Workin' Man

This week has had a few worthwhile events. I've decided that I can't stand not being productive, so I have decided to start 'work.'

In my earlier posts, I had mentioned a group of young girls who are apart of a larger NGO called 10,000 Girls (www.10000girls.org/). This goal of this NGO is to promote young girls and maintain their education, which is why for any girl to be apart of the NGO, they must both be in school and working, neither of which is easy.

The sect of girls in Koungheul have had a restaurant business in the past, but have decided to close it as the highway construction through downtown Koungheul has caused a detour, though the highway reopened again yesterday. I have to ask what the girls planed to do about the restaurant. But they have plans to break into the Fabric and couture production. Currently, they are waiting for the sowing machines to arrive from kaolack, which are just sitting in a storage closet

My decision to start working came from a visit to the headquarters of 10,000 Girls and a conversation with the founder and leader. Prior to the visit, my counterpart and I were frustrated at the delay of the equipment promised to the girls, so I said I would pay the NGO a visit when I was in Kaolack again. Well, I ruffled a few feathers and probably made a name for myself, but I needed to know what was taking so long. To make a long story short, the issue is with the money from USAID and Aid to Artisans. With American grant money at hand, the funds appropriation must have professional approval, and that is where the delay is. The is a stipulation that the girls must have a room with a bathroom, water, and electricity. That is not easy to find in the market and has forced my counterpart, who is responsible for finding the room to search in the residential areas, far from the centralized market.

Because of the delay in funds, the available room my counterpart had found was rented to family and the NGO, for good reason, won't send the machines because they have no where to go in Koungheul. Also, I saw a series of emails that indicated that any funds would arrive no sooner than January.

So I decided to make the best of this lull...

In the first meeting I ever had with the girls, I had asked them what they wanted to and I just got a bunch of this and that and other ideas. Nothing really concrete.

So Tues the 15th I called a meeting and said I wanted to discuss their ideas concretely. Although this was the primary goal of the meeting, the idea of teaching costing came to mind and I put together an activity for them to do that would both map out in separate graphs the materials necessary and their costs and the time required each step in making the item.

After talking with them about their products and what they hoped to sell, I busted out the costing activity and said that this activity would help them better understand their business and that plans like this will help get funding. It was a big hit and there were excited to do it.

I was so relieved. I had no idea how far I could push or where my limits were, so I was happy to see them eager to do it. We did a few examples so the girls would understand and then said we could come back two days later to see if they had any questions.

Two day later and the moment we showed up they still hadn't done anything. I knew this would happen, which is why I said I wanted to see them in two days. Motivation is not a big deal here. So my counterpart and I stuck around to get the girls started. I knew they would need to be pushed to get started, but what surprised me was the level of frustration I saw. At times it seemed like they would give up at the slightest challenge. One girl couldn't spell out a French word and another couldn't correctly COPY a graph that was right in front of her. When anyone, not just myself, attempted to correct them, they seems offended and patronized. I think this is related to the fact that everyone is rough when correcting or teaching to the point of belittlement and that everyone has such different educational levels that when one is placed next to another more educated person, feelings of inferiority come out.

Anyways, we got the girls started on the costing activity and told them to do both graphs for every product they want to sell and every product they think they may sell. The last thing I said as I left is "I hope to see many many products list in your notebook."

On Tuesday, we are meeting again to see what the have accomplished and I want to give them an activity on indirect costing. Though I don't know exactly how to do it, as there is not a room yet and salaries are not established. Though, I think I will just have them guesstimate and use it to teach them how to consider all their indirect cost, like rent, water, and so on.

My worth hog party went fairly well, though it could have been better. Originally, my counterpart and I planned to have the party Saturday night, but no pig could be found until Sunday evening, meaning the party would have to wait until Monday night. My counterpart had sent three hunters into the bush to find a pig, but it took three nights to finally find a pig! The hunters have to walk far out into the bush to water beds that are drying up and wait for the pigs to come and drink.

Saturday afternoon, no pig. We had to call everyone and tell them to wait until Sunday. Sunday afternoon, still no pig. We had to call everyone and tell them to wait until tomorrow. Sunday night, we got pig!

Sunday 9pm: My counterpart calls me and says the hunter killed a wort hog a few hours ago and we need to go collect it. Of course, I wanted to go! My counterpart tells me he will come get me

Sunday 9:30pm: My counterpart shows up with a bush truck and a bunch of guys I did not know.

Sunday 9:45pm: We arrive at the bush road and the driver hesitates, saying he is not comfortable driving his truck through the bush at night. Wait, weren't we on a 'bush' truck?

Sunday 10pm: Back at the garage looking for another car to take us into the bush. We soon a 1945 bread car the French forgot to take when they left. In the Car is the hunter, my counterpart, the driver, the driver's friend, myself and two other. The driver makes the two other get out and so the five of us take off

Sunday 11:30pm: After a long and bumpy bush ride, we arrive at the hunter's marked spot on the road and the five of us get out. Much to my dismay, the driver and his friend light a fire and sit. My, how the Senegalese love to sit. So the three of us proceed into the bush and attempt to drag a work hog carcase back half a kilometer. The first time I went to collect pork like this, we had five men. Back at the car, I sarcastically thanked the driver and his friend and made a comment about solidarity. The(#*$&#*@(*@!

Monday 1am: I go to bed

My hoping in having this party was to witness first hand how Senegalese organization works. And what a demonstration I got! My counterpart was never worried about finding a pig and every day he said, "today, we will have a pig." And no one was upset or cared that the party kept being pushed back. It would have been a failed party in the US.

Stool Stat!

It’s been quite a while since I made my last post. But I have a reason. A day or so after Tobaski, my boss called me and asked if I would like to be a part of a conference in Joal-Fadiouth, a city on the coast. The connection was bad, so I couldn’t gather what the conference was for, but I agreed because I wanted to get out of my site and do something different.

Thursday the 3rd, I left for Kaolack to stay in the regional house one night and leave Friday morning on the Peace Corps bus that was too take us to Joal. By Thursday evening, all the volunteers who were going to the conference showed up. I asked everyone what we were doing and why we were asked to go and no one knew the answer to either! Again, not a problem.

Joal Fadiouth is beautiful touristic city on the cost of Senegal just south of Dakar. It where one goes to experience Senegal without actually seeing Senegal. So, it’s just a bunch of Frenchies. The hotel gorgeous and spacious enough, but there wasn’t running water for the first two days. As my time in Senegal increases, things like that become less and less of an issue.

Friday evening we decided to look around the area and go over to an island that is said to be the only mixed Christian and Muslem cemetary in Senegal. It was a beautiful island and many shirnes throughout.

The conference was Saturday morning and we got dressed up and headed over to where it was to be held. Upon walking in, I was met with a sandy football field with tents pitched to one side and a small covered stand on the other upon which the dignitaries would sit their rears on cushy lawn chairs. We found seats and prepared to wait.

And we waited……

Finally at 10:45, nearly two hours late, the dignitaries showed up and lumbered into the field, accompanied by the Gendarme marching band that could have made a middle school recital look like the Philharmonic. Included in the list were a bunch of Senegalese reps and the ambassadors from the US, Korea, Japan, and France. Then, they proceeded to give speech after speech in French. I enjoyed the French ambassador’s speech. Let’s jus say he spoke better than the Korean ambassador who was too short for the podium. Whoops!