Finally, a post!

I have to apologize for not writing in so long. As tends to happen every now and then, time just slips by. Since I don’t remember where I left off in the story of my life over here, I’ll start with a resume of what’s happened before starting the fall season.

- Bigger waterfalls

- Fourth of July party in Kedougou

- Roofs on the huts in the campement

- Lots of carpentry

- The RAINY season

- World maps

- Feelin good and lookin forward

What am I doing now (in brief)?

- Starting a business

- Prepping to raise $$$

- English camps

- Close of service conference

Now for details:

Bigger Waterfalls:

The tourist attraction for my village is a waterfall. The attraction for Dindefello is another bigger waterfall. However, both of these pale in comparison to the waterfall at Ingli and no one goes there except for PCVs. This is because it is only accessible by foot or bike and we are pretty much the only foreigners who know about it and are willing to take a 120km trip to get out there and back. Boy was I glad I did. I’ll let pictures speak of it’s grandeur.

Fourth of July party:

Every year the Kedougou region hosts a fourth of July party for all of the PC volunteers in Senegal. This year, over half showed up, around 80 people. It was honestly one of the best if not, the best Fourth of July I have had. Events included, corn hole, horse shoes, can jam, water balloons (my doing), and super soakers (my doing). Food included the staple sides of the 4th and PIG! Quite a delicious rarity in Senegal. I won’t be here for next year’s 4th, but if you are looking for a good way to celebrate America’s independence next year, you should come to Senegal to get it.

Roofs on the Campement:

As you all know, my main project is building an ecotourism lodge. We received about $5,000 USD in January and have now converted most of that into three huts and a bathroom for tourists. At the time that I left to go to America, the walls were up, the rains were coming, but there were still no roofs. I am happy to say that they are all on now. Having roofs on the huts marks a real the achievement of being close to being done with this phase of the project, eight months and much sweat after starting. It is a great feeling to be able to look at them and think “I made that happen” (with funding from the US government and the physical contributions of many people from the village) and know that it will soon be providing a source of formal income for 10 individuals and financially support the village’s own development efforts to the tune of 15% of it’s profits. It’s hard to imagine accomplishing things that are much more rewarding than that in my life.

Lots of carpentry:

Without me knowing my counterparts commissioned the doors and windows of the campement to be made out of African Mahogany. Dough! But very beautiful. Except, the carpenters used nails that were twice as long as they should have been so they all have ugly nails bent over on the back sides. I had a revelation recently that this campement was never going to be as nice as I had envisioned it because I was not MY campement, a realization that was precipitated by seeing the patterns on the sheets that my counterparts bought, but the massacre of the beauty of African Mahogany was one thing that I could not let stand. So I have many days over the course of the last few weeks pulling out all of the nails and then replacing them with screws. Seems like a pretty simple operation, but the wood is incredibly dense and the screws are incredibly weak. In order to get them in I had to take out the existing nails, pound in slight larger nails just to enlarge the holes, then pull those out, and put the screws in. Towards the end of the work I got my hands on a cordless drill (God Bless America) and it all went much faster. Anyway they are done now and they look much better. The other carpentry I have been doing was ripping 24 meters of wooden planks down to size for the window frames. When I was in America I picked up a saw sharpening file knowing that I was going to be doing this but neglected to buy saw set pliers (which push the teeth of the saw out alternating directions so the area that it cuts is wider than the blade of the saw, keeping it from binding up). So every time the saw bound up in the wood, I cursed myself for not having the foresight to get the set pliers (now in the mail) here sooner. Once it is here, I am going to sharpen and set every single saw I see because nearly every hand saw in Senegal is dull.

Ok, I’m taking a break and posting this now, but I will finish the details soon.