Sunday, September 28, 2008

a photo tour of boghe











the picture on left is the only paved road that goes right through town that our regional house is located on. the door on the right leads to our courtyard (notice the donkey cart on the street). the picture on the right is inside of our courtyard at the regional house looking from our porch to the street (which is behind the stonewall). our dog bailey is in the picture, our hammock, kiddie pool, dried up well, and behind the laundry drying is our new vegetable garden!










these are pictures from the market where i go basically everyday, kind of out of boredom because it is ramadan and also because you have to buy your food on a daily basis

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Barack Obama

So last night Barack Obama had a press conference that was apparently broadcast internationally because my whole family froze and watched extremely attentively. it was live (with pretty horrible french translations- its hard to translate to live speeches) and had to do with the economy and the upcoming debate (i didnt even know there was one!) THey absolutly love him here, both because he has african origins and also because he might be the one to finally get george bush out of office (they, like most people from around the world, HATE him).

My host mom was out of town (and host dad has been MIA since i moved in) but my 3 older host brothers and host sister were full of great questions about american politics. They wondered how americans felt about George Bush, the oil situation, who i was voting for and who i thought most americans would vote for in the upcoming election. when i was first told where i would be spending my peace corps service i never thought i would be having conversations like this and i am realizing more and more each day how lucky i am to have such a great site placement and host family.

my host sister goes to university in Nouakchott (she is home visiting for the end of ramadan), where she studies biology (with a focus on global warming and conservation) and my other host sister goes to university in america. unlike many other mauritanian families, my family sits together and eats together and is not segregated by sex. my host brothers love to talk to me about politics and i love that they recognize that women have smart, thoughtful opinions to share just like men.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Breaking Fast

During Ramadan, all Muslims (the entire population of mauritania) fast from sunrise to sunset which effectively shuts down the country, delays schools start, and makes for some very grouchy store keepers when you go to buy supplies to make lunch. So a big part of this month in the tradition of breaking fast after the evening prayer is called around 7ish. I have hung out with my family for bits and parts of their breaking fast but last night i decided to dedicate my whole night to sitting with them in the courtyard under the stars to really experience the entire event.

First, as soon as you can hear the pray call from over the loudspeakers of the mosque (they can be heard from any point in town), the family starts to chug liquids and eat some bread and dates (imagine how thirsty you would be after 12 hours in over 100 degree weather with nothing to drink). my family has a freezer so all of our drinks have ice chunks in them (quite a delicacy). there is ice cold water, bissap (a kool-aid type drink made from natural flowers here), hot sugary tea, and milk (clarification- powered milk=disgusting). I feel bad because they were throwing drinks at me until i couldnt drink another sip but i wasnt even that thirsty because im not fasting (and they know that). But the hospitality here is so strong that they wanted to make sure i had the absolute most amount that they had to offer. After that, they walk over to their pray mats a few feet away and all pray in unison (with the oldest son leading). i wrote in my journal by the food haha...

Next, about an hour after breaking fast, the first meal is served. Normally families eat banafe (something like a potato/beef stew) for this meal. It is sooo good and tastes like something grandma winland would make in southern ohio. like hearty american comfort food, except they eat family style around one large bowl on the ground with the hands, just a little different then ohio. my host family was really great about my dietary restrictions and gave me my own little bowl of just stewed potatoes in the gravy and i sat around the circle like everyone else except just eating out of my own bowl (probably the most low-key, least fuss/awkward vegetarian meal to date, finally!). After that meal i was stuffed and felt like i was about to burst but no, theres still the main course.

before the main course is served the tv was brought out to the doorway of the family room and everyone just relaxed and watched the news (unfortunately it was al jazeera in arabic so i couldnt understand it) and started to take naps on the floor mats and pillows that were set up in the courtyard (there is always huge mats laid down outside so youre never actually sitting on the sand). by this time it was about 930 and i was exhausted but was still trying to hold out for the last meal. then the evening call to pray went over the mosque loudspeakers and the whole family started praying again and then afterwards went back to napping. at about 11 i called it quits... but at least i tried to stay up for it all! i was just so full and tired (and i knew i would be eating the whole next day like normal) so i couldnt make myself try and stay awake. the whole family got a good laugh at me this morning and called me out on slipping away to my room and going to bed before the final, big meal.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Finally settled in

