Bittersweet

Today I left village aka I no longer call Mamadou Badeifa home. I’ve known that this day was coming for a while now, and while I was prepared for it, it still hit me like a ton of bricks. Two weeks ago, my nouveau (aka replacement) came down for volunteer visit and we spent three days together in our village. Strange. I feel like my village is in good hands with her and vice versa, but it’s weird to think that I’m not going to be their volunteer anymore. I have this irrational mindset that once I’m gone, my village will forget all about me. I know that they won’t (I left them a bunch of pictures, so they can’t), but I can’t help but feel that I’m getting replaced (I mean, I am, but still).

This last stint in village has been hard. For the past month, everyone started talking about how I was leaving them and how much they were going to miss me. I was like, I’m not gone yet, so let’s not talk about it and enjoy our time together. Unfortunately for me, they didn’t understand that concept. Other than that, I just embraced the quiet (and all the mangoes they gave me) and spent my last month, much like my first- hanging out with my family and with my villagers. I think Amadou knew I was leaving. Even though he had a cold, he would come into my room to sit with me or just sit in my lap. My dog was also being more affectionate than usual. SO HARD to say goodbye.

Two nights ago, I threw a party in village. It was more for my village than myself, but I think I benefited the most from it; it brought me some closure. Two of my neighbors, Katie and Missy came to celebrate with me. The men played a soccer game for me and we danced until midnight (literally two hours past my village bed time). It was so much fun; my women sang and made songs about me, it was flattering and overwhelming at the same time. At the end of the night, my mom gave me a present. I don’t know exactly what it is, but its cool (see pics below)!

Yesterday, I spent time with my family and just soaked it all in. My LAST day in village. It was like any other day until my brother had to remind me at lunch that it was our last lunch together and then proceeded to tell me that he didn’t have an appetite because he was unhappy with the fact that I was leaving. I had to bite my lip so I didn’t start crying at the bowl (I ran away to my room to do that). I said my goodbyes, ate a lot of mangoes (like 11- seriously), gave away a lot of my belongings, and shed a lot of tears.

This morning, I left village with my brother at 6:30am. I wanted to leave without seeing anyone because I wasn’t ready for an emotional goodbye (even though it’s not goodbye because I’ll be in Senegal, 100k away, for another year). My brother biked with me to Kolda and that was it, done with village. I know I’ll be back, but it’s different not calling it home anymore. I cherish the memories of village- the good, bad, frustrating, and stressful. I adore the people I call my family and will never forget all that they’ve done for me. I don’t know how I got so lucky with a wonderful family and village, but I’m thankful for the experience and all the good times.

I’m excited for the next step, the next adventure, but am sad to leave my village. I know I’ll be fine and happy soon, but it’s been a hard couple days. I guess I have to just keep smiling.

PEACE & FAMILY

ONE MORE YEAR!

I'm staying in Senegal for another year! You can read about my adventures for another year. I will be working with World Vision, helping to implement malnutrition interventions in the district of Velingara. I will be moving to a small town and living in an apartment. It's an amazing opportunity and I will continue to be able to work in Pulaar in addition to honing my French skills.

I feel like this next year will be more fulfilling work wise, but less so culturally. I probably won't have as many fun posts, but I will write all those posts that I meant to in the past two years and just never got to.

PEACE & WORK!

P.S. I have a new address! Send me fun things!

Babies!

As time in village winds down, I don't know how I'm going to say goodbye to my babies- all three of them. I'm talking about my puppy, Kodee, and my two nephews- Amadou (2) and Sajo (7 months). These three, although none of them can talk to me (maybe that's why I love them so much), bring an infinite amount of joy to my life. Kodee is the first one to greet me in the morning, with joyous barks and a wagging tail, followed closely by Amadou who runs to me (often naked, having just woken up) with arms spread wide, waiting for me to pick him up and give him a morning kiss. Sajo, in the mean time, is being held by his mother and when he spots me walking across the compound with Amadou in my arms, he breaks out into a giant toothless baby grin- priceless.


