Mini-Croisiere A Saly

Hello, sorry for the delay! I spent this weekend with another volunteer who is closer to Dakar & works in a local hospital/clinic in a suburb of Dakar. On Saturday we took a Mini/Day Cruise to the town of Saly, a real tourist hotspot with beautiful beaches ( I would definately vacation there) and we ate lunch at a restaurant there and relaxed on the beach for the day. It was about a two and a half hour boat ride to and from Dakar/Saly but the trip was amazing and I enjoyed spending time with the American girl and she even lent me some English language books which I have been dying for! I am going to post lots of pictures but here are the first of many:


Senegalese man playing the kora (sounds like a harp) at the restaurant in Saly

A picture of the beach in Saly. Many resorts & very clean and beautiful.

A floating staircase! It's what we used to get from the big boat to the little boat we took to shore. Very funny & slightly dangerous.

Mini donuts, covered with coconut sprinkles. We didn't get to eat breakfast at home so I bought these on the mini-cruise boat to eat. Pretty delicious but I think Dunkin Donuts is still safe.

The port, while we were waiting for our boat to leave from Dakar. Possibly if you zoom very close, you will notice as I did, a boat named Desire all the way from an island in NORTH CAROLINA! I am pretty much euphoric any time I see ANYTHING having to do with the States, nonetheless a boat :)

Daigan

Sorry for not updating more often this week but my schedule has been pretty regular and with the electricty shortages, I've been relying on my ipod touch to send emails and check basic stuff like that. I've continued working in the Unite Familiale with the other Americans (who only have two weeks left!) and I arrive around 9am, work until about 3, drink some beesopp and come home and relax/read/write/whatever else I can think of to do without electricty and sometimes without water! You learn to use your time very wisely over here, that's for sure. Since I've been doing the same old-same old over here, I wanted to take the time in the next few posts to introduce you to some of the children I have been working with, starting with my favorite youngster at the Unite Familiale, Daigan (day-gone)! Daigon, 4, is the only handicapped child in my section and nobody has been able to explain exactly what it is that classifies him as handicapped but he has limited intellectual development, poor motor skills, and while his muscles appear to be normal, they aren't very strong or developed and he has an abnormally large rib cage. I was told that Daigan was one of a set of twins and that his twin was taken home to the orphanage but Daigan was left there because simply put, "he's not all there."

Handicapped children do not get the same attention in Senegal as they would in the United States- they are not mistreated or anything of the sort at the pouponniere but there just are not enough resources and caregivers to work with the handicapped children. So when I first arrived at the Unite Familiale, I really took to Daigan and wanted to give him my undivided attention- even if just for a few hours every day. And just yesterday when he saw me come in in the morning, he smiled at me. He doesn't usually smile so I felt such a tremendous amount of pride, it made my day. Usually I take Daigan outside, helping him practice walking since he cannot yet walk without aid (and I have only seen him stand on his own once since I have been at the pouponniere), and then I spend the rest of my time with him just trying to make him laugh by playing with him or walking around with him. The other American girl here has also taken a special liking to Daigan and helps him to walk and play too. I would like to research if there are any developmental activities I could do (Daigan does not speak either) but it is difficult when we are unsure exactly what his condition is. I do the best I can by talking to him and rubbing his back and I hope that I provide some small comfort to him and that he recognizes me as a safe haven but for now, it's just been a learning experience for me and it has been wonderful getting to hang out with Daigon each morning!

Beach Pictures

I have taken for the most part to working in the Unite Familiale now because the other Americans work there and I like to speak English with them-even though they will be gone in 3 weeks (perhaps I will change work stations then). Anyways, today was not very exciting except for trying a new juice (similar to beesopp) made out of tamarin seeds. With a little bit of sugar and some ice, another wonderful drink on a cool day-and all for 25 cfa! Since I don't have a great story for today here are the promised beach pictures from yesterday- Enjoy! Oh and I remembered this just now--for all the other Tennessee fans out there, I saw some young man on the beach wearing a Vols baseball cap! Imagine that!

