Last week was the long anticipated Volunteer Visit (VV). In the past, trainees were taken directly from the plane upon landing in country and sent out into the wilderness to visit a current volunteer and see firsthand what they’d signed up for. This was called “demystification” and evidently scared numerous trainees straight onto the next flight home. Peace Corps has since changed the protocol a bit, and now we get to visit our actual sites (or someone nearby) after having 5 weeks of language training and some time to adjust with the help of our homestay families. This change is much appreciated by the trainee community.
So that’s what I did last week – head 12 hours south to the lovely region of Kolda for a 5 night stint with the volunteer I’ll be replacing in Saare Sara. Of the 10 trainees destined for Kolda, I am the only one who is replacing a current volunteer and got to spend substantially more time with my actual family, village and counterparts than most others. My new family seems really great, but I’ll write more about them when I actually get to know them. One of my goals for the first few weeks at site will be to make friends with Toolaye – my 2 year old host sister. Each time I walked into the compound or looked in her direction she burst into tears and ran full speed to her nearest parent. I tried to shake her dad’s hand while he was holding her and she began climbing over away as if to swan dive from his shoulders before I’d gotten within 5 feet. Considering there's been a large white guy living in her compound for practically her entire life, I'm not sure why I incited such panic. Any ideas for befriending children afflicted with a fear of white girls?
I will be replacing a current Health volunteer (like me) named Martin, who has done a lot of work to improve wells throughout the village and is infamous within PC Senegal for his eclectic personality. I’ve heard mixed reviews about being the second volunteer at a site – and Martin will certainly be a tough act to follow given his local celebrity as “Issa” – but I think it’ll work out well. I spent 3 nights at Martin’s/my future home getting the grand tour of the village, meeting everyone I could and doing various training activities. As it’s hot season, we also spent a considerable amount of time siesta-ing around his hut and under the largest mango tree I’ve ever seen in the middle of our compound. Although I’m the only volunteer in Saare Sare, there’s an Agriculture volunteer about 2km away who will be there part-time and others within an hour’s bike ride. The village is right on the main road (half of the compounds are on one side, half on the other) so almost every volunteer going into the city of Kolda will have to pass within 10 feet of my hut and can easily stop in for a visit.
Speaking of which, check out the pictures of my future abode in my gallery (which hopefully works) ---->
Specs:
-4mx4m square hut
-Private bathroom/shower platform with 4 banana trees and unlimited tanning potential
-Huge backyard with room for garden and shade structure/outdoor bed/inflatable pool
-Manual well only 20 feet away – and it (almost) never goes dry!
After 3 nights with Martin we hopped in a taxi (along with 7 strangers) and headed to the regional capital. Due to meteor-sized potholes the 20 km ride took just over an hour but was uneventful if uncomfortable. Although the city of Kolda may lack the amenities of other vacation-worthy cities, it does have one upscale hotel that lets us use the pool and wifi with the purchase of one beverage per person. The bar is overpriced, but did I mention it’s the hot season? The Hobbe is my new favorite place.
I spent the next two nights at the PC regional house in Kolda – almost every region has a house/apartment where volunteers can meet up to work/recover from illness/use wifi/take a shower/eat American food/party. A smattering of current volunteers from the region came to see us newbies and partake in our demyst party the second night. The theme chosen was “fukijaye” (foo-key-j-eye), which is the term for a Senegalese flea market. Ever wonder where your “Spring Rush 2003” tshirt or “Houston Baptist Church Annual Pig Roast” baseball hat went after being rejected by Goodwill? They came to Senegal. Volunteers have found some real gems in these markets and with a 1500 CFA (3$) limit we had to choose wisely. I went with a pair of hot pink running shorts and a navy t-shirt that said “JESUS.” on it - period included. Decked out in funny but fashionless outfits we had a great evening – including fried chicken and homemade biscuits – and it seems like a really fun group of volunteers.
On Sunday morning we loaded back into the bus for another 12 hour adventure back to the Thies training center. Our driver was less concerned by potholes this time around, and sent most of the back row flying clear out of their seats on numerous occasions. Sadly, I’ll only get the air conditioned ride down one more time for install, and after that it’s 12 hours in a sept-place (explanation later, just know it’s uncomfortable and un-air-conditioned).
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