Only Until Next Time

The morning I left Salémata I didn't take any photos. The night before, Jackie, Jubal, Katie O. and Katie W. had all spent the night, and when we woke they went to the garage to see about bean sandwiches and a car as I started to clear out my hut.

I stacked my water filter and trunk outside, set aside the furniture and gas tank for Katie W., and gave most of my clothes and buckets and tubs and miscellaneous things to my host family. Mariama Kesso brought Fatou in and helped me to stack things and divide up the photos and cards and t-shirts. She had the kids bring the buckets and things over to my host father, to be distributed later on. The older kids stopped by to say good-bye; they were stoic and so was I, but when Mariama Gaulo gave me a long, tearful hug, a bracelet, and a beautiful letter, even Mariama Kesso started to well up and I started to sniffle.

Her little brother Mamadou also gave me a heartfelt farewell letter, and all the women, Mariama, Kade, Hassanatou, and Saliou Njan, couldn't look at me without crying. Earlier, Sada, my host father, had presented me with six meters of gorgeous, costly indigo fabric as a gift from the whole family, and my host mother Mariama had given me baobab powder and shea butter. They both said wonderful things, about me and my family and my time in Senegal, reminded me to call when I got to America, and wished me well. I haven't cried so much in a very long while, and certainly not in public. Painful as it was, it was good to know that I'd invested in my life here, that I built relationships that were worth missing, and it was good to see that they cared about me and would miss me as well.

When the time came everyone gathered under the mango tree, Sada and I both made short farewell speeches, and there was not a dry eye on the compound. He finished by remarking that "People say, when they see a good person, that they came from a good family. You came from a good family, and we thank your mother and father. Wherever you go I know that you will do well, because you have done well here and you are a good person. May God bless you and your family, may God grant you good health and good luck, and may God make your road smooth. And this, today, this is not "good-bye," this is only "until next time." Adama, we will see you next time."

Then everyone rose, and picked up my bags and my trunk and my boxes, and we all walked down to meet the car. I didn't have anything to carry, so I carried Fatou, who happily tugged on my braids and poked at my glasses and ate the cookies that a shopkeeper offered me as we walked past. Everyone thanked me, and blessed me, and shook my hands and I did my best to return all the gratitude and well-wishes. My host family made sure we all got into the car, which took awhile, and waved goodbye when the car finally pulled out. I put on my sunglasses to shield my red and puffy eyes, put on my scarf and bandana to keep the dust out, and then just sat there, was so very glad that Jackie and Jubal and Katie O. and Katie W. were wedged in beside me.  

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.

Out of Office

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 in Senegal (all too) soon and will be post pictures and updates as regularly as the internet connection allows. 

In the mean time here is a photo of the ocean in Praia. It's very much a postcard-come-to-life-type-place, lots of warm waves and tropical fruit. Hope your year is also off to a beautiful start! 

Praia, Cape Verde

Merry Happy!

Ahh, the holidays. We decided that last year's Christmas in Popenguine just really could not be topped, so we settled down for a pleasant, low-key Christmas and it has been very, very nice. We've been staying at my friends' place, where there are two cats, a washing machine, and a little Christmas tree decorated with small gourd ornaments. It's lovely. Marielle baked pumpkin muffins and Marie and Sarah L. just came over for Christmas breakfast. We're all up in Dakar to meet family and friends who are flying over to visit. At this point we're all counting down the hours and looking forward to (and fretting slightly about) showing our guests around and introducing our American families to our Senegalese ones. 

Merry Christmas from West Africa!

So, whether you celebrate Kwanzaa, Saturnalia, Yuletide, Christmas,  Hanukkah, Chrishaunakwanstice, or abstain entirely from all the of the many winter festivals that there are out there, I hope you're well and having a lovely day, wherever you are. 

Shea Butter Tubs

Shea butter (kare in Pulaar and karité in French) is an extremely popular product here in Senegal. people use it as a lip balm and a body moisturizer and they also cook with it. The struck me as odd but then I tried it, on rice, and it had lovely smooth texture and a warm, nutty taste. It's much better than the soapy, waxy flavor of the bright red-orange palm oil that's also so popular around here. 

Making shea butter is astoundingly hard work. (I've been taking photos of the process and one of these days I'll get around to posting them.) The shea nuts have to be gathered, dried, shelled, pounded, ground, soaked, strained, boiled, re-strained, melted down, and poured into containers. In our area the women's groups often get together to make and sell shea butter. Usually they just pour it into old water bottles or whatever containers happen to be on hand, and a half-liter goes for around 1,000 CFA, or about $2.00 USD. (If you go to L'Occitane and buy a tub of shea butter in the U.S. it will be crazy expensive in comparison, but a reliable source tells me you can get it on Amazon for a very reasonable price.)

Mariama and the Tubs

Awhile back my host mom Mariama went to a training, funded by an NGO, that went over best practices and hygienic processing and packaging methods. They made simple but nice little labels and brought white plastic tubs in liter and half-liter sizes. Mariama bought a big stack of tubs, filled them with shea butter, and is now selling them at a slight mark-up. At some point someone from the NGO will come back and buy up all the shea butter-filled tubs and bring them to Dakar to be sold for a higher price at the markets up there.  

Mariama and Adama and the Tubs

Mariama's really proud of the little white tubs and of how professional and clean they look all stacked up and told me to go get my camera to take a picture of the ones she'd filled so far. I bought a couple, a few other PCVs said they'd like to buy a few more, and before I knew it I had a small shipment of shea tubs to haul in to the Regional House. My host mom was super pleased, we were all impressed with how nicely the shea butter was packaged, and Mankaba, Mariama's youngest son, was just happy that we had the camera out and were taking pictures of things.

"Adama Adama Adama let me take a picture!"

(He took a bunch of photos but they pretty
much all looked like this.)

"Ok that's enough of that, Mankaba. Give it back."

I was glad to be able to show my support for Mariama (she is one of the hardest-working people I've ever met) and also happy to have a reason to stock up on shea butter, since winter (or what passes for it here) is upon us now and my lips were getting dry and chapped. Everybody wins.