Senegal, Home, What's Next?

Senegal
Last week I returned from a two week trip to Senegal, where I attended the Stomp Out Malaria boot camp with a staff member and fellow volunteer. I had been looking forward to going to this training for awhile and was very thankful for the opportunity to do so. This training brought together volunteers and staff members from 16 countries in Africa who are involved in malaria work. We were able to receive technical training relating to malaria in more detail than I could ever imagine! There were a variety of guest speakers from different organizations that talked about their role in malaria work. One of these organizations, CommCare, is currently working in 4 districts in Rwanda to roll out a health surveying app with the IRS (Indoor Residual Spraying) team/ community health workers, and it turns out that my sector is one of the target areas for this program! In addition to full days of malaria related lessons, activities, and delicious food, many other volunteers and I also took every bit of free time we had to explore the market to find fabrics we couldn't find in our own countries, and get clothes made.

STOMP Out Malaria bootcamp community session

After an eventful first week we were able to have some free time during the weekend to go to the beach! I was very excited considering I hadn't been to the beach in over a year- the lake life in Rwanda just isn't the same! After enjoying a delicious meal of fish and a pineapple cocktail we headed back to the Peace Corps Senegal training center where we were staying. Side note: I've made it a point to never complain about the weather in Rwanda ever again- Senegal was extremely hot and humid and it was impossible to walk outside without immediately starting to sweat! Rwanda's weather is extremely mild compared to West Africa, even in the dry season!

Atlantic Ocean, I've missed you

Unfortunately the second part of my trip to Senegal was not as enjoyable. On the Tuesday during a field trip at a health post, I started to feel sick. After going back to the training center to rest, I ended up getting worse, and the next day was taken to Dakar so the PCMOs (Peace Corps Doctors) could assess my illness. I ended up staying at a hospital until Sunday, and missing the remainder of the training. It turns out that I had a viral infection, and despite testing me for about 10 different things they still weren't able to figure out what it was. From my symptoms they assumed it was Lyme disease (just my luck!) so they put me on an antibiotic for that. Melissa and I had decided to extend our time in Senegal for an extra two days to see Dakar, and were able to visit Goree Island/the House of Slaves-the site of the largest slave trading center in Africa.

View of Goree Island from the boat

Home Sweet Home
I was sooooo happy to be back in my village and to fall back into my routine of going to the health center in the morning and the community center in the afternoon. On my first day back I ran into some of my BE/GLOW students who told me the school club had started aka there goes my Saturday afternoons lol.


Last week the community finance group finished their last lesson for the first part of the program, and this week they gathered for a review session. They asked me to teach them English lessons for the weeks before the next lessons start in November, so let's hope this program works out better than the health center one!

Some members of the finance group posing during savings collection

On Wednesday I celebrated my 24th birthday! This consisted of a site visit from a PC staff member and a get together with my BE/GLOW student leaders. We listened to music and ate some delicious snacks courtesy of my parents and from the Peace Corps staff member that visited me. After singing happy birthday to me they each handed me individual birthday cards they had wrote, and then a group present- a picture of all of them together in their camp shirts! One of the students said, 'we want you to cry so we know you are happy' I told her it wasn't  in Rwandan culture for me to cry and she responds 'but you are American so it's okay for you to cry' lol, I may or may not have shed a tear (or a few) to be honest. I was so happy to be able to celebrate my birthday with these group of students- they're honestly my favorite people in my community. Tomorrow during the club meeting we will be doing a lesson and activities about nutrition and hygiene, aka they will be teaching and I will be there for moral support!

Birthday celebration with the Gikonko divas and my neighbor's cute kid!

 But let's be real, I think the best birthday present I received was having some workers clear out my ceiling and get rid of the bat that was living above my bed! I no longer have to put flip chart paper on top of my mosquito net to block out the bat poop! It's gonna be a good year guys.

What's next?
Although I still feel as though I have a lot of time left in Rwanda (10 months!!!) the time has already come for me to start thinking about life after Peace Corps, which is both exciting and terrifying. I'm hoping to go to public health graduate school next fall, so I've started my applications and cramming I mean studying for the GRE. Here's to hoping I'll be off to Chapel Hill/Durham, Atlanta, D.C or London next fall!


Until next time,
Vanessa