I hope everyone is doing well. I just wanted to apologize for not having updated this in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, you are going to have to wait a bit longer.

Currently, I am in the process of transitioning between my two years of service and my third year. While I will still be living in Dakar, a lot of emotions are being felt. I finished up with two of my projects at the Hospital last week. I am moving to an apartment next week after becoming part of an awesome family for the past two years.

In the meantime, I am leaving Dakar on Thursday and taking a week long break. My goal is to pretty much disappear during that time. I don't get out of the city too often, nor enough, so I am looking forward to this R & R.

When I return, I will more concretely take over some new responsibilities.

For those of you that have supported me for the past two years, you have no idea how much it has meant. Thank you.

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On a side note, as a result of staying a third year with Peace Corps, I am required to take a month long vacation home. My tickets have been booked and I'll be back late July to mid August. I figure this will be my last time back to the States until I finish up early Summer 2009....after that, who knows where I'll go.

Perks of the job

For all of those who have lived or live in Senegal or even West Africa, you will be happy to know that mango season has arrived here in Dakar. It truly is one of the bigger benefits to staying for a third year. It is just another one of those things I don't think I can compare to the State's. Also, the mangoes you pick up at your local Piggly Wiggly are nothing like the mangoes here.

There are too many better feelings when going to a mango stand, buying the biggest mango they have (biggest one I've gotten was about 1.5 kg or 3.3 pounds) and devouring the whole thing. Sometimes the stomach gets a little achy, but you literally just can't stop eating them because they are so good. There isn't much more in life than experiencing the juice of a mango nearly the size of a football dripping down your chin.

Raise your boisson sucre and ching ching to another mango season...

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.

A Time for Goodbyes

Since I joined the ranks of Peace Corps/Senegal, four stages (groups of Volunteers) completed their service, the fifth is leaving now. The goodbyes that go along with these have become part of the game. The thing that is different with this current stage leaving is that it is my stage, the group I entered with. We have all come along way since we met in Philadelphia as strangers two years ago. Through the two years, many of us have become family, and the bonds that are created here are very unique and special...almost something that can't be described if you haven't experienced it.

As an example of these bonds, last night, I went out with three of my buddies who I entered with to say farewell to one of them. It was a tight group, through two years, we bonded like brothers, yet we all lived in different corners of Senegal. I'm not gonna lie, toasts were made, a few tears were shed...it was the culmination of our trials and tribulations here. Out of this group, two of us are staying another year, so the two leaving are gonna be missed here.

New York Times - Better Mental Health, Down on the Farm

Tara Parker-Pope on Health - April 11, 2008, 10:54 am

Working with farm animals may boost coping skills. (James Estrin/The New York Times)

Caring for farm animals appears to offer a therapeutic benefit for people with mental illness, according to new research.

Earlier studies with cats and dogs have shown that animal-human interaction can decrease stress and improve self-confidence and social competence. But less is known about whether working with other types of animals offers any benefits to those struggling with anxiety or other psychiatric disorders. Even so, the use of farms to promote mental health is increasing in Europe and the United States, as various treatment programs offer so-called “green” care, which includes time in community gardens and on farms as a form of therapy.

To determine whether time working with farm animals makes a meaningful difference in mental health, Norwegian researchers studied how life on the farm might affect patients with problems like anxiety, depression, schizophrenia and personality disorders. Reporting in the journal Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health, they recruited 90 patients, including 59 women and 31 men, with psychiatric ailments. The vast majority were being treated with antidepressants, antipsychotic drugs, mood stabilizers and other medications.

Two-thirds of the patients took part in the farm intervention, where they were asked to work with cows, sheep and horses for three hours a week over a 12-week period. The remaining one-third served as a control group and received standard psychiatric care.

By the end of the study, 19 of those in the farm group had dropped out, while only two in the control group had left the study. But during the six-month follow-up, the farm patients reported a statistically significant improvement in self-efficacy and coping skills compared to those who had not spent time working with animals.

The researchers noted that work with farm animals may improve mental health in part because it gives a person physical contact with another living being. Routines that include activities like feeding, milking and caring for other living creatures may also promote self-esteem and confidence.

“Patients may have learned new tasks…and afterwards felt more self-confident,'’ the authors reported. “The contact with the animals may have produced a pleasurably experienced social interaction that made the patients less afraid of new situations.”

House Approves Global AIDS Program

In the past two years on this site, one thing I've really wanted you, the reader to do, is to use your own judgments to make conclusions, keep an open mind, and open your horizons. Much of the time, I've tried to keep my opinions to a minimum.

Because I feel many of my peers back home know little about the outside world, past the city they live in and possibly what appears on the nightly news, its important for me to share this article with you all.

