Home!

Thanks to all the students and adults who participated in this year's amazing trip! Great things were accomplished and lasting relationships were built. I look forward to continued reflection. Ba beneen yoon.

SEE ALL THE PHOTOS HERE: http://picasaweb.google.com/senegaltrip09

-Andrew K.

Drew-Lick Keur Sadaro Project Summary

School Garden

• Over 40 trees planted including papaya, lemon, mango, guava, orange, cashew, flamboyant, and shade trees.

• Approximately 70 tomato seedlings planted.

• Bougenvilla and other flowering bushes planted near the edges of the garden.

• Built 2m high wall, 150 m long, surrounding and protecting garden.

• A stone lined path installed.

• Watering and fertilization (sand, ash, manure).

• Garden education.

• Built chicken coop, proceeds of poultry sales to benefit school.

School Repairs

• New waterproof roof for the school directors office.

• Custom gate and partial fence made from re-purposed desks.

• 25+ desks repaired.

• Rebuilt and reinforced cabinet to be computer charging station.

• 3 teacher's desks repaired.

• Classroom window welded and repaired.

School Solar Installation

• Maintenance free fluorescent lighting installed in 4 (of 6) classrooms.

• Three independent maintenance free 50 watt computer charging stations created where 18+ computers can be charged per day. Solar panels are bolted and cemented to director's roof.

• Secure locking cabinet in director's office for computer charging and storage.

Computer Training

• OLPC operating system updates and durability tests on 25 XO laptops.

• FBReader software installed to be used with provided digital French books.

• 6 copies of French OLPC operating manual bound and distributed to teachers.

• Template handout created to help teachers and students navigate the keyboard (30 copies left with the school).

• Six 2-hour computer training sessions for local teachers (8 teachers per session).

• Three teachers trained on solar powered charging station installed in director's office.
  
  

• A deal was made with an American NGO in Thies to host the internet connection for Keur Sadaro. This internet service will hopefully begin in August.
  

• Two 2-hour classes for students (one class of 9 students and one of 23).Training included basic computer functions (using the mouse, keyboard, opening programs, word processing) battery charging and basic maintenance.

Clinic

• Vision tests for school children and teachers.

• Fitted some community members for glasses.

• Many people had their first experience seeing a doctor. Some people just needed reassurance of their good heath.

• Some people were referred to Thies for additional care.

• Infections treated.

• TLC given.

• Boy with abscess tooth tested and treated.

• Girl with very severe vision problems tested and prescription glasses bought.

• Girl with fungal infected feet treated.

• Girl with infected arm treated.

• Records of the overall heath of the village documented.

• Created a cultural map of a nearby village (Keur Demba Kebe).

Clinic Repairs

• Charge controllers relocated for easy reset access.

• Unmaintained batteries replaced with maintenance free batteries.

• One light relocated to outside porch (by request).

• Mouse chewed wires replaced with a plan to poison area around wires.

Locally Contracted Jobs

• Cinder-block garden protection wall constructed (150 m).

• Wood and palm canopy with created for serving school lunches.

• Four classroom floors demolished and resurfaced with a 10 year guarantee.

• Cinder-block chicken coop.

Community Events

• Community planning meetings.

• Distribution of soccer shoes, shirts, socks, and balls.

• Art project for children waiting at the clinic.

• Solar flashlights distributed.

• Awards given to teachers for top 5 students during graduation ceremony.

• 2 student-run girls only soccer clinics (one for younger girls and one for older girls).

• Entertainment provided by our bad dancing skills.

• Village-wide Wrestling tournament, 2 days of lion dance festival for school.

Maison des esclaves

Gorée Island was today's destination. I don't really know how to go about writing about this because there were so many strange mixtures of images through out this whole day so there's no over blanketing word that could describe it.

First we were greeted with millions of vendors, most offered gifts for prices far below what already paid for buying the exact same thing. this was disturbing but it certainly made us learn.

