Diagle

I am finally all settled into my village and everything is going good. Right now I am in Dakar. There is an Artisan Exposition this weekend that I wanted to go to. The village is good but it is always nice to go to the city. Most of the volunteers from my group are coming into town so hopefully it’s a good weekend. So about the village… I currently have 15 siblings and one more on the way. I have two mothers- Amie and Binta. They are both great but obviously have their hands full with all of the kids. My father – Diokel- is a farmer. He and my counterpart are really hard workers and are always out in the garden. I cannot understand why Peace Corps sends an Agriculture volunteer here. They know wayyy more about gardening than I ever will. There gardens are amazing. They do not have running water but they have created a water system using gravity. It’s pretty cool. They have water bins set up randomly throughout their gardens and they all connect through underground pipes. The bins fill up from the well. If they can o all of that with a shovel, I really don’t think they need much help in the ag field. I think most f my work will be done in the school here and in the village hospital. My family is really nice but I cannot figure out if they are super poor or if the dad is just a cheap ass and doesn’t feed his family. My family does not eat very good. I don’t eat breakfast with them so I don’t know what they eat but for lunch everyday we eat rice and fish… two fish in a bowl on top of white rice. There are two bowls…one for the women and children and one for the men. Usually there are 9 people eating out of the bowl with me. The men use spoons …the women don’t… I DO! I bought my on spoons so I could eat with one. For dinner everyday, we eat millet. Millet is a grain that is pounded down into a powdery substance…something like cornbread mix. It is mixed with water…and YUM!!! Ok…. not exactly…. Its actually pretty nasty but I am getting used to it. Sometimes if we are lucky, we get fish sauce…and when I say fish sauce, I don’t mean real fish. I mean fish flavored water… sometimes we get that on top the rice. In Senegal, eating together is a big deal so I haven’t cooked for myself yet. I wanted to get to know the family more before I cook. I don’t know why eating together is a big deal anyway; it’s very segregated.
I have my own little hut. It’s cute but small. It is 4mx4m. I have a thatch roof that the mice LOVE. There are two permanently living up there. Under the grass on the roof, there is a layer of clear plastic. Everyday I can look up and see the mice up there… shout out to my big sis Crystal! They replace all of the roofs and fencing around our compound every year. They dry out and fall apart. Right now my roof is on its last leg. Two of the corners are non-existent. My roof will be replaced in January probably. Right now the grass that they use to make the roof is not ready. It is the dry season so it really doesn’t matter that there are wholes all over the roof….my hut is definitely not sealed anyway. I also am slightly invaded by termites but I’m not even going to complain about them. They at least don’t poop on my stuff like the mice! Outside of my hut I have my own fenced in backyard. Its also about 4mx4m. I have a douche back there (aka whole in the ground) for a bathroom. At first it was awkward because the “bathroom” is right at the corner of the backyard with no walls around it or anything. I take a bath and go to the bathroom out in the open air. I have the fence around my yard so no one can see in….still a little weird.
My village has about 900 people. It is actually two villages together. One side of the village speaks Sereer and the other speaks Wolof. There are several boutiques here that have everyday supplies like snacks and soap, toothpaste, etc. Also, everyone here eats bean sandwiches. Usually there are ladies around the village in the morning selling their sandwiches. Some taste really good actually…. Others, not so good. I have taken a liking to the onion sandwiches the guy across the street sells. I live about 2 miles outside of Sokone. Sokone is a small town. You can buy pretty much everything there.… everything within reason. There is a market that always has veggies and fish. There are also little shops and boutiques that sell things that a gas station in America would sell. There is not a big selection though. To other volunteers live in Sokone. They are both girls and are pretty cool. They both live wayyy better than I do. Jessica has her own house…with electricity and running water. Laura has her own section of a house…also with running water and electricity. Laura’s family is so nice. I have been there a lot in the last week. Her sister has a salon and did my hair for me. I now have really long hair J
The village is separated by a major international highway. It is really convenient to travel. My family lives right along the road. I can walk outside the my family compound and wait for a bus to come…don’t get confused though. It is definitely not like a city here. The bus only comes one time a day and it is anywhere from 5 am and 7am… so if I want to go somewhere, I wake up early and wait by the road for a loooong time.
I am in the process of looking for a tutor. Things here take FOREVER to do. I know someone who knows someone that can find me a tutor. I am hoping that after Thanksgiving I will be able to start meting with whoever this person is and start learning some French. I studied French for 4 years but haven’t ad it since high school and don’t remember a lot. I am hoping that most of it will come back to me quickly. My Sereer is pretty good but only about 2% of the population speaks Sereer. Everyone speaks Wolof and French. It is crazy because mot people here can speak 3 languages fluently. It seems weird but to them it’s so normal. Its actually not normal hat people in America can only speak one language. I am hoping that by the time I am finished with PC, I ill be able to speak French, Sereer, and Wolof pretty fluently. I have nothing but time here so I definitely think I can do it. I probably can do it in one year…let’s just wait and see how motivated I get! Peace Corps pays for us to have a tutor so I definitely plan to take advantage of it.
Next week, I plan to go to Kaolack for Thanksgiving. I live about 25 miles from their; however, there is no road so it usually takes a car about 2 hrs to get to Sokone from Kaolack. Travelling here is always such a hassle. The other volunteers are throwing a party for Thanksgiving. Usually every region hosts a given holiday during the year. Christmas is the onl holiday that is not hosted by anyone because most volunteers go home for the holidays. I think my stage is going to Popenguine again (the beach). We had a really good time last time and I can’t imagine waking up Christmas morning in my hut, hanging out with my Christmas mice.
I will email some photos of my hut and my new family. If you are not on my email list and would like to be, send me your address at candicewhittaker@gmail.com. Hope everyone is ok and getting ready for the holiday season…. This will be m first year without a Christmas treeL… shout out to Becca Donaldson… I know she would be very happy about that!! Lol