Now that the trainees have been here for about a month, they are finally told where they will be living permanently once they finish training. As is tradition for all training groups, the trainees were blindfolded and led out to a giant map of Senegal painted on the group of the Training Center. Since there were only 17 of them, it was fairly easy to place them all exactly where they will be living.
I had known for several weeks who my replacement was going to be (barring anyone quitting early) but it was exciting for everyone to officially find out. His name is Andrew and he’s a recent Purdue graduate who studied Advertising as an undergrad and is now ready for a two year stint in Senegal. Finally being able to talk to him one on one about Pout and everything that my life has entailed in Senegal is really great. It’s also very strange; I never had the chance to meet the volunteer here before me so it seems like a daunting task to try and explain what I’ve been doing for two years to someone. But, exciting nonetheless! After the site reveal, the current volunteers took the trainees out for beers and their first taste of the infamous “Chicken Dibi” which is our favorite hole in the wall restaurant in Thies.
Saturday morning Andrew and I, as well as another trainee named Jonathan, packed all of our stuff into a cab and headed out to Pout for “demyst.” Demyst is short for the French word “demystification” or Peace Corps slang for volunteer visit. Jonathan is actually opening a new site on the coast near Dakar but because no one is there to host him, it made sense for him to spend the weekend in the next nearest site which happens to be Pout. Once we arrived Andrew got the chance to meet most members of the family, imcluding Yaay (mom) who was much more shy than usual. I imagine that dissipating quickly once he moves in. We spent most of the morning wandering around Pout, buying vegetables to for making dinner and visiting the Principal at the middle school. Andrew seems really happy with the situations he’ll be walking into, especially with the living arrangement. There are already plans for tiling floors and building cabinets and a paint job (desperately needed!). One of the highlights of the day was when Andrew received his new name (i.e. Yaay randomly pointed at him and gave him a name in between bites of food at lunch). He will officially be Ousmane Diallo for the next two years, named after my youngest brother.
That evening I organized a meeting with all of the scholarship girls I've been working with so they could meet Andrew. He'll be taking over the scholarship program once I leave and will also be accompanying all of the girls to the 2nd Annual Thies Region Girls' Camp in September. They all seemed a bit shy to be meeting him but I imagine they will warm up to him once they get to know him better.
Later on in the day, we made a pit stop at “Bar Eden,” which is Pout’s only watering hole and is frequented by many local Catholics who can actually drink, and Muslims who “cheat” and drink anyways. We toasted to Pout while the seedy local drunks provided entertainment and then went home to make a delicious pasta dinner before calling it a night. Having Andrew and Jonathan here certainly was a welcome relief from being the only toubab in town, not to mention the fact that it’s actually socially acceptable to go to a bar when you’re not by yourself.
Life in Pout is very low key on Sundays and there is never much going on, so we figured we should get out for a bit. We decided to pay a visit to the Keur Moussa monastery so Sunday morning we were up early and headed there via public transportation. We met up with Alyssa and her replacement Nancy for Catholic mass and a massive picnic afterwards. It was bittersweet to be at Keur Moussa for the last time since I’ve visited many times throughout my service and I have a soft spot for their famous goat cheese. Our picnic was quite the spread and included cheese, fresh baked bread, apples, grapefruit, homemade jam, and chocolate; a lunch of American proportions.
We made it back to Pout in the afternoon, hung around for a bit and then headed out to explore. We ended up going to a local Senegalese barber shop so Jonathan could get a haircut which was actually a hilarious experience. The Senegalese guy had to whack off his hair with scissors first and then gave him what was basically a black person’s hair cut. It also included a shave with a fresh razor blade and Jonathan looked terrified. As soon as we walked out of the barber shop, kids started calling him “Chinoise” which is the French word for a Chinese person thanks to his new ‘do. We also made a stop by my Wolof tutor Yacinne’s house so I could introduce her to Andrew. I’m not sure if he’ll end up wanting to use her as a Wolof tutor as I did, but she’s one of the nicest Senegalese women I know, so at least he’ll have a local friend. After a stop at Bar Eden where we were becoming quite popular, we headed back to my house to hang out for the rest of the night.
On Monday, Jonathan was picked up by one of the Peace Corps staff members so he could spend the day in what will be his permanent site near Dakar. Andrew and I headed to the post office where we talked with the manager about changing everything over to his name and then headed to my counterpart Harke’s house. I’ve been really impressed with Harke’s tenacity and involvement in my service the last two years. I wasactually a bit surprised to hear how excited he was for Andrew’s arrival, only because I imagine dealing with me for two years was a bit exhausting. He seems ready and willing to take on the responsibility of being Andrew’s counterpart, which makes me feel like Andrew will be in good hands. It’s an odd feeling talking about all the work we’ve done together and knowing the torch will soon be passed on. I can’t wait to hear about the work the two of them end up doing together.
Harke accompanied us to the Mayor’s office where we were greeted by my supervisor Ousmane. Ousmane was of course happy to hear that Andrew will share his name. We spoke with him briefly, and then met with the Mayor of Pout is his swank air conditioned office. We discussed the work I’ve done here and how Andrew will be taking over for me, and also discussed a bit of local Senegalese politics while I attempted to sound as neutral as possible. The Mayor told me I’ve done some great things and thanked me for my service on behalf of all of Pout, and admittedly, it felt really good. It seems I left him with a good impression and didn’t make that big of an idiot out of myself the last two years. After a brief detour to show Andrew the local library, we headed back to my house and lounged the afternoon away to escape from the heat. Jonathan rejoined us later that night and recounted tales of his day long site visit. It sounds like he really enjoyed it and luckily for him, if he never needs a break he can come visit Andrew in the Palace de Pout.
Yesterday was our big Demyst Daycation excursion to Mbour with the entire Dakar region and all of their replacements. Andrew, Jonathan and I left Pout early to make it to Thies in time to meet everyone at the garage. Before that though we attended to very important business; changing the internet bills from my name to Andrew’s so he can indulge in the wonder that is DSL in Africa for the next two years. After everyone had met up at the garage we rented an incredibly slow and rusty mini bus to get us all the way to Warang, which is a town slightly south of Mbour about an hour and a half from Thies. We visited the Warang distillery where we had a wonderful liqueur tasting and spent a couple hours enjoying the beautiful scenery. There were about 25 of us in total, so it was great to get the entire region together one last time. Afterwards we hitchhiked back into Mbour and ate lunch ocean side at a great little French restaurant. We toasted to our new replacements and enjoyed each other’s company before it was finally time to put down the wine and head back home. Alyssa stormed the Mbour garage in all her feisty glory, rented us a mini bus and back to Thies we went.
The mini bus was en route to the Training Center so several of us had to jump out on a corner in order to get to the Thies garage. My goodbye with Andrew was rushed as I was being hurried off the bus; it was extremely sad to say goodbye after spending a great weekend with him. At the same time, it’s very comforting to have met him and know that my crazy rollercoaster of a journey here is finally complete. His arrival marked the beginning of my end and now that demyst is over, I have a real sense of closure. Pout will be anxiously awaiting his arrival at the end of August and the cycle of volunteers will continue on. Thank goodness for technology because I’m excited to follow his service and watch him make Pout his own. I am definitely leaving this quirky little town that I have come to love in good hands.
Cheers to you Andrew!
Hi Jackie
ReplyDeleteThis is Andrew's mother - thank you for a great post. Andrew told us lots about the visit, he really enjoyed meeting you, sounded enthusiastic about the projects, his living conditions and the family. I am now going to read your old entries to build a picture of where Andrew will spend the next two years.
Good Luck on your return to the US and your next adventure:)
Emma Wynn