Next we saw the House of Slaves which was the most significant and important part of the island. The importance of the island was centered around this house that was built in the 1780s. It took part in the transportation of about 2 million slaves to america, and the loss of 1.6. Most students were quiet, moved. walking around seeing the rooms labeled 'femmes' or 'enfants'. There was even a room for the reluctants which was where Nelson Mandela sat in for 3 minutes, came out and cried. It was certainly interesting to see an incredibly influential place, and a place that helped form the ethnic identity of our own country.

After exiting the house we walked through the streets. The island is peach, light blue, warm red, and egg shell yellow, ringing of beautiful european architecture. It took the style of the french but made the colors more enriched with its own livelier spirit. Later we met by the beach and saw a tiny strip of sand jammed with people listening to Senegalese pop, enjoying the water, and Europeans with their interesting selections in swimsuit bottoms. It was really strange to also see the more wealthy tourists, i mean traditional senegalese clothing but accessorized with wigs, extensions, blinding amounts of jewelry, high healed sandals, it was all so weird to see after being in Keur Sadaro. There was a soccer match nearby and all the boys had shoes, cleats, matching uniforms, and it made me happy we chose a village like Keur Sadaro to help. This island was much more wealthy and it seemed to be a very playful and alive in comparison. But now that i remember these locations that i have so far seen on the island, the two don't fit together, even visually.

The tourists on the beach were listening to music, having drinks, swimming, relaxing but walk up two blocks and you have the ex-center of the Atlantic Slave trade, and over to the right 100 ft you have a naval base, and little before that you have an old french man sitting with a Senegalese escort.

Isin't that combination a little bit confusing?

Tomorrow we fly

goodbye mboor

Yesterday Aaron and I sat down to write something in hopes of recapturing a long days experience into a paragraphical list or something... but we both felt a bit blank.

it was the first time neither him or I had something to say...

i know can you believe it?

yesterday we went to gujal . its an island city where the ground is made of shells. Christians and Muslims live together, and the cemetary is a tourist location. Despite it being a rather morbid place, aesthetically, it was one of the most heavenly places ive seen.

Later we went boat riding in between islands of trees. We stopped to have lunch on one of them. It looked like an island i would wash up on after a wreck and later go insane on.

The ride back was bumpy, which didn't help the toilette requests, but i did have the best mango of my life.

today we go to dakar to get the shopping done and catch some last minute sun tan. For some people, it has been made obvious that sun block just does not protect, so we may come of the plane looking like gleaming shiny fresh strawberries.

till later

mona k

Nelson Mandela won the crab race but michael jackson isn't dead!

so i go for a nap in my room and i step out

thinking

im going to sit in quiet, enjoy the rhythm of the ocean and blog but

no

i walk outside and the issue is:

will it be montgomery or mandela?

two strips of wood placed paralell, made the racetrack for the crabs that have fallen victim to the ridicule of drewlick students.

the race ended and Madela wins!

so the debate started and students applauded themselves of their bets,

then

taylor walks out and says, in a suprisingly calm voice, "wait, guys, michael jackson died"

the five seconds of swallowing such a fact includes the following:

asking 3 times if its true,

questioning your own sanity

asking yourself if you remembered to take your possible-sideeffects-include-hallucinations maleria pill

AND LASTLY remembering "wait michael jackson can't die".

i looked it up and after it was found the it was only cardiac arrest we continued naming number 4 Madonna and number 6 britney spears

with the releif and celebration we moved on giving montgomery a few more chances to win

but

we also saw orphanage today

i stepped out afterwards hoping god didnt give me overies

having a kid now seems like alot of work, raising a strong standing independent human had me already a little bit worried and after an hour of cradleing, i was left emotionally drained.

i realized the first disaster is

[disaster is an understatment if you take into consideration the learning of the world word 'no']

is the kid learning to crawl

a gang of babies crawled away and crowded in the doorway

and you knew they were up to trouble

one baby, the one that was constantly crying, unsatisfied with his nursery limitations, even managed to open the door.

while these babies were a load to deal with, and reminded me even of the diffulty of taking care of myself, i realized how much effort is put in by the people working there. not just physical. scorching sun doing laundry is tireing in itself, but caring for all these kids who hardly have any relation to them... and not just caring, nurturing, giving up affection, takes more then just a good breakfest.

but if you use the term 'giving up', it sounds almost as though caring is an act of subtratcation. as though there is less of you afterwards

..........

i dont beleive that

mona k

Keur Sadaro Project Pictures : Round 2

I alone have about 700 photos. Collectively we must have thousands. Here are a few project pictures from our second round in Keur Sadaro. We'll try to get more up in the next few days. We're also working on an official summary of accomplishments which we will proudly post soon!
- Andrew K.

