After the Sunset

It’s been almost two months since I left Senegal as a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, and a final wrap-up post of some kind seems long overdue.

For some people, serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer is a childhood dream, infused with the same sort of magic and optimism usually associated with moon-landings and spiritual quests. That was not the case for me; I became a PCV because professionally and personally it seemed like my best option at the time, and because my application went through so quickly I didn't have much time to start job-searching. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a valuable and challenging experience. With the exception of my relatively unhappy Mephaquin stint, throughout my service I felt like I was putting most all of my previous endeavors and experiences to use – backpacking at Camp Unalayee was excellent preparation for rural life; studying French and Art and International Studies and Global Health all turned out to be quite helpful; working with small children was good practice for dealing with irrational drivers and cranky bureaucrats; working at a bookstore was great preparation for being broke. In addition to feeling well-prepared, I was very, very lucky in a number of important ways – with my site, with my health, with my host family, with my PCV neighbors, with a wonderful World Wise Schools correspondence match, and with having supportive friends and family back home. Many thanks all around! 

Now, after what was quite possibly the best vacation ever, I am in Conakry, Guinea, preparing to start a Peace Corps Response position. If you’re interested, my new Guinea-focused blog is called The Kankan Express ("kahn-kahn") and will be doing my best to keep it up-to-date.

Whether you’ve just skimmed a few photos or have been following my adventures with intense scrutiny, thank you for reading, and I hope you found it worthwhile. Merci beaucoup et à la prochaine! 

West African Sunset 

World Malaria Day!

The World Health Organization explains that "Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium, which is transmitted via the bites of infected Anopheles mosquitoes. In the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver, and then infect red blood cells. Symptoms of malaria include fever, headache, and vomiting, and usually appear between 10 and 15 days after the mosquito bite. If not treated, malaria can quickly become life-threatening by disrupting the blood supply to vital organs." Malaria is particularly lethal small children and pregnant women, and while there isn't a vaccine there are extremely effective treatments available, and people can avoid mosquito bites by using insect repellent and sleeping under Long-Lasting Insecticide-treated Nets (LLINs). 

Malaria is an enormous problem in Senegal, and, unfortunately, the region of Kédougou has some of the highest malaria rates around. Thanks to Universal Coverage programs and increased access to Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs), many more people are sleeping under LLINs (at least during rainy season) to avoid malaria and getting effective treatment if they are infected. There are PCVs doing amazing malaria eradication work across Senegal, and you can click here to read the fantastic post that my friend Annē wrote about an ongoing anti-malaria project in the Kédougou region.

Diamé and I in 2012

Like many, many people I know, my little host sister Diamé came down with malaria last year. Thankfully, my host family lives within walking distance of a health structure, understands the importance of early treatment, and has the means to pay the small consultation fee to see the nurse to get malaria medication, which is free. It's never fun to see a sick kid, but as far as children-with-malaria-scenarios go, Diamé's played out pretty ideally - in the evening Diamé's mom saw she was listless and feverish, the next morning she took her in for an RDT, came home with a pack of Coartem (the locally available brand of malaria medication) and before long Diamé was back to normal. All too often, people put off seeking treatment, and by the time they get to a health structure they're so sick that they need more intravenous medication and fluids, which are expensive and can require hospitalization. 

Early treatment is great, but prevention is even better, and I'm really hopeful that this year Diamé won't get malaria at all. In addition to upcoming Universal Coverage follow-up bed-net distributions, there are plans to a implement seasonal malaria chemoprevention (preemptive treatment) program for all children under the age of 10 living in high transmission zones. It's an ambitious approach, but it has the potential to have a truly enormous impact on malaria in Kédougou. 

I don't want these kids to get malaria. 

I'm excited about seasonal malaria chemoprevention because it's a way to help break the cycle of malaria transmission  Anopheles mosquitoes become infected with Plasmodium when they bite a person who is carrying the malaria parasite; the mosquito becomes infected and then passes the parasite on to the next person it bites. If kids are on chemoprevention it means that they'll be protected from malaria, and they'll also avoid being carriers, which will help to reduce transmission rates and protect the entire community. Additionally, as someone who's been on preventative malaria medication of one kind or another for the last two years, it's really good to know that my little host brothers and sisters will be given a chance to benefit from the same kind of protection that I had during my service. They deserve at least that much. 

If you'd like to know more about malaria and the work that's being done to eradicate it, please take a look at Stomp Out Malaria, or check out what the CDC or the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have to say about the fight against malaria. 

End of an Era

With PCVs from my training group already heading back to America, the good-bye phase of my service in Senegal has started. I feel like it began in earnest in Dakar, the day I went to a fish-and-rice place known as the USAID Ceeb Shack (ceeb, pronouced “cheb,” means “rice” in Wolof) with PCVs Nic, Ivy, Marielle, Kayla and Annē. The USAID Ceeb Shack, located right by the Ngor beach and the USAID Dakar office, is renowned for friendly service and really good food, and only charges 800-900 fCFA (about $1.50) a plate. On any given day they’ll offer several choices, such as fish and red rice, fish and yellow rice, steamed rice with peanut sauce, onion sauce, okra-and-palm-oil sauce, tangy orange domeda sauce, or my personal favorite, chicken and wheat cous cous. I meant to take pictures of everyone’s plates when they arrived, but in our hunger and haste I forgot until everyone had eaten pretty much everything.

Though Nic and Ivy weren't actually flying out for several more weeks, Marielle and I were about to head back down to Kédougou and we knew it was the last day that we’d see Nic and Ivy in Senegal. There are more and more of those oh-this-is-the-last-time-I’ll-see-you moments, but adding the caveat “in Senegal” does take the edge off. It’s great to feel like we've all made it through our service, like we've all accomplished something together, and even though everyone’s going their separate ways it’s good to see people headed off to do interesting things. 

