Here it goes…the name of the family that I live with is Barro. As is the custom when PCTs do a home stay, the first day I got here my family gave me a new Senegalese name. So these days, I spend much more time answering to Adama (pronounced just like it looks – Adam with an "a" at the end) than Elizabeth. I have my own room at our compound, with a bed and a mosquito net. The only other decorations in my room are my shiny silver water filter and huge PC issued first aid kit, which amazingly I haven’t had much use for yet (KNOCK ON WOOD). There are currently eight other members of my family living in our compound and one lodger who isn’t around much. Here’s a breakdown of the family Barro:
- Aissata is my mom and the head of the household. The Dad passed away several years ago.
- Maimouna, my Aunt (who it turns out is actually my dads second wife. yay polygamy!)
- My twin sisters Awa and Adama (my namesake)
- Two brothers, Mamadou and Abdulaye, who are both students, ages 24 and 22 respectively
- Astou, Maimouna’s granddaughter
- Fatima, Awa’s 19 month old daughter
- And then me, Adama, current holder of the position of youngest daughter and resident Toubab (white person)
Awa and Fatima, as well as Astou are just visiting, but they’ve been here the whole time that I have. Besides the four currently at home, I have five other brothers and sisters, the oldest of which is 46 (he was born when my mom was 14!). Most of the other PCTs have pretty young families, so it is a little bit weird that I’m the second youngest in ours. Since there aren’t as many kids here, life around my compound is much calmer than in the other compounds in town. Everyone in my family pretty much spends their days hanging out in the shade of the trees when there isn’t housework to be done. There are two huge Nima trees in our front yard that form a nearly 40-foot canopy, which is perfect for the extremely hot days around here. "Our air conditioners," as my younger brother calls them.
A day in village generally goes like this…
Wake up around 7 to the sounds of roosters and donkeys, along with assorted birds pounding away on my tin roof. Take a quick bucket bath (its so hot you usually sweat a lot even while sleeping) and then eat breakfast. Breakfast usually consists of a baguette and a cup of Nescafe with about 6 cubes of sugar (to say the Senegalese love sugar would probably be the understatement of the century). Then it’s off to language class from 9 to about 12:15. We used to have class under the amazing trees at my house, but now we’ve moved to the village nursery school where there’s a FAN, which is a godsend (when the power isn’t out that is).
At 12ish, we break for lunch until 3. Yep, almost 3 hours for a lunch break. When I explained to my family that the average lunch break in America is 30 minutes to an hour they were quite surprised. But of course it doesn’t get up to 120_F in Illinois in the afternoons. Anywho, these days I eat lunch in my room by myself because it’s Ramadan and the rest of my family is fasting. Usually though, we’d be eating around a communal bowl (which is how all meals are done here) of ceeb u jen. Ceeb is a Senegalese dish that consists of rice and oil and, if you’re lucky (which thankfully I have been), fish and veggies too. My sister Adama is a great cook so all our food is pretty delicious, but I am having a hard time getting used to eating the same things every day. Going from never eating fish in America to having it with almost every meal here is a bit of an adjustment. After lunch, my family members usually take a nap on the mat under the Nima trees, while I try to entertain myself. Adding fasting on top of how hot it has been lately, everyone is understandably fatigued. Then, at 3 PM we have more language class or go talk to local business people.
After class, the other PSTs and I generally go for a walk to get a little exercise. Without getting out for a walk every couple of days to burn some energy, the pace of village life is just a little bit slower than I can handle. (I know, who would ever have imagined me objecting to laying around all day everyday, right?!) Then at 7:30 PM, I eat a second breakfast with my family when they break their fast. This has lead me to believe that the actual reason female PCVs gain weight can be summed up in one word: Ramadan. I am currently eating four meals a day, and yet my mom and sisters still tell me I’m not eating enough and need to put on more weight. This is partially due to the fact that they think they are being poor hosts if a guest loses weight, and partially because the Senegalese idea of a beautiful woman is generally much more curvy than the American ideal.
After dark, we either watch TV or, in the very likely case that the electricity has gone out again, we sit around and talk. My brothers are the only ones who really speak French around my house. My sister Adama can speak it too but she is usually busy taking care of things. Senegalese women do all the work around the house and at our house, pretty much all of that falls to Adama. I want to try and help her out, but I haven’t figured out how to approach it yet. I haven’t even successfully convinced them to let me sit on the ground for meals like everyone else. So anyway at night, I either chat with my brothers in French, or sit around and listen to the rest of the family babble in Wolof. Also, around 9/9:30 we squeeze in dinner, which is now my fourth meal of the day; in case you’re keeping score. Yep, LOTS of white rice these days. After dinner, my family drinks tea, but I usually duck out for another bucket bath (and my family thinks I’m weird for bathing ONLY two times a day). And finally, I go to bed around 10:30. And by bed I mean I go to my room, turn of all the lights and pretend to be sleeping… but usually I’m watching a movie for a few hours, haha. Anti-social? Maybe a tad, but it’s the only time I spend alone all day so it’s kind of necessary.
So there you have it…more details than you ever wanted to know about my oh-so-exciting life in village. I promise the next post will be more interesting. AKA a recap of all the idiotic things I’ve done so far. Stay tuned.
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