There is a huge map of Senegal painted on the basketball court at our training center in Thies. So last Thursday they led all of us PCTs out to the basketball court and blindfolded everyone. Then they lead people one by one to stand on the part of the map that corresponds to their permanent site; and handed them an envelope containing all of the details about the town, the kind of work there is to do, etc. So I’m standing around on the edge of the court, trying to patiently await my turn, when my LCF (Language and Cultural Facilitator) Sakhir grabs me and walks me over to a spot on the map. I was still blindfolded at this point, but I could tell from the people talking around me that I had been placed in the same region as three of my closest friends here. Naturally, I started to get pretty excited about the fact that we would all be close to each other. Well not so fast, Corkery. That’s right…after standing there for about 5-10 minutes chatting with everyone, one of the current PCVs catches a glimpse of the name of the town written on my folder and is like, “Wait, what…you’re not at all in the right place.” So he promptly grabs my hand and trots me to another place on the map, which ends up being roughly 200 KM away from all of those people I just got excited about being close to. Bit of a wah wah moment, I know. But actually I think it will be a good thing…more excuses to go visit them, right? Plus, the people who are in my region are awesome as well. So now, info about my site…
So for the next two years I’ll be living in a town called Nioro, which is a little bit east of the center of Senegal. Nioro is a departmental capital in the Kaolack region, about 25 KM north of the Gambian border. It has a population of about 20,000 and is fully stocked with a daily market, internet cafes, and boutiques [that even have Pringles! Yes, my ancien (PC slang for the volunteer I’m replacing) felt that information was important enough to include in his close of service report…clearly we would have gotten along well].
I’ll be renting a room in the Mane family’s house. My mom is a teacher at the local primary school and my dad works at the pharmacy. They have 4 kids… 2 teenage daughters and 2 younger children. And now for the truly exciting news: my room has tile floors, electricity, running water, a shower AND a western-style toilet!! I can’t even tell you how happy this makes me. At my training village I take bucket baths and use a squat toilet and its really not so bad, but if a real shower is an option, I am certainly not going to turn it down. Also, my ancien told me that high speed internet has recently come to our town, which means that I can have it installed in my house. HURRAH!! Now no one has an excuse not to sign up for Skype slash send me lots of emails so that we can stay in touch.
In terms of the work, I’ll more or less figure that out when I get there and see what people are interested in working on. But, my ancien worked with some local young women to start a restaurant, which I think would be fun to continue to be involved with. There is also a vocational school in town where I might try to teach some general business classes. Plus, I know that I definitely want to get involved in some gender and youth development work in Nioro. All in all, it seems like there are a lot of interesting opportunities to pursue.
Since I won’t be able to get to Nioro to look around for myself until I move there, that’s about all of the information I have right now. Though I do know that there are 4 other PCVs (2 from my stage and 2 who’ve been in country for about a year) within a 25 KM radius of my town, which is awesome. Wanting to be close to other volunteers was the one thing I really stressed to the director of the SED program during site placement, so I’m very happy with where I ended up. This way I have other Toubabs to go to and speak English with when I’m on the verge of a melt down, haha. Plus, nearly half of my stage is going to the same region as I am, so clearly the new PC house in Kaolack is going to be THE place to be in Senegal.
Well I think that’s about it for now. Next up we’re headed back to Tassete for 10 days for more language training (starting to learn Wolof!) and to celebrate Korite (the end of Ramadan). Hopefully, when I get back to the internet I’ll be able to post some pics of myself and my host family celebrating in our fancy Senegalese outfits. Also, we just got back from staying with current volunteers for 4 days, so look for a post on that adventure to come. Now I should run…I’m late for the requisite “teach the prissy SED kids to play in the dirt and make tree nurseries” lesson with the agro-forestry PCVs. Later!
P.S. Here's a link to a good map if you want to see where exactly my town is. Nioro (or Nioro du Rip as it is shown on this map) is in the green section, just above the Gambia. Senegal Map
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