The secure solar charging station in the school directors office. With 150 watts of solar 18 computers can charge per day.

A new roof for the school director.

The chicken coup and garden wall (to keep out goats) created by local contractors.

The school garden is planted with over 50 different plants and trees.

We finished the solar lighting in the classrooms. The teachers used the lighting during final tests the next day!

Local contractors were paid to erect a palm and wood canopy so that kids can eat/hang out outside during the rainy season.

There were more rounds of computer training for the teachers and students.

The Second Round

The second round in Keur Sadaro passed way faster than the first, all things considered. People were less stressed, the kids were more agreeable, and everything was just more bearable.
While it didn't feel like it while it was happening, we accomplished a lot. I was in the gardening group, and we planted over thirty trees, as well as basil and climbing vines. The garden was noticably greener when we left, and it had a brand new gate (which took Justin and Ian (both Lick '11) the entire time to make) as well as being ringed by a formidable concrete wall.
I don't know as much about the other projects, but from what I've heard of them, everything seems to be complete. The OLPC group taught computer classes daily, with Ms. Nauss explaining about the computers in English and Annika (Lick '11) and Gracie (Drew '10) translating her words to French. Solar panels were ran up on every roof, as well as a new cement ceiling on top of the principal's office and cement floors in the buildings where they were really potholed. A small cafeteria is in the process of being run up in the middle of the schoolyard (courtesy of local masons), as well as a chicken coop in one corner of the garden. The clinic ran really well, though sometimes it got a mite chaotic (everyone was really excited to get pills). Cali and Shellby (both Drew '10) started a soccer clinic with the girls in the village, which turned out really well.
The villagers put on a wrestling match towards the end of our stay. Some parts were similar to American wrestling, like the holds and such. However, others reminded me that I was in a foreign country. Senegalese Wrestling is more a test of balence than of strength. Since the match ended as soon as someone's back touched the ground, you had to be aware of all your bodyparts at all times. I learned this the hard way, in an impromptu wrestling match with Justin (Lick '11) at our compound. My toe slammed into the ground, and I walked with a limp for the rest of the day.
Other than a pretty bad puking spell, there were no other serious maladies. Most of us got the kind of diarrhea that seems common from eating fish and rice day after day after day, and a couple of students picked up minor colds. For all the disease that the media paints Africa in, we got off pretty lightly.
All of this feels really weird now, looking back on it. I woke up this morning in the near poverty of the village, with a bedbug-infested mattress and a floor full of sleeping children, and now I'm about to go to sleep in a five star beach resort.
But more on that tomorrow.
-Aaron M.

Looking Good on the Last Day in Keur Sadaro

Mboor!

We made it!

can you believe your sons and daughters went [almost] 10 days with

shower buckets

hole toilettes

cockroaches

?

but the babies were CUTE

mr k said 'oh well its like not super beach paradise'

WHAT?

im not trying to sound overly grateful or anything but this....

