Last week

Our day off we were able to go to the city of Dakar.  It was pretty intense at first getting out of the cab.  it was the first time we really went somewhere without a senegalese escort.  We ate lunch in the independence hotel.  The restaurant was on the top floor so that we could see all of dakar.  we were the only people in the restaurant because it was a Sunday.  

There was an artist market going on in the center.  There were so many carvings and painting and clothing.  It was really neat.  they people would call us senegalese because we haggled so much.

Monday we discussed our experiences with our groups.  We were meeting with the SEM board the next day so we had to find out what we were going to say and what projects we wanted to present as the most important.  

In the meeting all the groups presented their projects.  there was a little misunderstanding and Alphonse and Aissatou were the only ones that spoke and we didn't do our slide show.  All of the other groups did power points and looked so professional.  But either way our Mbam computer loan was picked second out of 5 which was good.  We were very happy.  

I can't believe that the days in africa are limited, but just the same I am glad to go home and see my family.  I am very grateful for this experience and I will never forget the great times i've had 

Mbam

The drive to Mbam was rough.  There was a point where there was just a dirt road and the car kicked up so much dirt that we could barely breathe.  We got to the ferry and waited for a really long time.  It was actually really cold being on the water and I was in Capris and a tank top.  It's Africa its not supposed to be chilly.  

After we got across we drove into the village and to our house.  Mbam is clearly larger and more developed than louly.  Our house was nice and we had a large room.  There was also electricity.  The bath room was still the same.  Between Louly and Mbam i was not able to get used to using the hole in the ground toilets and bucket showers.  I did fine, it wasn't that i needed to have a toilet and showers, but it was nice to have back when we came home.  

We went on a tour of Mbam and quickly realized there were many sacred sites, some more scary than others.  There was one where if you cut a single branch, it would bleed blood and you would cry all night and noone would know why.  Needless to say I stayed far away from that area.  We walked down to the water where there used to be mangroves.  Apparently it was a student's project to replant the dyeing mangroves and now these ones are pretty much non existent.  That was pretty horrible to see.

Since we had a long day we ended up going to sleep early.  The next day  we found out someone passed away in the village.  We still held a meeting but there were only 4 people who showed up, so we were off for the rest of the day.  We went back down to the water where the shore is covered in shells of all types.  I had never seen a big conch shell before and was really excited about collecting the.  We also got to walk to some mangroves that were still existing.  

We stayed there all day, and we found out that the water was not deep at all.  it is so wide that you would think that it should be but there were kids that ran almost to the middle and were calf deep.  

After a long day of doing nothing we went back to the house.  We had a nice dinner, and found out that the family has a domestic cat.  I am so used to seeing wild cats that you feel like you get diseases from by just looking at them.  They also have 3 adorable dogs and a white horse.  

After dinner we all sat outside.  It was the muslim new year so a lot of kids came around dressed as the opposite sex and banging pots and dancing.  Cisco says it's like halloween.  It was a lot of fun to watch.  There were plenty of different kids, some that wouldn't stop dancing and some that were too scared of the Noubo's (not toubabs in this village) to even come to the stairs..oh well.

The next day we talked about a few projects with some important women of the village.  There were about 6 of them who came to talk about projects that have happened and the one they want.  The loan we gave out was to a group of 14 women who are all widows.  They know that they can succeed in getting a profit from buying and selling various items.  There are plenty of weekly markets where they can buy items at really low prices and sell for much higher. 

The second group didn't come for a while later, so we were lounging around most of the day.  The group already knew what they wanted which made things easier.  They are getting a loan for some computers and printers.  They have to travel to another town to use a computer, and pay a lot of money.  This is because this is the only internet cafe in the area so they can charge whenever they want, and close whenever they want so there is no guarantee that the trip will be worth it.  mbam has electricity and they have been wanting a loan for computers for a while.

While eating dinner we found out that the car was going to be too expensive and the breaks didn't work.  Instead we were taking the bus.  The bus that leaves at 5 am.  

We all packed and went to sleep around 10 and woke up at 4:30.  the only thing that made the morning good was there was that white horse hooked up to a cart and the three dogs waiting for us at the front door.  I have been wanting to go on a cart since the first day I got here.  

the bus was waiting for us and we hopped on, and got to the ferry.  After 2 and a half hours from getting on the bus we all stood tired and freezing on the ferry go back to the other side.  After that it was a bumpy crowded hot 6 hour drive back to Dakar.  An experience that I will never forget. 

After a short taxi ride I was finally home in Yoff.  It was so nice to be back to my bed and see Jess and Casey again.  We went to the tailor and picked up our outfits that we got custom made. A few of our friends came over and we all talked about our experiences in the villages.  It was nice eating dinner with our family again.

