Empty Classrooms

Its funny how empty classrooms give moments of pause and reflection...

It’s the 12th of December and I am sitting here in a empty high school classroom waiting for the time to come to give my part of a presentation on climate change as part of the global day of action on climate change. I will be talking about what is going on at the conference and screening An Inconvenient Truth. Today’s activities have been spearheaded by the Kédougou chapter of Les Amis de la Nature (Friends of Nature). I find it exceptional that they have taken the initiative to put this on, my role in the planning has been very small even though I will do a big chuck of the talking. For me its tremendously rewarding to be able to participate in an action on climate change as I was not able to go to the conference myself.

(A side note on going to the conference, the Mauritanian that I helped find funding waited until just a couple of days before he was supposed to leave to apply for his visa. Needless to say, he did not get it. Even now I am so pissed off that he wasted his spot that I haven’t been able to talk to him. However, through other completely independent means that I had nothing to do with, another Mauritanian youth is currently participating in the conference. So at least someone is going.)

It has been a while since I have posted I know. I think in the absence of having work to do while I was being kicked out of Mauritania and then while I was going through training the second time I stopped finding my life that interesting to write about. However, after this presentation I am going to go out to my new site for real this time. (I have been out there on four separate occasions, but never for long and never in a way that I could start preparing to do work.) I am looking forward to the work that awaits me with great anticipation. Its been about 120 days since I have been able to work on any of my own projects.

One of the activities that has kept me away from my new site was the month long visit by my mom (Sue) and stepdad (Dave). I think for all of us it was a remarkable experience. My mom is a good writer so I will let her share her experiences in her own words here. (ahhem, please keep posting mom.) First and foremost I was wonderful to see family, its been over a year and a half since I have seen anyone that I knew before I joined the PC. It was also very interesting to see how my perspectives have changed in ways that I had not noticed. What I considered nice accommodations and the fact that I am totally desensitized to seeing sick and/or malnourished children were two changes that stood out. They also surprised me with what they found interesting. Some parts of the trip that I worried would be the most difficult for them they really enjoyed. Although, other parts of the trip that I worried would be the most difficult for them they really hated. All in all, they survived (and enjoyed) my west African tour remarkably well. Perhaps the best testimony to their achievement is that every single PCV that met them or heard about them and our travel plans either said, “Are they/you crazy???” or “Your parents are amazing, mine could never do that!” Who says you can’t go off having wild African adventures for the first (and last I think) time at age 60? Well done Mom and Dave. I had a wonderful time with you here and I didn’t quite know what to do for the first few days after you left, for example I couldn’t stop automatically translating everything anyone said to me into English despite who was around. ;)

(Its now the time that the presentation was supposed to start and neither the organizers, the speakers, nor the participants are here. Sometimes I wonder why African nations are having difficulty catching up with the level of economic wealth of the rest of the world, sometimes I don’t.)

Speaking of travel, now that I actually live in a tourist destination and since my job is ecotourism I am putting out the call to everyone again that if you want to come to west Africa I will be your personal tour guide. When my folks came a round trip ticket cost about ~$1,600 USD and they spent about ~$200 per day which covered all three of us. They could have spent less but they could have spent more too. If you happen to find a cheap ticket, think about it. I’d love to host you.

Update: over 300 people ended up showing up for the presentation and it was a wild success. 