A Tale of Two Landscapes

When I left in early July for vacation, the landscape here was just starting to change. After no rain for about 9 months, the scenery was about as barren as could be, with only some shrubs and the occasional tree providing any color. When the rains finally started, I was just about to leave, so things looked quite the same. Upon my return, I was confused. Had I landed in Central Africa? What was this place with greenery flowing from all ends? Everywhere I looked, everything was green and lush. In fact, when I finally rolled back into Ngaye Mekhe, I had a hard time recognizing the town. Since the dry season is so long, literally the second that rain starts falling, the plants start to grow furiously. Obviously, there is still lots of sand, and for those missing the desert, it's still not too far away. Here are two pictures (the first of which I took during the dry season, the second a few minutes ago) to illustrate the change.












In other news, work is going well. It's looking like we'll have yet another basket order later this fall, which is great. Also, I'm going to start filling out some applications with our work partner in order to get a storage unit built for the village. Currently, our work partner stores ALL of the baskets in his home once they are finished. This last order, having 2600 baskets created quite a few problems for our work partner, as he had to give up a good majority of his compound when the rains started. Having a legitimate place to store baskets is essential for this association, and hopefully we'll be able to start constructing one in the near future. Also, I'll be making a catalog with my leather workers over the next few weeks so we can have all their models presented in an easy to access file that could increase their chances of securing an overseas buyer. That's all for now, I'm off to go run in the 100 degree sun...Ba ci kanaam!

The vacation to end all vacations

After a lengthy and fantastic vacation, I have successfully returned to Senegal. I wasn't in desperate need for a vacation, but the opportunity to visit Eastern Europe (with someone who knows quite a bit about the area) is one I couldn't pass up. Ever since my brother moved out to Serbia in the fall of 2006, I have been trying to find time to visit him. Three years later, there I was, sitting on an Airbus A320, grinning from ear to ear as the jet rocketed down the runway of Leopold Senghor International Airport. Upon arrival in Serbia, our little trio (my mother, my brother and I) spent a few days walking around Belgrade and eating amazing food. Then, thanks to the support of both our parents, Elliott and I ventured off on a tour of the Balkans. In a 10 day span, we saw various parts of Montenegro (including the beautiful Durmitor National Park, where we camped), Bosnia (including Jahorina, the site of the 1984 Winter Olympics), Sarajevo, and Dubrovnik (Croatia).


Simply put, I could not have asked for a better vacation. Not only did I get to enjoy the thing I miss the most as a volunteer (Western food), but I also got to spend time with my family and have a crazy adventure to top it off. Now, having returned to my "real" life, I'm ready and excited for the upcoming year here in Senegal. Even though the timing of my trip was unfortunate in respect to our basket order, the first container of baskets was sent to Dakar and shipped off with no problems that we know of. We will, however, have to set up a 2nd container to send the remainder of the order. As far as my leather workers, we'll be working on making a full fledged catalog over the next few weeks, as well as hopefully editing their video footage into a movie. In exactly one month, my stage and I will celebrate the one year anniversary since we arrived in Senegal. The fact that we've almost finished one whole year here is very strange indeed, and I will probably spend quite a bit of time over the next few weeks pondering how fast time flies. Anyway, I'm putting up a Picasa album with pictures from the trip so people can see all of them. Hope everyone is doing well and I'm glad to hear you're doing better Grandma! Ba ci kanaam!