VV, My Village, Islam, Seereer and other randomness...

Well I’m sitting under my mosquito net in Ngoudiane once again and while I feel like I don’t have much to say, I should probably just start writing and figure it out along the way.  In reality I’m sure that I have a lot to say that would be interesting to y’all state side and the fact that I find it so uninteresting myself is telling of how much I’ve acclimated to my new life here.  For example now it is not unusual at all for me to text back and forth with my friend about the amoebas in his digestive system and him having to send his poop, and subsequently himself, to Dakar for analysis.  That’s just about par for the course here.  Also now taking public transportation and being crammed together with way too many people in cars from the 70’s, which break down all the time, seems like a great luxury compared to biking 40k.  I eat with my hands, I go out to dinner and listen as four languages are used in the course of ordering 4 beers (I used 3), I sit under a mosquito net, I don’t wear shoes anymore (no one does, sandals are just too convenient), I drink tea at least once a day, I stand next to the sheep on the roof when making phone calls (it’s the best spot for reception) I … I can’t even think of what else is different because it’s just the facts of life now.  I like this.  Once you get over the culture shock of what is quintessentially “non American” about another country you can start to see what it actually is in and of itself, rather than just in reference to something else.

Ok enough philosophizing here’s the news:

I traveled to the Kaolack region of Senegal this past week for a little something Peace Corps likes to call Demystification.  Well now its called Volunteer Visit (VV) because apparently PC is lacking in acronyms.  Anyways Demyst or VV is when PC sends a PCT without their LCF to visit a PCV in the field before that PCV’s COS in order to show them what volunteer life is really like (PC = Peace Corps, PCT = Peace Corps Trainee, LCF = Language and Cross Cultural Facilitator, PCV = Peace Corps Volunteer, COS = Close of Service).  Now you might be saying to yourself (in a not so bright voice I might add) well that’s not very many acronyms, what’s he talking about?  That’s just the tip of the ice burg my friends, I’m starting you off slowly so as not to overwhelm you and cause you to freak out, quit your job/ leave school, and run off to join a scrabble league where mercifully acronyms are forbidden.  You’re welcome.  Now where was I?  Oh yes VV.  About 20 of us squeezed into a Peace Corps bus and went out to our respective villages in the Kaolack/ Fatick/ Kaffrine regions.  Are you keeping track of the geography of Senegal I’ve been describing in these posts?  There will be a quiz!  You think I’m kidding but I happen to know that some Chico professors are reading, and they just might slip one of these in as an extra credit question on the next exam.  Come on theatre department show an alum some love. 

Back to VV.  Mine was with one of the only other Seereer speakers in the country, Jessica O’Herron and long story short, she’s awesome!  Firstly it was really impressive to see someone so completely at home in their situation.  Jessica’s Seereer is really fantastic and her relationship with her family seems great too. It’s also nice to see that PCV’s get stuff done!  During my visit Jessica was finishing up a grant to build a school in her village and I am proud to say that I helped proof read it and even added in a few snazzy sentences into the intro.  It was pretty much the most productive thing I’ve done all PST, or at least it felt like it.  And guess what, it looks like she will get the money!  Way to go Jessica!  We spent most of our time in Jessica’s village, but we took one day to go to my village.  This was my first time riding in an Alhum (Public transit in Senegal… kinda like a bus I suppose…) and it was really pretty fun.  The Alhums are all painted with Islamic sayings and the names of prominent Imams and look kinda like funky busses from the 70’s.  We got off in Toubacouta, which is a really nice touristy village about 5k north of my village, and proceeded to walk the rest of the way to my Village.  Along the way we met the director of the theatre troupe in my village.  Yes there is a theatre troupe in my village!  This pretty much made my day.  The director is a really nice Rastafarian man from the Ivory Coast who only speaks French (yep time to brush up on my French too).  He told us that theatre is his life and that he has traveled to 13 countries in Africa studying different forms of performance.  I have indeed hit the jackpot.  This fact was driven home when he perfectly imitated a chicken crowing and a horse neighing as he heard those animals.  This may sound hokey, but to me it signifies someone who will be very fun to work with and who will make theatre that is aesthetically heightened and interesting.  I’m excited to introduce him to the Theatre of the Oppressed and I think he’s really going to take to it.  For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, two years ago I had the privilege of studying with Augusto Boal, the founder of the Theatre of the Oppressed and have subsequently created several theatre pieces in his style.  Basically this work uses theatre to open up forums of discussion and is utilized all over the world, especially in the poorest regions of the world, for development work.  I wasn’t sure if I would be able to work this into my service, but now with a theatre troupe in my village I think I can make it happen. 

