Sarandougou

ke Tuesday and Wednesday I visited Ryan in sarandougou, a little village about 10 k outside of Boghe. I was his first visitor so the whole village was so excited to see another toubab (foreigner). It was hilarious because after a few hours of the hassle of trying to get there (walking to the market, finding a bus, waiting for it to fill up, then picking up/dropping off dozens of people) we finally arrived at the village and walked right into a huge wedding celebration in his family's compound. On one side of the compound there was about 60 men sitting under the trees and dressed in their finest and then on the other side of the compound was hundreds of women and children under another set of trees. The next few hours were filled with greeting the entire village and 3 different lunches. The picture on the left is of Ryan’s house and the picture on the right is his family (mending the fishing nets), both in the courtyard.

The next day we took a trip around the village with Howa, Ryan’s host sister and our self appointed tour guide. A little tour around the village turned into the longest morning/afternoon ever. We went to the market, the college where Ryan will be teaching English, met with the director, and then spent hours going to people's houses and greeting them. In the afternoon we walked to the Senegal River, about a 20 minute walk from his house. Below are pictures from the river and some of the local fisherman…