Taste of Africa

Richard Toll, Senegal - March 27, 2009

Tournee

Over the past week and a half, I managed to see a lot of Senegal, visiting many Urban Agriculture Volunteers with my boss, looking at former Sustainable Agriculture sites, and assisting with the welcome of the new PC/Senegal trainees to Senegal.


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Figure I would provide you some pictures of my trip. The starts and stops included Dakar, Thies, Kebemer, St. Louis, Linguere, Richard Toll, St. Louis, Podor, Bakel, two villages outside of Bakel, Tambacouta, village outside Koumpentoum Dakar, Thies (3 nights), and Home. In bold are where I ended up at the end of the day.

Day 1:

Portion of a home urban garden in Thies, Senegal

Day 2:

Linguere Urban Ag Volunteer's demonstration garden at local Ag office

Linguere PCV and APCD Famara Massaly looking at a vegetable bed

Prison garden in Linguere

School garden in Linguere targeting young students

APCD Famar Massaly with some of the students

Garden located on the grounds of a radio station in Linguere Situation. Pictured is the gardener.

Radio station with the garden in Linguere.

Somewhat off the beaten path on our way to Richard Toll

Over the course of the next few weeks and months, this space at the hospital in Richard Toll will be transformed into a large scale garden.

Garden at the Barcelona Group's community center in Richard Toll. The garden works with some of the street kids in the community.

Day 3:

Demonstration site of St. Louis Volunteer that nicely incorporates urban gardening techniques with traditional gardening accompanied by a large drip irrigation system.

Home garden in St. Louis that had a 10 meter by 40 meter stretch of melon. While it had some pest problems, I was somewhat amazed seeing this large amount in this compound. They also had a small micro-garden.

Home garden in St. Louis with beneficiary, APCD Famara Massaly, and St. Louis Urban Ag Volunteer pictured.

A home in St. Louis that had an micro-garden, rabbit raising, and pigeon raising. This is an ideal scenario.

First time in three years making it to Podor. Made a stop there to take a look, but currently has no Urban Ag Volunteer.

Garden along the Senegal River in Podor

If I had been a photography major and hadn't been shooting from inside the Land Cruiser, this picture might have turned out better, but it was a beautiful sight heading towards Bakel for the night.

I appologize for this bluriness, but it is a picture of a truck that had fallen into a crack when a road over a rivine was partially washed away last rainy season. Several months later, the road is still not fixed and the trailor is still there.

Day 4:

Driving from Bakel to two villages just outside of the city. You can notice that there is some elevation in this part of the country.

In a village just outside of Bakel, home to a former Volunteer, a dam project is underway to hopefully better store water when the rains come.

Shot of the window during our drive between Bakel and Tambacouta

Day 7:

In Thies with Jared Tharp (my brother in a weird construed normal Peace Corps way) and Peter Treut as we prepare for the next day's gardening session in Thies.

Day 8:

Co-facillitating a gardening session in Thies for the freshly arrived Peace Corps trainees.

The Darkness of Homelessness

Everyday in Dakar you see income disparity, poverty, and an endless sight of begging, from the young, shoeless talibe to blind elders being led by their young. Whether right or wrong, one typically becomes jaded and unfazed of this obvious poverty. I’m not going to lie, I am one of them at times.

The hustle and bustle of Dakar’s downtown streets during the day typically blends this poverty into obscurity.

As the sun sets and the African moon brings faint light to the Ponty, the humbleness comes out and scenes that I will never forget. It is hard to miss individuals, mothers with their young, mentally disturbed, elders, and other homeless asleep along store fronts. Some are on cardboard boxes, but many are on the concrete. On cold evenings they are so close to seek the warmth of those around them. There is one group that sleeps under a mosquito net.

You wish you could do something to make a difference but go to bed wondering what. While going against sustainability, at times, helping them get to the next day might be what is needed. No simple solution to a never-ending midnight sight.

The one thing I have learned is that it is important to not let the sharp images of night be overcome by the obscurity of day.

The Road Ahead

I am going down a path I once went down before, yet last year, I seemed to hit the reset button.

For nearly three years, Dakar has been my home. A home that has offered challenges I never thought I would overcome, friendships and memories I never want to forget, and scares I will always have.

As I sit in a “hotel room” light years away from Dakar in a place I’ve heard dubbed the hottest place in the world, I wish that time would slow day. My days here are limited and it is something that has to end, but why has 2009 moved so fast.

The uncertainties of the future can be daunting at times, but then again, I ask myself…if I can’t get through the near future, then what have I learned from my experiences the past 3 and a half years.

I can’t say I have any answers as to the future….career, location, etc….but with perseverance, optimism, influence of the past and current, and possibly a little luck, the answers await.