The day I exposed my inner reflections of a week's events in an African Bush Village...

Random thoughts I had during a week’s time frame. 

Peace Corps is a time for self-reflection and self-discovery. 

I noticed that I have a lot of “strange” things happen to me at site and although the events are strange, I find my thought processes are even stranger. Peace Corps changes you. You will never be the same person after 27 months of dealing with African Bush Living. 

Below are events that all happened in one week’s time and how I reflected on them.. 

That time... 

That time when you are peeing in the dark and you think you peed on yourself, but to realize, it was just a cockroach crawling over your foot, and you cannot decide which nuisance you prefer because both are pretty standard. 👀

That time when your village "social pressured" you to get your hair braided and you bought 4 packets of fake hair. Once it was finished, 10 hours divided over 2 days later, your head was so heavy your neck was in constant pain, but you, the Peace Corps Volunteer you are, saw the silver lining: Tie it up just right and you have a built in pillow! Score. 😂

That time when your sister is braiding your hair and she has a head cold and is wiping her runny nose with the same fingers she is braiding your hair and you think, “at least it will press down the fly always.” 💆🏼💁🏼🖐🏿

That time when your sister is (still) braiding your hair and she sneezes right on you to the point your neck is wet from her bodily fluids, and you think to yourself, "it's OK, it's mango season so I've been increasing my vitamin C intake and boosting my immune system, I'll just make sure to eat 2-3 more mangos than usual tomorrow.." No worries, just finish braiding my hair already! 😷💁🏼

That time when a camel spider larger than your hand fell literally in your lap, you jumped up off the ground and screamed uncontrollably as it "ran" away, but you still slept outside anyway. (Just made sure the mosquito net (aka camel spider barrier) was tucked extra tight that night. 😓😬

That time when you were laying on your hut's floor on a mat having your little sister crack your back, you look up because it was painful, only to notice (in the dark) a scorpion with its tail curled and ready for attack three inches from your face. You killed it and left it there for a warning for other scorpions... Beware, I will murder you all!! 😨😳

That time when you've changed the name of your fake husband so many times that people start to catch on and actually confront you about it. My husband just has a realllllllly long name, and a lot of nick names. (And now, a year later, I feel like he is a real person with a huge backstory and continuous fake day-to-day conversations of what he is mad at me about now.)💍 😬😳💍

That time when your Pulaar has reached the fluency level that you understand dirty jokes and who is running around on whom with whom inside the community (and whose children have different fathers than what their birth certificates say) AND you respond, 100% naturally, with the equivalent of "oh my god" in Pulaar and continue to gossip about every person in the village...and a few in the surrounding villages until 1:30am when you have to be up at 6am. 😇💁🏼🙌🗣🙈🙉🙊

That time when the women and young girls gather to teach you how to dance to drums (aka the lunch bowls), and they realize you can't dance, but you can (kinda) twerk, and that impresses them enough to tell everyone you can dannnnnnce! Thank you, Miley. 💃🏻💁🏼

That time when it was once again Tuesday and you, once again, don't have any tacos to eat and you vow to figure out how to grow everything (at least the essentials/basics) in your backyard to make tacos on Tuesdays. Here is to hopefully God Agreeing with my ambition. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

That time when for the first time in a year, you are dreading going to Kolda (and into civilization) because you are just so dang happy in village. 😳😍😩

That time when you went to shower at the regional house and knew there was a bar of soap in the bathroom, you get in there, get undressed, ready to commence your shower and realize the soap had dried mouse poop on it. What do you do? You scape it off with your thumbnail, and loofa up the soap and continue with your much needed shower.

🐭 (insert soap emoji here)💩🚿

The day(s) I made soap…

Soap Making Trainings with Six Groups in Two Villages in Conjunction with Hand Washing Stations

World Connect approved my small grant to conduct soap making trainings, for income generation, and hand washing (Tippy Tap) stations to be constructed at every latrine and eating place. These tangible projects work in tandem with the intangible behavior change trainings on hand washing, hygiene and disease prevention that my counterparts and I are conducting. I am so thankful for their contribution as the first (larger) project I am undertaking by myself. 

