You know you live in Africa when...

1. “Now now” can mean anything from a minute to a month.
2. The employees dance in front of the building to show how unhappy they are.
3. The national network advertises and shows highlights of the program you just finished watching.
4. You get cold easily. Anything below 85 Fahrenheit is Arctic weather.
5. You can sing your national anthem in four languages, and you have no idea what it means in any of them.
6. You produce a 2000 CFA note instead of your driver’s license when stopped by a traffic officer.
7. You can do your monthly shopping on the pavement.
8. The gas in your tank may be worth more than your car.
9. A bullet train is being introduced, but we can’t fix potholes.
10. You have to prove that you don’t need a loan to get one.
11. It rains for less than an hour and everywhere is flooded. But the people are over-joyed.
12. A game of hop-scotch attracts half the village.
13. Every toothpaste is Colgate.
14. Every soft drink is coca cola or Fanta.
15. You call everyone older then you uncle or aunt.
16. No running water for a day is just another ordinary thing.
17. Being an hour late equals being “on time”.
18. You have an over whelming urge to wash all your salad in bleach and add a bit of charcoal to your milk just to get the taste your used to.
19. You know never to question what you’re eating (even if it does taste good), cuz sometimes you just don’t want to know.
20. Football is played with some sort of ROUND ball and WITHOUT hands.
21. You make friends with the local Sheppard and know the goats by name
22. You watch the minibus driver's assistant try to climb through the front window onto the roof in order to fit another passenger in.
23. After your bus has blown a tire, the one it's replaced with looks just as bad and old.
24. You can sing Akon’s “Smack That” without knowing what it really means.
25. There are more goats on top of the car than passengers in it.
26. You could make your own weave from discarded pieces.
27. Most of your aunts and uncles are younger than you
28. You ask you mother to ask your brother to ask your sister to ask your cousin to ask you Dad if you can have money for something.
29. You know it only becomes stealing when the other person notices its disappearance.
30. You're cell phone has a flashlight
31. For safety, you make your donkey wear a reflector.
32. The entire village has seen your boobs.
33. You don't understand the value of the money in your hand, but you know what that colored coin can buy.
34. Kids think exchanging an mp3 player for a bracelet is a fair deal.

CSI: Candyland

One of my fondest memories growing up was hearing Bill Cosby's take on family and children. The best, by far, was his section on children and brain damage.

It's true. Children have brain damage. I had it. And childhood is one long recovery plan. You can sit something in front of them, tell them not to touch, and while you stare at them, they touch it. And when you ask them, "why did you touch it" they respond, "I don't know".

But in my case, I get to put up with "I don't know" in three languages. "Xamuma", "Je ne sais pas" and "I don't know" all have the derivative of from Phoenician to Greek to Latin meaning "I thought you weren't serious."

(Mom, this is my formal apology, I'm sorry)

Last night I noticed a line of ants in my room. After a several minute hunt (remember these are African ants) I found their source - a blow pop wrapper from a month ago that I never threw out. Feeling very Senegalese at the moment, I opted for the easiest method. I took the remaining suckers, crammed them into a clear bag, then left them on the table.

Therein lies my mistake. The next day the kids kept saying, "offer me candy," which is how we ask for things in Wolof. I kept saying I didn't have any and as the day progressed I started wondering why they kept asking.

Later on I decided to take a nap to recover from the carb coma I enter after lunch everyday. At the time of my repose there were several children in my room playing cards on my floor. Shortly after, all of the children except for one left.

Now, this child who remained, as cute and funny as he is, has his solar panel aimed at the moon, if ya catch my drift.

So I am laying in bed and I start to hear a crinkling noise. I wake up and see him slowly lift a blow pop out of the bag. We make eye contact and he stares at me like a deer in head lights and I yell, in Wolof "theif." Well the family comes running and makes a huge stink of it, which they should have.

I later called him into my room to explain why his actions were bad and I banished him from my room for a week. He's been sulking out of sight all afternoon.

I just don't get it. I don't know if this is goes back to the cultural point of the Senegalese having no boundaries with personal effect or if this boy's brain dun fell out. I have lived with him for a year now and he pulls this. Brain Damage!

