Check it out, I uploaded some more photos onto flickr.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Food is Not Enough:Without Essential Nutrients Millions of Children Will Die
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/issue.cfm?id=2396
This is a good link with both uplifting and distressing news. It was sent to me by our newly reinstalled USAID Program Manager who I had the pleasure of breakfasting with yesterday. Note that Mauritania is smack dab in the middle of the Sahel.
This is a good link with both uplifting and distressing news. It was sent to me by our newly reinstalled USAID Program Manager who I had the pleasure of breakfasting with yesterday. Note that Mauritania is smack dab in the middle of the Sahel.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Where Ever You Go, There You Are
There's been quite a lull in the action as of late which is what I find the most challenging about being in the Peace Corps- aside from the poverty and the heat. I get on real highs when the CereAmine training is active, the feeding center is active and it appears as though something is about to happen. But the weeks of lull send me into a funk. Also, when I am working, I am spending lots of time with Mauritanians which makes me feel productive. If I am not working I don’t really get a chance to interact with them, as I don’t enjoy simply socializing. I love the interaction while we are doing something productive, flipping bean skins, roasting grains. But laying around, sweating, in culturally appropriate garb, trying to make small talk isn’t my idea of fun. I'd rather be home reading a book or writing a blog, or taking a nap. That is pretty much how I feel about doing it in the US as well. It just proves the adage, where ever you go, there you are!
Thankfully I have been a stay at home mom for the last 3-4 weeks with little Miss Kitty, and she has occupied me. But like the sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives. Yesterday, Miss Kitty moved to Chinguetti. The house seems very empty. I had to do my laundry without her help. The upside, I did manage to get an extra hour of sleep this morning. Hallelujah. I have been sleep deprived since I scooper her off of the road.
The big news, I ran into Genevieve aka Achia, 2 days ago on the Carrefour. She is the woman who runs Les Enfants Du Desert. Or rather she came in for a quick landing. I am not sure how much coffee she’d had, but she was really wired. She stopped her car in the middle of the road, hopped out, kissed me, then another women she knew drove up and also parked in the middle of the road then Genevieve proceeded to have a meeting in the middle of the rond point. I had a hell of a time hanging onto her French as she was speaking a mile a minute. I can speak African French and I get to feeling a little cocky until I try to have a conversation with a French person. Then my bubble is burst pretty quickly and I spiral into depression that I will never be able to speak this language. I did however; manage to get out that I wanted to put together a meeting with her, my counterpart and the women’s coops to discuss the CereAmine trial. She was ready to do it right then and there, but Morella wasn’t due back in town till that evening, so I opted for 10 am the next day, converging at the rond point. Then off she tears, nearly fishtailing out of the Carrefour, like a mad woman, or a woman on way, way too much caffeine.
Yet, from our brief conversation, I could tell that she had been doing her homework on CereAmine. She was a wealth of information; she even knew the price that the ladies and I had agreed would provide them a reasonable profit. She proceeded to explain all of the benefits to the holistic solution of CereAmine to the other lady who pulled up next to us. Man, this is a small town and/or wow, is she well connected. But okay, I have made some progress after lo these many weeks of stagnation. I have a meeting finally scheduled with her to discuss the trial, the trial that was suppose to start around Easter. At least I think that is what the meeting is for. After she drove away, I was left wondering if I was suppose to go ahead and set up the meeting with my counterpart and the women for 10 the next day.—or what? Oh well.
Fast forward to the next day. I helped Jessica get over to the Chinguetti garage with Kitty then hightailed it to the Carrefour for our rendez-vous. Where Morella and I sit. And sit. And sit. Crap I must have misunderstood our lieu de reunion. 10 am; Carrefour; demaine. How hard is that? I really need to get more sleep. We try to call, but her phone number hasn’t been working for weeks. Then, after about 30 minutes we see her blue SUV pull up at the rond point. Yeah, I didn’t miss understand, she was just running late. So we hop in her car and off we go. Where we are going, I have no idea; who we are seeing, I have no idea; but off she zooms. She drives directly to my counterpart’s office. Theyhave known each other for years and have apparently already spoken about the benefits of CereAmine both for the feeding center and the creation of income for the women’s cooperatives. She is completely onboard.
Thankfully I have been a stay at home mom for the last 3-4 weeks with little Miss Kitty, and she has occupied me. But like the sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives. Yesterday, Miss Kitty moved to Chinguetti. The house seems very empty. I had to do my laundry without her help. The upside, I did manage to get an extra hour of sleep this morning. Hallelujah. I have been sleep deprived since I scooper her off of the road.