IS BEACH PARADISE WHITESAND WARM WATER SEASHELL FLOORS BREEZE LUXURIOUS ROOMS TOILETTES BREEZE AND SHOWERS AND

TOILETTES

WHAT WAS HE TALKING ABOUT?

and about the experience, i mean the village, i dont understand why we're getting this luxury, dont get me wrong, i dont mind not understanding or even getting it, but

we're getting really spoiled. i might be exgagerating but coming from a villiage with limited electricty and um.. different living conditions... i dont have an objective perspective anymore on anything and anyone. 'all i know is that i dont know ' in fact i dont even want to sit here and reflect its too nice to loose yourself in a realm that is unreal, abstract, and focused all on the worry of tommorow, when what is outside your window is so beautiful

so as hemingway once put it:

'the necessity to put a thousand intangibles into a sentence, now, before lunch, is too bloody.'

but we just ate lunch so....

i guess swimming will just have to do it, there will be more blogs coming up i just wanted to inform that we're all happy, sickness arose, but nothing that could not be handled by our doctor, Katerina.

everyone was in good mood leaving and while i know you'll worry about what i just said either way and nothing i can say will cure that, i just know that we needed a bit of reminding of the sanitary alertness required in the country, and we're hopefully all on out best lookout.

-monak

See you in 5 days

We'll be Keur for 5 more days so there won't be any new posts. When we get to Mbour we'll set up a flicker page with tons of photos. We'll also summarize the projects at that time. See you soon.

-Andrew K.

Village Festival

There was a festival put on by the villagers for two nights of our stay. It was about a human who found magical powers to fight lions, or something like that. It was very funny, and most of us were called to do some very innappropriate dance moves in front of the entire village. And I'm just gonna stop there.

St. Louis.

I'm sorry to say that I left Keur Sadaro with no small amount of relief. While the village had it's pros, the absence of running water was starting to wear on me. While I miss my family back there, the three hour bus ride was amazing.

It was basically the same as the bus ride from Dakar to Thies, and only one really notable thing happened. We stopped at a tremendous Baobab tree, which is the national tree of Senegal and the biggest (on average) tree in the world. It was hollow in the center, and about eight people could fit inside. It also would probably take our entire group to circle around it. 

Besides that, though, the ride was unspectacular. We passed through arid semidesert and small villages that could have been Keur Sadaro.

St. Louis, now, was a different story

We arrived in town at one of the nicest hotels in the city. It had running water, a TV with fourteen channels, and some Western food. Which is why it was one of the nicest hotels in the city. 

After taking a couple of hours to eat, settle in, etc. we went out to find an ATM. Once it was found, we made the mistake of placing our entire group outside of it. Needless to say, we were immediately mobbed by throngs of vendors.

Don't get me wrong, they were really nice. Some of them stopped to talk with us after they realized that we probably weren't going to buy their stuff. But they were so entirely mercenary about the whole thing. They'd pester us until we'd buy something in order to get them to shut up. I resisted the temptation, but it was an effort.

Later, Waylin (Lick '11) and I walked out into the city to find one of the vendors who was selling Senegal t-shirts. We came back to the hotel fifty dollars poorer (collectively, for all you moms out there worried about money), loaded down with crafts, and without Senegal t-shirts.

It wasn't really our fault; the vendors were crafty. Basically the first man we saw upon exiting the hotel paused to talk with us. He explained how he had American friends who go to the university across the river, how he likes just walking along the waterfront, and that he was in town for the Jazzfest that ended two weeks ago. Then, all sly-like, he mentioned "I sell bracelets to people at the Jazzfest; that's why I'm not in my village. Would you like to see a few?"

I have to admit, though, he was the slyest of the bunch. Other merchants would simply catch us looking at their wares and ask if we wanted them to show us around the shop. Since it was hard to say no, we would look around, and try to spend as little money as possible.

The last man we saw, though, was the worst of the bunch. He noticed the small African drum Waylin had bought, and told us that his brother had sold it to us. When we said that probably wasn't true, he pointed in the exact opposite direction of where the store was really located and said, "Yeah, you got it over there. but I have a bigger drum than him, only thirteen thousand CFA (26 dollars)."

After we said a couple of times that we didn't want the drum, we realized that it was pointless. Instead, I tried to BS him that we were going to come back next Wednesday to pick it up. I'm pretty sure he swallowed the story, but we still ended up paying 3000 CFA up front (more as a bribe to get him to go away than anything). Then, we walked back to the hotel with no small relief.

