One week. That is all I have left in
Kaffrine, the community I've served for the past 2 years. With that
realization is the fact that I must say my final goodbyes to people
who are very dear to my heart. I hope it won't be the last time I
see them, but as of yet I cannot yet offer a date for when I will
return. I keep mentioning a return to soften the blow of my
departure, and I absolutely intend to come back here within the next
5 years, but maybe teasing them with an uncertain return is worse. I
am constantly asked to just marry someone here so that I have to
stay, or at least come back quite soon. Usually it is an old man who
is offering to take me as a second or third wife so that I will stay.
Sweet? Sometimes it does makes me laugh. A few of them seem so
genuine about it. But alas, I am not marrying anyone in order to
stay, nor am I just adding another 6 months or 5 years, as the
requests go. I am leaving. It will be tearful and it will hurt my
heart to leave so many people I love without knowing when I will see
them again. But the time is close at hand.
I have been cleaning out my room and
giving away a lot of things. My host siblings think it is a grand
time. I try not to get frustrated when they start asking for things.
I like giving gifts, but I hate feeling asked to give someone
something, or feeling obligated to give things. It takes all the fun
out of it. I've gotten better at that here because the culture has
built in a system of asking for things, and a system of obligated
gift giving when returning from a trip. I suppose there is some of
that in the States as well with souvenirs. But still. It is a
lesson I continue to learn. I'm not taking much with me, so it is
pretty easy to give away most things. I am holding onto a few things
though so I can give them to people individually as special gifts
right before I leave.
One of my PCV friends is bringing a
duffel back to the States for me, so I really only have a single
backpack to prep. It is basically all set, so now I am just spending
as much time as possible with individuals in my community who I
consider friends or family. The emotions of leaving have strongly
affected me; it seems that every emotion I feel right now is more
heightened. We'll see if I can keep it together. My host dad told me
he wants to leave Kaffrine before I leave so he doesn't have to say
goodbye. I don't know if he is serious, but I understand his
feeling. Part of me wants to sneak out. I doubt I can though. I
need goodbyes, even though I hate completing them.
Things aren't all sad. The past few
months have been really great actually. I feel accomplished. We had
Girls Camp, which was phenomenal. The girls have transformed my
hopes for the future of Senegal. We transplanted all the trees at my
Women's Group's gardens. There are now over 1000 trees in the
ground, ready to protect their gardens. We had a great Open Field
Day at my Master Farmer's field. He even incorporated a nutrition
training into it. We held a 3 day health and soccer camp with 35
girls in Kaffrine, teaching them about puberty, sex, STIs, HIV,
nutrition, and healthy relationships while making it fun with soccer.
It was one of the highlights of my service. I'm really going to miss
my camp girls. And I've led a lot of informal trainings with women
on organic pest control, planting, trees, etc. I am an Ag volunteer
afterall.
On top of all of that I managed to
attend the Mangrove Reforestation project where we planted over
100,000 mangrove seedlings in one morning! I led the first team that
brought many of the seeds to the spot, carried on our heads up the
channel because the tide was so low the boat couldn't get there. I
personally think my crew trumped all the other teams who planted, but
that may only be because we were there longest (and because we were
more bad-ass since no one else had to carry their own seeds like that
since they arrived after the tide had started coming in). Also, I
visited Touba again, the Senegalese mecca for the main Muslim
brotherhood here. It was far less crazy than last time when I went
during the annual pilgrimage. And my friends and I got a personal
tour through many of the religious buildings, which was awesome
(until one of my friends told someone that he wasn't Muslim. Then we
weren't allowed in anymore...) We also just celebrated Tabaski, or in the rest of the Muslim world, Eid al-Adha. It is the festival of the sacrifice and we honored that by sacrificing 3 male sheep. I may have gotten blood splatter all over my face and clothes when I was too close trying to get a photo of the first slaughter... But after all of that we ate far too much meat for the next 4 days, and in dressed up in new, fancy clothing to walk around and greet people, asking for forgiveness for past wrongdoings and giving blessings for the coming year. Don't worry, I got dolled up too!
Also, today some of the Kaffrine volunteers got together to dig a 2m x 3m x 2m hole in the ground in a small village, to be made into toilets for the brand new school that my good friend Christi erected in honor of her host sister who tragically passed away in May. Right now there are 140 children ready to start learning in this two-room school. All that is left are the desks, which are being built as we speak, and then for the teachers to come. It was hard labor in the hot sun, but I think it is a very worthwhile endeavor. Yay for douches! (Yes, that is what toilets are called here. I realize the irony in this statement.)
Needless to say, it has been a
whirlwind of activity topped by emotional departure preparation. I
leave Kaffrine in a week, Senegal in a week and a half. I'm not ready for that. But I am
eager to see what lies ahead. Europe is calling! I get 6 weeks to
backpack around Western Europe before I need to get back to the
States and figure out my life. Barcelona is my first stop on
November 1st! England is my last. And Germany for Thanksgiving with
my little brother David. Now to fill in the gaps... Suggestions?
