W-A-I-S-T

Firstly, I want to apologize for the lack of recent updates. I have been moving a ton and really have not had time to say anything worthwhile here. However, I have officially completed my training and have also survived WAIST. The end of IST was very helpful, and it provided me with tons of project ideas should I run out of work. The highlight of the 3 weeks was when the CEO of a import company (who had done business with my local basket makers in the past) came by to visit Ngaye and talk to me (as well as the 2 other volunteers working on these projects) about coordinating a large order for baskets soon. Thus, starting in the beginning of March, my closest neighboor and I will be going back and forth to the villages trying to get around 2000 baskets sent to the U.S. I'm really excited about this work, since it affects over 100 women in 9 different villages. When these orders are made, the women weaving the baskets earn on average 3-4 times their normal wage, so they are quite eager to get going as well. In addition, as some of you may remember, a few volunteers took some footage of local artisans in Ngaye and the basket villages when I first moved here. I have been asked to help my closest neighboor edit the footage in order to make it into a short documentary. I've always enjoyed working on movies, so that's another project I'm eager to get started on.
As for WAIST...it was probably one of the funnest experiences of my life. For 4 straight days, volunteers from Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Guinea, Gambia, and other countries played softball and partied the night away. It was especially nice being able to stay with embassy families since they fed us american breakfasts for 4 straight days (and also didn't mind that we came back at 5am most nights). Our Dakar region team made the playoffs but lost in a really tight game to Kaolack region (who got 3 place in the whole tournament, so props to them). It was a ton of fun and I'll definitely be looking forward to attending next year. A few highlights from the weekend include bartending for 250+ people, stealing Chinese flags from palm trees at 3AM, and (sorry for this next one grandma) getting licked on the arm by a crippled prostitute ("EW!" translates into all languages I found out). All in all, a great time, but I am happy to have returned to Ngaye and have some work set up for me. I'll post some updates about my work in the following week or so so stay tuned. A bientot!

1st picture is of my friend Darren on the ride to Dakar with a Senegalese youth engaging in the traditional ritual of picking your nose for 30 minutes in a public location.
2nd picture is one of the many softball games played during WAIST.