Like Selling Sand To An Arab

On Wednesday I started my accounting lessons with the 10,000 Girls. Gearing up for the mother of all gauntlets, I prepared a few activities that I believed would best help to make it all clear.

First, I should explain the system. Peace Corps has supplied the business volunteers in Senegal with a very nice set of manuals covering all areas of a business: management, accounting, marketing, finance, etc. Every category is simply broken down and organized and accompanied with pictures. I would put the level of difficulty on a middle school level. Best of all, they are all in French and prevents me from having to do any tedious translating. I have yet to find a volunteer who doesn't like them.

So here's how it works. It's a one page spread sheet, reading from left to right, that is broken into 3 sections. Section 1 is "date", "label," and "number". Section 2 has two categories of "Bank" and "Cash Box" which are both subdivided with the categories of "entry," "withdrawal," and "Balance". Finally the third category will indicate if the entry was a sale, direct manufacturing cost, direct labor cost, or indirect cost.

During training, we covered this in a one hour and a half session and at the end, we were told it would take on average 8 months to successfully teach. **Insert sound of jaw hitting the ground**

So knowing this, I very indirectly instructed my counterpart to very directly make sure the girls choose a competent girl to be the accountant. This went over as well as selling sand to an Arab. Somehow, only known to God above, and once again proving why I am in Senegal, they chose an barely literate girl with a bad attitude.

But crises averted. The time between my telling the girls that I wanted to do accounting and the actual meeting was a few days. In the mean time, I attended the literacy classes that counterpart teaches . As I've mentioned before, these girls are apart of a larger NGO that requires the girls to be in school and work at the same time. In order to help them meet this requirement, my counterpart and my predecessor created literacy classes that meet 3 times a week. My counterpart teaches English, and his friend teaches math and French. They are compensated for their efforts. I asked if I could come and visit and subsequently I was asked to teach a lesson in English. At one point during my visits. I learned who the accountant-elect was going to be and also noticed she had difficulty writing. So I did some asking, and approached my counterpart about what I saw. He was surprised himself and subsequently I asked him (being that I'm not Senegalese)to have the leader find a more capable girl, which was accomplished. If she can't write, then she won't record anything, and we'll have problems. Big problems.

So forward ahead to the day of the meeting. It's scheduled at 4pm and my counterpart had come over to borrow my computer earlier in the day for a web conference for his new job. Not a risk to my computer. He just sits in front of it, staring blankly. He can't type so by the time he gets a question out, it's too late.

So at 3:30 he finishes, and I suggested we leave then and stop by the post office because my package still isn't here and maybe he could help me. After leaving the post, at which point it's nearly 4, he says he has to go home to eat lunch. Fuming, I said ok, not really having a choice because I needed him lucid for the meeting. Well, the meeting started around 5, nearly an hour late.

I stated off the session by playing a game. I set up fake cash box and a bank and then gave them a set of verbal transactions that they had to record and to process. Much as I suspected they bickered and struggled and at the end we discussed their difficulties. Then I pulled out an example of the spreadsheet. I explained the headings and then we went over it line by line. It took a lot of work and repetition to make it clear and there were a few bad attitudes, which I fixed by letting them know they didn't have to be present. Most interestingly, they didn't want to use the calculator I had brought. They all preferred to use their cell phones! And for the easiest of transactions. When I asked what 14 thousand minus 7 thousand equaled, they all pulled out their cell phones. Afterwards, we went back and replayed the game that I had made and recorded the transaction the proper way. One girl, very surprisingly, caught on very early and had no problem answering my questions. And even at one point I had to ask her to not respond so quickly as to give the other girls a chance to think it through. I'd like to see her be the accountant.

The session finished around 7pm and we all went home. Overall, it was successful and we have another meeting on Tuesday to reinforce the lesson. Repetition is the name of the game here.

Life

Not much has happened since my last post, but I wanted to write something nonetheless, so at least, I still stay in the habit of updating it.

