I had a lucky opportunity recently to meet my grand-anciens, who were the first volunteers in my village, from 2015-2017. They are a couple named Tom and Renee who have two kids approximately my age. We got to spend a day and a half together in the village. I got to hear a lot about their experience and they got a glimpse of what it is like for me to live there now. I gave them a tour of the gardens (which had moved since they left), we chatted about changes in the village, and they walked around amazed at how all the kids have grown.
Two of the biggest changes in the village since their service ended are my host family and the trees. My host dad married his second wife Nyuma near the end of Tom and Renee's service; the family got bigger and the dynamics changed quite a lot at that point in time. She has been in the compound long enough that those changes have settled into a rhythm which I consider "normal." All the kids are also two years older, which of course makes a big difference in family dynamics. In addition to our discussions about our host family, Tom and Renee marveled at how well the trees that they planted had grown during the last two years. Some have died or been weeded out accidentally, but the majority of them are still living. When I arrived at site in December, I thought it looked pretty bleak in terms of trees: no completed live fences, very few cashews, and just a few Moringa trees in my backyard. Subconsciously I had known that Tom and Renee planted almost all of the trees in my compound and my host dad's field, but hearing them describe how desolate it was when they first arrived made me realize just how much greener it is now, three years after their first rainy season in the village.
The first night Tom and Renee were in the village we all slept outside, me in my outside bed and them in my tent. It was pretty hot, but no rain. (Note: as I write this in early July, we have been having big rains every 2-3 days in the village. My hut leaks a little bit, but it's not too bad). The second night, we again slept outside in the backyard. Around 3:30am, the wind started blowing really hard--a telltale sign that it will start to rain in a few minutes--and woke me up. I rolled over in my bed and hoped that this time it would be wind only. I was not so lucky this morning; about five minutes after the wind started I felt the first drops of rain falling on my body.
I scampered out of bed, knowing I had only about 60 seconds to get everything inside before it really started dumping. I shook the tent to wake up Tom and Renee in case they were still sleeping, then peered in the top after getting no response. They were not in the tent! I momentarily wondered if they had packed up their rental car and made a dash for Kedougou. I decided this could not be the case, but didn't have time to puzzle out where they were. I partially took out the tent poles, shoved the mostly-constructed tent through the door of my hut, then ran back outside in the rain (now coming down quite a bit) to grab my mattress and pillow. Safely back in the hut with my damp belongings, I took a breath and waited for Tom and Renee to return. They did shortly, at which point they explained that they had decided to move their car back up onto the road from its previous parking spot outside my family's compound. It can get pretty muddy after a rain storm, and they did not want the car to be stuck in the village.
After a tearful goodbye early the next morning, I caught a ride into Kedougou with my grand-anciens. The ride was slow due to the previous night's rain but relatively uneventful. We drove through the bush to get around one large puddle in the road just outside the village, and for the many other large puddles we encountered I hopped out of the car and walked through them to check their depth. They dropped me off at the Peace Corps house in the city before continuing back towards the western coast of Senegal.
Some pictures from their visit are below:
*Note: my next blog posts may be delayed. I may be staying in my village for a longer period of time and the Wifi in the Kedougou Peace Corps house has not been working for a couple weeks.
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| Kids follow as Tom and Renee move their car from the road to my compound |
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| Renee greeting Maimuna, my toxoma's wife |
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| Renee greeting someone from the village who came by to say hi. My counterpart Amadou is in the foreground in the green shirt |
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| Kids from around the village came to greet the visiting previous volunteers |
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| Tom greeting my toxoma |
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| Renee greeting my host mom |
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| Renee chatting with my host family |
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| Out on our tour of the gardens, Tom taking a picture of a woman who climbed a tree to cut leaves to cover her jabare field |
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| Carrying the leaves to the jabare field |
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| Family picture before leaving the village. From left: Seydi (host dad), Mamadou (my toxoma), Maimuna (Mamadou's wife), Sohona (host mom), Renee, Nyuma (host mom), Tom, Fatou (12), Balla (10) |
Tavish, since you mention your host dad’s second wife, I wondered how widespread plural marriage is in your region of Senegal. I assume it’s acceptable to Muslims but probably not to Christians. Or maybe it’s a practice that isn’t confined to a particular religious tradition? Do you have any reflections on how the institution works based on your experience?
ReplyDeleteThanks for keeping us abreast of your work.
Uncle Bill