But, as I have learned time and time again, here in Senegal, things take a lot longer to get started and finished than the Toubabs would like. I thought I could get this entire project done in two months, but I have been materializing this project since the end of March. But, it is finally coming around! We just have a budget issue with obtaining the last of the containers for the Tippy Tap construction. Supply and Demand. And, when that demand comes from a Toubab, the Supply always seems to decrease, thus increasing the price. I just found the last 47 containers, and I will send my counterpart, Hoyo, down to further negotiate the price down to something more acceptable and comparable to my budget price.  

The Soap Trainings went swimmingly! Everyone was excited to attend their session and learn the different techniques. I made two batches with each group, trying not to repeat the same variation more than once. Then, they can train each other on soaps they learned so the two villages can be involved in a training of trainers of all the variations. 

I separated the women from the men so that there would be no gender roles and/or gender discrimination. I showed the men two cooking techniques, one over the fire and one in the sun. The men are really interested in selling and marketing techniques of the soap. I talked openly about selling the soap with the men, but I made sure that the women knew that the reason for these trainings were to supply the Tippy Tap stations each month with their supply of soap, to increase the village’s proactive healthy lifestyle. I had to reiterate that the soap is to be made for the hand washing stations, not to wash clothes. I gave them a recipe for laundry soap, but did not make it with them so the focused stayed on “Clean Hands,” which is the title of my World Connect Project. 

We made citrus, hibiscus with exfoliating factors, wood ash (which I encouraged to be in every soap batch because it has anti-microbial factors in it), moranga, mint, Shea Butter and multi layered soaps with different varieties. 

In this video this woman is fulfilling one of the training's requirements: to be able to describe step-by-step how to make soap including quantities and timeframes. 

Transcription:  (Note: Pulaar isn't (formally) a written language)

Banga panji diidii

pan yo’oo, mbada kilo thiekeri mbdadda too pan go’to 

mbaddat o daa kala pan go’to mbaddat o daa o kala kilo thiekeriji

si a waddii dum haa pardi

banga ndyiam, litterji tatti ndydiam 

mbaddi o haa dum pardi 

o daa kala pardi, litter tatti ndyiam dam, dum pardi, 

jillondirat pew

onsuma, 

banga calata, banngat lidde, janginat calata haa parrat, sagginat haa tiidat, si o (ndyiam dum) yorat, wancinat 

mbaddat kilo karité, mbdaat toon, to calata toon, yossat dum, haa mbo tayiiat

si tayii’ii pew, onsuma …. calata jippipinii, haa boobat, si o boobtii

Mbaddat litterji joey dullin, calata, si a waddat litterji joey dullin haa burti o 

onsuma mbaddat …...  (muffled nonsense)

wancinat a haa pardi dirtulat haa, haa tekkat, (coleii carton haa parrat, onsuma..) wancieni o kalii haa pardi

Q: balde njelu .. balde haa a wowwi fetchat?

wadde .. balde diidii, balde diidii haa si fimmi onsuma bayda haa pardi sii fifimi pardi acha haa jonti didi fadat haa jonti didi,onsuma lardat, o yorrat 

Q: thiekeriji, heure njelu waddi nder doo

thererey si a waddo o thiekeri kilo goto nder litterji tatti ndyiam dum haa heureji njelu?

heure goto. 

Translation: 

Get two rubber containers

in the first container, put one kilo of caustic soda,

do that to the other container

When they are both ready 

add three litters of water to each of them

stir them both 

then 

grab the cooking pot, take wood, light the wood, start cooking, put water in the pot, once dry, 

put the one kilo of shea butter into the cooking pot, melt it until it is all liquid 

once it is all liquid, then take the cooking pot of the fire until it is cooled. 

Add five liters of oil into the pot, once you add the five liters of oil until it is cool (and mixed)

then you do (muffled talk of no importance)

Pour it all once it is ready into the caustic soda and water, stir until it is thick (tape the tarp to the cardboard box for a mold, then..) pour all of it in the box.

Question: How many days.. how many days until you are able to cut it?

You do... two days. Two days you can separate the soap pieces, then you have to wait until two weeks, look to see if it is fully dry. 