Since returning from the village I have been trying to complete my community resource assessment, which, is not easy. The CRA is an evaluation or report of what is available in a community. In the developed world, this would easier, but nonetheless, I am attempting to accomplish it. I have broken down the city into categories and have trying to systematically visit each category. Thus far, I have visited the Mayor's office, the Gendarmerie, and a few of the schools. I'm asking who works there, responsibilities, and challenges in an attempt to gain a better understand of what the community has and needs. I don't envy anyone living in a large city. My small town is difficult enough. The mayor's office couldn't tell me how many teachers and students there are in the city.

My visit to the Gendarmerie was the most interesting thus far. I walked in with my counterpart, introduced myself and then asked how many Gendarmes there are stationed in Koungheul. This was met by a nasty dismissal and a waive of the hand, informing us that we were in a military installation. Military installation my foot! It is as open as a public park, and was even accompanied with a kid on a tricycle, which inevitably turned out to be the Commandant's kid. And every single gendarme had an empty gun holster. Slightly offended at the lack of professionalism (forgetting where I live again), I quickly walked out. A few paces down the street the same Gendarme who dismissed us called us back and informed us that the Commandant would return shortly and we could speak with him. Then, this same Gendarme ask my counterpart for his ID card, which, without hesitation, he produced. And not surprisingly, the gendarme held it and my counterpart was too unwilling to ask for it back, much to my annoyance. This is another cultural observation I have noticed. The people are far more accepting of the law's methods and don't usually fight back. My counterpart was too accommodating and pacifistic for my taste. I would have demanded the card back. Respectfully, of course

Eventually, the Commandant came back and invited us into his office. He really is a nice guy and I have enjoyed crossing paths with him. He explained that I was not wrong for asking, but who I asked was wrong. I should have gone directly to him and he would have had no problem answering my questions because he knows who I am and why I am in Senegal. The example he used did reveal a cultural difference between us. He told me in America, someone who inquired about the number of officers and vehicles would be taken back and questioned. I set him strait and respectfully told him the number of officers is public knowledge and military installations are just that - military and civilian access is more scrutinized. He did answer my questions and told me about the challenges the Gendarme face, including playing firemen when needed. Needless to say, they have more roles than they can effectively manage.

In other news, my projects are coming along. Presently, projects and work are coming my way and after my three week training in February, I will be on the hut for bigger and more involved projects. This upcoming training is called In Service Training (IST) and is meant to be 3 months after becoming a volunteer. We are given more technical training, which I hope to use to help some of the groups in my site.

Currently I am working with the 10,000 Girls group to set up their tailoring business, which should open soon. The leader of the group was supposed to come out yesterday to check the room my counterpart found for the business. It met all the requirements, but the owner won't hold it for long. In fact, my counterpart lied and said the money is on the way so the owner would not give it away. Alas, the leader didn't come. Typical.

Another project is a reading room. The 10,000 Girls director has more books than the Library of Congress and needs to get rid of them so they have trying to establish rooms in various cities. These room will be for students to come and do research and study and will be operated by one of the girls in the organization. Luckily, or maybe not, there is a room in the house that my counterpart found, but if the money doesn't come, then the room will be given away and both projects will be put on hold.

Another project is finding wheelchairs for a few disabled girls. Some westerner donated some money for this purpose, but honestly I don't have clue as where to start.

Saturday, I am teaching English. My predecessor and my counterpart established weekly classes for young girls that had to drop out of school and now wish to further their education. Amazingly, this program is working and a few girls have even been accepted back into the state schools. My counterpart teaches English, and one of his friends teaches Math. I'm not sure if there are any other subjects, but I do believe there are. I watched my counterpart teach on Monday and he's pretty good, but I saw some issues. He moved quickly, many girls didn't take notes, only a few participate, and one girl couldn't write. He was reviewing the ABCs, greetings, and the verb "to be." No one new anything. The alphabet was mutilated. I'll be teaching objects in the classroom like "desk" and "chair".

All in all, I'm having fun and enjoying my work. I am however looking forward to the break that IST will afford me. Not to mention, the super bowl party and the multi nation Peace Corps softball tournament. More to come....

