A Peace Corps Senegal Word Problem
Question:
Do you go to the luumo? (Answer below)
Description:
It is Tuesday morning around 7am and you have just woken up in your hut in Senegal. It is July, rainy season. Tuesday is luumo (weekly market) day. The luumo is 10km away via bush path. It takes about one hour to bike. When at your site, this is your one chance for the week to go hang out in another village for half the day, get a bean sandwich, and to buy fruit and vegetables.
When you go to the luumo during the dry season, you usually bring back some vegetables for your family to cook--so there are vegetables in the bowl one night of the week instead of the usual zero at this time of year. There are guaranteed to be onions at the luumo, and there might be some combination of white sweet potatoes, cabbage, eggplant, jaxatu, okra, and potatoes available. Probably 2-3 of the above vegetables will be available, but sometimes there are surprises.
You really like eating fruit in your hut, but fruit has been pretty scarce recently at the luumo. Between 50-75% of the time, at least one woman is selling bananas at the market. You have not seen any other types of fruit at the luumo since around February-March, except for that one time someone was unexpectedly selling local citrus in April. So bananas it is, if there will be any fruit at all. But bananas are notoriously hard to bring back via bike--some always seem to get squished, no matter how you pack them in your backpack. Oh, and you want to re-up on peanut butter. It is uncommon for both women that sell peanut butter to be out on the same week, but it has happened before.
Almost everything is cheaper at the luumo than it would be in the US, and a lot of it is cheaper even than in the city of Kedougou. Price of goods does not factor too much into your decision.
All of the above sounds pretty good; now for the weather and trail considerations:
You can leave your hut early enough that it will not be burning hot on the way to the luumo, just uncomfortably muggy. Luckily it did not rain last night, so the bush path will not be too full of puddles and mud. Rainy season is underway though, so there will be many patches of mud and large puddles that will get your bike, your pants, your backpack and maybe even your shirt muddy. You will leave the luumo in the heat of the day to make it back to your village by around 2:00pm. This ride back in the heat always leaves you exhausted and a little dehydrated, but you have done it before and know what to expect. You have previously tried spending the whole day at the luumo and coming back in the evening, but that was even more tiring because you did not get to rest/nap in your own hut in the afternoon. Because it is rainy season (and it did not rain yesterday), there is a pretty good chance that you will get caught in a rainstorm on the way back to your village. While this may seem preferable to a blazing hot sun, it will mean that the ride will be slow, hard, and more full of puddles. You will also have to pray that the waterproof pack cover you have keeps your phone and recently purchased goods dry on the ride back.
There are 3-4 places where the water is deep enough on the path that you have to get off your bike and walk through a stream (see picture below). Exposing your skin to freshwater streams in Senegal carries the possibility of contracting schistosomiasis, a pretty bad parasite. You don't know much about the details of schisto, but were heavily warned during training by the Med team never to go swimming in fresh water. However, you have heard rumors that symptoms of schisto do not appear for many years, and you know that all Peace Corps Senegal volunteers get treated for schisto when they end their service, regardless of whether or not you report ever touching fresh water. You went to the luumo last week, so you have already been exposed to this fresh water. You have also walked through other streams around your village and to visit another volunteer, so today would be far from the first time you could have potentially contracted schisto. But you know that increasing exposure is in general not a good practice.
Do you go to the luumo? (Answer below)
Description:
It is Tuesday morning around 7am and you have just woken up in your hut in Senegal. It is July, rainy season. Tuesday is luumo (weekly market) day. The luumo is 10km away via bush path. It takes about one hour to bike. When at your site, this is your one chance for the week to go hang out in another village for half the day, get a bean sandwich, and to buy fruit and vegetables.
When you go to the luumo during the dry season, you usually bring back some vegetables for your family to cook--so there are vegetables in the bowl one night of the week instead of the usual zero at this time of year. There are guaranteed to be onions at the luumo, and there might be some combination of white sweet potatoes, cabbage, eggplant, jaxatu, okra, and potatoes available. Probably 2-3 of the above vegetables will be available, but sometimes there are surprises.
You really like eating fruit in your hut, but fruit has been pretty scarce recently at the luumo. Between 50-75% of the time, at least one woman is selling bananas at the market. You have not seen any other types of fruit at the luumo since around February-March, except for that one time someone was unexpectedly selling local citrus in April. So bananas it is, if there will be any fruit at all. But bananas are notoriously hard to bring back via bike--some always seem to get squished, no matter how you pack them in your backpack. Oh, and you want to re-up on peanut butter. It is uncommon for both women that sell peanut butter to be out on the same week, but it has happened before.
Almost everything is cheaper at the luumo than it would be in the US, and a lot of it is cheaper even than in the city of Kedougou. Price of goods does not factor too much into your decision.
All of the above sounds pretty good; now for the weather and trail considerations:
You can leave your hut early enough that it will not be burning hot on the way to the luumo, just uncomfortably muggy. Luckily it did not rain last night, so the bush path will not be too full of puddles and mud. Rainy season is underway though, so there will be many patches of mud and large puddles that will get your bike, your pants, your backpack and maybe even your shirt muddy. You will leave the luumo in the heat of the day to make it back to your village by around 2:00pm. This ride back in the heat always leaves you exhausted and a little dehydrated, but you have done it before and know what to expect. You have previously tried spending the whole day at the luumo and coming back in the evening, but that was even more tiring because you did not get to rest/nap in your own hut in the afternoon. Because it is rainy season (and it did not rain yesterday), there is a pretty good chance that you will get caught in a rainstorm on the way back to your village. While this may seem preferable to a blazing hot sun, it will mean that the ride will be slow, hard, and more full of puddles. You will also have to pray that the waterproof pack cover you have keeps your phone and recently purchased goods dry on the ride back.
There are 3-4 places where the water is deep enough on the path that you have to get off your bike and walk through a stream (see picture below). Exposing your skin to freshwater streams in Senegal carries the possibility of contracting schistosomiasis, a pretty bad parasite. You don't know much about the details of schisto, but were heavily warned during training by the Med team never to go swimming in fresh water. However, you have heard rumors that symptoms of schisto do not appear for many years, and you know that all Peace Corps Senegal volunteers get treated for schisto when they end their service, regardless of whether or not you report ever touching fresh water. You went to the luumo last week, so you have already been exposed to this fresh water. You have also walked through other streams around your village and to visit another volunteer, so today would be far from the first time you could have potentially contracted schisto. But you know that increasing exposure is in general not a good practice.
 |
| One of the few river crossings that I must wade through on the way to the luumo on Tuesdays during rainy season |
Answer:
Of course you go to the luumo! Unless I am just about to go to Kedougou or just got back to site, I always go to the luumo.
Of course you go to the luumo! Unless I am just about to go to Kedougou or just got back to site, I always go to the luumo.
Thanks for the story about market day, Tavish. I got thoroughly involved in the suspense building up to the decision b/c you managed the second-person form of narration so convincingly. I never believed for a minute that you’d choose not to go unless the weather was especially bad. Still, the shisto concern gave me momentary pause until I realized that if you eschewed fresh water in all forms at all times, you’d have to confine yourself to your village.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that price doesn’t factor much into your buying decisions when you go to luumo. Is that because your Peace Corps pay or allowance or whatever it might be called, gives you plenty of buying power, considering the prices of food and, I’d expect, the scarcity of much else to buy that you’d need, want, or could convey safely on a bicycle back to your village?
Keep safe and keep writing!
Uncle Bill