The big news, I ran into Genevieve aka Achia, 2 days ago on the Carrefour. She is the woman who runs Les Enfants Du Desert. Or rather she came in for a quick landing. I am not sure how much coffee she’d had, but she was really wired. She stopped her car in the middle of the road, hopped out, kissed me, then another women she knew drove up and also parked in the middle of the road then Genevieve proceeded to have a meeting in the middle of the rond point. I had a hell of a time hanging onto her French as she was speaking a mile a minute. I can speak African French and I get to feeling a little cocky until I try to have a conversation with a French person. Then my bubble is burst pretty quickly and I spiral into depression that I will never be able to speak this language. I did however; manage to get out that I wanted to put together a meeting with her, my counterpart and the women’s coops to discuss the CereAmine trial. She was ready to do it right then and there, but Morella wasn’t due back in town till that evening, so I opted for 10 am the next day, converging at the rond point. Then off she tears, nearly fishtailing out of the Carrefour, like a mad woman, or a woman on way, way too much caffeine.
Yet, from our brief conversation, I could tell that she had been doing her homework on CereAmine. She was a wealth of information; she even knew the price that the ladies and I had agreed would provide them a reasonable profit. She proceeded to explain all of the benefits to the holistic solution of CereAmine to the other lady who pulled up next to us. Man, this is a small town and/or wow, is she well connected. But okay, I have made some progress after lo these many weeks of stagnation. I have a meeting finally scheduled with her to discuss the trial, the trial that was suppose to start around Easter. At least I think that is what the meeting is for. After she drove away, I was left wondering if I was suppose to go ahead and set up the meeting with my counterpart and the women for 10 the next day.—or what? Oh well.
Fast forward to the next day. I helped Jessica get over to the Chinguetti garage with Kitty then hightailed it to the Carrefour for our rendez-vous. Where Morella and I sit. And sit. And sit. Crap I must have misunderstood our lieu de reunion. 10 am; Carrefour; demaine. How hard is that? I really need to get more sleep. We try to call, but her phone number hasn’t been working for weeks. Then, after about 30 minutes we see her blue SUV pull up at the rond point. Yeah, I didn’t miss understand, she was just running late. So we hop in her car and off we go. Where we are going, I have no idea; who we are seeing, I have no idea; but off she zooms. She drives directly to my counterpart’s office. Theyhave known each other for years and have apparently already spoken about the benefits of CereAmine both for the feeding center and the creation of income for the women’s cooperatives. She is completely onboard.
We scheduled a meeting the coops who will be producing the product for next week. She would also like to witness the actual production to ensure it is conducted in sanitary (a relative term) conditions. I also, want them to make each other aquaintance as I feel it is vital to creating a sustainable relationship between the two parties. Morella and I have explained to both my counterpart and Les Enfants du Desert that we do not want to be in the middle of the transaction. Again, Morella explained that the CereAmine, although we trained them, is the ladies product to sell. Providing all goes well, which it will, we should be in full production to make 120K of CereAmine for the 5/1 trial start. The trial has been expanded to two of the centers.
So once again, all is going well.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Atar Trash Marathon
It has been awhile since my last post…frankly nothing much has changed. Kitten is growing and thriving. I am anxious to find her a home, although she is still really small and dependant.
We held the annual PC trash pick up/marathon a couple of weekends ago. I had thought I’d participate in the 20k walk but I found myself assigned to hand out water and bananas at kilometer 10. So there I sat, at the intersection of two small dirt roads outside of the little town of Azougi and believe you, me.....I was the local spectacle. Every person that passed slowed to examine my doings. I sat there for over an hour before the first runners/walkers showed up so the town folk couldn't imagine why i was sitting on the ground, in the road, wrapped in my blanket (it was a chilly breeze at 7am) doing a sodoku puzzle beside a tub full of plastic bags filled with water....just sitting at this intersection in the middle of nowhere, lazin away the day. And honestly, I didn't mind it a bit. I have become exceedingly patient in the last year.
A cultural exchange note, whenever you are out on the road, all drivers, to a car, unless it's filled with toubabs, will stop and ask if you need a ride. It has never,ever failed to happen. When i am out on my power walks, every car that passes, sometimes go a few yards, but inevitably stop, reverse and ask if I need a ride. That comes from living in this harsh climate. You'd never leave a soul stuck in the middle of the Sahara. Unless you are white, then you drive on by...
