Well Project

Its been over a year and a half since I left America, and much has happened. I have lived in four different villages and two different countries. I have traveled through five different West African countries. I have been more frustrated than I ever remember being in my life. I have met many wonderful people. I have discovered more about who I am and what my culture is. I have grown. I have grown things. I have had many failed projects. I have had some successful projects.

Its been a while since I have posted on the blog (there is new post up as of today which is probably good to read before you get to the part of this email where I ask you to contribute money toward a project I am working on), and its been even longer since I wrote anyone a letter. My decrease in communication was originally due to the boredom of having to go through training a second time when I switched to Senegal, then to being occupied with going on vacation around West Africa with my parents, then to being overly busy. Now that all of that is done I feel that I have really settled into the Peace Corps Senegal lifestyle and the particular lifestyle of my new region and site, all of which I am finding easier to enjoy than I did in Mauritania.

I the most recent blog post I mentioned the big project I am working on which is helping Samalé and Ablaye build an ecotourism lodge. I described the physical layout but not the real purpose of the lodge. As a philosophy the Peace Corps exists to help communities, but it is often not possible to help a community without greatly helping certain individuals in the process. This is, in many respects, a good thing. The lodge that I will helping them to build will do both.

When they were younger Samalé Diallo, Ablaye Diallo, and Boubacar Diallo went out to the waterfalls at Segou and had the idea of developing a village owned and operated tourist lodge. Due to poor site placement (on the side of a steep hill with no terracing = lots of erosion during the rainy season) and poor construction (the walls were made out of thin bamboo strips that were devoured by termites each year), the previous three attempts have failed. However, throughout the three attempts Samalé, Ablaye, and Boubacar have retained "rights" as far as the village was concerned to be the ones to develop the lodge, and profit as its managers. In the past, after the salaries of staff were paid, all of the profit went to the village. This is part of the reason they failed, there was no money set aside for reinvestment. There is a lodge in Dindefelo, the village next to Segou, that has suffered from exactly the same situation, all the profits going to the village and no reinvestment. Despite continued contributions from NGOs and other charitable organizations, the lodge in Dindefelo has been in a continual state of disrepair for the last 20 years. Meanwhile, a private lodge has been built in Dindefelo by a native of Dindefelo and has done exceptionally well.

Learning from their own experiences, the experiences of Dindefelo, and still wanting to contribute to the community, Samalé, Ablaye, and Boubacar have decided to run the lodge as a private/public enterprise. Where 40% of the profits would be reinvested in the business, 50% would pay the staff, all natives of Segou, and 10% would go directly to the community. The community would then use these funds for projects in the village. In addition to this, every visiting tourist would pay a "tax" of 1,000 F.CFA (approximately $2 USD) 50% of which would go to the regional governance structure and 50% would go directly to the village of Segou.

When Matt and Hayes, fellow volunteers, helped Samalé and Ablaye to submit request for funding, which was granted, they were not able to include the funding for digging a well or for a small water tower for the lodge because there was a cap on the amount of funding the source could offer. Fortunately, there is a great organization, Water Charity, which offers funding through their appropriate projects initiative for water projects that Peace Corps Volunteers are overseeing. I have applied for funding through them, and they have agreed however, they operate off of donations. This is where you come in.

One of the really nice characteristics of donating to Water Charity is that 100% of the money donate goes towards projects. Another really nice thing is that you all know the person who is in charge of this project. If you ever felt like you wanted to do something for people in Africa, or help me out in my work, this is your chance. The total cost of the well and water tower is about $500 so every $10 donation helps. You can find a more detailed description of the project and details about how to donate, you can do it online at: http://appropriateprojects.com/node/94

Also if you are not interested in helping other people but still want to spend some money, you are all welcome to forward care packages (especially BBQ sauce and blue cheese salad dressing for locally available warthog sandwiches) directly to me at this location:

Zach Swank
Corps de la Paix Kedougou
B.P. 37
Kedougou, Sénégal
L’Afrique d’Ouest