Those who have enough money to buy cement will transform their dirt courtyards into a cleaner, dust-free area. This activity is done only by women, who gather in bulk to transform one person's courtyard. I was the only man there and did a good amount of work, so they women bought me a fanta afterwards! (FYI this is a very nice courtyard for my village standards)
About a month ago I realized something that I knew I must act upon. My two week training will end during the beginning of the “rainy season” when literally 99% of my village inhabitants are in the fields all day farming. I already knew that I wouldn’t be able to initiate any projects until after the harvest in October. But more importantly I realized that I wouldn’t be able to use the ample rainfall (which is extremely precious in my otherwise dry village) to aid the growth of crops that I could use later for my projects. So, for the previous month I have been scrambling with my organization to attempt to start some projects before I leave for my training.
It’s been tough coordinating meetings especially when everyone is preoccupied with their personal farms. Even more difficult was educating my leadership team on the potential benefits of these new projects. Thankfully after many meetings the message got through. This head-start will save my organization and I time, money and allow us to use two rainy seasons instead of just one during my service.
Looking at the vast field which separates my neighborhood with the main road / market area.
Project #1: Moringa Plantation
Moringa Leaf Transformations is a very popular project among PCVs because the trees thrive in this West African climate and the leaf power has a crazy amount of health benefits. This project will aim to help my group members earn extra income by selling this leaf powder (maybe even eventually to outside markets and buyers), but more importantly it will help address the severe nutrition problem in my village. Everybody is on-board and excited to start this project. The Peace Corps even gives out free seeds to volunteers. My group and I were going to try and start planting saplings this month but we ran into one specific issue: cost of fencing. Fencing to enclose one hectare (or 400 meters) can cost around $300-400 which is too heavy of a cost to incur for my organization. Fencing is absolutely necessary because animals love eating Moringa trees due to the high amount of nutrients. Luckily, my PC boss came in clutch said there is a grant I can apply for, and if we act on it quickly, we can get the fence funding by early August. This means that we can have a bit more time to plan out the details for this project. But, come August the gears will be churning with this project and that precious leaf powder will be only a year away!
Our river is finally filling up. During the height of rainy season water will expand beyond the borders of the picture and rise a couple of meters. Many fish will come, but so will crocodiles so people don't really swim in the river.
Project #2: Soybean Farming (and later transformation into tofu)
Another popular project is soybean transformation into tofu brochettes and other soy products. This is another income generating activity (IGA) for my community members which will also provide a nutritious food option to the public. Explaining soy was tough because none of my villagers knew what soy was. It only exists in larger cities. There is no word for soy in the local language, so I made-up a few alternatives. “Nasara Benga” translates to “White Person Beans”, or “Benga Nemdo” which means “Bean Meat” to describe the tofu kabobs. I then had to stress that “Nasara benga kõta laafi la kõta panga wusgo”, which means that “soy give health and a lot of strength” so they understand this too will aid the nutrition problem in Ramsa. My leadership team liked the idea and set-out to collect some money from each group to pay for the seeds. The Peace Corps office helped us find a vender and he just shipped us our 30 kg order of seeds this past Friday. The grains will be distributed to 10 of my work groups and come September we will have nearly 200 kgs of soybeans ready to be transformed!
Project #3: Rainy-Season Garden
Gardening is primarily a dry-season activity for villagers in Ramsa because during the rainy season everybody focuses their energy on cultivating grains, which they will then eat over the next 12 months. This means that my local market will be depleted of vegetables during the rainy season. So, why not find a way to supply the market void? The idea of a rainy season garden seems highly feasible since there will be no competition and the rains will provide a free water source. The idea seemed ripe for my organization members and me, but ultimately I wasn’t able to draw enough interest since people didn’t want to risk losing their money and they’d rather spend their time on their own farms. I cannot blame these people because they don’t have very much extra money to invest. Their mindset and the way they approach a new idea isn’t the same as mine. Another reason why people wouldn’t commit to this project is because there isn’t an example of someone having success with a rainy season garden, so I thought to myself “why don’t I start my own?” This is exactly what I am going to do. I, along with a few high school students, are going to borrow some fencing, invest in some seeds and start a rainy season garden. Our main three vegetables will be tomatoes, onions and cucumbers. My ultimate goal is to draw people’s interest to this project idea and show them my (fingers crossed) success so that they can do the same next time around.
