This is just a short post to let you all my site assignment--where I'll be for the two years following training. It is in a small Wolof and Bambara-speaking village in southern Fatick, about 500 people. I will be the second agroforestry volunteer there, following an agfo volunteer who just finished her service and headed back to the US. I have not yet seen my site, and will not get to until I install in the beginning of December. The volunteer I'm replacing, however, left me a detailed description of her site, projects, and work partners, so I feel well-prepared. I'm content to finish up with technical classes in Thies and language practice in Mboro before heading to my permanent site.
One of my fellow volunteers in Mboro took some great photos of our CBT site, so here are a few to give you an idea of where I've been living:
My host father and mother in Mboro, Medun and Nday Diaw.
Rollo, Megan, Vivian, and me. The Mboro CBT group, and an awesome crew!
An attempt to capture one of the stellar sunsets we get while watering our eggplant, onion etc.. in the evening.
Our garden at the local elementary school. Complete with recently planted live fencing stakes (they will grow into a thick goat/sheep/kid-proof barrier in a couple years eliminating the need for the current chain-link and wood post fence), field crops (rice, corn, millet, sorghum, and beans) and vegetables (onion, tomato, eggplant, pepper, cucumber, turnip, carrot, and some others) some young trees growing in sacks, and a couple piles of compost waiting to amend our field of sand we are desperately trying to farm. Of course we are in this for the long haul, and the school director, teachers, and students are excited to take over after we leave. We are just the instigators in this project, which owes much of its resources and design to a productive relationship between Peace Corps management (my bosses) and the school director.
I'm headed back to Mboro for the next two weeks, but will take my camera this time and hopefully have much more to share when I return!
nice bro! i'm excited to hear about your site once you get there! not sure if you get news there but obama won a second term (FYI). keep on sharing. i look forward to the next installment!
ReplyDeletemichael
Wow. Great posting, Patrick. I just spent this morning reading them. I want to see more photos, now that you have your camera. I loved reading about your host dad. He sounds like an amazing man. How fortunate that you speak French! Bravo to you for your path with the Peace Corps. I hope Hayden and/or Logan might do something like that someday. Big hug! Jennifer
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