Merry Christmas!

Samalé, Amadou, and Boubacar at the ecolodge.

The new restaurant is in the background.

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s December 19th and a warm sunny day in Senegal, or as my friend Groff who recently visited said, “Yet another warm sunny day in Africa.” Which is to say that nine months of the year here are nothing but warm (hot) and sunny (blistering). Anyway, it’s nearly Christmas and we’re into the cool season with temperatures reaching below 70 degrees F! This will be my third consecutive Christmas in West Africa and my last. I have enjoyed, and do enjoy, my time over here, but I’m already overdue to come home. Normally I would have been home, or at least left West Africa, in August, but as you know I have decided to extend to see the construction of the Segou Ecolodge through to the end. When I signed up for the Peace Corps I did so with the intent of having an accomplishment that I could point to for the rest of my life where I could say that I did that for those people and it benefited them in this way; the that is building an ecolodge, the those are the three villagers that will own it, the people who will work there, and the entire village, the this is creating the first registered business in a village that can not employ it’s own highschool graduates, a business that aims to achieve the triple bottom line of sustainability, a business that will give 15% of it profits back to the community to use as it chooses. As much as I would like to be home already, I think you can understand why it’s hard to leave a project like that unfinished just because an arbitrary period of time has passed. (The full discloser is that I could have easily been replaced by another volunteer in August, but I selfishly wanted the satisfaction of completing the project myself.) So I am still here. Here, but over the experience of being here.

They say that you can’t know your own culture until you experience another one. I have found that to be true in so many ways I can’t begin to list them. While most of the exoticness of West Africa has faded away, I still acknowledge and appreciate it. All the same, it no longer compares to what it would be like to be back home in my own culture. I have a feeling this experience will make me want to continue doing extended international stints throughout my life, although not this long and not for a while. I am ready to come home and just live my own life. Maybe not every volunteer feels this way, but doing the work I do I often find myself trying to live other people’s lives in order to learn and to teach; fasting during Ramadan to show solidarity and appreciate why no work will be done that month or trying to understand why many of the effective ways of gardening that are practiced in America are not used here. Fasting is interesting, but not that fun and I can’t wait to have my own garden again in an area where there are no goats and chickens. I call on all of you to eat as many chickens as you can out of vengeance for all of the gardens they have scratched up this past year in Senegal. When I was home in May for three weeks I counted that at least 34 chickens died for my consumption, even with the most efficient distribution of parts. As a new year’s resolution, I challenge you to declare war on all things fowl.

“Rizzo this is Louise.” “Yeah, I know, we’ve met.” (The Muppets Christmas Carol) As much as I prefer dead chickens to live ones, I guess any chicken that The Great Gonzo vouches for is ok. Which brings me back to Christmas and it’s true meaning, as expounded upon by Muppets, Peanuts, claymations, and other cartoon characters. (I pity anybody who claims that their favorite Christmas movie is one that has a human cast for they must have had sad, boring, and unimaginative formative years.) For me, Christmas is about coming together and sharing your love and joy for each other. Sure a bit of that cozy Christmas feeling comes from snuggling up on a snowy day, drinking hot chocolate by a fire, and a bit of rum in your eggnog. However, for me those feelings are all tied to the spirit of giving, loving, and showing that you care. In fact, the whole Christmas atmosphere, all the decorations, and all the parties serve to build and accentuate that Christmas spirit. Not the other way around. More than any holiday, it’s about celebrating how wonderful life is and how joyous it is to share our time with each other. Since I cannot be there in person to celebrate with you, you will have to accept these words in my stead.