The people here are also more casually...not rascist, but ready to profile than Americans are. For example, when me and Waylin (who is Asian) were walking down one of the streets, a little boy passing by said "ching chow" to him, and went on his way. And also, one of the older men started chattering away in Japanese when we neared him.

That night, we ate at a non-profit hostel for single mothers and there children. The place was really interesting because they take in young mothers (some only sixteen) and their children, and teach them how to sew or cook or bead in order to generate income. The money we paid for the meal with went to the organization, and we're going back there tonight, also.

Okay, I've exhausted my mental capacities for righting at the moment, so I'll close with this. Never take a shower for granted.

-Aaron M.

squatting exercises

i set out on this journey i had a few questions in mind.

before i introduce some grand thinking questions, i have to inform you that we have arrived in St. Louis and all [most] of us are alive.

I'm kidding we've gotten some golden freedom, showers, and toilette's, we couldn't be more releived.

Keur Sadaro-

All of us seem to really be enjoying getting know new people and becoming a part of a new community. Some are repairing schools, some are helping cure bacterial infections, but what threads between everybody's task is the will to become a part of something outside of themselves. The names we are given like "Bige Bop" are actually not only our name, but the name of all our siblings as well. Names in american culture often define a large part of our identities: where we come from, who our parents are, which leads onto greater things to be assumed and shape us. Here, our names are not our own and stand as a symbol for being a member, a segment. Names define kids as the offspring of a father, the word 'individual', has a different significance. If the unit to which people see their foundation is their family, not just themselves, what can be answered if one were to ask: why do you get up every morning

Families, communities, are the point of relevancy. This makes the tasks at hand need a different system of completion. The idea of purpose is changed. I know that's obvious but when you live this variation, it creates completely different dimension by which you can choose to live by. Everything that you have every done has a million alternatives and everything you can do becomes measureless. That option, this new choice, is either loathed or embraced and your vanity is useless. Villagers live for more then just themselves and singular endeavor is not understood.

I know it took me a while to get to this, i beat around the bush [ because i'm young and stuborn and i don't like to admit i'm moved].

But i promise there is still enough time to relax and be less overwhelmed.

I step out of my room and I see kids, compounds, sand, and 1 tree, the borders of its shade wrapping in the people. The evenings are beautiful, a favorite time. You lay on a mat in the courtyard and the best part is, its too dark to see how dirty you are. The breeze is refreshing, revitalizing compared to the hot wind during the day, heating instantly and making you perspire the spicy lunch you just ate. No, the best part of the night is calming down and sitting with all the members of your family. Everyone is fatigued and eventually it evolves into feeling looney, this is where the best interaction occurs.

Now, the beach of St. Louis calls, so till tomorrow.

-mona k

Keur Sadaro

Sorry that the blog hasn't been updated in a while; we were in Keur Sadaro, and subsequently did not have wi-fi. Since it is impossible to document everything that happened over the past week, I'm just going to ramble on a bit. Bear with me.

We arrived in the village to what can best be described as chaos. Pretty much all of the people in the place and the surrounding compounds had assembled in Keur Sadaro's small market square. Kids and adults were shouting at everyone and everything, and the chatter was immense. I'm pretty sure that the little kids in the school tried to sing a song for us, but I couldn't hear more than one word in twenty, and I didn't even understand that one word. Later, we were claimed by different families, and walked to our houses. None of us were allowed to carry any baggage.

I shared a compound with Amanda (Drew '10), Justin (Lick '11), Annika (Lick '11), and Sydney (Lick '10) that was maybe a kilometer away from the main village. Yes, it was one big happy family, I know, I know. We were all given Wolof names (I was Bara Chow), and were named after one of our brothers or sisters --usually the cutest one. 

The kids in the village are by far the best part of the experience. There are three defined groups of them: the 3-5 year old kids, the 6-10 year old kids, and the 11+ kids, but usually, I can't get any more accurate than that in telling their ages. Nobody cries, though, which is really nice.

