Rain, Rain... where are you???

Its is a HOT, dreary day here in Senegal. I am on my way back to the village today after a few wonderful days in Dakar. Have i mentioned before how GREAT Dakar is? I think so but i just want everyone to get the full effect. Things on this side of the world have been good lately, but still no rains! I have been waiting anxiously for weeks for the rains to finally arrive. When the rains do come, the weather will cool off dramatically. As for now, i am sitting in the regional house sweating. The thermometer in the house is reading 102 (It is only 9 am here!)
The last few weeks have really been productive for me and the village. I finished the mosquito net disribution i have been working on since January. I distributed over 300 nets to three different neighborhoods. These nets should directly effect between 700-1000 people because NO ONE in the village has their own bed. Usually there are 2-4 people piled in one. One mother in my father has 5 children sleeping together. I am thrilled that i got all of the nets out before the rains with no problems. The actual distribution was somewhat different than my family would have liked. The volunteer living in Diagle before i came told me that she had big problems when she did a nets distribution. She sat at a table at the local health hut and had the villagers come by to get their nets. In any western society, this sounds like the only logical way to pass out hundreds of nets..well not here! People came by and took mor nets than they should have and i think even shorted her money. African people RARELY know how to stand in a line and wait to be serviced. I cant imagine how hectic it must have been for her. I decided to take another approach. I bagged up about 50 nets and drug the sack out of my compound. I decided i wanted to go from door to door to pass out the nets that way i could do it as slow as i wanted and not have to deal with 300 people harassing me at the same time. My family saw what i was doing and was horrified. One mother immediately jumped up and told me i couldnt distribute nets like this because the sun was out and it was too hot. NEWS FLASH: the sun is always out and it is always hot!.. The family all began shouting at me at once telling me to pass out the nets the way the other volunteer did because i would be soooo tired if i did it my way. I ignored there advice and explained to them that the other volunteer ran into many problems doing the distribution at the health post and continued on my way out of the compound. And just so you know, dragging around a bag full of nets really is super heavy. It took me 3 days, but i went to every single family compound with my bag of nets and my list of names and passed out the nets. Yes, after three days, i was sunburned, tired, and my arms were very sore; however, i did not have any problems with the dirtibution and all ran smoothly.
After the net distribution was finished, i started to get bored again. I worked a little on seed distributions. I distributed rice, two types or corn, and two types of sorghum.Peace Corps gives ag volunteers improved varieties of seeds to distribute to farmers. I am supposed to give any given farmer one kilo of seeds and after the harvest, the farmer is supposed to give me two kilos back. Next year, i can use the seeds that were returned to me to extend to another farmer. The farmers are also supposed to save some of the improved varieties to replant the following rainy season. This sounds like a great plan, but i feel it has MANY glitches. For example, proper seed storage is very difficult and many farmers do not do it. When i moved into the village, the former volunteer left me a bucket with several kilos of seeds in it that she had returned to her at the end of last rainy season. I put the bucket under my bed and have not done anything with it until last week. I pulled out the bucket and opened the lid to find thousands and thousands of bugs eating away at the seeds. The bucket has been closed for months and somehow bugs still managed to get in. If the Peace Corps volunteers cant even store seeds properly, how can we expect others to do it???? (Not that i am blaming the other volunteer for poor storage). Also, bean seeds are extremely hard to save. Many people know it will be a failure and dont even waste the kilo to begin with. They just cook it then and there at the end of the rainy season.. i cant say that i blame them. Another problem with this system, Peace Corps leaves it up to the volunteer to choose who we want to give seeds to. I am using about 5 farmers that the previous volunteer used and about 5 new people. Many volunteers use the same farmers year after year. What does this teach the farmers? In my opinion, this teaches them that the American government will come in and give them improved variety seeds for free every rainy season and they dont have to do anything to get them. I did give my village father seeds this year just because i felt obligated to do so. I really have no desire to work with him but felt he would be super offended if i did not give him the seeds. He told me this is the 5th year in a row that a volunteer has given him seeds. As far as i know, he didn't save any seeds from last year's harvest. Why should he continue to get the golden opporunity year after year?Volunteers are supposed to be here to teach techniques that are supposed to help improve yield numbers for each season. Do you think a 24 year old white girl from America knows more about agriculture than these people here that have spent their entire lives working out in the fields??? I am not going to answer that question! We are also here to teach about crop spacing and monitor the fields with improved varieties each week. If a farmer is excelling, it is our job to take other farmers to look at the best fields so they can learn what they should have done to get the same effect. This part of the job, i can do. I just dont feel completely comfortable knowing that my main job here is a job that i am not qualified to be doing. Anyway, after the seed extension was finished, i got realllly bored. All of my projects are kind of at a stand still until the rains come. Nets distributed.....check, seeds distributed....check, tree peppineres all planted/replanted and growing...check, my work with the school garden and well project finished...check, bee hives finished and baited and waiting for a swarm to move in....check.
All in all, my work for the dry season has been quite successful and i am ready to get into the new season. After the rains do come, i will be working closely monitoring some of the fields with improved variety seeds. I also will be direct seeding thousands of trees in the women's garden. I have been saving seeds for a few months and the women are really excited about it. We will be using trees to creat live fences. The women all have garden plots in his beautiful valley that has horrible fencing. Cows and goats sometimes get in there and eat the crops. The trees that i will be helping them with this year are a thorny type of tree that doesnt get very tall. The trees are planted abou 50 cm apart. When they grow, the branches weave together creating a live fence that animals wont bother. This is more efficient than just buying a barbed wire fence or a metal sheet fence because the trees will live a lot longer than the other fences can last. And, this wont cost any money to do and will never cost money for maintenance. The women will be able to prune back the trees themselves. I am anxious to get this project going!

I hope everyone at home is happy and healthy. I havent heard from many of you in awhile. Send me an email and update me on your lives!!! Also, i want to give a shout out to Thompson's Chapel Church for donating money for my bee project and for mosquito nets!! It is very appreciated! Thank you all very much!