My 19-year old friend Phillipe cutting down some tree branches that will serve as our fence posts. He is entering his second to last year in high-school which is quite a rarity in our village. He will use the money that we (hopefully) earn from this garden to help pay for his schooling.
My role as a Peace Corps volunteer is finally becoming clearer to me. Initially I didn’t know what type of projects to conduct or how involved to get. A big unanswered question was also what skills and knowledge did my community members possess? Thankfully now, after dealing with the three projects above I have a clear vision of my next two years in Ramsa. I will be the one to introduce ideas, educate on the possibilities, organize project implementation, transfer my knowledge to the intended parties, solve any problems along the way, and also monitor and evaluate the progress of each project. Eventually I need to pass all responsibilities off to someone else so that they can manage projects old and new when I’m gone. My leadership team members will be in charge of helping me conduct feasibility studies, disseminating information to all group members and organizing logistical work and training information. The hundreds of group members will be the recipients of these new project ideas and trainings to then use for their own households or as a new income generating activity. Everybody is eager to work and their motivation makes me believe that anything is possible here.
In-between the three projects above I’ve also found other ways to help out in the community. A couple of times a week I will go to the health clinic and give awareness-raising sessions on the importance of nutrition, hygiene and malaria. Depending on the day my audience can be just a couple of people or upwards of fifty. I want to take a good look into the current practices in these three domains and provide educational material that will hopefully lead to behavior change. I will also see if it is feasible to incorporate some trainings into these visits, such as how to construct household hand washing stations or how to create enriched porridge for malnourished children. In addition, I started to work with the local students association in Ramsa. I will mainly help them find ways to raise money because they want to furnish a library with books and create a central study location for students in village. I gave them the idea of a motorcycle wash to raise money, as well as how to craft well-written donation letters to members of the community. So far, both have turned out to be quite fruitful and each day we get closer to completing our fundraising goal. We will also be embarking on some educational awareness raising events this summer to help change the education culture in Ramsa. There is much that can be improved here, such as informing parents that they must pay attention to their child’s studies and motivate them at home to review their lessons.
Our motorcycle wash fundraising event with the Students Association of Ramsa. We held it on the market day, which is when the most people are in the "downtown". We sent our younger students into the market to find customers who would support the cause and bring back dirty motorcycles to wash.
The increase of work as of late is a good change of pace and motivates me for the next two years. I keep on telling my counterpart and community members that as an American I love to work and idleness is not desired. But that is also part of my learning curve in this new culture. Long periods of no activity is a daily phenomenon no matter what profession one holds. My neighbors and I are finding new ways to “tuer le temps”, or kill time. We can exhaust one small box of tea for 3 hours. Sometimes we just sit together and hardly any words are said. I used to think it was awkward. Not anymore, sitting in silence with others is a normal activity for me now.
The heat was unfathomable during the month of May, but as the rains come the weather is cooling off little by little. The worst are the humid days before the rain comes. Bucket showering is always my last activity before going to bed. But it almost seems fruitless because as I sleep outside my entire body slowly starts to sweat. You could also call my sleeping mat a slip-n-slide because of how wet it gets when I perspire. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Africa I learn to just “accept my fate” so no matter how annoying something is, I find ways to move past. The heat is the only negative here. As I become more integrated and my local language skills develop everything stops feeling foreign and feels more like home. I’m still a main attraction in village but the shock factor is thankfully wearing off. I hold actual conversations now with people instead of them just being amused at my Mooré skills. People come to me asking for favors and advice instead of me being the one asking for help. Even better is that I’m making legitimate friends, whether it’s a 20 year old student or 45 year old mother of 8.
During the month of July I’ll be away from village for 3 weeks. 2 weeks are for my Peace Corps training and 1 week is to participate in a youth development conference put-on by some volunteers. I’ll be bringing along 2 high school students from my village to learn project management skills and how to become a leader in the community.
Hope all is well in the US. Enjoy the sensation of being cold in my honor.
Until next time,
MB