Families in Senegal

Just after Christmas my mom and brother arrived from California. After they landed in Dakar they got to sleep for a few hours before piling in to a "sept-place" station wagon for the long drive down to Kédougou. We hired Seydou, one of the best drivers in town, and shared the car with PCV Ilana and her visiting family, which made for a much more comfortable ride than would have been possible on public transport.

We spent a day in Kédougou, where they got to see the market and the tailor and visit the wonderful Regional House. It was great except that this is brush- and field-burning season and the air was thick with smoke and dust. Then we headed out to Salémata, where I got to introduce my American family to my Senegalese family here, which was really great. We spent time just hanging out on the family compound, played with the little kids and chatted with my host parents.

My mom decided that she wanted to have her hair braided and my host sister Kesso (a professional-level hair stylist) was happy to oblige. I made henna from scratch, for decorating my mom's feet and the neighborhood kids' hands, and by the end of the visit everyone said that mom was clearly African now. It was really good to be able to bring my American family by the health center, to see some of the latrines being built, and to meet my friends around town, to have dinner with my friend Maimouna, and just generally to show them my life and work here. We dayhiked to the Bassari and Bedik villages, tried palm wine, saw monkeys, hormbills, and a chamelon. It was abundantly clear that host family was really glad to meet my mom and brother -- I've never eaten so well in my time here, and when it came time to leave they showered them with gifts of baobab powder, fonio grain, shea butter, and local crafts.

From Salémata we headed back to Kédougou (to pick up things from the tailor, belatedly celebrate PCV Patrick Hair's birthday, stroll by the river, where we saw a monitor lizard) and then on to Toubacouta. While stopping for lunch in Kaolack we had the good fortune to run into PCV Dan, who came with us to Toubacouta, showed us around, and was just generally very good company. We kayaked through the mangroves, walked with the lions at the Fathala Park, had several lovely dinners, and lounged our way through some very  lovely sunsets over the water.

After that it was on to Mbour, where we stayed in a great little beachside bungalow-style hotel and enjoyed more than our fair share of the delicious Liqueurs de Warang - Passionfruit, Citrus, Ginger & Bissap (like hibiscus), Corrosol (soursop), Cashew Fruit, and Creme de Warang (choco-cafe-banana cream). After the beach we headed up to Dakar, which is kind of an awful city for tourism (harassment, trash-strewn streets, grime and noise abound) but visiting Goreé Island with PCVs Nic & Ivy and their visiting family was great, as was rooftop dinner with our friends Rachel, Emily & Xavier at a fantastic Ethiopian place.

We met up with my host brother Saliou, who lives in Dakar, where he goes to University. I'd never met  him before (but I have greeted him on the phone when he calls Salémata on holidays and the phone gets passed around) and he turns out to be smart and gracious and a really good English speaker. As Family Time in Senegal drew to a close my mom, brother and I saw one of the loveliest sunsets ever, just off Point des Almadies (the westernmost part of Africa), and then headed over to the airport to drop our mom off for her flight.

All the translating, introducing, arranging transport, long car rides, bargaining and explaining were exhausting at times but I'm extremely glad that my mom and brother were able to visit. It was wonderful to spend time with them, after I get back to America they'll have a much better understanding of my Peace Corps service than they ever could have gotten from photos and e-mails, and it means so much to my host family and friends that they came to visit  from so very far away.

Korité

I spent Korité, the feast day celebrating the end of Ramadan, in Salémata with my host family. I woke up, puttered around, got my complet outfit out, and waited for my host brothers to pound the big drum, signaling tat it's time for everyone who's going to the mosque to get a move on.

The drum, warming in the sun

 After mosque I walked around the compound, greeting people, being greeted, and taking photos of everyone's new clothes. My host cousin, Bineta wanted photos of both her new outfits, and we all took turns posing with my host sister's baby, little Fatou.

 Fatou's mother, Mariama Kesso, was busy all morning with food prep and cooking. We had steamed fonio (grown, processed and sold by host moms' women's group), meat, and an amazing vegetable-heavy onion sauce made with the onions, cabbage, carrots, and bitter eggplant that I brought in from town as my contribution to the family celebration.

Dinner prep under the mango tree

 After lunch, dinner prep started and the greeting continued. My host mothers Saliou Njan and Mariama wanted photos of their new outfits, and my neighbors Tatiana and Jess came by to visit and greet everyone, hold the babies and admire all the new outfits.

 

Adama and Fatou

 I also took a few pictures with Diabou, the stubborn, clever girl who was extremely slow to warm to me after I moved in, but who is now a great little friend. She refuses to accept having her hair braided (I can't blame her, it looks like it hurts, especially at first) so they're still shaving her head.

 After all that it was time to go greet people all around the village. I went greeting in a little group with Mariama Kesso, Fatou, and Diouma, the little girl in the blue and gold. Since the bridge to the far side of town was thoroughly washed out we picked out way along the creek bed, looking for a suitably shallow and solid place to cross.

Crossing the gulan (taro root?) field

 After a wonderful dinner of warm bread, spicy beans, flavorful yellow potatoes, and onion-y meat sauce I went to turn in at a reasonable hour and greatly relieved that the Ramadan schedule of dinner at 10:30 or 11 o'clock at night. Before I got to sleep, though, my host sister Kindi and her friend popped in to pose (sprawled out on my bed) for one last round of photos.

All in all it was a lovely holiday and it left me looking forward to the Tabaski celebration we'll have in October.