I made the decision a couple months ago to not take Kodee back to the states with me. I came to this conclusion after an extensive pro/con list. In the end, it came down to the fact that she will be much happier here, living in my village, than at my dad's house in San Francisco with a small yard or in the apartment that I will most likely occupy upon my return. She is a village dog that loves to go out to the fields with my host dad and brothers (there are numerous times when she's gone to the fields herself long before any humans made it there), who has friends she plays with, who has lots of space to run around in, and who is adored my my family in general (particularly my mom who feeds here more than I do). I can't imagine that she'll be happy living in a cramped space or enjoy obedience classes. It was a heartbreaking decision, but the right one in the end.


The other two, I desperately want to take back to the states with me. I've told my sister-in-law multiple times that I'm going to sneak Amadou back in my backpack. He's the first baby that I've seen grow up before my eyes. He was born two weeks before I visited my village for the first time and was 6 weeks old when I arrived in village. I've seen him grow bigger and was there to see many of his firsts- sitting, crawling, walking, eating solid food, etc. I've calculated the time I spend with him and on any given day in village, I spend 1/7 of my waking hours hanging out with him. He is a mischievous little one who has this glint in his eyes and a sly smile on his lips. The other day when I was making a tree nursery and had laid neem leaves down, he sat down next to it and proceeded to grab handfuls of leaves and throw them everywhere, laughing hysterically has he did so. I cannot express the amount of love I have for this child. If you look through my village albums on facebook, you'll notice that they are dominated by pictures of Amadou. I could have the worst day in village, where I can't seem to express myself in Pulaar or when people are frustrating me, and all it takes is Amadou crawling onto my lap to melt my heart and make me smile again.


Sajo is a close second to Amadou and nothing makes me smile more than a healthy baby. Sajo was born during Ramadan and was named after my brother who died December 2010. He is the happiest baby that I've encountered. Sajo exudes joy and it doesn't take much to get him to break out into his adorable grin. He started to recognize me around 4 months and loves it when I carry him around with me. He has the most adorable outfits and is set to be the cool kid in school. Sajo has the most adorable chubby cheeks and I just want to coddle him.



In my two years here, I've fallen in love. Fallen for these two little boys who will always have a special place in my heart. The worst part of it all is that they won't remember me when I leave. And it hurts to think about it, so I just won't (I'm in D-E-N-I-A-L).

Peace & Babies!

Life

So here is going to be a whirlwind briefing of my life. Some parts will be expanded upon later, while others will survive as a small paragraph within this post. If there is anything you want to hear more about, I'll be more than happy to write a long winded entry about it later- you just have to let me know! On y Go!

Birthday and Halloween
This year, for my birthday, I decided that I wanted to go all out and have birthday week. It commenced after our annual Health/EE summit, where we shared best practices and our experiences with different projects. After our summit, we went to the beach! A small group of great friends decided that they would come along for the magical journey. We spent some time in Mbour, where we relaxed by the ocean and took a brief vacation from our lives. Then we went liquor tasting at Liquor de Warang, which makes delicious liquors from cashew apples, passion fruit, mint, and various other ingredients. After that we traveled to Tamba for my actual birthday and Halloween. I made a deal with the owner of a hotel to let us use their pool for free and I may have used the "It's my Birthday!" card in order to secure that deal. It was so much fun. A lot of people came in a day early for Halloween and it turned out to be a spectacular birthday. In addition, two lovely ladies, Katie & Sharon, decorated my hotel room with balloons and streamers- LOVE!



The next day was Halloween extravaganza. Kelly and I decided months ago that we were going to be troll dolls, complete with sky high colored hair and jeweled belly buttons. It was a fantastic time and everyone came with creative costumes, including Lady Gaga, the Black Swan, and Warblers (from Glee). After that, it was back to Kolda!