What the American people are doing abroad regarding development and global health is important, and quite frankly we are taking the leadership role. Being on the ground here and seeing these dollars utilized ranging from large scale projects with Ministries (governmental not religious) to the most grassroots in villages. When you multiply what is happening just here in Senegal to all African countries, hopefully we (not just the US, but everyone) can eradicate malaria, diminish the wide-spread nature of HIV/AIDS, and increase the overall health of Africans.

You may ask yourselves why we should care as Americans....we are all human.

So, for those of you that think (and consequently debate the justifications) that the U.S. is only focused on the Middle East regarding foreign policy then your wrong. As an American, you should be proud...for many reasons.

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By JIM ABRAMS

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted Wednesday to triple to more than $10 billion a year U.S. humanitarian spending on fighting AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in Africa and other stricken areas of the world.

About $41 billion of the $50 billion over five years would be devoted to AIDS, significantly expanding a program credited with saving more than 1 million lives in Africa alone in the largest U.S. investment ever against a single disease.

Every day another 6,000 people are infected with the HIV virus, said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, D-Calif. "We have a moral imperative to act and to act decisively," he said.

The House voted 308-116 to extend and broaden the scope of the $15 billion President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief that President Bush promoted and Congress enacted in 2003. It has been hailed as a noteworthy foreign policy success of the Bush presidency.

The White House, which backs the House bill, said the program is supporting anti-retroviral treatment for about 1.45 million people and is on track to meet its goals of backing treatment for 2 million, preventing 7 million new infections and providing care for 10 million, including orphans and vulnerable children.

In 2007, 33 million people worldwide were living with HIV and AIDS, according to the United Nations.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, top Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee, added that while the program is based on altruism, it has strengthened U.S. security.

Without addressing the AIDS pandemic, she said, it "will continue to spread its mix of death, poverty and despondency that is further destabilizing governments and societies, and undermining the security of entire regions."

The compromise bill was one of the last endeavors of the former Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, Tom Lantos, D-Calif., who died of cancer in February. The measure is named after Lantos and his predecessor as Foreign Affairs chairman, the late Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., who worked together on the 2003 act.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has approved a similar $50 billion bill, and the legislation is seen as having a good chance of passing in an election year in which few major bills will reach the president's desk.

To advance the legislation, conservatives had to give up a provision in the 2003 act requiring that one-third of all HIV prevention funds be spent on abstinence programs. Instead it directs the administration to promote "balanced funding for prevention activities" in target countries.

Liberals, in turn, had to accept some restrictions on family planning groups participating in AIDS programs. Conservatives, concerned that money might be diverted to abortion promotion, pushed for a provision that allows the use of funds for HIV/AIDS testing and counseling services in those family planning programs supported by the U.S. government.

A measure in the 2003 act requiring groups receiving funds to have a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking, opposed by some health groups as impeding efforts among sex workers, was also left intact.

The White House, which originally promoted doubling the program to $30 billion, has expressed concern over the $50 billion figure but not opposed it.

Some conservatives still objected. "This is irrational generosity," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., saying the country doesn't have enough money to help veterans and the elderly. "This is benevolence gone wild."

The bill authorizes $10 billion a year, or $50 billion through 2013. Of that, $41 billion is for AIDS prevention and treatment, $4 billion for tuberculosis and $5 billion for malaria. The actual dollars still have to be approved in annual spending bills, but over the last five years Congress exceeded the $15 billion goal, appropriating $19 billion for global AIDS and related programs.

It expands the program, originally focused on 15 mainly sub-Saharan African countries, to include Caribbean nations as well as Malawi, Swaziland and Lesotho in Africa. The goal of the next five years is to prevent 12 million new infections, provide anti-retroviral treatment for 3 million, and train more than 140,000 health care workers. The bill increases coordination with drinking water and nutrition programs and efforts to educate girls and women.

"This will be remembered as the single most significant achievement of President Bush's two terms in office," said Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., chairman of the Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa.

Another Taxi Story....Yawn

Over the course of the past two years, I figure I have alluded to taxis in some form in numerous posts....well, here is another one.

Typically, in the past, I have only shelled out for cabs in due necessity, whether it be that I'm in a rush or it is too late for a bus. In the past month or so, I have taken them more out of convience...Dakar public transport has temporarily defeated me. During the span of the past month of taxi taking, I've had two interesting encounters.

First, early last week, I hit the snooze button one too many times. It has been a re-occuring problem actually...I don't think my body always likes trying to wake up at 5:45 - 6:00 (unless it is from a nap in the afternoon). With that being said, I had an appointment with an American student scheduled at the hospital and needed to get some work done prior to it. To compensate for the hour dealing with public transport, I figured a $3 (a lot for a Peace Corps Volunteer budget) taxi fare and 15 minute ride was what it was going to be.

I walked out of my house groggy and to the main road...flagged down a cab and was on my way. The ride was going smoothly. It wasn't the most structurely sound taxi I'd ever been in, but for here in Dakar, I trusted my life with it and it wasn't bad.