Louly

My group was made up of the coolest members that was possible.  Deneb, Alphonse, Aissatou, Cisco, and David.  Our first stop was the ecovillage of Louly.  We left in a station wagon packed with people and a lot of stuff.  We drove 2 hours only stopping to buy bread and Laughing cow cheese.  The drive wasn't bad.  There was so many things to see, from people, to animals, to trees, and even the villages.  We arrived sometime in the afternoon and got out of the car to many chickens and goats just roaming around.  There were a lot of huts around and children running around without clothing.  They stared but seemed too scared to approach me and Deneb.  We met Doudou who is the president of the village.  he welcomed us and helped us get settled into our new rooms.  

 We learned that there are actually 5 loulys and so the village we went to was really called Louly Ngogom.  It  is a small village of a population of 629 hard working and social people.  The people depend heavily on each other and on selling things that they buy, or that they grow through the rainy season to live day to day.  There are about 13 wells dug around the village, to make water readily accessible to them and a water pump was installed to make watering the many gardens easier.  This village is also blessed with many Baobab trees that bear a lot of fruit to sell and eat, which is nothing but a profit for them. 

This Village has been given loans from SEM since 2004 and they are always paid back and successful.  These villagers are also always grateful for the help and happy when representatives return.  There was a large number of people that came to the meetings we held.  Alphonse explained everything in Serere which is their native language and they were really happy.  For some of the villagers it was the first time that they truly understood why these students where in their village.  

Because these people were so used to getting these loans they pretty much already knew what they wanted.  One man was trying to talk the villagers into solar panals, but they were too expensive for the amount of electricity he wanted to run on them.  By the end of the day they decided on three potential loans, peanut seeds, buying and selling of small animals, and buying and selling of grains and seeds.    Since this isn’t our village it was important to let the villagers decide which two loan they wanted, and help them in that right direction.

After a night thinking about the loans, the villagers decided to pick the small business, and give the loan to a group of women, and animal rearing, which was going to a group of men.  They picked these two because the rainy season is not coming for some time, with no guarantees of plentiful crop to sell and pay back the loan.  Instead they hope that they will be able to earn enough profit to pay back the loan and buy the seeds for the growing season.  

With all the projects done and the paper work filled out me and Deneb went exploring while the others lounged around.  We didn't have to walk long or far to find this huge  baobab tree.  Of course we took a lot of pictures with it but we were just amazed by the size and how little you feel standing next to it.  We then wandered a bit further to find another tree that had a huge hole in it.  

When we came back to the village there were people with tom toms and a huge circle made by benches and chairs.  there were already children dancing in the middle.  As the sun went down the older women shooed the younger kids to their seats and danced.  They also made all of us dance which i have to admit was a little embarrassing because i cannot compare to how graceful they can dance around.  All too soon the music stopped because it was getting late.  We ate a quick dinner and then had to go to bed because we had to get up early to leave Louly and catch the ferry to Mbam.  I am going to miss Louly it was so much fun

Goree

Happy New Year.  I ended up going to the party but sleeping most of the time because every time I moved I felt like I was going to die.  However I woke up this morning and felt fine so we were off to visit Goree Island.  All the Americans and a few Senegalese students met in front of the school and then took the wonderful taxis to the ferry.  We thought that it left at 1 so we arrived around 12 only to find out that the ferry doesn't leave until 2.  To waste time some of us went into a small shop and looked around.  We had our first experience with haggling.  They really expect you to haggle everything.  I got some sunglasses because mine broke and a few postcards.  We then spent the rest of the waiting time inside the ferry station, trying to sleep, and just pass the time.  Finally we got on the Ferry and made our way to Gorree.  The Island was absolutly beautiful and of course my camera died as soon as the boat docked.  After fighting passed a lot of people trying to sell us items the group of us got to a small outdoor restaurant and ordered food and sodas.  It took nearly 2 hours before we were all finished and started our tour by a large baobab tree.  I have decided, being a dendro geek and all, that baobob trees are easily my favorite trees ever.  We learned that they are very spiritual trees and are sometimes carved out (since they are hollow in side) and babies and people that have passed away are put inside to be blessed by the spirits.  They can be 28 feet in diameter and 80 feet tall.  They can go 30-40 years without water, i don't know if that was made up, but it was pretty impressive.  We visited the castle and went into the slave house.  Goree was the main island of the slave trade, so we visited where they were kept.  It was really depressing to see how small the cells were.  The men had it the worst, we fit about 15 people in their cell and i felt like i was going to throw up and that cell held 20 full grown men and lived there for a while.  The nicest was for the virgin women who had a toilet in their cell and everything.  We then all walked up to the fort where there were these massive guns that could shoot over 6 miles.  They were built because there were so many countries that wanted control of the island, but they were only used once to shoot an English ship mistakenly that was full of gold.    We then visited a painter named Prince who made sand painting from sands that were found throughout Senegal.  The artistry was amazing on his pieces that he proudly displayed.

The sun was setting and the we wanted to catch the next ferry out so our group traveled back down to the beach.  For the little time we had before the boat arrived, me and a couple of other people collected some sea glass that littered the shore.  I was still not feeling the best and we were so tired from the sun and walking all afternoon so me and Casey skipped dinner and fell asleep.