watch him grow up.

I don't know what I'm going to do when I get back to the states and don't have a baby to play with. Seriously. Amadou is definitely my favorite person in village and I've watched him grow up and now there's Sajo. I love playing with babies, maybe I'll nanny again when I return home.

Peace & Babies

GIRLS RULE!

Gender and Development (GAD) is a secondary project that is near and dear to many volunteers, myself included. The goal of GAD is to educate individuals (men, women, and children) on gender issues within the community and to empower individuals to strive towards gender equality. Many volunteers facilitate girls groups in village or at schools, where they create a space to discuss a variety of issues. In addition, Awa Traore (our homestay and cross-culture coordinator) conducts tourneys where she talks about gender issues. This past May, Awa presented at 8 different sites in Kolda and was an asset to the Kunkane Girl's Camp. As a strong Senegalese woman, Awa is a lot more qualified to talk about sensitive issues, such as early and forced marriage, gender roles, women in the work place, rape, incest, and unwanted pregnancy to name a few.



Every year, volunteers participate in the Michelle Sylvester Scholarship Program. What is this you may ask.... Well, the Michelle Sylvester Scholarship Program is named after a volunteer deeply invested in girls education and empowerment. Established in 1993, the scholarship provides money for school fees and supplies. Each school that works with a volunteer chooses 9 high performing girls to receive school fees. Once the school chooses those 9 girls, the teacher write a recommendation and provide PCVs with end of term grades. The girls then write an essay detailing why they should receive a scholarship. Lastly, the volunteer performs a home visit to interview the girls and to gain insight into their home life. From there, the volunteer chooses six finalists and the scholarship committee chooses three winners. YAY GIRLS!

This is where you come in!! We are currently raising money to fund these scholarships. This year, we worked with over 40 schools, which means we need to raise money to send over 360 girls to school! If you are interested in donating to this wonderful cause, click here!

Peace & Gender Equality