Living the Dream

So been gone for a month or so from internet, AC, and cold water. Came into the Kombos this past Saturday for supplies, maybe get my Razor phone from home working, and for a birthday for a lady in my group. Nice to be back in the city but already I want to go back to my village to get back to the ‘routine’, Its funny, you know when you travel for vacation and your body isn’t quite right; you don’t sleep in the same bed, eat the same foods, and do the regular things? Thus you don’t feel all there. That is what I feel like when I travel to Kombo, my body is all out of wack. Which means that I’m “at home” at my village, in my mud hut, eating out of the family food bowl. I guess one can say that this is a good thing, right? Ha.
First off, wanted to apologize if I offended anyone with my last blog post (the part at the end). At times throughout my stay here, I’ll most likely get negative, feel like “why am I here”, and maybe write an email or two and post a blog about my feelings. Just fyi. I’ll have my moments, just got with it. So sorry if you were troubled by my last post, just understand where it came from.
So a few guys from my group (whenever I refer to ‘groups’ or ‘my group’ is the people we met in DC at staging before coming to The Gambia. We came here at the same time, and are in the same sector.) are planning a ‘guys weekend’ and going to Dakar at the end of this month. One of the guys is flying home for a few weeks and wants some company. He flies out of Dakar, Senegal some time at the end of Sept. In Senegal, people speak French and Wolof. If one doesn't speak those, you're kinda out of luck. So the idea was formed to have a 'guys weekend' so to speak and travel with most/all of the remaining guys in my group, since one of the guys speaks Wolof. Should be a good time, excited to actually visit Dakar, I hear its much more developed than Banjul...with actual roads and Ben 'n Jerrys and whatnot.
Yesterday, marks the start of Ramadan, one major Islamic holidays. It goes on for the entire month. Apparently people wake up before dawn and eat bread, drink tea, go back to bed. Throughout the day there is no eating and no drinking: fasting. At night we feast. So, I'm obviously not Muslim, but I feel the need to attempt to fast (I know Mom, I know). I think I may sneak into my house and have some water and some snacks but I feel the society would respect me a little bit more if I at least attempt to fast. I think my host mother has already told me she'll make me little meals for each day. But I may tell her to not. In my opinion, fasting is one of the "safest" (compared to drugs or other dangerous activities) ways to enlightenment. I know of many faiths, including Christianity, who fast at times. It should be interesting, and possibly fun!
It has been raining here on and off for about month and a half. After I got back from IST I started to attempt to teach people how to make neem cream; the locally and cheaply made mosquito repellent. Neem is widely use in America for many things (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neem) and is very common is this area of West Africa. In the past few years, PC has gotten a hold of recipe to use the neem to make a repellent. I’ve demonstrated the procedure at the clinics I attend, for my host family, and a village I’m working with on a community development project. The cream has three ingredients: neem leaves, soap, and regular cook oil. The procedure is as followed for all of you who are curious. Take one liter of neem leaves and boil them in liter and a half of water. While the water is boiling, take a bucket or large bowl and cut two bars of soap into small pieces. When the boiling water reaches a nice green color, pour the water (only) into the bucket/bowl with the soap and stir fast. Be careful not to burn yourself! After the soap dissolves, add one cup of cook oil. Keep stirring for a bit and leave set. It will take a bit for the cream to cool. Its finished. I tell people to wash, pray, and then put on the cream. It actually works very well. A few villages think I am a god, I swear. In fula I call the cream ‘leki bowdi’—medicine/tree mosquito. I have demonstrated this technique at the clinics with a fellow PCV who is in the same sector but has been here for a year plus. He’s the neem cream guru here currently, maybe I’ll pick up the title when he leaves in 7 months (at that point I’ll be the old one here, wow time flies! Eek). The particular volunteer helped me with the demo, as well as my job at the clinics: weighing babies and checking their health cards. He speaks wolof, and the villages we went to speak Mandinka and Fula. But we found a few Wolofs for him to converse him. With him being there, it kina forced me to attempt to tell the mothers that their child(ren) are under weight and need to eat more nutritious food. There is a specific tree that is grown here is it’s leave are jammed packed with vitamins and minerals: moringa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa). I think I got the point across to a few mother’s but I’m still working on my Fula. Maybe I’ll have the nurse in my village help me with a few medical phrases.
Either than that, just living day by day. I got a bookshelf finally so now I can get organized and FINALLY not feel like living out of a suitcase (this took 7 months but so it goes). Here you learn to ‘just go with the flow’ of life. Smile and shrug with people ask you for money, a visa to the US, or when young boys ask you to buy them a soccer ball. The plan is to go back village tomorrow. No crazy stories that I can remember