Question: Caustic Soda, How long to do inside the container.. The caustic soda, if you put the one kilo of caustic soda with the three litters of water, how long do you have to wait until the mixture is done?

One hour. 

** Disclosure: Pulaar cannot be literally translated into English and vice versa. So, the English verbs that I translated from Pulaar aren't always the literal meanings of those verbs 

My First Group of women preparing the boxes for the soap form

Group photo before pouring the soap mixture into the boxes

Group photo in front of my hut

Teaching the men's group the sun heating technique that does not require a wood, cooking rocks or a pot to melt the mixture. The sun is too hot. Nange no wuuli haa bursi!

A bird's eye view of some of the soaps before I cut them

This is a multi-layer, wood ash and shea butter soap

This is a multi-layer marbled woodash and hibiscus soap

This is a multi-layered woodash and citron-orange soap with exfoliation factors 

Welcome to my life of being crafty. I am making stencils with the Peace Corps Logo and World Connect Logo to spray paint on the Tippy Tap Stations, for a beautification factor for a behavior change strategy. 

The day(s) we “stomped out malaria”…

Malaria Awareness Month of Events April 25-May 25 2016

Malaria Month started on World Malaria Day, April 25th, where the district of Kolda held a walk for awareness march through the city of Kolda. We, Peace Corps Volunteers, passed out candy with malaria facts attached, held a banner, and joined in solidarity to support the cause of eliminating malaria.

What is Malaria?

Malaria is a intermittent and remittent fever caused by a protozoan parasite that invades and ruptures red blood cells. It is transmitted through mosquitos, specifically Plasmodium Falciparum female mosquitos that are out at sunset to sunrise. Once a person is infected with malaria and this mosquito is in contact with the blood of the infected person, the mosquito can then transmit the parasite to each individual he bites thereafter. It is an epidemic. The best way to prevent malaria is sleeping under a tightly tucked bed net, with no holes, to disallow mosquitos to enter the premises to bite (and thus infect) the individual. 

STOMP OUT MALARIA, a group that Peace Corps Volunteers are associated with, plan and coordinate malaria events all year long, however, this past month has been especially Malaria filled because of a competition between regions of Senegal to get the most points. We do certain malaria activities and each activity generates a designated amount of points. It is a friendly competition to motivate volunteers to spend a little extra time on malaria prevention and awareness. (Surprise, this blog gets me/Kolda points!) 

I know back when I did the bed net repair and care tourney, I told you all facts about malaria, but I was to remind you of a few more facts before I continue talking about my malaria activities this past month. 

As you can see, Kolda is one of the highest national averages for mortalities due to Malaria in Senegal based on this PNLP April 2010 study for 2009 at 9.56% when the national average is 4.41%. 

This PNLP chart illustrates the incidences of malaria per 1,000 inhabitants in each district in the year 2009. The Southern Region, where Kolda is, is in the highest with more than 15 per 1,000 inhabitant. 

This chart illustrates that Kolda is in the highest of incidences of children under five who tested positive for malaria in 2010-2011. Children under five and pregnant women have the highest risk of morbidity and mortality, in general, not just in malaria, throughout Senegal. 

As you can see, Malaria is a huge issue. HUGE. 

If one person doesn’t sleep under his net and is infected with malaria, he can give malaria to everyone in the village, because he has then infected the mosquito with the parasite in his blood, that will be then transferred to each individual the mosquito bites there after. 

This month I have done a health talk about malaria prevention, bed net care and repair event, bed net beautification event, training of trainers in my elementary school, two murals, a school lesson (I am slowly bust surely getting over my fear of public speaking), cue-to-action drawings to help kids remember why they were supposed to sleep under bed nets, translation of several documents into Pulaar, a bed net photo project. a malaria soccer tournament, a medication supply chain assessment at my Health Post, container garden training and materialization, several social media activities. I wanted to more, but with time constraints and other project and peace corps obligations, I didn’t manage to two murals, grass roots soccer, Work with Youth
at Risk, have a meeting with a NGO to discuss and formulate a Malaria Action Plan. Although, I still have three more days, I might be able to get more of these activities handles before the Malaria Month’s Activity Competition is over on May 25th. Wish me (and the Kolda Region) luck!