This past year has been a productive and enjoyable one for me. A year ago this month I started working with my counterparts on planning to build the ecolodge and at the beginning of this month we had our first real tourist guests. It was an exhilarating moment for me to see all of the plans we had made a year ago being put into action. My counterparts were paid, the staff was paid, the village received their share, and just walking around I could literally see people being indirectly employed. (You can read more about this on my blog: zachinrim.blogspot.com) Seeing the project begin to come to fruition was exactly what I needed. While I have excellent counterparts and have faith in their ability to make the project a success, it has been progressing on their timetable not mine. This is as it should be, it is their ecolodge after all. I told them from the beginning that it was not my job to babysit them, I am only half their age. However, besides camping out in their yards, I can’t move the project along any faster than it is currently going. These past few months they’ve been busy farming and I recognize that growing the food the need takes priority, but it has been hard to see so much time pass with so little progress happening at the ecolodge, especially for someone who is itching to go home. The pace is picking up again though. All of the corn was harvested two months ago, the peanuts a month ago, and the cotton just last week. With the three major crops stored away I look forward to the new year and the increased productivity that will come with it. If all goes as quickly as possible I could still be done in May, inshallah (if God wills it). Right now it all depends on raising the rest of the money needed for the final phase of construction. As of this moment you’ve helped me raise $5,772 which is amazing! However, that still leaves $1,969 to go. Unfortunately we can’t start using the money until all of it is raised and we’d love to get started as soon as we can in January. If you are interested in learning more or helping out with this project, please visit: sites.google.com/site/segouecolodge

As the classic Christmas carol says, even just forwarding the link on to others would be a huge help…

Christmas is coming,

The geese are getting fat,

Please put a tenny

In the new lodge's hut.

If you haven't got a tenny,

A forward will do,

If you can't send a forward,

Then God bless you.

With your help and a little luck, I’ll be seeing you all soon. I hope you all are well.

Yo Allah rokku aduna e jam!

(May God grant peace on earth.)

z.

P.S. Did you know you can send texts directly to my cell phone for FREE from Gchat in Gmail? It costs nothing for you and it’s cheap for me. We can chat in real time, any time. Please abuse it!

To set it up: Click on "Settings" in the upper right of the Gmail window

Click on "Labs"

Activate "Send text messages from Gchat"

Save your changes at the bottom of the page

Go back to the Gchat window

Click on "Actions" in the upper right of the Gchat window

Click "Send a text"

My number is +221 77 729 9164

Cancun

It's December, that means another UN Climate Change Conference has come and gone. I know it's not something I am actively involved in at the moment, but I feel like I have to give a shout out to the most important international meeting of the year. This year the conference was held in Cancun and I'm guessing that's the extent of what most people know about it, that and the fact that it did not fail spectacularly like the conference in Copenhagen did last year. So what did happen? What was decided about the biggest environmental, economic, and social problem we face? Here are three links that do a decent job of explaining one of the most complex political negotiations humanity has ever attempted:

"Cancun was a Triumph for Global Cooperation"

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/michael-mccarthy-cancun-was-a-triumph-for-global-cooperation-2162495.html

From the youth perspective:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z09Ex_kwPl0

"Five Reasons to be Hopeful"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-rigg/5-reasons-to-be-hopeful-a_b_796169.html

60,000 Pedal Strokes later

It was actually more like 65,000 pedal strokes later...

Check it my friends post about our bike trip through Senegal's national park: http://stayinggroundedontherun.blogspot.com/2010/11/60000-pedal-strokes-later.html

The Great Trail Building Party

Ever since I the first time I walked out to the Ségou waterfalls a year ago I have dreamed rebuilding the trail that leads to it. For me, the idea of throwing rocks around in the woods with purpose is about as good as it gets. Last week I finally got that chance.

When the villagers first decided to try to make Ségou a tourist attraction several years ago they built a “road” half way out the falls up to the point where the trail joins the streambed. That part of the trail is still in good shape, although it is currently overgrown with tall grass that blinds you as you try bike through. It also drops seed into the back of your mouth which is impossible to get out. Aside from that, it is fairly level and even, so we decided to concentrate on the part of the trail that follows the stream. For four days eight other volunteers and I camped out at the start of the stream-trail and worked our way up to the waterfalls. During the day we were joined by three to five locals from my village. (The idea that it would be fun to camp out in the woods seems scary, stupid, and weird to them.) Each morning we would get up, have breakfast, and then set out to work on the trail. Around one we would break for lunch and tea. Like always, making tea took several hours, something I did not mind one bit since I had strung up my hammock between two stands of bamboo. After tea was finally done, we would rush out to get in one more hour’s worth of work before the light faded. Returning to camp those of us spending the night made a few drinks and settled down around the fire for an entertaining evening of conversation and swapping stories. Adding to the conversation, we were joined by two Belgian tourists who were passing through, Nick and Katherine. They bought a van in Belgium, outfitted it as a camper, and saved up enough money to travel around West Africa for a year. If there was a best way to travel in Africa, I would say that they found it. A number of us took photos of their van with dreams of replicating it some day. Meeting interesting folks like Nick and Katherine has been one of the more interesting and unexpected parts of my experience over here.