The First Weekend

Hello everyone! I can't believe I have already been here for a week. The days seem to go by very slowly because of all the free time here but I think
the week has gone by pretty quick. Only nine more weeks to go! I spent most of this weekend relaxing although an Australian volunteer had her birthday on Friday and rented a villa in Mbour (yes, apparently you can do this and it was quite nice) and Benjamin and I headed over there Saturday night to hang out and listen to a bit of music. Although I think my host family is very protective of me because we were home swiftly before midnight! It was good fun but French was the language of the night because the majority of the volunteers are French :(

It's very strange not celebrating 4th of July so Happy Fourth to you all because no one has mentioned it here. My host sister and I headed to the Mbour beach (about a 15 minute walk from our house). I can't say it is anything like those Florida beaches but it was relatively cleaner than the street. However, it looked to have about the same amount of people that are probably at the Boynton Beach right now- totally crowded and lots of boys wrestling and playing football and pretty much every type of swimming attire you can imagine from tshirt and jeans to real swimsuits. Anyways, going to keep this short because I have some other things to get to but I will soon upload pictures of the beach. Happy Fourth of July and thank you to all our servicemen who make the US as wonderful it is. oh, and GO GERMANY :)

Today was wonderful, thanks to some Americans that helped me explore a little bit of Mbour. At the Pouponniere, there are two Americans there from Notre Dame on a summer service trip and an Australian girl who has been traveling all the way around the world. I worked again in the Unite Familial with the Americans but afterwards I got to see the volunteer housing compound where heaps of other volunteers live and they took me to the supermarket a little ways outside of Mbour--just like in Europe or somewhere (ok, not exactly but pretty good compared to the little corner stores here). I only got an apple juice but by God, it was the best tasting apple juice I've had all year!

Also at the Pouponniere, I discovered some ladies sell something called Bee-sopp (well it sounds like that). It's sold as pictured for 50 CFA (600 CFA = $1 USD) and it is juice made from boiled and dried hibiscus flowers and combined with loads of suger. Tastes just like Hawaiian punch and perfect for cooling off after another hot day here in Mbour! All in all, I was very happy and grateful to do a little exploring around town and see some more worldly things. We even took a taxi and if you own a car here in Senegal, congratulations, you ARE a taxi! And for those of you that have visited Manhatten, ohhh, the Senegalese taxis put the yellow cabs in NYC to utter shame! Anyways, relaxing now after my big day. Hope to do more exploring this weekend & have more to write. PS. My hand is completely fine and barely even a bit pink now!

Pictures from Unite Familial

Today I worked at the Unite Familial- it's like a makeshift family sitting where kids who are abandonned at the orphanage (most babies are actually reunited with their families after a year or two) can live with 2 moms and about a dozen or so children in their own compound. Here are some pictures:


Little kids using the bathroom (these get cleaned out later)

All the kids sitting down to color (girl in the background is another American from Notre Dame University, here on a service trip for two months through school)

All laundry here is hand-washed and these are actually diapers (only clothe diapers are used because plastic diapers are too expensive) & a wild goat hanging out and eating!

Je n'ai pas la bonne chance! (I don't have good luck!)

Benjamin laughed when I said this to him. Just a few minutes earlier I was feeling refreshed having just woken up from a dream where I won three thousand dollars. I decided to have some coffee this morning since I was so tired yesterday, nothing unusual there. To make coffee here, you must first put powdered milk and powdered coffee in your glass and then add boiling water. And of course this morning the teapot was leaking a bit from the stem (I think I needed to be pouring the water more slowly or gently) and somehow I spilt this hot water allover my pinky and the two middle fingers of my left hand. Oh theEnglish words I had no problem saying this morning! I was teary- eyedfor about two or three minutes and then my host mom rinsed my handwith cold water in the sink and gave me a bottle of ice water to hold.It still burned but then I thought about it while I finished mybreakfast and I'd rather be a little injured on one part of my body(not even my dominant hand) than have my whole body be sick like the night before last. My mom is comparing my experience here to being on"survivor" and thinking of that is making me laugh. Anyways, foundsome sort of hydragel pad for burns in my first aid kit so I wrapped my hand up and popped a couple Tylenol and I think it'll be fine- I've burned my hands using a flatiron or curling iron plenty of times andthis appears to be pretty much the same. I am writing this waiting forour driver to the pouponniere but I have faith my day will only getbetter so please do not worry about me and I will keep everyone updated! And more pictures soon!