Yesterday I took my last trip of stuff from the regional house to my new room. It kind of feels like moving into a college dorm room all over again, except this time the walls are made out of mud and my roof is thatched. Even with that being said, I have a really nice set up in my new room. My host family gave me the chairs (I picked out the colors so they would match… trying to make things homey even in Africa!), desk and cot. All of those 3 things are pretty unheard of in bedrooms of volunteers (furniture in general doesn't really exist).

A little tour of my new compound/room….













This is from outside the gate looking into the family courtyard. My room is the open door on the far left (behind the blanket hanging on the line).

















Once you go into the main door there is a little storage room (with working fridge and freezer!) and my door is on the left. Its nice because you cant see straight into my room from the courtyard so random people walking by don't gawk at me. Now pictures from inside my room! I tried to do a little 360 photo thing… right on your left when you enter my room is my desk (with toiletries, water filter, electronics, books, and other knick knacks) and fan.













As you go toward the left I have some pictures up and right now below them is a pile of all my clothes (im getting a shelf made right now to be able to fold my clothes and set them on). Im also a dork and put a map of Ohio on the wall next to the pictures (its hard to see in the photo). Then I have a window (with curtains I made myself!) my bed (on a cot!) with my mosquito net, shoes lined up underneath, and a little makeshift end table. Lastly is my little sitting corner with paintings, photos, and buckets of amazing American food underneath). And that's my room!














Last night I ate dinner at the regional house then went back to my house to hang out with the new fam afterwards. Since it is Ramadan, people basically sleep all day and stay up all night so there was a ton of people just hanging around in my courtyard. They had the tv from the family room put in the doorway so it faced out to the courtyard and everyone was laying around on mats and pillows watching a French news channel… after PK7 and no electricity I feel like I'm living the life. I love my new family and I am excited to finally be settled into my new home in Boghe!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

We're getting an oven!

our regional house in Boghe (where i cook all my meals) is getting a oven so now any care packages can include things that need to be baked! we all pitched in money and crossing our fingers that we can buy it sooner rather then later in Nouakchott. also, we could use any sort of small baking sheets, small muffin/bread/pie pans, etc. (maybe those new plastic/rubber ones might be lighter?) make sure none of the baking supplies are too big because the oven is going to be little.. think about the size of a microwave. Looking forward to baking and broadening my cooking horizons!

"When did terrorism stop being sexy?"

(Quote from Julie Ann Clark after the BBC headline news “Focus on Africa” didn’t mention the 12 Mauritanian soldiers killed by Al Qaeda, instead spending hours on whatever political mess in going on in South Africa.)













I've spent the last few days in Dar El Barka to visit my past PK7 sitemate Julie. The village is about an hour outside of Boghé and is still in my region (important because we aren’t allowed to travel outside our region for the first 3 months of service). It’s a really beautiful village right on the river and right off the new paved road (with a brand-new middle school where Julie will be teaching English). She is the 1st PCV at her site and really lucked out on housing… she lives in the gated courtyard of the mayor’s sister’s house in the guest house, but the mayor’s sister has yet (in almost a month) to ever live in the house so Julie has a huge garden, pavilion, balcony, and housekeeping staff all to herself. The picture above left is taken from her balcony over looking her garden, the village’s mosque, the mayor’s house, and the river.


Although Julie’s site is only 40 miles away from Boghé, the whole process of finding the pick up that was going to Dar El Barka, waiting for the car to fill up and stopping along the way to pick up/drop off people took a little over 4 hours. Still not too bad of a trip by Mauritanian standards because we didn’t get ripped off, the car didn’t break down, and we got real seats instead of having to ride in the bed of the truck.










