Salaam Alaikum!

     Sorry it has taken me a while to write, however, I’ve been extremely busy!  On May 15^th, I traveled to Senegal with 3 other Peace Corps Volunteers.  We stayed there for a week and had an amazing time travelling around Dakar and Saint-Louis.  Senegal is an amazing country with beaches, great food, friendly people, and lots to do.  The country is way more developed than Burkina Faso, which was a huge shock when first arriving.  Dakar is a REAL city, with skyscrapers, paved roads, playgrounds, ice cream, a mall, restaurants with Wi-Fi, locals exercising on the beach or walking their dog, etc.  In Ouagadougou, these things are basically non-existent.  The country also has over 200 Peace Corps Volunteers and the country receives a fair amount of tourists, causing the locals to be accustomed to foreigners.  It really put into perspective how far behind Burkina Faso is, how important a coastline is for economic development, how much work still needs to be done in Burkina.  It also helped to emphasize why I’m here and why Burkina needs our help.    
     People in Senegal were comically nice to us throughout the whole trip.  We were told Burkinabe are known for being friendly (and most are) but the Senegalese were extremely hospitable.  Our first night out in Dakar we were given free appetizers at a restaurant called La Piazza, and later in the night a bar tender from France appreciated Peace Corps volunteers so much she gave us double gin and tonics.  That night, a cab driver drove us around for an hour helping us find transport to the north.  Finally, we got on a bus and headed to Saint-Louis for the International Jazz Festival.  The next morning, when we arrived, the cab driver called us to make sure we got in okay!
     The jazz festival was awesome.  All around town, in bars and restaurants, bands played jazz/reggae/blues music at night.  Saint-Louis is right on the water and used to be the capitol.  It has a very colonial feel, with small colorful buildings, some in better conditions than others.  We were able to find a lot of fresh seafood and artisan markets where we could buy art or jewelry.  One night we ran into students from Howard University who were playing in the festival.  We were leaving the next day so we couldn’t stay to hear them play, but it was nice to chat with them and explain to them what we were doing in Africa.  When we told them we were Peace Corps Volunteers in Burkina Faso, they looked at us strange and asked where that was.  We got a good laugh about it afterwards!  
     After the festival we headed back to Dakar to spend some time on the beach.  We looked online and booked a random hotel, called Le Cabane de Pecheur, which barely had a website.  However, upon arrival, it was exactly what we were looking for.  We each paid $18 and our room had A/C, a beautiful bathroom, a balcony, and was right on the beach.  There was a nice restaurant, free Wi-Fi, and hospitable staff.  We spent one day on the beach, eating shrimp sandwiches and watching the boats come into the harbor.  For dinner we went to a delicious pizzeria with another Burkina Faso volunteer and her dad, who was in town visiting.  The next day we went into the city to shop and then had dinner on these cliffs overlooking the ocean.  I was able to get a real steak dinner, something I hadn’t eaten in 7 months!  The last day we visited Goree Island, an old slave island, where many slaves lived before being shipped to the Americas.  The island was beautiful which stunning views, cute shops, remarkable art, and excellent food. We took a tour of the island and bought some fresh shrimp for lunch.  We got to see the first hospital in West Africa, where the president of Cote Ivory once studied, and one of the most prestigious girls school, where 25 students (out of 4,000) are accepted each year.  We also learned about the history of the island and about the people who currently live there.  Then we took the ferry back to Dakar and headed to the airport. 


Me on Goree Island

     It was hard to leave Senegal and return to hot weather but luckily I’ve been busy and haven’t had too much time to think about it.  After arriving to Burkina I left for a village called Bagre where a volunteer was hosting a conference called Doorways.  The formation was two days and talked about human rights, violence in school, the correct ways to discipline, and the rights of a child.  I was allowed to bring one member from my village to this conference, so a member of the school board came with me.   


Member of the school board and
me after the Doorways Conference

     Next, I went back to village for a day to do some laundry and say hi to everyone.  It was market day, so I decided to walk around the market to say hi to people.  I ran into a friend of mine, a mother who participates in an Income Generating Activity Program at a school in my village.  This program is similar to micro-finance projects, the government gives these women money to sell something and then their revenue gets divided- some goes to them, some to the school they represent, and some back to the government to continue financing the project.  She is one of the people I brought to the Soy Conference, which I attended right before leaving for Senegal.  The Soy Conference taught locals how to make soy products such as tofu brochettes, yogurt, milk, and tofu sandwiches.  When I saw her in the market I went over to say hello and ask her how her travel back to village was.  When I arrived, she was in the middle of buying all the materials needed to make tofu!  I was so excited and happy that she got something out of the conference and was already starting to make tofu! 


The women and me at the Soy Conference picking out bad soy beans!

     After a day in village, I left for another conference.  This time, I was taking two youth from my high school.  The conference was in Fada, and youth from around the country came to learn about leadership and how to be a role-model in their village.  I led two sessions during the conference, Professionalism and how to perform a Participatory Analysis Community Activity.  The youth really enjoyed the conference, meeting other kids their age, visiting a new city, and learning how to become a leader.  At the end we got to create an action plan, organizing our goals and objectives for when we return to village.  The youth that I brought are really motivated and identified that the biggest problem facing Komtoega is the retention rate at the schools.  They want to focus on informing the community on the importance of school and the negative effects of dropping out.  I’m glad they realize this is a huge problem in my village, and I hope we can develop projects that motivate youth.  The school year just finished in Burkina, and I was just recently informed that 94 students (grades 6-12) dropped out of school this past year (October-May).  It’s about 3 students a week.     
     The conference is over tomorrow and I'm headed North to my friend Liz's site.  I'm going to celebrate her birthday and then head back to site on Monday.  I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day to kick off the summer! In about a week it will be my 8 month mark in country!  To celebrate, I made plans to meet my family in Ireland in August and I've already started counting down the days! N

Me with my two students after the Youth Conference!