Sunday, October 26, 2008

A new name and soon to be a new place


On jaaraama!

 
Just  a quick note about communication before I update you on my life and  times in Senegal: I have all my contact info on my blog, including my  cell number, which is as follows (again):

   PCV Steve Sullivan
   B.P. 37
   Kedougou, Senegal
   West Africa
   Cell: 221 (country code) 77 187 8760

 Apparently  calling from the States also requires dialing 011 before the country  code, so if you do attempt to call me and it doesn’t work with just the  221, try inserting the 011 first.

 I wanted to take this opportunity to send a quick update before we head back to our homestay families for the next week, and for the (what?!) last time! It's hard to believe that we've come to the beginning of our 7th week of training here in Senegal, and I'm proud to announce that we are still 40 for 40 in our "stage", without having had ANYONE "early-terminate" (i.e. quit). It's probably not the first time it's ever happened, but it does seem to be a rarity and we feel good about being able to have our entire group who met in Philadelphia a lifetime ago swear-in together on Nov. 7th.
Regarding training since my last update (which I have finally been able to add pictures to my last post about the waterfall, so check them out when you get a chance), things have been going pretty smoothly, with the usual back-and-forth between our homestays in Pout and the training center in Thies. We had a four-day stay in Pout with the usual language training and working on our gardens/field crops, then came back to Thies for a few more sessions and shots, and then the fun began.
This past week a very important event took place at the training center: our "Counterpart Workshop". For every volunteer site, there are two "counterparts", a male and a female typically, who are chosen from the community to act as a type of liason between the volunteer and the rest of the village. While we certainly don't have to work solely with these individuals during our service, and likely we'll end up working with others more often, it's beneficial to already have connections on the day we install in the village so we have people we kind of know to show us around, introduce us to important people, etc.
This workshop was a great experience for the trainees and counterparts alike (many of whom have attended before for past volunteers in their villages) because it gives the counterparts a glimpse into what our lives have been like over the last 6 weeks by explaining the kinds of trainings we have been getting and what they are 
made  to prepare us for. (I apologize for the font but I don’t know what just  happened and I can’t fix it.) The best session was one in which they  had a girl from our Agriculture group (there are 9 of us; each session  was divided up by what ”sector” you’ll be serving in) teach a lesson in  Japanese, a language which she randomly knows how to speak.  A small  group of counterparts was led in a basic Japanese lesson to show them  how hard it has been to have to learn an entirely new language in such a  short amount of time.  They were very impressed by this session, saying  that a lot of them would take upwards of 5 years to learn this entirely  new language, when we have to reach the ”Intermediate Low” level by the  end of 8 weeks (actually, 23 of us already have, which seems to be  convincing the training staff that there is something to this new  training model in which we are the ”guinea piggies.”
  Anyway, the  best part of the workshop had to have been the fact that BOTH of mine  actually came from Kekeressy!  It wasn’t looking too good the day before  and current volunteers from the region of Kedougou had their doubts  because of how long a journey it would be for them, and the fact that  they had never picked up the travel money that was being provided for  them.  But, sure enough, bright and early on Day 1, I met both my male  and female counterpart (who had begun the trip two days earlier), who as  it turns out will also be my ”mom” and ”dad” (I’m pretty sure).  
  They  also endowed me with a(nother) new name: Samba Diallo, named after the  chief of their village.  Not that I don’t like ”Adraman” but Samba has a  certain ring to it that I like better.
  It was so encouraging to  see how motivated my counterparts are by seeing their dedication to get  here for this important workshop, especially since I’m going to be a new  site, that had been a concern of mine.  But now, and I think I speak  for a lot of the trainees, I’m just very anxious to swear-in and  settle-in to my new site ASAP.
  Today begins our last homestay  period, a stay of 8 days, and then we won’t see our homestay families  again until the swear-in in Dakar on the 7th, if they can make it.   Hopefully I can come back to visit them sometime, when I can communicate  more things than ”Yes, it’s hot”, ”I’m full”, ”I’m going”, and ”What  this is?”.
  
En Ontuma,

Adraman Barry
Samba Diallo
Steve "Sully" Sullivan

No comments: