Did ya know I'm home?

Hello, delinquent blogger here...

So Senegal... I am in a current state of apathy, its rather unexplainable. Today was the first day that I showed anyone my pictures from Senegal. I really have had no desire to really talk about it, cook anything, I even brought cookies from there and then couldnt even eat the whole bag... bizzarre. I would also like to clear something up. Contrary to popular belief I did not hate Senegal. I have been told that my blog was overwhelmingly negative. Maybe its just my occassional glass is half empty personality or maybe its just that its sometimes easier to point out negative aspects. I dont know. But I didnt hate it. But I would also say that I dont know yet if I loved it. I feel really badly saying that. I feel really ungrateful and unappreciative and almost like I've failed somehow when I'm not missing it terribly because it seems like everyone who comes home from study abroad experiences just rave about them. I think it was just the fact that toward the end there I was getting a bit tired of it and now it is just sort of an adjustment period... when I figure it out myself I'll let ya know.

Ive been home from Senegal for the past almost two weeks now... I guess I should have had a culminating blog from Senegal saying something like "Christie here signing out" but nope nothing sorry. So I've had it on my to-do list for about a week now to update my blog so here I am taking a break from packing to write this. We are moving from the good ole duplex which has served us oh so well for the past 2 years and 3 months to our new "lake home." This is what we lovingly call it because when you think lake home you probably dont think of 80's style fake wood paneling and holes in the wall (atleast just in my room, huge hole in the wall, it adds character/reduces privacy, am currently working on a solution to that problem) but its a classy joint. You should come over and check it out. But it is across the street from Lake Como and right next to the park so we have a huge yard :) Also right on the 3 bus line which is such a treat for the winter time :) So yes we are moving... oh joy. I am currently sitting on the floor with my keyboard while my monitor is still on my desk because yes there is not a chair to be found in the house. I was using a cooler a while ago but I brought that downstairs and now am too lazy to go and get it... More on the new lake estate very very soon. Ciao ciao

I've had malaria, how about you? Are you jealous?

Clearly dont be. while my symptoms could have been a lot worse, I still felt like I was hit by a truck! Its interesting that the way folks talk about malaria (or pali or paludisme here) it seems like a huge deal when in actuality it really isnt here. Its like having the flu. My little brother actually had it last week. Its only serious when it is diagnosed too late or misdiagnosed or if the people are malnourished or dont take the meds properly. I always hope for a really shocked reaction when I tell people here I have it but i get no sympathy whatsoever here! Its just that common. People actually laugh more often. I was diagnosed once again by the doctor/niece who lives right around the corner... so useful! But I am certainly in very very good hands with my mother. When I told her i had a fever she was on top of it.

Initially myself I was really worried. Once again I came up with 10 different scenarios of what illness I could have and how Id be on the next plane home. But I really dramatized the whole situation once again. But it really was scary. I havent been this sick for years (even though itsnot that bad) I cant remember the last time i had a fever, or malaria for that matter. The hardest thing about being sick here is just that its not home. At home I know how pretty much everything medical functions, at least on a basic level. But here I was completely at the hands of relative strangers. All I wanted was some comfort food sprite (which they actually do have but which I substituted with jus de madd a fabulous juice from a fruit found here) and chicken noodle soup (or DQ) but instead I got (and promptly refused to eat) random fish parts which were unidentifiable, thus inedible, to me smothered in a bbq looking sauce. So i settled for the next best comfort food at my disposal, a baguette smothered in chocolate sauce. But what i think I wanted most was physical affection. I am starved for it here! All I wanted was a hug man! My mom did give me a kiss htis morning after I ate her prescribed malaria diet of eggs, bread, and milk. I really see a lack of physical affection around here (except for wmong infants and small children) not only in the street but in the house too (my house could always be the exception but I doubt it). I need hugs and kisses when I come home!!!

Who knew that could happen?

You know how when you wake up in the middle of the night and you are still 75 percent asleep everything is a hundred times worse than during normal waking hours. Yeah that was last night. Within the past 8 weeks I have been relatively illness free (knock on wood) but by the time I fell asleep again I had concocted atleast 10 different ideas about what illness I may have and was pretty convinced that the next day I would go to the doctor, find out I have apendicitis or an intestinal torsion, and have to be on the next flight to the US for emergency surgery. Especially since returning from Linguere where who knows what different types of little creatures could have invaded me. Turns out, according to everyone Ive spoken too, including my house mothers niece the doctor who lives around the corner (how convenient!! Eli when we live in the commune I cant wait for when Im sick to be able to go to the hut next door and knock on the door, or rather pull back the burlap sack door, and have you diagnose me) I have a condition which is brought on by none other than... the fan. (yet another public service announcement for air conditioning) Who knew that could happen? Apparently if you sleep uncovered with the fan blowing on you continually, which is necessary in my oven of a bedroom, you can get what I have. Essentially it feels like a really bad sideache from running but it just continued to spread into my chest and back and it felt like something with my lungs. My mother said the same thing happens to her feet! From what Ive seen about medicine around here, I was slightly suspicious but everyone has confirmed the fact that this condition exists and it seems that everyone has had it. I was prescribed an antiinflammatory cream and told it will go away in 2 to 3 days. Interesting...

"Are you staying in a hotel?" - Mommy

I really wish I had a digital picture of where I stayed this weekend when I went to Linguere. My mom asked me if I would be staying in a hotel in the village... the place I stayed essentially couldnt have been farther from a hotel but I must say that even as primitive as it was, it was fabulous. I have truly seen two completely different sides of Africa and I am so grateful for the opportunity. It was thusfar the most beneficial and impactful part of my stay here in Senegal.

So Ablay, my translator, traveling companion, and all around life-saver, and I set out at 5:30 on Friday morning complete with 20 liters of water and my huge hiking bag prepared for up to two weeks in the village. Our travels to Linguere were uneventful (with the exception of the charette, the Linguere equivalent of the taxi, a horse drawn cart ride from the car garage to the office where we were to meet our contact). Imagine what a sight that must have been, the white woman riding through town on the horsedrawn cart. We met our contact Anne, a Lutheran missionary who runs a primary care clinic there. We bought gifts for the chief of Touba Linguere, the village where I would be conducting my research, which included 10 kilos of rice, two kilos of sugar, tea, and mangos and we then set out. Even the trip to the village was astounding to me. The village was 23 km from Linguere and we were took a Land Rover and followed a series of "roads" in the maze of sand paths to the village. I was stunned at their ability to find the village as there were absolutely no signs or obvious landmarks to speak of.

I dont know what I was expecting in the village but what I found were very ordinary Senegalese. I did not see one loin cloth, plate through ears or lips, nor bones through noses, nor weapons to speak of. I have just dispelled a common misconception about African villages. While Im sure these things could be found elsewhere, they were not in Touba Linguere. What I found in Touba Linguere were GENUINELY hospitable people who had no agenda in their hospitality as I have often found in Dakar. Ablay and I were to stay with the village chief. His household consisted of about 20 people enclosed within a fence of straw were a number of straw, cement, and clay huts. I kept my belongings in a clay hut with a straw roof but slept each night on a traditional bed outside under the most beautiful stars I have ever seen in my life. Never before have I seen so many stars. It was glorious! Not to worry about mosquitos though because I had triple protection. I lit this thing which creates smoke to keep the mosquitos away, had my bug repellant on, and literally slept wrapped in my mousticaire (mosquito net). Did I mention that there was no electricity at all? I guess thats not much different from here in Dakar as the power is out 50 percent of the time! They did have semi modern "bathroom" facilities as they had a well and a hole in the ground which served not only as a toilet but as a place to shower. Very convenient!

The mornings were probably my favorite. Woke up to typical farm sounds, horses, women pounding millet (a grain) in a huge mortar and pestle type thing, babies crying. The donkey continues to be my favorite farm sound. Was also treated to the beautiful sunrises every day on my walk to the bathroom :)

Ablay was so so so helpful. I didnt even know how to ask where to go to the bathroom and then when I did find out, it was not a setup that I was accustomed to (essentially 3 3/4 of straw walls and a long concrete slab to stand on. He was especially useful when it came time to eating, everything was 10 times more difficult than usual (especially at night with no light) and there was always the problem of the sand. My neighbors here in Dakar asked me what I ate there and got a big kick when I tell them "cere, mewe, ak suuf" cous cous, milk, and sand which was the truth. As an example of my incompetence: the first night they gave us a big bowl of cous cous, two packets of powdered milk, a sauce, and a cup. Now what the heck am I supposed to do with this? Without Ly I would have been completely lost! Each night the couscous (a grain cereal sort of thing) would go into my milk with sugar (strange I know) complete with sand. In a semidesertified area its unavoidable! Most Dakarois (people who live in Dakar) cant even fathom going to a place like this. Im trying to htink of what it would be akin to in the US but I really dont know that there are any areas as underdevelped as this one. Each morning I drank hot powdered milk into which I would put Biscuit, these little graham cracker type cookies, which actually was really delighful. In Dakar I eat a baguette in my hot powdered milk each morning so it wasnt so different. For lunch each day we got two huge bowls of ceebu gen (fish and rice) which was enough for 6 people literally. We werent sure where the second bowl came from because the two dishes were prepared differently. We assumed that the father had two wives. It wasnt until after the second days lunch that we found out that the neighbor had been sending the second bowl of food for us. No one had even told us. It was so so kind of him!