I think the reason for that is because the moms are too harassed to respond to crying children, unless it's really bad. For example, my "siblings" were running around one day, pretending to be goats. One of the boys fell, tripped by another. After three wails (more for form's sake than anything else), he noticed nobody was rushing to his help, and simply picked himself up and ran off. 

The kids are also obsessed with teaching me Wolof and French. I think it's really helpful, because I could tell that my Wolof has expanded since the first day in the village. They were especially persistent in teaching me my body parts, and always in a certain order. Also, the fact that French verbs sound almost exactly like Spanish verbs.

The older kids were as much ruled by hormones as teens are in America. But they don't even bother asking people out; they just go and propose to us. Apparently all the girls have gotten marraige proposals so far. Most of them were jokes, but some people were serious. The female villagers are more sly, though. One cornered me in my room after she brought me an egg sandwich for dinner (which was amazing, I must say). We were sitting on my bed, and was asking about my life in America. Later, she asked "Do you have...wife?" I denied it. Then she asked if I had a fiance. Realizing what she was hinting at, I said yes really quickly. Later, when we were going through my yearbook, She saw a picture of me and Clare W. dancing in the play, she pointed at it and decided that that was my fiance. I didn't try to argue; it was a ready made excuse.

However, the kids were really annoying when we were trying to get work done. They were trying to be helpful, you can't deny that. But there is such a thing as being too helpful. I was in gardening, which invariably included digging lots of holes. However, kids would snatch shovels out of our hands and dig themselves, or trample other plants while they were planting new ones. The chaos grew worse when Mr. Cusin chose to award the hardworking kids with soccer shoes. He was immediately mobbed, with everyone claiming he worked the entire day. Needless to say, all the plants were trampled, too.

Besides the actual work, though, the village is great. The living conditions are way better than what I expected. My room is about the size of my room at home. It consists of a large armoir (or however you spell that), a dresser, and a mattress that doesn't look too infested by bedbugs. For someone who was expecting a natty blanket on a dirt floor of a grass hut, it wasn't too bad. 

The food is also really good, for the most part. It usually consists of rice, a few carrots, sometimes onions, and a meat of some kind. There also seems to be enough of it. I was expecting only to get a tiny parcel of rice and meat, but instead, I eat about as much as I do at home. While crunching down bones gets a little tedious, the food is amazingly delicious.

However, I have had way too much mangoes. I'm pretty sure that my family's occupation is mango farmers, so mangoes make up a large part of the diet. I end up eating about five mangoes a day. For someone who doesn't like mangoes that much to begin with, now I am sick to death of them. 

The village is a definate experience, I must say. Some parts are amazing, some parts are horrible, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to come out of this trip a new person. At least, someone who will never take a bottle of cold water for granted again.

Project Pics from the first round in Keur

Lauren and a local student working in the garden. We've had a lot of help.

Waylin assists a local teacher with the OLPCs.

Local teachers are instructed by Jenny and Annika; learning to use OLPCs.

Anthony and local student, Pop, installing solar lights in a classroom.

A local masonry crew molds cement blocks on-site that will become a garden wall.

Taylor and a local girl work in the garden.

Desk repairs continue

Entertainment

Installing lighting in the school.

countdown

Aaron and Mona here,

Aaron's first word in brainstorming what to say is 'um'

And that rightfully explains how much has happened in comparison to what will happen. We woke up today at 8 or 9 and sat and had out first powdered milk and coffee packet experience. Ms. Nauss made a 'come on' face what she looked at the packets, referring to the very little caffeine they would have.

thanks a lot

3 cups later

my thoughts don't know what to do with themselves bouncing off the intense heat and culture shock,

Like in America, caffeine had huge importance in our lives this morning. Most of the air conditioners in the hotel broke, leaving the rooms hotter on the inside than in the outside, making sleep virtually impossible. I personally slept only about four hours, waking up to a dream about being attacked by mosquitos, strangely enough, both your bloggers had the exact same dream.

We went to Thies, where we put aside our thoughts on the heat for thoughts on culture shock. Like having kids standing by our group asking for change because their school sent them to beg as a lesson of learning the concept of humility.

