14 month in....

Its been almost a year now that i have been out of training and in the village and actually working as a volunteer... Other volunteers and i were talking about Peace Corps today and pretty much reflecting on what we have/have not learned or done in the past year. I have been in Senegal now for going on 15 months. If i would have known then what I know now, i dont know if i would be here today... not that i regret my decision to be here one bit. It has been the best experience i have ever had and i have learned so much about myself and about life in general. BUT Peace Corps is HARD. Its as simple as that. I dont like writing negative things on here because people at home worry. My thoughts today are not negative in any way; I think they are just reality. When i left for Senegal last year, i would have never imagined that I would have been sick so much, learned to speak two other languages, learned how to sit down and do nothing without being bored. I have also learned that i love to read. I never did that in the states. I think my time here has been priceless and all volunteers say the second year is a lot more productive and fulfilling than the first. I am exited to see what the future holds in store for me for my second year here.

Things with work have been going great. I cant remember if i wrote on here previously about me taking over a Book Mobile project.. Anyway, i am now in charge of a book mobile that is run by the NGO (non-government organization) 10,000 Girls. This association is run by girls in Senegal to help give education, empowerment, and revenue generating projects to girls in Senegal that would not otherwise have it. I am taking over the Book Mobile with another volunteer, David. The point of the book mobile is to get books into the hands of children and adults so they will read... and LEARN. David and I are planning to do our first run November 17th. We are going to 4 villages. We will go to villages that have PC volunteers living in them. The volunteer in a given village is responsible for keeping track of the books there. The truck will go around to these villages one time every month. We are hoping to be able to do up to 8 villages a month in the future. We are just starting out and are still working out the kinks but the project seems to be going well...other than a few minor problems with the truck. I really believe in the project and hope its as successful as i envision. Another volunteer started the project a year ago but spent most of her time getting the materials and the truck ready... now we are ready to swoop in and get the project going and books out into the villages. We are taking donations for books in any language all the time. If you are interested in donating, let me know.

I recently signed up to host some american high school students. Im not really sure what i got myself into but i think i am hosting american high school exchange students. Two students will be coming to visit me November 2nd-7th. They have been living in Dakar and will be heading back to the states at the end of the semester and want to experience village life before returning home. Pretty much two youngsters are going to follow me around for five days... i sure hope i can find something to keep them entertained with and tat no one gets sick... ugh! Its kind of a big responsibility hosting people becaue my hut is only 4 meters by 4 meters... Not to mention all of the water i will be pulling out of the well for the three of us.... bathing, cooking, drinking, etc. It gets exhausting to say the least! But, i think i can manage to show them a good time and am actually looking forward to it.

Other work-I started English classes in Sokone. My first class will be held on October 31st. I had over 30 people sign up the first day so again... maybe i dont know what i am getting myself into. The classes will be taught in English only and are for people who have previous knowledge of English and want to better their language skills. There are several small middle and elementary school in Sokone. Many of those schools have English departments. Ideally, the teachers in those schools will all come to my classes. If I help improve their language skills, they will become better English teachers. I also went to one of the middle schools and requested to start teaching English there. They seemed really excited about it and offered to let me become a member of their English department and teach classes weekly. I am VERY excited about this but dont want to get too excited too soo. This same thing happened last year with the high school in Sokone and the school never called me back. I went there with another volunteer 4 times and they always acted very excited about working with us but when it actually came down to work, they were too lazy to do anything and never even started their English club back up after the previous year. Sometimes its so frustrating. Why would a high school refuse FREE help from native English speakers??? I am hoping to hear from this middle school within the next few days. They actually teach English during school hours so i am hoping it will be a different story than last year. Either way, I have my own adult classes starting a week from today. I need to spend some serious time on lesson plans; however, i am super excited to be teaching.