Above left is a picture of Julie in her guest house with the main house in the background. The river looked so amazing and it was such a tease to see all the kids playing in it since there is no proper way for grown white women like us to go swimming. Julie’s pseudo host family (its actually the family that works at the mayor’s sisters house) was so hospitable and generous. We went to visit them to “break fast” both nights I was there and although they knew that me and Julie weren’t fasting for Ramadan, they still insisted that we eat first because we were their guests. The older girls in the family (about me and Julies ages) are mostly newlyweds with little kids and were so excited to show off the new English words that Julie had been teaching them.

Overall it was a great first trip… I feel successful at braving the taxi brousse situation (that’s what all forms of taxis are called here) and am so happy that I finally got to visit Julie at her site.
A picture from the inside of the pickup on my way back to Boghe! gives you kind of an idea of what the countryside looks during the rainy season in Southern Mauritania.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

found my new house!

so we've spent the last almost two weeks just kind of hanging around boghe and the regional house while trying to find housing for me and the other new volunteer. But during Ramadan things move even slower then usual so it has been a long process finding open rooms in houses through word of mouth and then setting up times to see the rooms. but today we saw more rooms and decided who would be living where. i am very very happy with my new family/room/house! pictures will come soon (once i move in) but until then ill describe it a little. there is a big gated in family compound with a few houses with all the rooms opening up to the courtyard. my room is on the end of a building and is a little secluded because it is located off a storage-ish room that is off the courtyard (so ppl walking by cant look straight into my room). i have an overhead light, electrical outlet, window (secure with bars across it). plus in my family's salon there is a tv with satilitte and they have a fridge! My new host mom is the 'it' women in our community, involved in every single awareness/community development project, very well educated, and comes from a well known family. she has had volunteers living with her for the past few years and they all recommended her. we signed the contracts last night and i move in on saturday!!

as far as work goes, ive kind of been at a standstill because my GMC (girls mentoring center) cant open until the schools open after ramadan. the center is located on the middle/high school grounds and the girls apply to become members of the center at school as well. so ive just spent the last few weeks cleaning (one window doesnt shut all the way so theres a very thick layer of sand on everything), reorganizing, and brainstorming what type of classes i want to have at the center. in training, other PCVs gave examples of what they do at their respective centers but i have the freedom to choose to do whatever classes i think the community would benefit from most at my center. right now im thinking about computer lessions, english lessions, health lessions (ie. nuitrition, womens health, HIV/AIDS), life skills lessions (ie. money management, public speaking, self esteem), physical activites, supplementary classes (ie. french math, science, arabic) and other general lessions. most of the lessions will be done by me and sometimes with the help of other volunteers in the boghe region although in order to make the center as sustainable as possible i am going to try and get local mauritanians/faculty involved (obviously for some of the lessions to work i would need local support ie. arabic). all classes are held in french (ahh!) bc it seems to be the best equalizer amoung the different ethnic groups in my town (moors traditional speak dialects of arabic and africans speak pulaar, wolof or sonicke) but all schools are taught in french.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

first few days in boghe...

Ive been spending the past few days getting settled into my site... right now im still living at the regional PC house but me and other other new volunteer in Boghe have been looking around at rooms so hopefully ill have a new family to live with before too long. no complaints about not moving in with a family right away though... its been great just to relax and hangout with americans, watch movies, eat amazing american food, use the internet, and party!

today ramadan started which will really switch things up since every single person in town will be fasting from sun up to sun down for the next month. Luckily the volunteers in Boghe have a regional house to go to and cook our meals at since our host families wont be eating. i havent experienced it yet, but ive heard that you get heckled at for even walking down the street with a bottle of water or buying groceries in the middle of the day. some volunteers choose to fast so they can better intergrete and understand how their friends and families are feeling but i dont know, i really like food. and theres no way im giving up water in this heat!

Thanks to everyone who has sent me cards and care packages! My new post box in Boghe is awesome and im getting packages within 2-3 weeks (no delay sitting around in the PC bureau in Nouakchott!) And so far nothing (and nothing sent to any of my friends) has been opened or tampered with so that has been really reassuring. All of your kind thoughts and goodies have been amazing and remind me everyday what supportive family and friends i have back home. Thanks again!