My apologies for the long absence of letters, emails, blog posts, etc. but maangy liggey rekk (I've been working). The harvest is coming in and the cold, dry season is starting so I've been busy finishing field crop projects and starting cool gardens.
THE FIELDS
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| Kani (hot pepper) fields. The women each have their own small plots on the sloping banks of monsoon season filled pools. |
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| My mom watering her pepper. Improvised watering cans! |
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| Look at the slope (a calf workout every evening) and water-saving earth works. |
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| Peanut fields: everyone in my region is currently pulling the plants out of the ground and letting them dry before pulling the nuts off. |
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| Me and my dog after a long morning in the peanut fields. |
MY TREES
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| After one rainy season my backyard went from brown to green. Look at the height on all those trees! |
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| Plants from rights to left: chia, papaya (above), Leucena, Moringa, Flamboyant. |
GRASSROOT SOCCER FEMALE EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM
I worked with several other volunteers and local counterparts to organize a Grassroot Soccer camp for over 30 girls in the Kaffrine region. We spent four days playing soccer, doing fun energizers, and having discussions on health-related topics.
Our curriculum focuses on a number of social and health issues that face female youth in Sub-Sahara Africa, such as gender biases, early marriage, sexual and reproductive health, and access to education.
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| Celebrating international "Day of the Girl" by laughing about our fun identities. |
MBOURE COMMUNITY GARDEN
The beautiful garden after two months of rain.
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| My host father is so proud of his rice, which normally doesn't grow in the area. |
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| Coffee plants. |
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| Coffee! |
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| Gigantic Pigeon Pea plants! |
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| After months of no vegetables, finally, finally, we have nutritious meals again! |
FIELD CROP SEED EXTENSION
Part of my work as a "Sustainable Agricultural" volunteer is to extend, and collect data on, improved seed varieties. I work with beans, corn, millet, sorghum, and rice.
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| Drying corn/ millet stalks to use for fencing. |
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| Drying corn, okra, and leaves. |
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| Millet stalks. The variety I extend grows to taller than my head. |
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| At harvest, the millet is knocked over and left to dry. Heads are cut off and stalks are drying for fencing material. |
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| Drying millet heads. |
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| Pounding corn. |
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| Roasting corn. The treat of the season! |
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| Our rice field. |
PAINTING TREES FOR THE FUTURE SIGNS
I helped paint signs for a NGO my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers work with.
WATER-FEEDING BASIN
Part of a grant I wrote for my community is a 'water feeding basin' that connects the well to the basin in the garden so women don't have to carry water into the garden.
MASTER FARM OPEN FIELD DAY
An educational 'open field day' opens the Master Farm to the local community to see new agricultural techniques promoted by Peace Corps. My Master Farmer, Omar Top, did an excellent job describing demonstrations, techniques, and facilitating discussions. We discussed field crops, vegetable gardening, nutrition, trees, live fencing, seed saving, and answered questions from the community. Over 60 members of the surrounding area came, curious about these techniques. Several volunteers and my boss came as well, so it was a big day for me.
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| Notice me in the blue! |
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| Our Agro-Forestry Volunteers loved the Master Farm's live fencing! |
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| My materials for a seed saving demonstration. |
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| Teaching about nutrition. The best method we PCVs use in Senegal is called the "complet model." Types of food are broken into protiens, carbs, and veggies/ fruits and put on correlating parts of Senegalese clothes. |
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| My lovely dog also attended. He was much admired by all. |
KEUR MANDOUMBE HOSPITAL GARDEN TRAINING
A women's group in my site-mate's village asked if I could connect them with knowledgeable farmers. My favorite aspect of being a volunteer is connecting people. I brought my host father and my Master Farmer to Keur Mandoumbe to teach basic gardening techniques.
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| Teaching amending the soil. |
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| Fielding questions under the mango tree. |
