AT LAST I have put up some photos and actually written on here: I was away from blogging for several reasons, first of all I really had nothing to report since I wasn't really doing anything. Then I got married a few weeks ago, but I didn't have PC permission so I couldn't really tell everyone. But as of September 27th I was finished with Peace Corps (congrats to me!). So now Ousmane and I are in Dakar, living on the beach, applying for a visa, studying calculus (me getting ready for school) and taking driving lessons (that's Oussy), although I might need some practice after so many years of not driving...
so let's see: our first appt at the embassy to drop off the petition to apply for a visa is Tuesday-wish us luck!
I hope you all enjoy the photos! We were married during the month of Ramadan so we couldn't do a big fete (more my style anyway), but the other volunteers all showed up and made it a rememberable wedding. I'm trying to upload a bunch onto facebook, but this cyber cafe isn't too great.
Oh and last night we had our 'wedding cake' (thanks mom and Neda (Mali RPCV living in Dakar)). Mom sent us a cake mix and we went to Neda's yesterday and baked the cake ater which Neda took us out to a lovely dinner at the French Cultural Center, we then returned to her house to frost and eat the cake not forgetting to take pictures of us feeding each other pieces of cake-also look to facebook for those photos.
Missed you all-I hope to be updating more often now!

Mosquito Net Distribution

Just got back into Kedouogou after spending almost two weeks out 'en brousse' in the area of Saraya. We distributed over 16,000 mosquito nets, and there are still villages we didn't hit. Our estimates for population (based on government info) was way-off. But it looks like we have enough nets coming our way to finish off the distribution in September. I'm not going to lie to you, it was a crazy, trying time for me. I was really disappointed on the commitment levels and participation with some locals in the health infrastructure. People saying they're going to help out in a certain way and then not doing what they said. Anyway what's done is done. Here are some pics of the bad roads we passed, getting stuck in mud, crossing the river to visit Mali for 10 minutes and actually distributing nets. The Senegalese guy in the boat is Gouda (like the cheese), the resident 'f-in badass' ambulance driver in Saraya who was fearless and super helpful on this trip.

In other news, Ousmane just got back from Dakar where he got his passport! yay, the first step done, now we just need to get married and apply for a visa, wait that's a lot of stuff... I'm on it! I'm going to be going to Dakar this weekend for a week or two to work at the Embassy's English camp. Hopefully get the lowdown about visa info from Embassy people. take care y'all!

Another round of Ingly

As some of you may know, my closest teammate in Mali, Brooke, is here in Senegal doing research on chimpanzees for the summer. In honor of her visit, I wanted to take her out to see some of the coolest, non-touristy part of Kedougou. So we rode over thirty miles on our bikes Tuesday, in order to reach some magnificent waterfalls, rarely seen by outsiders. Ousmane was also there, which was great because this sort of camping adventure is not something Senegalese often do. So we get out to the falls only to find that there wasn't really any falls just a few trickles of water. That changed however after 5 house at the falls- thunderstorm ensued. And it was a big one- we were in tents but that didn't protect us from the lightning and thunder which was right next to us, soooo loud and earth rumbling! Unfortunately, our tent had holes in the bottom which ended up flooding the tent about 10 minutes into the storm! The storm dies down in the night allowing us to get some sleep, and in the morning the falls were full! However, as soon as the morning fire was built more rain clouds moved in, so we moved out. I had to be back in Kedougou by the evening and the non-waterproof tents, pushed up forward, so we ended up riding our bikes in the rain basically all morning trying to get back to Kedougou. It was great! Spending two adventure-filled days with some of my favorite people.

In other news, I don't know if I told you but in addition to my chicks I also have a duck. And she laid her first eggs the other day, not just one but three! I was so proud- had to take a picture!

PS check my post in October for good pictures of the falls...

CHICKENS!!!

I have chicks! Yes, I became a mother to twenty chicks, sadly only 17 remain ( I later found out from the vet that the chicks I bought were probably rejects brought down from Dakar). Here's some pics of the workers building the house for them, a pic of the house with the chicks in it, me and Ousmane and a pic of me and a baby chick.

Hiatus

Sorry for going a little AWOL on y'all. I've been kinnda busy here lately. First off, we just did a tour of every middle school in the region of Kedougou in order to conduct interviews for a scholarship that the PCVs of Senegal give out every year to girls in financial need. We were promised 11 scholarships for our region (one for every middle school [although later we found out there are actually thirteen]). I was kinnda heading the scholarship part. We conducted interviews, did house visits and proctored essay writing, all for the application process.

Tacked on to this tour of the region, we used this as an opportunity to start our visual aid campaign against AIDS. We painted a mural at every middle school we visitied, below is an example. Still working on trying to get the billboard part of the campaign finished... Also in line with my AIDS work, we just did another training of over 50 health workers on the promotion of the female condom. And hopefully by next week we'll be starting a training on gardening with the association for people living with HIV/AIDS. We actually have a fairly large bit of land for them, so after the training this is going to turn into a great nutritional supplement for the participants.

I don't talk about my personal life that much here, but I've had a lot of people asking questions, so I must give in: I am engaged. I've been dating Ousmane Kante for about 7 months now and we've decided we want to spend the rest of our lives together. I don't know what else to say besides we love each other and we are really excited about our future together. He's of Bambara origin, but has grown up here in Kedougou. Anyway here's a pic of him and I.