I've been at site for nearly 6 months now. That's about a quarter of my service done.... does that even mean anything anymore? At a certain point, I feel like I should stop counting the days that I've been here or the days I have left. It's an exercise that takes me out of the present tricking me into thinking that I don't live in Senegal. I've been here a while and I'll be here a while longer. I think that's as much detail as it is necessary to get into.
Anyway, I've been quite unproductive from a work standpoint since the beginning of the month. That's partially due to me postponing phone calls and e-mails, but it's also partially due to holidays, seminars, and people not getting back to me. I try not to beat myself up when I don't have anything work-related to do on a particular day.... or for several days in a row. I know that I'm trying. Instead of trying to force things, I focus on other tasks like exercising, reading, fantasy sports, or 3rd goal stuff (like writing this blog, talking to family, taking pictures of places that I like around Dakar, etc.). There may be days where I don't make any progress at work, but there are absolutely not days where I make no progress. As one of my former professors once told me, the key to development is to just start somewhere, do the doable, and persist. That's all I'm trying to do at this point.
As far as work goes, I'm hoping that I'll be teaching a group how to make soap in a few days. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to make soap, so I've had to rely on the wisdom of more experienced volunteers. I'll likely learn as much as them in the process, but I'm getting the rare opportunity to start a business from scratch. A couple months ago, this group came to me with a little bit of cash in hand and a desire to work. Now, we're a few weeks away from having a product, organizational structure, and a functional business plan. I guess the only thing left to do is turn a profit!
Other than that, I wrote and submitted a proposal for a course in entrepreneurship and accounting for detainees at the youth prison. I'm really not sure where that will go, but it's certainly an interesting opportunity. The chicken raiser/copy shop/phone credit lady is on the back burner until I can get some help. She has a field that she wants to start planting crops in, but she needs help planning it which is not my area of expertise. There are a couple of other smaller things I have going on or ideas floating around in my head that I haven't acted on yet, but those are the basics of my work right now. Not too exciting, eh?
Before you go, I have a special treat for you. I took some pictures of a couple more of my favorite spots in Dakar. Here's a nice shady spot on top of a hill overlooking a secluded beach on the western coast of the peninsula. I only just recently found this spot, but it's really nice in terms of the view, the temperature, and the lack of other people. Next, This is a view from the outside of a place called the Place Du Souvenir. It looks like it should be a major tourist destination and I often see advertisements for art expos taking place there, but it's always a ghost town whenever I go. There are steps between those two buildings you see that lead down to the ocean. Here's the view from the bottom of those steps. This one shows that there was at one point a fountain under that map of Africa and there are posters like these posted all around that give some short descriptions of important figures in Senegalese/African history. It doesn't appear that that fountain has held water for a while and those posters were dated December 2010. It seems that at one point, the Place du Souvenir was a vibrant cultural hub, but now it appears to be at least partially abandoned. Nonetheless, it provides a peaceful atmosphere and a great view of the ocean.