Trip home....one last story...I think

The other day in Atlanta, I took MARTA up to Buckhead from Atlantic Station to meet a friend for lunch. I took the bus and then subway up there. Public transportation in the US is far different than in Senegal. While I found it to be far more reliable it felt sterile and lacked character.

On my return trip, I decided to just take a cab back to my buddy's house. I got in the cab and told him the address. He asked me if I was from Atlanta and I told him I lived in Africa. He went further and asked where and I told him Senegal.

It turns out he was Somalian but when civil war struck he moved to Dakar for 3 years and lived in a neighborhood adjacent to my old one. It was another cool encounter. We spoke in English and Wolof talking about the things that make Senegal great...food and hospitality. Also, we talked about how Senegal has changed since his days there. He had been in the US for 11 years driving taxis.

As we do in Senegal, I tried to negotiate the fare (in Senegal set fares don't exist and negotiation is done prior to entering cab). We both laughed as my wallet cried.

It's a small world.

Trip Home

The trip back to the US is close to being over, very close, actually sitting in Concourse E waiting for the plane to arrive. Goodbye USA for 10 more months and then who knows where to.

The bags are packed with who knows what. Turned out my two checked bags were a bit heavier than I had anticipated…53 pounds and 51 pounds, so I had to do a little rearranging at the airport. I didn’t think I was going to have to be that guy. Turns out, my entire luggage, carry-on and all weighed about 135 pounds. It should be interesting getting it all to my apartment come tomorrow morning. I just didn't have enough room left for a blender.

The trip home has been a quiet and quick one. Most of the time was spent in Charlotte and the beach with my family, with stops in Chapel Hill and Savannah. Time in Atlanta was short, very short, lasting about two days, so I apologize for not getting to see nearly everyone I wanted to or for as long as I hoped too.

Go Dawgs!!!

Story Stateside

Fresh off Delta Flight 35 from Dakar, Senegal on the morning of Friday, July 18 a buddy of mine picked me up from the airport in Atlanta and we were off for the start of one of our friend’s bachelor parties. We made a stop at Chick-ful-a and then Costco to pick up food and drinks for the weekend.

The minute we got out of the car at Costco, I couldn’t have been any further from life in Senegal. While I consider Dakar home, coming back to the US to visit, especially the first day back, a lot of catching up occurs. My mind was on the number of pounds of hamburger meat we were going to buy.

Well, that soon changed and it became clear yet again that it I a small world. Walking in to the store, I looked over my shoulder and there were three men of African decent (African-American, African, other, I didn’t know) walking in. One was wearing an outfit native in Africa and prevalent in Senegal called a boubou. I didn’t find anything unusual about this, but his buddy was on the phone and all of a sudden, I picked up a bit of Wolof coming out of his mouth.

I couldn’t believe it, it brought me back home.

The minute his buddy got of the phone, I turned around to say hello in Wolof. Their eyes widened and smiles spread. We talked for a bit outside and then again inside the store for awhile. They all lived in the States now but were Senegalese.

I’m not going to lie, it was one of the coolest experiences I’ve had in two and a half years.

Oh wow....I've had writer's block too long...I promise I have some posts coming.

Pictures of my new home

I just moved in about a week and a half ago and a few people have been asking for pictures, so here you go.....

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=1IZsnLNo4YsJ4&emid=sharshar&linkid=link3

Artisanal Fair

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.