The Village People

So I'm back from a three day training seminar in my friend's village. A while back, my boss called me and asked if I would be interested in a Wolof refresher and I jumped on the opportunity.

The village of this particular volunteer is out beyond nowhere and then a left turn - just not the left turn pas the first goat, mind you. Another volunteer and myself had to find our way to Kaffrine on the major highway and wait for the Peace Corps car that would take us to the village in question. This car was also bringing my host, another volunteer and the language teacher. All in all, it was a packed car. I'm so glad I didn't have to take a bush taxi all the way there.

The Peace Corps car picked us up right after dark and we headed off into the bush and very quickly got lost. The driver had decided to go another route unknown to my host. After a few locals who got us nowhere, the driver finally found someone who knew how to get to the village. And of course, he couldn't just tell us. He had to come along. This is very common as knowledge is more valuable than any asset. In the West, we believe that sharing knowledge is key to development, which is a fair argument. But here, knowledge is power. But hey, rice is more important.

Anyways, we finally got to the village around 10 pm and shortly afterwards we had dinner. I went to bed. The driver took off and I don't know what happened to the guide. Oh well.

Now, let me tell you that village life is way different from my cushy pad. My volunteer gets one large bucket of water a day for bathing, drinking and dishes and because of our presence, she got two. Whoopie! 4 days and I showered once! Grumble Grumble.

She didn't have electricity and the first night there I suggested that she have some Christmas lights sent over to illuminate her path to the bathroom. Oh and the crapper! Wow. It's a ce-mented septic tank with a hole on top for your business. Yuck. Again, no running water.

But we did have fun. One volunteer brought cards and another brought gin, so we made it through. In the afternoon, we took bush walks and the agricultural volunteers collected seeds. I just watched. Once evening though, we came across some neolithic stones. I had heard that there were some in a village not too far, but my host had no idea that they were even there. They were upright, porous, red stones in vertical positions that formed a circle, and there were a several of these circles. World Heritage fund needs to pay a visit but the locals have done a good job at leaving them alone.

Holiday Rush

Wow. The last two weeks have been a blur! I left on the 23rd for the regional house in Kaolack and stayed there with a few other volunteers. Overall, it was relaxing and re-energizing to have a break.

By the afternoon on Christmas eve, everyone had shown up and sat down to decide what was on our menu for the holiday. We decided to plan out 3 meals: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day breakfast, and Christmas Day dinner.

For Christmas Eve, we decided to make cakes and cookies, and apple cider, which all turned out excellent due to the cooking abilities of the volunteers. Starvation is a big motivator! By 7pm had rolled out our spread, and everything prepared was delicious. Afterwards, we all dressed up and headed over to the Cathedral for 9;45 Midnight Mass, which was accompanied by a overly shiny nativity scene and the quintessential African black out (no pun intended), forcing us to sit in a dark church for 15 minutes while a few bald brothers scrambled for find a generator.

Christmas Day we made eggs, pancakes, and bacon for breakfast. And then we played games and one opened our white Santa gifts. Christmas Dinner was a ham, which was really expensive, accompanied by bread, mashed potatoes, and other nice items.

On the 28th, I left to go to Tivaouane, where I lived for 2 months while I was in training. I wanted to see my old host family and hang out with the volunteer who is stationed there as we are friends. I did much of nothing. The highlight was having chicken for dinner one evening.On the 30th, the other volunteer and I left for Dakar which has a regional house for volunteers.

New Years Eve in Dakar was amazing. A few of the volunteers who are station around Dakar have become friends with some of the Korean Peace Corps volunteers and so we meet up with them at one of their apartments, which was really a nice pad. I'm jealous. Afterwards, we migrated to an American Peace Corps volunteer's house and I think that is where we rang in the new year... yeah... I think that's where. Dakar is so different from the rest of the country. It's even different from the other major cities and at times, it seemed as if I wasn't in a third world country. But that is the allure of Dakar.

I left Dakar on the second and headed back to the village spending the night at the regional house on the night of the second.

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!