Do It for the Fans

Hi loyal blog followers!

I hope you all are doing so well. It’s cold season in Senegal and I am writing this post from my backyard as I enjoy some good ole hazelnut coffee that I made on my french press because ya know #noelectricity. Let me back up and let you know that cold season means that the mornings are in the high 60s and the nights might get down to the low 60s so overall not an Arctic climate  But I’m fine with that because after freezing my butt off in Vermont for four years during College I realize I’d much rather be sweating my butt off and enjoying dry heat! 

I have a little under 10 months left in Peace Corps but it’s been wonderful because I finally feel like Senegal, my village, my Senegalese family, and my Peace Corps friends are my second home. Also it’s GOOOO time!! There are three major projects I wanna get done in these last months so inshallah  (hopefully) I’ll have the time  

My favorite moments have been honestly the little ones. To be honest I wasn’t a huge fan of toddlers before coming here but now I love them!!! Something about being surrounded by kids under the age of 5 really forces bonding  in the best of ways, of course. My favorite person in my village is probably 3 year old El Hadjii Diallo, pictured below. He is honestly the best. Now that he can speak he nonstop repeats my Senegalese name “Maimouna” and always comes to visit me in my hut when I’m just hanging out or cleaning. I adore having him around and don’t think a cuter kid exists !!! 

I recently just finished up a long series of trainings that took about three months on the WONDER PLANT moringa !!! When I say it’s a wonder plant, I mean it; it has about every vitamin you could imagine and is SO EASY to grow. I got to go to ten different villages, most of which have Peace Corps volunteers who are my friends, to do a training for ten chosen people in the village who then planted moringa! It was fantastic, I love hosting trainings with other Volunteers and getting to hang out with them and their Senegalese friends. 

Recently I’ve been making some updates to my hut as well; getting a table made for all my knick knacks, getting a new mat to make it more comfy, and finally trying to clean more regularly (I’ll let you know how it goes!) Partly am doing all this to prepare for MY MOM and our two friends’ visit in a few short weeks!!!! This visit has been in the works for months; my mom originally wanted to come much sooner but I was like woahhhhh hold off till my second year when I’m established, can speak the language and have projects and friends!!! Luckily she restrained herself and listened ( thanks Mom love you !!!)  

Long story short, I am BEYOND EXCITED to share Senegal with them and have them meet my Senegalese host Mom, host family, and my best friends in my village and surrounding villages. We’re also going to have the opportunity to travel around the country and see where my mom lived for a couple years when she was little in northwest Senegal, along the coast !!! Such exciting times ️

Another update to my life recently is that I got a SITEMATE!! She’s a fab person named Amanda who lives in a village 18 kilometers away and we can hang out all the time. It’s nice to be able to interact with Senegalese friends together and share experiences here. Definitely a game changer and my host family is so welcoming and kind to Amanda when she comes to my village as are my best friends here. Amanda is also a voice of reason and tells me that I’m crazy when I’ve let my laundry pile up for several months and now am completely overwhelmed - thanks girl, I’ve never been good at doing laundry 

Over the next couple of months I hope to visit beautiful areas of Senegal and friends who live there. One such place I hope to travel to is Sedhiou- this is what it looks like !! There are about four volunteers who live in or around the city of Sedhiou and it’ll be awesome to connect with them as well ! 

I hope you all are enjoying the REAL cold season in America or France and I can’t wait to reconnect when I’m back in the US in less than a year !!!

Much much love 

Sophie