Once we actually got to my village we went to see my new home.  I am pretty lucky in this regard as well as my hut has TWO rooms.  Granted the extra space isn’t all that much, but in Peace Corps land this is a big deal.  I still won’t have running water or power, but the well is close and not too deep, and the latrine is clean and new, so I’m stoked.  After eating lunch we proceeded to the chief’s house for one of the stranger conversations I’ve had in Senegal.  We sat in a small room with four men and listened as they tried to figure out which woman should be my female counterpart in the village.  Jessica was noticeably… peeved… as the men debated which woman would be qualified, and more importantly which woman would have the permission of her husband to travel to Thies for training.  Yes there are some issues with women’s equality here.  It’s on my to do list.  All kidding aside, there is a great group in PC called Senegad (Senegal Gender and Development) and they have expressed interest in using my theatre background for their work as well.  So yes quite literally it is on my to do list.  A cinj kagga (after that) we left the village and went to Toubacouta for a beer and some relaxation with the PCV working there.  Let’s just say if you come to visit me, this is where you’ll be staying.  We sat out on the terrace of a beautiful hotel overlooking the delta with birds and mangroves a plenty.  It was really nice, as was the PCV Cail.  He’s my closest neighbor so I’m guessing I will get to know him really well.  Those are pretty much the highlights of my VV… oh I almost forgot!  Tuna sandwiches for breakfast!!!  Oh my god so delicious.  Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. 

After VV we had a whopping 20 hours in Thies before heading back to our training villages.  And now here I am.  This quick turn around kind of threw me for a loop.  All the travel was just exhausting, so it was hard to dive back into studying Seereer.  Also it was hard to dive back in because I had to reconcile the fact that Seereer in Ngoudiane and the Seereer spoken in Dassilame Seereer (my village for service), and the Seereer that we’re learning in class, deffee o leng (are not the same).  It’s just a wee bit hard to motivate yourself to study when you know that to some extent your efforts are futile.  VV showed me how absolutely necessary language proficiency is, and also that despite my best efforts I will face yet another language barrier when I install next month.  It’s ok though.  Lauren was gracious enough to give me the first season of Flight of the Concords, and after a few episodes I got back into the groove of things.  I never thought that I would crave technology and everything American while I was here as getting away from those things was definitely a motivating factor for joining the Peace Corps in the first place.  The fact is though, this is really very hard, and having the option of watching a half hour of American TV while eating a few M&M’s is quite good for my mental health. 

This past week in the village has really been… well it hasn’t been much of anything.  Class then lunch then sleep then gardening then maybe class again then dinner then sitting then sleep (repeat).  It’s not good, it’s not bad, it just is. 

I’ve been using some random Seereer here and there in my posts, and have talked about learning it and whatnot, but most of you probably have no idea what I actually know or what my level is now.  Well lets just say I can have fairly decent conversations in the past, present and future tenses, can talk about my work in the PC and what the PC is in general, can talk about my family and what they do, and have recently gotten quite good at making my Senegalese family laugh by telling them absurd things like how I will good the small bird eggs we found into an omelet for everyone’s dinner.  We just had our second language proficiency exam today and I think I did pretty well.  At any rate I’m confident now that I will pass PST!  That’s a good feeling.  So do you all want to read some Seereer?  If you said yes, thank you.  If you said no… well you obviously aren’t interested in my life and thus probably shouldn’t be reading my blog.  Ok here you are:

Wolunteer Corps de la Paix no program a qoox refum. A cinj PST xam ret Dassilame Seereer, saate tep paam Sokone a refu.  No saate fe xam dimle wiin we no jafe jafe den. Ndat dimlekiim wiin we no jafe jafe fop. Xam dimle wiin we da baat a qoox den.  Jegiim xalis pur wiin we ndat jegam o and na qoox. Itam xam jeg axe paxu. Xam jangin wiin we no kaa jofna no jimb taxare fo fi a ding fo fix a tos fo tik lakas mayo. Bugam and ada Senegal fo bugaam dimle wiin mayo ken ta xo xam gen no saate fe pur xa kiid xadak. 

