A-B-C, not as easy as 1-2-3

Acronyms. I never gave acronyms much thought before Peace Corps. Sure, I knew that they were around and that some words in the common English language are actually acronyms (LASER, SCUBA...), but I didn't think that I would be using acronyms in my life (other than in chat). Boy, was I wrong. It all started in staging and in training, where acronyms were thrown around like nothing, such as how us PCTs had to do our TDAs during VV. Before I knew it, I fell into using acronyms and they became such second nature that I was called out on it because of this very blog. I would inadvertently use acronyms in my writing because they were ingrained in my everyday speech.

Even though some acronyms have wormed their way into my head, I am shocked to report that I am swimming in acronyms. In the past three weeks, I've been reading a lot of reports and manuals pertaining to the projects that my team is working on. Every document has a list of acronyms that usually spans two pages and since I'm reading things in both French and English, the letters all blur together. I'm beginning to get the hang of the acronyms for the nutrition documents, but then there are conflicting acronyms in different languages; e.g. PMI stands for both President's Malaria Initiative and Programme Maternelle et Infantile. It can get confusing in an office where we work on child and maternal health programs and Malaria programs.

The development sector likes it's acronyms and it's something that I have to work with. When I read the documents (on my computer to save paper), I have to print out the acronym sheet in order to keep everything straight. Here is what a meeting with my supervisor might include: Discussing the role of ARCs in AID and if the PMI provides funding, then talking about the PRN and what the BEN wants, while referring to PAIN for the indicators. Translation? Discussing what relais will do in the push to spray mosquito insecticide in homes and what the national office wants from the nutrition program and the manual that was provided. Confusing? Yes. Although our discussions don't actually sound like that, I find that I have to clarify acronyms fairly often. One day I will be a wiz at this, but it's going to take time.

GTG! TTYL

Peace   

P.S. I learned a new acronym yesterday that made me go "hmm".  WAR- West Africa Region.  Interesting...

P.P.S.  If you're bored, http://www.acronymfinder.com is a fun site to procrastinate on.  

Moving on Up!

I am sitting at a desk with the air conditioner on and with high speed internet. I have come a long way from the village. After my first week on the job, I enjoy the opportunity to be a part of a team and to have a more structured day, however, I miss the pace of village life. This was a weird time to start a job, as the majority of the health team had workshops in Dakar and Kolda. I took this opportunity to meet the other members of the World Vision staff and to settle into a new schedule slowly. This week, I've been reading a lot of project descriptions and case studies (in French), to get a sense of what everyone is working on and what my role can be. The team has been super helpful and they recognize that I've lived in a village and that I have a deeper understanding of the inner workings of a village than many of them do. It has been a slightly difficult transition adhering to a work day and to sit all day (I miss running around with the kids and eating mangoes), but I do enjoy the a/c.

I'm back to being a city girl. When I first arrived, I thought about how it was strange to be in a city again, but I realized that this is the norm; living in a village was out of the ordinary. Velingara is not a bustling metropolis by any standard, but it's big enough and has everything that I need. The down side is that I'm starting all over again, but this time, I don't have a built in family structure to take care of me. I forget how difficult it is to put yourself out there and make new friends. It definitely helps that there are two other PCVs here, but they're located on the other side of town and have their own lives.

It's early in my extension and I will be here for another year, so I'm just settling in, buying furniture and taking it one day at a time. I have a three bedroom apartment that needs to be furnished and once that happens, I can play hostess all the time (hint hint: come visit me!). I've started to go to aerobics class, which gives me something to do and to keep me active now that I'm not biking everywhere all the time. It's the beginning of a new adventure and I'm excited to start working on projects and to find my niche in Velingara. I'm confident in myself and am not worried about life this next year.

My Roommate... (more apt pics to come, after I decorate)

Peace & A/C  

Cereamine

Cereamine is my new life.  Literally.  At the All-Volunteer conference that took place in December 2010, I attended a session on Cereamine presented by a PC Mauratania volunteer that now works in Senegal.  It intrigued me, but I didn't have an opportunity to implement it until this past October.  So what is Cereamine?  Cereamine is a flour made from 5 locally available ingredients that can be made into a weaning porridge.  It is made from 4 parts corn, 4 parts beans, 2 parts millet, 2 parts rice, and 1 part peanuts.  Each ingredient is roasted and then ground into a flour.  The flour is versatile and the possibilities are endless.

With this new product, I've been touring Kolda, teaching women (and some men) how to make this better-for-your-kids-than-flour flour.  At each training, I show with a pre-made batch of Cereamine, so the women know what it looks like and they can smell it and feel it.  Then, I have the women roast up a batch so they can see when the grains are considered roasted (and partially because it's the most difficult part of the process).  While the roasting is occuring, I conduct a discussion about nutrition reminding women that they need to breastfeed until at least 6 months, teaching them about moringa, teaching them about the food pyramid, and stressing the importance of having a balanced diet.  The women are usually really receptive and ask good questions (except for the one woman who asked if I was pregnant, which made me slightly self-concious).  After tha grains are roasted, I show the women that the ingredients emit pleasant aromas and I explain that I will take the roasted ingredients to a milling machine to have it ground into flour.  Next, we taste test the Cereamine!  No, I don't make them eat the flour, but a whip up a batch of porridge and have them try it.  I personally LOVE the taste of cereamine and will add peanut butter, bananas, honey, or other delicious ingredients to make a yummy breakfast.

I don't give things out for free here, so I would either "charge" 50 CFA (10 cents) for the class, where the women get sent home with a baggie of Cereamine or sell baggies of Cereamine afterwards.  This worked out perfectly because I didn't write a grant to conduct these trainings and I was buying all the ingredients out of pocket.  I still spent some money on this project, but I believe in this product and I love fat babies, so it was worth it.  The next step is to get women to sell it.  To date I've done close to 20 trainings (if not more, I can't remember anymore) and very few women have been moved to produce and sell Cereamine.  There are a few business women who work in Kolda with a lot of potential, which gives me hope.  My next step is sending it to the research center here in Senegal to get the nutritional content analyzed.  Once that happens, I will talk to health structures and phamacies to see if they will stock this locally produced product versuses the imported product from Europe.

As I begin my third year, I have people on staff interested in this and have already requested that I do trainings.  This is exciting and I can't wait to see what happens with Cereamine!

Peace & Porridge

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