Working on the trail itself was a heck of a lot of fun. We all had big smiles on our faces the whole time as we were chopping with machetes, throwing big rocks down hills, and jumping into pools in the stream whenever we had the chance. Each of us lost about 15 years of maturity while we were out there. The best part about it was that even though we were acting like children just playing around, we were actually accomplishing something meaningful. Now it only takes half an hour to cover the distance we cleared whereas before it took over an hour and was dangerous to the ankles of those who are not accustomed to rock hopping. Now that the trail is done the ecolodge is one big step closer to being fully operational. We just need to get the doors on the bathrooms and clear the paths in the lodge and we can start publicizing the ecolodge to guides and local tourism operators. WOOHOO!

Introducing phase two of the Segou Ecolodge Project

The ecolodge is now approaching being operational, but there is still much to be done. The three huts need to be finished, the restaurant needs a floor and a roof, the trails need to be fixed up, and much more. The first phase of funding, provided through USAID's Small Projects Assistance and the contributions of the village, is almost used up. It is now time to introduce the second phase of the Segou Ecolodge Project.

Where the goal of phase one was to construct enough of the ecolodge that it could house tourists, the goal of phase two is to turn the ecolodge into the best tourist lodge in the area. In order to do that we need to finish the bathrooms in the huts, build the storeroom for the restaurant, build the kitchen, and do all of the finishing touches necessary. Of course, all of this will require additional funding. The village has committed to contributing 26% of the costs but that still leaves a $7,741 USD need. To explain the what is needed, how it will be accomplished, and how you can help out by donating I created the Segou Ecolodge Project website (sites.google.com/site/segouecolodge). Please take a look at it and consider donating. Every little bit helps and a donation of only $77 dollars will cover 1% of the total. Also please forward the link to anyone you think might be interested in learning about the project.

First guests!

The ecolodge had its first guests!!! I can't describe what a great moment it was. After a year of working on the project we finally saw some results!

It is still not finished, at the time they stayed there the windows and doors were not up, but the four American students were able to accommodate that in exchange for having the honor of being the first guests. While I had been involved with the project for a year, it was a much more exciting moment for my counterparts who have been trying to realize this dream for many years. I told them, "Jooni, menen acii fudugol golle keso e jooni ha yesso golle amen ko gaynugol ko menen fudike hari." "Now we are done starting new work and now the rest of our work is just finishing off what we have started."

The other really exciting aspect of having our first guests was I could see how the benefits of the ecolodge are going to spread throughout the community. Even though they were the first guests and we were unprepared to host them, as I was walking around town I counted over a dozen different people who were involved in preparing food, finding things to sell, or trying to find their old ceremonial dance equipment. The whole time I have been working on this project I have been dreaming of all of the auxiliary projects that will be possible for the community: selling shea butter or baobab power, selling rope made from local trees, teaching Pula Futa lessons, telling traditional stories, creating a community development fund, and much more. These are the side projects that will extend the benefits of the ecolodge out into the village and will be much more fun to execute than supervising construction. They will also be much more mentally challenging. I can't wait to start taking them on.

It's rare that PCVs get to see the fruits of their work so clearly. Now I see not only the physical buildings we have created but a vision into the future of how the ecolodge, and my work, will function to the benefit of the entire community. This is the moment that I joined the Peace Corps for.

Photos

Not my photos, but they are very good. I don't have any photos like this because most Senegalese do not like their photo being taken by a stranger (tourist/white person). Looking at the photos I can't help but imagine the photographer being yelled at by the people in the photo immediately afterwards. Anyway, really good stuff:

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/senegals-changing-urban-landscape/?ref=africa