Half-way to the hospital, the driver said he needed to pull over real quickly to fix something. The car seemed to be working fine but because I was the consumer and he was the driver in the situation, I obliged. A couple minutes roll by, and then a couple more, and a couple more until he gets back into the car for good 15 - 20 minutes later. My anger/frustration/emotions don't always show (call it hard to read maybe) but I told him I wasn't paying him full fare. I think he chose to ignore me or pretend to not understand my wolof...not sure.

We pulled into the hospital and down to the Infectious Diseases' Wing and I hand him 1,000 CFA (not full fare). While I have suggested in the past about paying the fair price, I felt that was what I was doing. Unfortunately, my chauffer did not like this. We argued for about 5 minutes, somewhat heated. Can't say it was how I wanted to continue my morning but happens every once in a while. Finally, I just decided to get out of the cab. Wellllllll, not so fast little Justin. The brute strength of my driver's forearms and fist wrapped around my bag strap prevented me from getting out or possibly moving.

I consider myself an expert fighter and champion of mind games but this guy could have kicked my ass thrice (1 + 2 = thrice) times in a span of me blinking my eyes. So being the southern guy I am, I told him to remove his hands from my bag and then pay him the 500 CFA extra that I deducted when he stopped his working taxi for 15 minutes. The problem was that my change was in my pocket but because of the tight cut of my jeans, I had to stand up to get into my pockets....it took me another couple of minutes to explain this and promise him I wouldn't flee.

Finally, while the time was still hovering 8:00 am, I managed to still have my life and another story to tell.

Second, on the contrary to the last taxi story, this is one of a different nature. Because I have been in the mood lately of taking taxis out of convenience, I have not always been rushed when I've been in them.

Because I am currently house-sitting and needed to pick up an outfit from my house for a conference to attend today, I went home after work on Monday to get it. In order to get from my house to where I'm house-sitting, there is no easy way to get there based on public transportation, so I took a cab.

I went to my neighborhood cab stand and jumped into a cab. The driver was super cool and I soon realized as we were going up the incline over the bridge, the cab was struggling and going at a turtles pace. I was in no hurry, the driver was nice, made a joke or too about his sick little cab, and I was content being in that cab.

The trip that should normally take 15 minutes took 45 and honestly it was one of the most relaxing 45 minutes I'd had in awhile. It was close if not better than sitting in a barber's chair getting a hair cut. I'm fairly confident I snoozed off for a second or too. When I made it to my destination I thanked him for such a marvelous ride...it was great.

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Third, I know I said I was only going to mention two but I'm only going to briefly mention this one so when I read this in 35 years I will remember the time I was going downtown during W.A.I.S.T. at 9:30 at night to my hotel from the American Club and the taxi driver dropped me off at a dead end street in the middle of nowhere and said he did not know where the President's House, Place de l'Independance, or the Ponty (most recognized street name in Dakar) was...all of which were around my hotel...thes are places EVERYBODY knows. Despite being physically and mentally exhausted, somewhat furious, and fearing being robbed...I jumped out of the cab as it was still rolling and walked briskly down the street in and out of boutiques and behind trees...while being tall, lanky, and white, I was trying to camouflage myself into the surroundings. In the end, my survival tactics worked, I made it back in one piece. This was one of my weirdest cab experiences....I would have rather been a contestant on Cash Cab though.

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I don't know what any of yall are thinking when you read this or are questioning my safety here, I wouldn't change my time here as a whole at all. Love the excitement...one more year.

Psychiatric Wing Project Update

From a physical standpoint, my newest project at the Hospital Fann Psychiatric Wing continues to be a work in progress...which I look at as a good thing. While I was approached about the idea last May, due to the First Lady's visit, my vacation back to the US, and then Ramadan, is was not until October when things started. Over the course of the past few months, a lot of changes/improvements have been made. The cost of the project remains low and hopefully in turn, sustainable and potentially achievable by others.

Currently, Mboup (psych wing technician) and I have brought in 70 tires and enough composted material to fill them, added landscaping touches and started the planting of flowers, and redone the fencing to better secure the project as well as increase it's size. We are hoping to add roughly 50 more tires and add a shaded seating area that will hopefully be used in the next phase of the project. Also, we are hoping to continue to beautify the landscaping.

Here are some pictures of the project since the beginning....

June 29, 2007:



November 14, 2007:

Experimented with two in-ground beds (one pictured). Later removed.

One of two raised rock wall beds

February 27, 2008:

The top rim of the tires is cut and then the bottom is lined with plastic. The cut top rim is then used to secure the plastic

March 5, 2008:

The fence posts and fencing were all removed, then re-installed in order to extend the perimeter of the garden

March 15, 2008:

Entrance

Two Year Anniversary here in Senegal