I used to think sometimes that many of the Senegalese were lazy, yes I know thats judgemental and mean of me but I see many examples of it, especially of the majority of women in my neighborhood. However, I think they just really know how to appreciate and enjoy life. But in comparison to life of Americans it is easy for me to say thaty they are lazy just because we are so accustomed to going going going going and we hardly take time to enjoy life and appreciate it. Each afternoon after lunch we would take a little siesta (little meaning 2-3 hours). Esssentially, they threw down some burlap sacks and some plastic chairs and benches under a huge tree in the yard and sat around to chat, nap, relax and drink tea. Let me tell ya, I could really get used to that. Drink tea, nap a bit, wake up, drink round two of tea, nap some more, wake up to see a chicken walk by my head, wake up to see two guys carrying by the horns a freshly chopped off cow head by me (no joke!), and round 3 of tea (there are always three cups of tea) Apparently such is life in the village.

There was the problem of transportation from Touba Linguere back to Linguere when we were finished with our work. There was an almost complete lack of cars, thus the only option was the caleche (horse or donkey drawn cart). However, people left for town on these only on Monday and Friday. Thus we determined that we would finish our work before monday, that left us two days to interview 30 people.

Onto the research. We had a lot of work to do in two days. We had 30 interviews to conduct. The village consisted of 53 borom ker's, or heads of the house, mostly centralized in one are but with 10 or so scattered up to 3 km from the village. Everyone that we met with was so welcoming and willing to talk with us. The reason that I say that this was my most profound experience is becaus it was here that I experienced what I came here to expereience. I was actually doing the stuff that I came here to do and learn about, why africans arent accessing health care and just how grave it is. You can read about it all you want but until you see a 5 year old boy with cavities in every tooth that hurt so bad he can hardly eat and his family doesnt have money to bring him to the dentist and you want to cry it really hits you. Probably 75% of the people had problems with oral health and even more had never once visited a dentist. There were a number of people who had no clue even where they could get oral care even though there is a dental clinic in the hospital in Linguere. While I havent looked into the situation enough or the possibilities I really dont see why there couldnt be some sort of mobile clinic which traveled around to remote villages to provide oral health care. One of the most stated reasons for not receiving care is the distance to Linguere. Mark my words: it is my goal to see a mobile clinic put in place!!

I had many firsts this weekend! I received as a gift my first ever live chicken! How cool is that! However, I chose not to take it with me back to Dakar and left it with my host. Potentially one of the coolest parts of my time there was my transport out of the village back to Linguere. We were up at 4:30 am in order to pack and get onto the caleche (the horse drawn cart) at 5 in the pitch black. On the road we had nothing but the stars and a flashlight to lead the way. There were many times this weekend when I sort of stopped and took myself out of the situation and thought what the heck am I doing here and how did I get here? It was so so cool. Not many people can say they have watched an African sunrise while riding on a horsecart! Fabulous!

Trip back to Dakar was relatively uneventful. However I have decided that I should never ever complain about anything again, especially in the US. We took two 7 place station wagons and each time I was in the back seat riding bitch in the middle. Brutal! Not to complain like I just said I would never do again but it was hoooooottttt, completely uncomfortable, I was hungry, tired and thirsty. However there was a man in the front seat who really looked like he was very close to death who was on his way to the hospital in Dakar with his three companions. Unfortunately for this poor man the car broke down just outside of Dakar and we were stuck there for an extra 2 hours. This poor man crawled out of the car and spent these two hours lying in the shade of a filthy corner. I can hardly think of anything worse! After nearly 12 hours of travel I arrived back at home (its crazy for me to think that I call my place in Dakar home but it really is homey, I love it!) Even after 12 hours of sleep on Monday night spent all day Tuesday recovering because turns out my weekend was actually a bit stressful for my body! Go figure!

Ciao ciao y'all! Bissous