Kolda grows...
In November, we welcomed ten new members to the Kolda family. That brings the number of volunteers in our region to 38! We took them shopping for their new homes and we cooked up delicious meals to celebrate their addition. I participated in three installs (where we leave them at their new homes) and reminisced fondly upon the the time when I was dropped off in my village, 18 months prior.

Thanksgiving
This Thanksgiving, we had a feast, but then again, what is Thanksgiving, but lots of food and good company... In addition to cooking up a storm, Cara and I decided that we wanted everyone to write warm fuzzies aka things that they were thankful for on cards and we read them out loud in the evening,. It was a fun addition to the day's festivities and I'm very thankful that everyone indulged us and participated in our activity. Post dinner, the atmosphere in the house was a sight to see. There were a fair amount of people suffering from food comas, asleep in our living room, and a group of people ready to continue the party.



Eye Clinic
At the beginning of December, I traveled to the far off location, Bakel, to participate in another eye clinic. It was such a rewarding experience last year, that I was eager to help out again. Like last year, I had the job of pre-op prep. Since I did it last year, the doctors didn't have to spend extra time training a new person in this position and it was just as fun. I was exhausted each and every day, but the 150+ cataract surgeries that were performed more than made up for it. It was interesting to work in a different hospital and to see how the parties reacted. At this eye clinic, we had to call in police to help control the crowds that had assembled and at some points, the clinic resembled a zoo. It was ridiculous and we had old women lie to us in order to cut the line and more than one person attempt to bribe me. At times i felt like a terrible person for not being able to help everyone and having to turn people away, but in the end, we were only able to do so much in two weeks. It made me laugh and made me cry, but having a grandma saying she can see me for the first time makes me want to do this again and again.



Cereamine
My new pet project. What more can I say about it? Well, I whole blog post worth, so I will talk about my work with this nutritious flour used as a weaning food more in a following post. Here's a sneak peek. Cereamine is made up of five ingredients that are found easily in most villages throughout Senegal. A mixture of beans, corn, rice, millet, and peanuts, this roasted flour is a delicious alternative to other weaning products... Intrigued? Read more in an upcoming post!



Christmas
I spent Christmas in Kolda again and it was fantastic! We all had stockings that were filled with goodies and we made a million cookies, delicious food, and soul warming beverages (like mulled wine). So fun and filled with so much love!




WAIST 2.0



COS Conference
I've been in country for over two years now. Close of Service (COS) conference happened right after WAIST and we discussed various issues that might arise when we return to America. We worked on our resumes and discussed everything we needed to complete before we received our R in RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer). It was strange to have my entire stage reunited again. It was an emotional time because it is possibly the last time that some of us would see each other in country. I am so lucky to have served with such a great group of people and am so happy that Peace Corps brought us together.

Mali
Amazing vacation with amazing people. Entry to come...

Garden
My women's garden is finally done and the women have begun planting in it! I wish that it was completed earlier so I could have nutrition causeries in conjunction with the garden. Oh well, hopefully my replacement will want to take over this project. I need to take pictures, but once I do, I will post them.

Hygiene Week
In conjunction with my health post, we had hygiene and malaria refresher trainings, where we emphasized the importance of proper hygiene. There has been a recent increase in the incidence of diarrhea in my village and surrounding community, so it was timely to have this talk. In addition this year, the number of malaria cases spiked dramatically in comparison to last year, so we reminded people about the importance of mosquito net usage.



I know that some of these were really brief, but I'm getting tired of listing my activities. More posts to come in the next two days- Inshallah!

Peace & Work

Sorry!

Dear Friends,

I would like to sincerely apologize for my lack of updating since the end of October. I'm sure that you've all been anxious to read my latest update from the land of Senegal. I have no good excuse other than the fact that I was hit by a bout of "I don't feel like sitting down and writing". And since I've recovered from that, I've been too overwhelmed to write and have started numerous posts, but haven't managed to finish one. BUT, here they are....I've been hit with a bit of motivation (actually, I'm procrastinating from writing my Close of Service report) and have proceeded to update you on my comings and goings. Enjoy!

Love, Wilma