Happy Mother's Day (and Bob Marley's death day)

One year in my village. One year as a volunteer. One year older… and wiser? I hope so.

This week I’m doubly celebrating my “anniversaire”. Monday I turned 25: a quarter-century. Thursday, I will be one-year in the village. The marking of the passage of time has brought a lot of evaluation into my thought life.

What does it mean to me to be 25? Where am I in my life and where am I headed?
To me, 25 seems to be one of those birthdays that’s arbitrarily more important than the ones immediately around it. So I feel like what I’m doing and everything I’m thinking about should also be more important and profound.

I still feel like I lack specific direction in my “professional” life, but I’m ok with that. At least I am at the moment. I have ideas, just no clear path. But I’m on track (meaning I’m still constantly growing) in my personal development.

I had a 25 party with some other volunteers over the weekend that was successful with an afternoon at the pool, real grilled hotdogs (they’re new in Tamba) and a variety of different “25s”. If you ever did the 100th day of school thing, you know what I mean. Everyone brought 25 of something and we had show and tell. I had hoped to bake a few hundred (you read that right) cookies to take to the village for my actual birthday, but the connection between the gas tank and the stove/oven was busted and a technician worked all weekend to fix it, but to no avail. I had a (brief) party in the village anyway and it was a “smashing” success… we played Pin the Tail on the Donkey (Jonnu Mbabba Bokkal… or more fun, Okku Bokkal) and had a piñata. I was right, piñatas were invented for village children. You beat it (blindfolded… holy cow is that an exciting addition) and candy comes out! It was chaos of course, but I definitely scored some cool points with the kids. I even had some new girls stop by just to visit later on because they were so impressed with American birthday celebrations.

I also finally got the chance to show the “first graders” the pictures drawn for them by the Girl Scout troop in San Antonio. They LOVED them! Especially the pictures of the girls. I think we may end up posting them in the classroom… which may be kind of tricky because it’s a corn-stalk classroom. The walls are mostly corn or millet stalk and the roof is grass, but some of the walls are zinc plating, so I think we can get tape to stick to that. Thanks girls!

Last week we showed “Elle Travalle, Elle Vit” at the local middle school. It’s a movie made by some volunteers that showcases 5 successful Senegalese women and brings up some of the issues and obstacles girls are faced with in their own paths to success. It went well and then the discussion afterwards was really good. Then later this weekend I was eating a bean sandwich and happened to notice that the newspaper it was wrapped in had a blurb about one of the women printed on it. Apparently she wants (or wanted in March) to take on the president’s son (and would-be future president) in a debate. You go Penda Mbow! I kept the clip to show to the girl’s group when I go to the school this week to conduct interviews for the scholarship SeneGAD provides.

Today I’m in town to buy paint to do a mural about nutrition and gardening at the school, so I’m hoping to hurry back and at least get the outline up.

Thanks for the packages! I picked up ones today from Katie and Christy and my mom. You have no idea how popular and important I felt picking up multiple packages. I mean I’m basically Angelina Jolie. What’s more surprising, is that none of them were covered in Senegalese post-office tape. Clearly the one from Katie had been opened because the corner was slashed, but it was still tightly packed so I think it was all there. I guess the whoopee cushion looked suspicious in customs.

To wrap up: here are 25 things from my 25th year of life: I
1. Rode a camel.
2. Voted in the election of the first black American president.
3. Ate warthog.
4. Learned an African language… (we’ll count it as learned even if I’m not fluent.)
5. Did my hair up in dreadlocks.
6. Was barked at by a troop of baboons in the wild.
7. Sewed a dress by hand.
8. Crossed an international border on foot (slash bike… I’m not sure where the technical border actually is).
9. Learned to “correctly” shell peanuts en masse without injuring fingers.
10. Had giardia… twice.
11. Kicked a rat in the face.
12. Saw my president’s name or likeness on: notebooks, belts, bags, t-shirts, other clothing and school supplies, and ice cream. (Obama cookies… so good).
13. Made flour tortillas from scratch.
14. Sifted a lot of poop by hand (literally hours of work).
15. Biked 70km in one go.
16. Swam 4km without stopping.
17. Went to my first funeral (discounting memorial services, I don’t think I ever actually went to a funeral in the states).
18. Had a baby named after me. (Just to be clear, it was not me that HAD the baby, just the name).
19. Harvested peanuts.
20. Bought (and unfortunately lost, but did briefly own) a machete.
21. Saw a real-live in-the-wild hippo.
22. Had my first Thanksgiving away from home. (Is that true? Wow.)
23. Planned, prepared, cared for, and ate from my very own personal garden.
24. Killed at least 6 “Nebeday…" as in "Never-die” trees.
25. Served as a Peace Corps volunteer.*

*side-note: I can now officially ET and still receive Returned Peace Corps Volunteer status… not that I plan to, I’m just saying.