Peace Corps Director Visits Senegal

Since I arrived in Dakar almost two years ago, I have met hundreds of people as a result of my micro-gardening projects at Hospital Fann. They range from low key visits of interested Senegalese who heard about the project, development workers, doctors/medical researchers from all over the world, school groups to higher profiles visits of Peace Corps/Africa country directors, American military representatives, Raul Gonzalez (soccer player for Real Madrid), White House staffers, and the First Ladies and Daughters of the United States and Senegal. It has been a unique and interesting experience for sure.

This past week, Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter and Chief of Operations for Africa Region Lynn Foden were in Senegal visiting Volunteers and really just checking in. On Tuesday afternoon, I had the honor to show them two of my sites at the Hospital as well as the Peace Corps/Senegal Director Chris Hedrick. The first site was the large project at the Infectious Diseases Ward. This is a site that has been featured in international press and well known in the Peace Corps/Washington circle apparently. I am currently wrapping up my responsibilities at this site, so it was rewarding have it visited. Prof Sow gave a brief description of the project before Peace Corps got involved in 2005 and how much it has changed since. Also, he thanked Peace Corps for its service and commitment to the project. Following the Prof's words, I really stressed the high level of collaboration involved in the project. The project involves the Infectious Diseases Ward, Center for Microgardening in Camberene, Peace Corps, and Development in Gardening. It was important to me to highlight this collaboration. Also, I wanted to stress that this is a big time project, that involved several thousands of dollars worth of funding to complete. The reason for this is because big time projects often times are not possible in developing countries and it is difficult if not impossible for individuals to replicate some of the technologies we utilize at this site.

(Chief of Operations/Africa Region Lynn Foden, PCV Justin Land, Director Ron Tschetter)

Following the Infectious Diseases project, we walked to my new project at the Psychiatric Wing, which means a lot to me. This project is one unlike the other. There is no funding, it doesn't target the hot-button international health topics, and there is little collaboration. The things I wanted to point out to the Director is how the project has taken months to develop and currently not complete, but because it is utilized as a therapeutic resource for the patients, building speed isn't crucial (which Mboup and I did not anticipate when we started). Also, one of the goals of the project is to see if it can be done in a way for everyone to be able to replicate, which was talked about. While we have been able to piggyback a bit from my other projects, since July, roughly 20 to 30 dollars has been spent on the project, and some of these expenses weren't mandatory. The final point that was discussed was the therapeutic rewards of the project on the patients. Treatment of mental illness in the US and even more so Senegal, is not great. The garden is not the solution, but we are trying to act as a free option and also to show that we do care about individuals with mental disorders. I think we are succeeding, which I'm proud of, but I know we can do more.

(Getting my boss to work for me...Director Tschetter, PCV Justin Land, PC/Senegal Country Director Chris Hedrick)

For me personally, to be be able to talk about the Psych project and in a sense, get awareness out there about it was the most rewarding part of the visit. There was a couple members of the Senegalese press there and a media release by the US Embassy which can only help. Hopefully this time next year as I will be saying my goodbyes, we will be farther up the stairs.

While the visit at the Hospital was over, it was not the last of my interactions with Director Tschetter and Chief of Operations/Africa Foden. I was invited to a reception at Country Director Chris Hedrick's house in the Director's honor. Peace Corps staff, Senegal NGO leaders, Volunteers, and RPCVs living in Senegal attended...anytime you get a bunch of Peace Corps Volunteers in a room, whether they are former or current ones, a good time is going to be had.

Wednesday morning, myself and two other Volunteer's were invited to go out to Goree Island with the Director for pretty much a private tour of the island, which is definitely the way to go. We took a private boat over around 8:30, long before the first boat of tourists and sellers arrived at the island around 10:30. I definitely saw a different side to the island...it was really cool.

With everything said and done, the Director headed to Thies to continue his journey. Out of all the visits, this was the most meaningful. After working with the organization for two years and signed up for a third, and being one of about 8,000 current Volunteers/trainees he leads, it was cool to shake his hand and show him and Lynn what I do on a daily basis.