This Senegalese Life

My American family came to visit so I took the rest of my vacation days and haven't been online much  at all lately. I'll be back ...

My neighbors in Salémata and I have been working on painting World Map Murals in each of our villages and last month it was Salémata's ...

I was just up in Dakar for my mid-service medical appointments. About a year into service PCVs are supposed to come up to Med to have a ch...

My American name is LaRocha ("la-rock-a"), but my Senegalese name is Adama. I have a number of tokorabe  (people with my same na...

Not long after I came to Senegal I was in a car with a few other PCVs, and we got to talking about what scents a Senegal-themed scented ca...

Last weekend I (along with half my village, a dozen other PCVs, a few European tourists, a handful of Canadians) went to the Bassari villa...

Transport is usually the worst and most unpleasant part of living in Senegal. Unless you're well-to-do and have your own car and driver...

I wear things here that I just wouldn't wear in America, (unless I was at summer camp , where I once wore a vividly teal full-body rain...

So. Malaria. Basically, a person gets  malaria  from the bite of a mosquito infected with  Plasmodium  parasites . The parasites get int...

When it comes to living in Senegal there are hard parts (e.g. the heat, the awful transport cars, the skinny skinny babies, the pockets of ...

It's hut renovation and construction season here in Salémata, and people are building huts all over the place. These new huts are near ...

Last Saturday I got up at dawn to bike from Salémata  into Kédougou, and this was the sunrise that morning. It was cold. I wore my fleece fo...

What is this plant? I saw it in Tamba and I've asked around a little bit. I have no idea, but it looks like some sort of edible citrus-t...

When I walk from my hut to get water (or go to the boutique, or buy a bean sandwich) I usually walk through this field, next to the Sofidete...