The marathon was a full of mixed emotions. 40+ RIM volunteers came up for the event, and sadly, it might be the last time we see some of them. The second year’s just went to their COS (close of service) conference and will be leaving over the spring/summer. Apparently, the time does fly.
As for the rest of my life and work, it’s pretty slow. The CereAmine trial still hasn’t started. I do not know if the lady who runs Les Enfants du Desert has returned from France. We stopped by a week or so ago and left her a note, but the wind could very easily have blown it away.
The weather is getting really hot. To give you an idea, it’s now 9 pm and the temperature on April 5th is 95 F. …………and now it’s 10:30 and 92 F. I think I can safely speak for all here, we are apprehensive about the summer heat and stillness. The Senegalese souvenirs hawkers are now gone, the teachers will leave as soon as the semester ends, mid June, and we will be left alone. Then comes the gethna, which is the date harvest. This is a time to party the night away amongst the date palms. It takes place sometime over the summer and brings in a whole new crowd. From what I hear of past experience, it's a trying experience. Volunteers have to reacquaint and reeducate the new inhabitants about who we are and what we do. Let's see if after nearly a year of this, I can muster the patience yet again for that task at 120 F. God help the poor fools.
I did well in my French class. I know because they announced the grades in front of everyone. Not only do they announce them but they make you guess who number 1 vs 2 vs 3 vs 4 vs 5 etc. I was flabbergasted. It’s apparently worse at real school. There, the grades are announced at an assembly which includes parents.
Anyway, that is all from me. Go see my new hyma on the flickr photos. I’ll tell you the story later.
Cheers from here
We held the annual PC trash pick up/marathon a couple of weekends ago. I had thought I’d participate in the 20k walk but I found myself assigned to hand out water and bananas at kilometer 10. So there I sat, at the intersection of two small dirt roads outside of the little town of Azougi and believe you, me.....I was the local spectacle. Every person that passed slowed to examine my doings. I sat there for over an hour before the first runners/walkers showed up so the town folk couldn't imagine why i was sitting on the ground, in the road, wrapped in my blanket (it was a chilly breeze at 7am) doing a sodoku puzzle beside a tub full of plastic bags filled with water....just sitting at this intersection in the middle of nowhere, lazin away the day. And honestly, I didn't mind it a bit. I have become exceedingly patient in the last year.
A cultural exchange note, whenever you are out on the road, all drivers, to a car, unless it's filled with toubabs, will stop and ask if you need a ride. It has never,ever failed to happen. When i am out on my power walks, every car that passes, sometimes go a few yards, but inevitably stop, reverse and ask if I need a ride. That comes from living in this harsh climate. You'd never leave a soul stuck in the middle of the Sahara. Unless you are white, then you drive on by...
The marathon was a full of mixed emotions. 40+ RIM volunteers came up for the event, and sadly, it might be the last time we see some of them. The second year’s just went to their COS (close of service) conference and will be leaving over the spring/summer. Apparently, the time does fly.
As for the rest of my life and work, it’s pretty slow. The CereAmine trial still hasn’t started. I do not know if the lady who runs Les Enfants du Desert has returned from France. We stopped by a week or so ago and left her a note, but the wind could very easily have blown it away.
The weather is getting really hot. To give you an idea, it’s now 9 pm and the temperature on April 5th is 95 F. …………and now it’s 10:30 and 92 F. I think I can safely speak for all here, we are apprehensive about the summer heat and stillness. The Senegalese souvenirs hawkers are now gone, the teachers will leave as soon as the semester ends, mid June, and we will be left alone. Then comes the gethna, which is the date harvest. This is a time to party the night away amongst the date palms. It takes place sometime over the summer and brings in a whole new crowd. From what I hear of past experience, it's a trying experience. Volunteers have to reacquaint and reeducate the new inhabitants about who we are and what we do. Let's see if after nearly a year of this, I can muster the patience yet again for that task at 120 F. God help the poor fools.
I did well in my French class. I know because they announced the grades in front of everyone. Not only do they announce them but they make you guess who number 1 vs 2 vs 3 vs 4 vs 5 etc. I was flabbergasted. It’s apparently worse at real school. There, the grades are announced at an assembly which includes parents.
Anyway, that is all from me. Go see my new hyma on the flickr photos. I’ll tell you the story later.
Cheers from here
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