There also was a large Muslim congregation in the middle of the town square of Thies. We walked around a bit in the center of the city where it was held, and the calls of the Imam could be heard wherever we went. There were multitudes of people sitting under the canopies listening to the service (It was too hot not be in the shade), constituting of all the different income classes.

Yesterday after noon we all got restless and took a walk down the street near the location of the hostel. The heat was bearable, but what wasn't was the feeling that we were a huge alien insect, because every person stared as we walked by. Anthony [drew '10] was bold enough to say "Salaam maleykum' to nearly every person who came with 6 feet of him. Since he does not know how to say much else, he had the urge to say over and over again in attempt to communicate and release, due to the lack of expression he was experiencing. No one else our small group had courage to even greet people with a friendly nod, so I'd say it was very admirable.

But this leads to an issue we might all face. How will we keep occupied, what will it be like not having anyone to talk to or vent to? We will be with our families, but still isolated in our language and culture. It will certainly be a challenge to try to step out and connect, it takes more then just a dictionary and information.

All in all, it was a very involved day, and it's not even over yet.

And look who it is, Ms. Nauss has just notified us about getting our bags down to the bus. So here we go!

- Mona K & Aaron M

Updated Senegal Contacts

Hello from Thies,

We had some problems with our Senegalese sim cards and had to do some updating today. Here in an updated contact list:

Jenny Nauss:
011-221-77-533-9497

Jacques Cusin (no change)
011-221-77-171-2284

Andrew Kleindolph
011-221-77-713-4349

Kate Boyd (no change)
011-221-77-170-7665

Tom Wadbrook
011-221-77-533-9468

All is well at the end of day 2!

- Andrew K

mangos, vendors, and bake-ovens

I see that Mona has already written about the intensely long flight over to Dakar, Senegal. Since I don't want to simply repeat her while writing this, I'll just say this to all you worried parents: no luggage was lost, no wallets were stolen, no hostages were taken, and no Air France flights mysteriously disappeared over the Atlantic.

Now.

I woke up in my small room in the Hotel Good Rade feeling like that was the best sleep that I had ever had. Ever. Overly fatigued from staying awake thirty-six hours, I can't say I was completely objective, but that opinion still remains.

After dining on a breakfast consisting of crossoints and OJ (very Western, I must say), the hotel was scoured for people that were still asleep. I can't say I blamed them, but when it was eleven o'clock and we had to hurry to pack the bus, I think that rest was a little much. 

Our leader, Jacques Cusin, asked for people to climb up to the top of the bus in order to help with loading our bags up there. Because I was feeling guilty that I was virtually no help when we were unloading bags in the airport, I immediately volunteered.

Big mistake.

The sun had already heated the metal latticework up top to what felt like a boiling point, and it hurt to touch bare skin to it. Making matters worse, the latticework was a latticework. There was more space in between the metal bars to put my foot than on them. Because of this, I couldn't walk on the top without tripping.

Complaints aside, though, the loading process worked well. I eventually found a position where I could sit securly and in relative confort (forgive the bad spelling, I still have jet lag), and still lift the heavy bags that the hotel doorman passed up to me and give them to the busdriver, who was lashing down the said luggage. 

Covered in sweat, I went down to the interior to the bus for the ride through Dakar to Thies. It was interesting, and gave me a strong sense of culture shock. Horsedrawn wagons were on the highway with the mostly dilapidated cars and trucks, and vendors plagued us  the whole way. Whenever the traffic slowed, they would walk in between the cars, bearing boards of sunglasses or bags of cashews or placards proclaiming they sold phone cards. They seemed to be desparate for selling their items, running along cars as they and their potential buyers. 

Hey personal message: I love you Julie and Orla and Africa is amazing so far!!!!!

Greetings from Amanda aside, we eventually stopped along the road to buy mangos from the said vendors. There were tons of mangos for sale, and our bus was immediately mobbed by sellers. After a spirited haggle from Bounim, our guide, and the ten sellers, we bought a total of twenty eight mangos for twelve dollars. Note that these are the same fruits that sell for one dollar back home.