Alright you all got that right?  Ok fine I’ll translate. (I am a Peace Corps volunteer in the agriculture program.  After PST I will live in Dassilame Seereer, a small village close to Sokone.  In this village I will help people with their problems.  However I will not help people with all of their problems.  I will help people to improve their farming practices.  I don’t have money to give to people, but I have knowledge about farming.  Also I will have better seeds to distribute.  I will teach people in things related to planting trees, making community gardens, utilizing compost and many other things.  I want to know a lot about the culture of Senegal and I want to help people, that’s the reason why I will be living in this village for two years.)  Its not the most nuanced explanation of my work, but it gets the point across; also not bad if you ask me for studying a language for 6 weeks. 

One interesting experience this week was the cross-cultural session we had on Islam.  It wasn’t interesting for the information on Islam, that was mostly common knowledge, or at least it should be for any educated American.  What was interesting was the moment when we had to shamefully explain that many Americans have no idea what Islam is really about, and in fact there are national news networks that effuse false hateful things about the faith.  This was embarrassing, to say the least, to have to admit in front of my Muslim friends whom I respect deeply.  So here as part of my duties as a soon to be Peace Corps Volunteer let me dispel a few myths about Islam.  Firstly Islam is not in any way a religion that endorses, allows, or encourages terrorism.  It is just as morally wrong for a Muslim to kill in the name of Islam as it is for a Christian to kill in the name of Christianity.  Yes there are radical Muslims, but the vast vast vast majority are not and do not have any ill will towards America or other western countries.  Anyone who says that Islam is a religion of hate is just plain wrong, and is only causing further strife rather than encouraging understanding and peace.  In reality Islam, Christianity, and Judaism have a lot in common.  This is because they are all branches of the same faith.  Islam branched off from Christianity just as Christianity branched off from Judaism, and in fact Islam even recognizes Jesus as a prophet.  They just think that there was one more after him.  Because of this familial relationship between the faiths, Muslims afford special privileges to Jews and Christians as fellow “People of the Book”.  They consider them as worshipers of the same god and thus give them the same protections under Islamic laws.  The moral of the story here is that Muslims are not mysterious followers of a dangerous faith; they are wonderful, generous, moral people who deserve to be respected just as much as any other group of people on the planet.  Hopefully sooner or later this country will remember the lessons of the civil rights movement and apply them to everyone.  We shouldn’t have to relearn these things just because this time the people are Muslim or this time they’re Hispanic or this time they’re gay.  We can’t pick and choose when prejudice is ok and when it isn’t.  And that’s all I have to say about that.  Except this: if for some reason you disagree with me, do not post comments or try to debate with me here.  I will just delete them.  Are there issues within Islam that need to be discussed in an intelligent way?  Yes of course, as there are within any religion.  Is this the place? No.  I would be ashamed if one of my Muslim friends logged on to see a debate about the merits of their faith.  It is not something to be debated.

Sorry if that all sounded a little intense.  I have a strong sense of justice and I get a little passionate about things sometimes.  I’m sure that most of you would not adhere to such absurd beliefs about Islam.  So I spoke briefly in that section about my duties as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  One of the things I am mandated to do is to share my knowledge about Senegal with all of you back home.  Chico State I am so excited to be able to hopefully contribute to your Book in Common discussions.  The book is being shipped to me as we speak so within a month or so I should be able to blog about my first reactions to it and how it relates to my experience here.  I know that one of your goals is to learn more about Africa in general so students and professors alike if you have any questions about my work here or my general experiences please don’t hesitate to ask.  It is literally part of my job description to do this so really truly do not hesitate.  It may take me some time but I will answer all questions.  Also shout out to Kevin White’s sixth grade class.  I am very excited to be corresponding with you as well.  I’m not sure if any of you are reading… although Kevin probably is so HI. 

Ok I really didn’t intend for this post to be even longer than the last one… sorry… although if you’re reading the end it must have been interesting so you’re welcome J.  I think in the future I will try to write more frequent shorter entries.  We’ll see.  As always thanks so much for all the comments of support.  They’re really very helpful.  Eat some good food for me and if you’re over the age of 21 drink a Sierra Nevada too.  Until next time.

Cheers

Garrison