Family news- I have been having problems with my host father again...surprise, surprise!!! My blog is not the place to vent about drama within the family but i just want to say that i have never been so frustrated with an adult in my entire life. My host father has no regaurd for anyone other than himself. My family is POOR. And when i say poor, i mean it. There have been nights when i havent been able to sleep because i was so hungry. This is a reality this family cannot change because of the wrckless decisions of their "provider." Last week, he came to tell me he recently had another baby with his third wife. I definately was not shocked. The man has 4 wives and 14 children of his own, not to mention the children that his wives had with other men bfore they were married to him. If I added those children to the count, the number would be well over 20. I have never even met his 4ourth wife and have no clue how many kids she has....anyway, that is none of my business and not the point. I dont care if the man fathers 50 kids but the reason i am so angered by this man is because he does not take care of his kids... the kids i have grown to love. The kids come to me all the time because they are either sick or hungry. I do my best to help the kids out with medicine and with food. Its my pleasure to do it BUT I dont like feeling like i am being taken advantage of. For example, Khalilou is 5 years old and has worms. I have noticed him losing weight and have been just waiting for over a month to see if his father was going to step in and buy him medicine to get rid of the worms. NOPE... SURE HASNT!!! I cant decide if he just doesnt care or if he just knows i will end up buying the meds for him. I hate to do it. I dont want to buy the medicine just to spite the father but im decided im buying ittomorrow. I cant sit back and watch this kid become a bag of bones and not do anything about it. He will get whats coming to him later from someon other than me. I weighed poor Khalilou and he is 11 kilograms...which is approximately 24 lbs!!!Dont forget he is 5 years old! This man raises my blood pressure daily... Im not even going to mention how this father lied to me and suckered me into buying something for the family and now owes me over fifty dollars. Ill never see that money again!

On a lighter note- Ablaye and I will be home in 42 days :):):):) The month of November will be a busy one for me. Im looking forward to having lots to do so i wont sit around and count down the minutes to coming home. I dont know if it will work though :) We are so excited to see everyone. I just updated my ipod today with all christmas music. I know its early but "The best way to spread christmas cheer is to sing loud for all to hear" (quoted from Elf)

Still waiting for my new little niece Lucy... whats going on in there???

Im finally in good health!

I just finished with a week long complete body check up with the PC doctor. I am finally completely healthy... no parasites, no wounds... its nice. Every volunteer has to go through a big check-up after they have been here for a year. I procrastinated and just now got around to doing it. Im happy to say that i have no problems. Also, the rainy season has pretty much ended. It hasnt rained in weeks. That usually means that many of the bugs go away (including mosquitos) and skin infections start to disappear. The cold season should be coming on strong in the next few weeks. I cant wait! When i say cold season, i mean like 70 and 80 degree weather during the day. Its so bizarre how much my body has adapted in the last 14 months. I woke one night last week and was freezing. I got out my big winter blanket and checked the thermometer. It was a whopping 72 degrees!!! Im going to die when i come home for christmas lol.. but certainly looking forward to the cold weather.

Things here have been going well. I have been in Dakar for the last week. I feel like i have been here soo much in the last few months. I have been sick so often that i pretty much have been here A LOT. Atleast this visit was on my own terms and i didnt have to stay in the medical unit. I have been staying with an American lady named Alice. She lives downtown and i stay with her sometimes when i come to Dakar. Let me just say that she is the nicest lady EVER. She is always so welcoming and generous when i come over. Last night she took me out for sushi for my belated birthday. I havent had sushi since i left the states and it was more than delicious. Lets just say i have been well taken care of in the last week.

On another note, i have recently found more with with an NGO in Sokone. It looks like it is going to be great work with great people. The NGO finds children that are under priveledged and hooks them up with sponsors in France. The sponsor sends a recommended thirty dollars a month to sponsor the child. This pays for school fees, school supplies, and healthcare. The program is really good and the people really know what they are doing. I went to them to find out what their program is about and found out that they dont even have a website. After talking to them, they told me they really want to extended their program to America and see if they can find sponsors there. I explained the importance of a website and agreed to create one for them. I have spent the last week working on getting a website going and putting them on wikipedia. Ill let you all know when it is finished! Also they have asked me to be acting liason between their organization and America since there is only one person in this group that speaks fluent English. I will be the main contact point for people in the states that do want to donate or sponsor. Also I am in the process of starting adult english classes in Sokone with this group. There are A LOT of people in my area that speak some English but need help in order to become fluent. Im hoping to get my classes going within the next week!

I hope everyone at home is staying warm... Ill be home in just a few short weeks. As of now, im just trying to get back to the village and get to work. Im also anxiously awaiting the arrival of my niece... hopefully i will be getting a call in a few weeks saying the family has a healthy new baby girl!