Girl's Camp

Wow! It has been a long time since my last post. I left my site on 20 June for a Girl's Summer Camp and then I immediately left for a much needed three week vacation in Egypt. So this post will cover the Girl's Camp.

Development agents (isn't that a nice term) in developing countries have learned that in order to modernize or advance a country, women must be included and even focused on. In developed countries, the dispariaty between women and men is less and gender rolls are less absolute. Whatever your opinion is on the matter, this point is true. In places such as Africa, gender rolls are all but law. Focusing on women is a chance to make a difference.

Several of us volunteers in the Kaolack/Kaffrine regions of Senegal worked together to offer 27 young girls from 15-19 years of age a chance to learn, grow and have fun. The week long camp was organized and operated Peace Corps volunteers. Outside donors provided the funds necessary to supply the camp.

We held the summer camp in the city of Sokone, where we had found a camp ground with amazing facilities. Also, the campground was positioned in the delta and surrounded by brackish water and the Mangroves. The mangrove are an incredible ecosystem, but unfortunatley, they are being destroyed.

The camp was run like any other vacation camp seen in the US. After all, aren't the volunteers American? Each day we had leadership and team building activities, information sessions, health, arts and crafts, games and sports. We had some great activities and games and I am proud to say that my ideas definitely were a big success. (I have to give props to my mom for being a good example over the years)

The girls were given a journal and pen and everyday there was a journal topic to go with the theme of the day. Surprising the girls, were very willing to write and never needed to be encouraged. Some of the girls would spend all their free time journaling. I suppose it's a nice retreat from a world where one is never alone.

We also invited local teacher to come and play a role. The objective is that each year the Senegalese will play larger and larger roles until the point were the volunteers aren't needed anymore. Since this is the first year, they mostly watched how we interacted with the girls. They were, however, responsible for the daily 'debrief' sessions in which they discussed the day's going ons with the girls and basically made a summary of what went on

For the first two days I was in charge of the Leadership and team building activities. For day one, we played helium stick, a game designed to foster cooperation and communication. It was a blast! On day two we played tug-o-war and wow those girl got rough and competitive! We also did a water balloon fight which was a hit! We played several communication related game and quickly realized the soaking wet girls were the one's who don't listen.

For arts and craft we tried to give them activities which would allow them to be creative, think on their own, and act unhindered. Lack of creativity and initiative is a problem here in Senegal. And to prove it, I could line up volunteers, NGO employees, and other more educated Senegalese. Children here have so few opportunities to be creative. There are no junk drawers, no VBS, and Arts & Crafts don't follow snack time. And no one, I mean no one, thinks out of the box or let alone, is allowed too.

Our first craft involved cutting out pictures from magazines and using one side of a paper plate to describe who the girls are, and on the other, who the girls want to be. We provided pens, paper, scissors, markers, stickers etc. In the US, this would have been simple. Not here. They actually asked where to put stickers, what to draw, and where to glue pictures. I was floored. And one girl, who couldn't find a picture of a doctor for her collage, asked me what to do. I said, "figure it out" and she looked stunned. I also had to stop the teachers from telling the girls how to make their collages. This is typical, as creativity is copied here. UGH!

The most popular physical activity was swimming. The camp ground is on the bank of the mainland leading into the mangroves. They loved swimming. They played their own version of Marco Polo: Ceebu jen (fish and rice) HAHAHA!

The most popular health session was the one of sexual health. We recruited a health volunteer who speaks BEAUTIFUL Wolof and for two hours, they were glued to every word she said. Only the female volunteers were apart of this session, but every time I walked by, the girls had inched their chairs closer. By the end, they practically resting on the volunteer.

The best part of the camp was watching the girls come out of their shells. On day 1 everyone was timid and shy. By the end of the week they were loud, laughing, and all but uncontrollable. Today, I am visiting the four girls that I brought to see what they thought about the camp and to get their feedback. But I think it will all be positive, as I have run into their families and I've heard nothing but praises.

Success!