Counterpart Workshop

Thursday/Friday, May 4/5, 2006

The counterpart workshop is finally over. It was a great two days of sessions, but very exhausting. My counterpart, Ababacar Sy Diallo, who works for the Department of Horticulture, came up from Dakar. During the two day workshop, the three programs met individually.

The workshop started at 8:00 on Thursday morning. I ended up getting to the center around 6:30 (about an hour earlier than normal) to take a quick shower, and go over some notes regarding a speech and skit I was supposed to do later in the day. The first session was “General Introduction and Logistics” followed by “Seminar Goals and Objectives & Peace Corps Goals”. The second of these sessions really got me to believe in what I am going to be doing for the next two years. It definitely provided me with a better insight in the Peace Corps’ views and approaches on development.

On that first day, I had to give the opening introduction for the first session requiring it. It was done in French. I was alittle nervous, being the first urban ag trainee to open up a session, especially because it was French. It wasn’t easy, but I definitely had to start practicing it a few days in advance.

Later in the day, I was in a skit with some of the trainers, showing the counterparts how difficult it is to come into a different culture. We definitely had a good time doing it and got some laughs. I spoke mostly in wolof during the skit which was cool. It was interesting being put on the spot in front of an audience having to speak wolof…I can barely do it to myself, yet alone an audience. Just kidding.

The rest of the workshop went really well. At times, it was tough to follow, because it was all in French. Most of the urban aggies don’t know French too well, so we zoned out alittle, or maybe a lot. Fortunately, I had a translator for most of it, and was able to get the important lines.

In the end, we met with our counterparts one on one and discussed our plan of action for the next 3 months at site. After three months, we come back to the training center for more intensive technical training. While I am still working on my personal plan of action (what I need to focus on – language, culture, safety/health, technical, etc), which has to be presented next week, my counterpart and my plan is for me to learn by experience. Doing Red Cross work during Katrina and the whole immersion process here in Senegal, getting thrown into the fire is definitely is the best way to learn for me, but very stressful and nerve-racking at times too, especially when you aren’t familiar with the language. Also, during the first three months, the plan is for me to focus on my main site, Hopital Fann. The project is a garden of the AIDS patients, which I’m excited to work on. In the future, the plan is to try and undertake another project. The one I want to work on is starting a large-scale gardening project at one of Dakar’s high schools to aid in the feeding of the students. This is something that won’t happen for several months, but it is definitely something to look forward too.

Other than that, I don’t have much else to say about the workshop, other than I’m really excited about the potential and possibilities of the next two years.