Halima Fofana

Life has changed once again in Peace Corps Senegal.  This time, for Halima Fofana! I am now living at my permanent site, Botou, Tambacounda, Senegal.  It's a village of 900 people according to the village chief and 2500 according to another source.  It lies just 10km outside of Tamba, the capitol of the region.  I installed on Tuesday December 2, 2014.  That morning a group of us as new volunteers visited the prefect (like the governor) of Tamba, the head of the gendarmerie, the head of the police, the head of agriculture for Tamba and the head of Eaux et Forests, the body that governs the national forests in Senegal.  While we were at the Eaux et Forets office, Djitte, one of my supervisors got a call from my host dad Bouna, because everyone in Botou was ready, waiting to dance me into the village.

We went and picked up all of my stuff and drove to Botou.  Upon arriving, the women were gathered in a circle dancing and singing my name.  They had cleverly made a drum out of a gourd bowl placed upside down in a bucket of water.  I danced with them and clapped as they danced.  Before I knew it, I was whisked away, covered in a white shroud and walked to my hut with a group of 15 or so women.  It was simply amazing.  I got to my hut and when I turned back into the hut from the back yard all of my belongings were in my hut!  My hut is made of cement/mud and wood for the structure itself and the roof is made out of grasses from the fields placed on top of a conical beam structure.  This kind of hut is ideal because the straw roof keeps things relatively cool.  I have a shade structure/porch that faces the other huts in the compound.  Then there is a window facing the garden and a door to my backyard and to my bathroom.  I sleep on a stick bed frame made by a man who lives in Jam Jam, a bush village not far from Botou, that was commissioned by my ancien.  I also have a great work table- made by my ancien and our uncle Mahdu.  I have made a few additions to my perfect new abode.  I painted two rectangles inside with chalkboard paint to keep lists, etc.  I painted an image of Vermont on the outside of my hut.  Seeing as both Connor and I are from the wonderful and beautiful 802 it seemed only fitting.  Now I am hoping to secure the next volunteer's home state.  I finally feel settled into the hut.  Just a week in and I built a stand for the clay pot I bought that will keep my water nice and cool during the hot season.  I've planted some vegetables in my nurseries and made a compost as well as started experimenting with some basil and nasturtium container gardens.  I also planted some sunflower seeds from High Mowing Seeds on the edge of a berm, but I have no idea if they are going to grow- stay tuned.

My host family consists of two families.  My host dad Bouna is the de facto village chief as his elder brother lives in Tamba now.  He is married to Raki and they have nine kids, six who live in Botou, two who go to high school in Tamba and one who lives in another village.  The kids range from Sorkhna who is about 15-16 to Tene who is a year and a half.  There there is Bouna's younger brother Cooli who's wife is Seynabu and their child Fili who is a bit older than Tene.  Another brother of Bouna's also lives in the compound but is in and out.  Then next door is Mahdu and his wife Muya  Mahdu is another brother of Bouna's.  Their sister Masirrah also lives with them.  She is deaf and watching people speak to her with their hands has been one of the most interesting parts of my short time here so far.  Mahdu has 5 kids and works at the water tower that the town recently got.  He's also a woodworker and farms.  All of the men in the family farm, peanuts and corn are their main sources of income. The women sort of garden and do all of the cooking, cleaning and child rearing.  The one thing about the men in the Fofana family is that they are among the most kind, patient, and interested/interesting men I've met so far during my time in Senegal.  They will sit with me as I ask them questions, they won't yell at me to speak as Raki has done, and they are very sweet to their young children.

It has been exhausting getting used to this new pace of life.  I got strep throat again...But otherwise I'm learning to become a more patient, more relaxed person.  So much work happens, but slowly, day by day.  They say that here in the Peace Corps, days go by slowly and months rush by.  I've felt that, but I also love spending the day with the kids in my family, wandering around my village, or helping in the peanut fields.  The manual labor is exhausting in itself in Senegal.  Everyday I pull water from a bidon from the well in our compound, 30 meters down, which is pretty deep for a water table here.  Harvesting peanuts, and the work they put into their fields is amazing but sometimes I wonder if their physical exertion is worth the amount of money they get for all of their hard labor.  I guess at this point it is their only option.  Let's just hope that the rains will fall harder and more frequently in the years to come!

Always a Vermonter

work table

Bed, with my mosquito net cocoon, front door

My roof

Bathroom; I hope to plant a banana tree there in that hole

backdoor; outside yard; I do my laundry here

bathroom: we call it douche here

My garden