According to the girls sitting next to me, there also were tons of cute kids around, and I have to say I agree. Little girls the size of our bus tires would walk alongside the bus, and little boys would sell walk goats and run through the fields on the sides of the bus. Apparently, we're going to take them all back to America with us and keep them.

We finally pulled up to our hotel outside Thies, and walked outside into what felt like a bake oven. I hopped back onto the roof of the bus again to unload the bags (maybe I'm feeling bad about life. I don't know...), and it was even worse. After lunch, some of us played played basketball, and they sweat out their sunscreen until it looked like they poured a bottle of milk over their face. 

Tomorrow we go to the village. I'm excited!

-Aaron M.

Good Morning Dakar

does this soap really work?

flying

When I hear of a 24 hour trip to a any city in Africa, i think of layovers, lost luggage, damaged luggage, sore elbows from aisle seats, delays, missed flights, and a person sitting next to you who just won't stop talking!

Luckily, none have been present. The ride, the fly was smooth. I even got to experience to chipper of french couples enjoying what seemed to be first vacation out of retirement. I don't know weather they were drunk or just happy but every time an inappropriate scene came on to my tv, they would laugh and put their hands over my eyes in attempts to save me, rightfully, i was watching The Wrestler. Along with that, they offered me drinks and every time a friend would come over for a chat, they would giggle and yell "Parle anglais! no francais ". And I felt slightly shamed, like a dumb, mute, ethnocentric american waltzing in a country expecting everyone to understand my language. But, it is never too late to change that.

With our little ups and downs, everyone seemed to keep to a good mood and a positive attitude. Playing cards in the airports, or taking up 3 seats while waiting, to take a nap, then having other people sit next to them, uncomfortably avoiding making eye contact with anyone looking for a seat.

Today we are loading up out 34923 pounds or 849539 kg of luggage and moving to Thies, where hopefully awaits, a cool hotel room. We are trying to savor the luxury of a shower, we have stayed only one night, some have managed to take 2 showers already. Wish us good luck and good hydration.

- mona k

Projects, Inshallah!

We have 27 bags and boxes of gifts, tools, and project supplies ready to go to Keur Sadaro. Everything from medication, to hammer drills, to soccer gear, to solar lights, to glasses, to solar panels.

Before we leave Senegal this year, we hope to successfully have a WIFI network in place as well as three 12v solar charging stations (for computers and phones). We will also be offering in-depth computer training to go with the computers delivered last year.

Other projects include finishing the garden for the school, building a chicken house, building a canopy for the school courtyard, surveying health issues, testing vision and distributing glasses, installing solar lights in the school, having fun, doing lots of activities with the people of Keur Sadaro, continuing the work on the clinic, dancing, and whatever else we can get done. Inshallah! (god-willing)

- Andrew K

Solar charge controllers.

pre-trip buzz

Though we have not done much other then meet and prepare, there is no doubt that while positions are stationary and movement has not yet been made, our nerves are yelling in the static. At least mine are.

As the anxiety of the trip builds up, i mean anxiety in that i go to sleep and think about what it is going to be like never quite satisfied with my prediction, i go in rounds repeating the thought over and over again, counting down the days. But, if i were the type to be satisfied with imagination and assumption, i would probably never be going on this trip. Maybe the fun will be in how wrong our expectations are. Maybe it will be in letting go and learning to forgive the unknown. Or it may be saving the effort of thought and using it instead to propel a willingness to engage with and construct a perception. One that of coarse should be rooted in understanding rather then a paranoid, defensive, ego-induced establishing.

So thats my pre-trip digest [ who am i kidding? i needed a vent].

I hope we can all enter with modesty, and give the experience permission to avail.

-Mona K

Where and When

The itinerary: Where and When

Selam Malekum

Welcome to the blog for the 2009 Drew-Lick summer trip to Senegal. We meet at the airport at by 12:30 on Monday and we are bound by sweat and tears (of joy!) for the three weeks following. We'll do our best to keep you up to date on what's happening. - Andrew K