Waiting

I've spent the past 2+ weeks in Bayax working on a variety of projects including analyzing a local business, starting a garden, and building a compost pile along with continuing to learn the language with my fellow volunteers.  We had varying levels of success completing those projects (goats knocked down our fence and ate our garden), but we learned a lot about the type of work we might be doing at site and we've made a lot of progress with the language.  It's hard to believe that my time in Bayax is already almost over.  Tomorrow morning, I'll return to Thies for a few days, spend one day in Dakar with the entire training group, and return to Bayax for one last weekend to prepare for our final language exam.  After that, we go to the beach for a few days and swear in as volunteers on the 9th  Training, thankfully, is less than 2 weeks from being over. 

I say "thankfully" because after I went to Dakar, saw my site, home, and work partners, training changed from a helpful buffer between life in America and life in Senegal to a barrier between me and my service.  Now, I'm just playing the waiting game until I get through it.  That is not to say that I have anything bad to say about it or Bayax.  It's just served its purpose in that I feel ready for my two years of service.

On a more personal note, I find myself doing things I would never do in the States and not caring about certain things that were essential to my life there.  I often go for a walk through the town in the evenings once it  cools off.  I use the excuse that I'm practicing my language but, really, I just like watching the little town work.  I don't care that I have the same thing for lunch every day anymore.  It's just lunch.  I don't care if the power goes out during the hottest part of the day.  It's not like there's A/C anyway.  I don't care that I only get on the internet once a week or so now despite spending upwards of 10 hours a day on it at times in the States.  When I do get on the internet, I spend my time talking to my family or doing things like this.  The things I used to do on the net, like watching videos and looking at funny pictures,  just don't seem important anymore. 

Something another volunteer said really stuck with me.  She said to two other volunteers, "You had a career in Finance, you had a career in consulting, and I had a career in accounting and now we're all together shoveling manure in Africa" (shoveling manure was part of building the compost pile)  Peace Corps takes away your house, car, job, and the rest of your possessions, leaving you with just you.  Regardless of who we were before, how much money we had, or if we were born in America or Senegal, we're all here now shoveling manure onto the same figurative compost pile.

Metropolis

I join the Peace Corps expecting to live in a small town with little access to modern conveniences and familiarities then I get placed in Dakar, the big city.  Typically, Dakar is reserved for Urban Agriculture volunteers or 3rd year volunteers working on specific projects with NGOs for example.  I'm only the 2nd Community Economic Development volunteer to ever be placed in Dakar.  Luckily, the first CED volunteer to ever be placed in Dakar has been showing me around the town over the past few days, teaching me how to take the bus, how to navigate the various neighborhoods, and how to survive in such a big and crowded city.  My main takeaways from our few days together are that I have big shoes to fill, I need to learn the bus system, and I need to set a strict budget.  Dakar is a town of many distractions and, while these distractions might be fun or give you the comfort of home for a time, they are expensive and, ultimately, not the reason why I am here.  Balance between work, relaxation, and indulgence is key in the big city.

I will certainly have luxuries and conveniences that most volunteers do not have at their sites, however, I will also face challenges that other volunteers will not.  My house is in the neighborhood of Diamalaye and about a 2 minute walk from a pretty nice beach.  My main work partners will be a women's group located in Grand Yoff, which is one of the poorer neighborhoods of Dakar.  All of the comforts of home are available to me at arm's length.  The only problem with that is that I can rarely afford them on the salary that I'm receiving (which is by design).  I can't take taxis everywhere, I need to learn the bus system.  I can't go out to eat every day, I need to eat with my family, cook for myself, or learn where locals eat.  Of course, one of the perks of Dakar is that if you budget well and save up, you can afford ice cream or a burger or pizza every now and again. 

As I mentioned, one of my main work partners will be a women's group located in Grand Yoff.  They make a variety of products including juices and soap, have a garden, and have a micro-financing institution.  The previous volunteer in Dakar worked primarily with the juices group and they've made a lot of progress.  They are currently working on getting their packaging up to par to carry their juices in supermarkets around town.  There is still, however, plenty of work to do with the juice group in terms of product formalization and distribution, but the soap group could use some help with packaging and costing.  It will be up to me to analyze the situation over my first 2 months at site and decide where to allocate my time.  I have the freedom to make any projects that I want with any work partner and I'll receive plenty of invitations to attend events in Dakar and help out with other volunteers' projects, so I will have plenty of options.

I will return to Thies in a couple days and return to Bayax a few days later which will represent a stark contrast to my site.  I will spend 16 days in Bayax continuing to study Wolof, going on field trips, and completing the technical requirements of pre-service training.  I'm starting to see the finish line of training and feel ready for the two year challenge that awaits.