Merry Christmas!

Just about everyday I have someone tell me I that need to convert to Islam or I have someone teaching me about the religion (which is intermittently interesting, annoying, amusing, and exasperating). My time here has rekindled my belief in my own religion, about which I would love to have a dialogue with many of you. It could not feel less like Christmas here since it is still too hot to be outside in the middle of the day, the concept of snow is incomprehensible, and Christmas is not really observed since there are barely any Christians here (but I am enjoying a great holiday and have loved walking around confusing the Senegalese by wishing them all a Merry Christmas). However, the overly exuberant consumer spirit that we Americans have grown to embrace during the Holidays is in the air here as well. Tabaski, the biggest Muslim holiday is in a week or so. La Fete des Moutons. Every family buys a sheep to eat and spends what has to be all their savings and then some to celebrate this holiday. More to come on this holiday after I have seen it with my own eyes.

As I have nothing more to say about Christmas at this point, I thought I would tell you a bit about my work here and what I have been/will be doing with myself over the next two years. After two months of intensive language and cultural training in the Peace Corps’ training center in Thies (called Pre-Service Training), this week I passed the one month mark at my site (woo woo!). The first three months at site (from a month ago until February, for those following at home) are considered an integration period. This time is set aside to learn the local language (in my case, Wolof), meet potential work partners in town, get to know your way around, and get over any pride or feelings of normalcy you may have had coming into site. The notion of true integration is an unattainable goal (we can only do our best), but a crucial one to strive for. I will try to explain later peoples’ perceptions of Toubabs (outsiders). In short, I will get nothing accomplished if I am not as integrated as possible because they have not been given the best impression of us Toubabs (see slave trade, continued European exploitation, and largely unsuccessful World Bank, IMF & NGO investment). I do not actually start working until after a 2nd training of 3 weeks in Thies in February (called In-Service Training).

As for a typical day in the life, I’ll break it down like this (cue beat):

7:45- wake

8:30- drive (yes, drive) to Mayor’s office where my host dad works. I emphasize the driving part because I could be the only volunteer in this country that drives to work on a regular basis, and the Mayor’s office is a ten minute walk from my house. But my dad is a patron, and I’m not one to rock the boat.
At the Mayor’s office, I chill on the stoop and chat with my dad and the other folks that work there as they intermittently praise me for the Wolof I know, and give me crap for not remembering their names, but only start work after an hour or two of talking.

9:30- I walk over to the primary school where my Supervisor teaches. Here I hang out with the teachers in between classes, and occasionally try to teach some 10 yr olds French or math (I wish you could see my pathetic attempts to exercise authority, haha!). The Director of the school teaches me a little Wolof also. This guy is the man; I’ll get a picture eventually.

1:00- I walk home for lunch with my family (see previous entry).

1:30- Nap. (I need to learn the Wolof word for siesta.)

3:30- Have some tea with my brothers and sisters.

4:00- Walk around town and talk with some folks. Try to convince them that they want to stay in Senegal and work instead of coming with me to America.

5:30- Come home and maybe play some football with my 14 yr old brother and other young’uns who kick my butt. Or I run by my house, where there’s nothing but sand, trees, and some cows. This is dope at sunset.

6:45- Time to myself: read/write

8:30- Dinner with the fam

9:00- Chill with my brothers, sisters, and friends. Try to understand what they are saying and drop my lil one liners that are still somehow funny after the 50th time.

10:30- Bed


There you have it. I’ve met women’s group leaders, mutuels (micro-finance banks), and other potential work partners (metal workers, animal breeders, etc). So mix those meetings, some football matches, a couple funerals, a baptism, and a wedding with the typical day above and you have an idea of the last month of my life.

So we’ll see how this all unfurls, but the reasons Peace Corps sent me here as a Small Enterprise Development volunteer go something like this (I stress again these words are my interpretation of Peace Corps’ goals, see disclaimer):

1. Increase the capacity of the Senegalese to develop small enterprises (there are other sectors- i.e. Agriculture, Health, etc.)

2. Promote a better understanding of Americans for the Senegalese

3. Promote a better understanding of the Senegalese for Americans

The 2nd goal is achieved through my high tolerance for verbal abuse and my unending desire to make people laugh (mostly at me). The 3rd goal is achieved through these nonsensical blog entries, and when I try to answer “what’s it like?” when I see you next. These two goals are attainable, and I think that they are natural products of happy volunteers spending time in their communities. I don’t know if I’ll ever get people to believe that my hanging out with them, going to baptisms, etc. is part of the reason I was sent here, but it is. It still bothers me when my host family says “tey liggeyoo” (today you’re not working). I know that although these cultural exchange goals are important, I need to give all the time and energy I can to the first goal, and I can always be doing more. So it makes me less guilty when they tell me that I never stop going places and I need to rest.

The 1st goal is the toughest. This is the work part. So much money has been spent (although much of it so poorly managed) and so many organizations have tried to lift Africa out of poverty. Little progress has been made. I struggle everyday to answer the question- why? I am slowly picking up some insight, and you will probably hear more than you want to from me on this in the years to come. My job is not to answer the why as much as the how to overcome. So I can do a range of activities to teach people how to fish, if you will (because that’s better than giving them fish, right?!!). Namely- I could teach marketing, accounting, information technology, microfinance, business planning, and management. At this point, I think the best approach is to get people to open their minds to the fact that they can create new businesses that do not even exist in their town already (gasp!). The contrast coming from Silicon Valley, the pinnacle of innovation, to my town, where everyone falls into 5 businesses and they all run their shops exactly the same way and sell exactly the same stuff, is almost physically painful to observe. So to open minds, I start by asking questions about revolutionary concepts like specialization and differentiation, and see if anyone bites. I also want to work on business plans. The two delivery methods for my work are through trainings as well as working one-on-one with businesses. I will share the manifestation of all these words as time goes along. For now I am just stoked when people say they want to work with me!

Hopefully this entry wasn’t too garbled and/or boring. I figure you’re more likely to read this than go to the Peace Corps website (www.peacecorps.gov). Next time I will write about my bizzaro holidays.

And a happy new year!