Asalaa maalekum!

Installation - Senegal

I have arrived at my site in central Senegal and I am adjusting well to a country where snow never falls.  Although my work takes me to many surrounding villages in the African bush, I have the convenience of living in a moderately size town with electricity. Not that everyone has electricity, but it is available to those families that can afford it.  Since I do use the internet for part of my job (submitting required reports), it is recommended that I have regular access to the internet.  This explains my placement in a town versus in a bush village where electricity is almost non-existent.  Of course, there are times when the electricity, as well as the phone service, does not work, as I also experienced while living in Guinea.

My rather spacious BRICK house.

I have not yet decided what to do with this tractor bucket that lies in my front "yard."  Perhaps it might make a good bathtub when rainy season arrives. 

 

 

   

Living with a host family is not new as a Peace Corps volunteer.   Having someone prepare all of my meals is new.  It is actually more convenient to allow someone else to cook for me as wood is rather scarce here and buying charcoal just to cook for one person is not very efficient nor sustainable.  Like in Guinea, diversity in the diet is severely lacking, and most families subsist on a diet of rice or couscous plus some kind of sauce, with or without a few chunks of the locally available vegetables – potatoes, eggplant, okra, piment, onion, hibiscus, squash, or beans.  Meat that is not fish is rarely consumed, and when it is, each person is limited to a morsel or two. (Fish is consumed almost everyday by my host family.)

Usually, I eat from a rather large communal bowl with the family, with most using their right hand to serve themselves.  (I, and sometimes other family members, will use a spoon.  I have not yet mastered the “hand” technique of getting non-sticky rice or couscous from the bowl to my mouth without half of it falling all over the place… and my family laughing at me!)   Need I not mention that the left hand is reserved for bathroom duty.   

Should I contract some nondeadly illness, I have a well stocked medical kit issued by Peace Corps with both prescription and non prescription drugs.  The best I approach is just to surrender yourself to Africa and deal with any challenges as they arise.  Oh, and drink (mostly) filtered water!

Invitation!

  

Part of the integration process that Peace Corps is well known for is being given a local name.  My name while in Senegal is Ousmane Ndao.  Of the few Ousmane’s I have known in my life, all have been extremely well behaved and dependable, so this should be a good omen.   Whenever possible, I encourage Senegalese youngsters to greet me with my adopted name Ousmane, and not with the more pervasive and demeaning “Toubab.”

(“Toubab” in Senegal is a generic term for “white person.”)

Another important aspect of integrating into my community is learning the local language.   On this particular adventure, I am beginning to learn Wolof, the primary African language in Senegal.   My counterpart, I shall call him Boubacar, lives in a Madinke village.  Amazingly, he shares the same last name as my counterpart in Guinea, who hails from a different ethnic group, the Bassari.  Boubacar speaks French, Wolof, Madinke, and some English.  I have already drawn the line.  Except for a few salutations in Madinke, I am focusing on learning Wolof.  One new language at a time is enough!