So the previous post, I meant to post that, or I thought I posted it 3 weeks ago. turned out I only saved it as a draft. woopsie.  so now I will write the blog post I meant to write as I signed on before learning that the previous one had flunked.

Normally I plan out my blogs late at night in my hut but today I decided to make an impromptu post because I am feeling very motivated as of late.  and by late I mean the last day because I also recently experienced a week of a pretty emotional mood.  I mean they warned me this would happen..

Anyway I am currently sitting in a small restaurant in Kaolack awaiting a response from the medical team to the pictures I sent of my mystery illness.  Yes we thought it was staph and I suppose it still could be but antibiotics aren't doin the trick.  It is actually petty painful and hard to walk especially with the long pants and skirts I am culturally required to wear daily.

Anywho I decided to bide my time by informing myself and in doing so I've decided to read about development.  The process of working to develop the developing world has never been something I have studied too much in detail.  I am all about people, yes, and I loved studying psychology and anthropology but being a Peace Corps volunteer has seriously opened my mind to what the majority of our world is like and what there is to be done and the potential of what could be done but is not yet known.  my small experience so far in village has basically served as a neon sign that says, "Women and children need help!"  I have recently had an epiphany that I think my work in Senegal will revolve around helping women.  It is so apparent how bright and curious they are here in Senegal but also very astonishing to hear about what they go through and what they think is normal.  THen again who am I to quote normal and they have been living like they have for decades, centuries even, but I would sincerely like to take the small few groups of women that are motivated and use them as a tool to motivate others.  I am currently working to train a woman for my Casse de Sante (a small health hut to serve my villages basic needs) to be the Matrone (Midwife).  I am determined to make this happen smoothly because already a bright young woman is studying to be the nurse for this health hut.  SHe is under going training with a head nurse at the nearby Poste de Sante (a bigger health center with more resources), who is one of the most amazing woman I have met here in Senegal.  Seriously as bright as one can be and is also extremely busy but managing to juggle baby weighings and appointments and pregnant woman and sick children and injured men.  I admire her to the utmost.  But anyways the matron and nurse for my village are training with her as well as another young woman from my village who is shadowing the head nurse at the post to someday do what she does.  ALL women.  All intelligent, caring and motivated.  I got real lucky when I was placed in my site in Senegal.  Seeing these women living in the same village as young 17 year olds going on two children,...makes me think.  It makes me think hard.  I really want to work with this and help them realize there potential.  The scholarship for young girls to stay in school was at first just a project to get my feet wet, gain credibility and do a some good.  But now I believe it tipped off a service in which I an only hope will make a small change in the lives of women here and the nearby villages and regions. So that's that.  I plan to start helping out with the Poste de Sante and their activities including baby weighings and more tourneys next Monday.  As I wrote abut before, I have gone around assisting with the distribution of vaccines for small children and in doing so, got to know the health workers in my area.  The fact that one is my counter part and a few are close neighbors makes it that much more glorious cause I get to know them on many levels.  They have done nothing but help me immensely in directing me on how to begin my service.
On another hand, I am slowly learning about agriculture and farming, which is a barrel of fun.  Rainy season in Senegal makes the terrain unrecognizable which greenery everywhere.  For a desert, that is an incredible and miraculous change.  It is so fun to just look off in the horizon during the morning hours and see groups of men children and yes WOMEN! hoeing and digging and weeding and planting. Ah its just great!

I am also figuring out that I seriously enjoy reading here in Senegal and am determined to keep my mind exercised by reading old classics, guilty fiction novels, books on psychology (cause lord knows I always love those), and everything in between.  I have a lot of time.  To read, to think, to plan.  I have thought about my future but also know all to well I absolutely cannot live in the future.  I need to live in the now.  So now I will focus on my experience and what I am learning.  One funny thing, is as I am doing that, I am realizing my love for psychology even more as I learn about and live in the developing world.  Most definitely going to try out some ideas about woman empowerment and the psychology of the Senegalese as soon as my Wolof gets a bit better.

So despite my inspired post I have other news I suppose.  Such as that I am getting flashbacks of my life in America in the form of intense craving.  Today, my cravings so far have been for a strawberry blueberry banana smoothie with some spinach thrown in and going to Victoria Secret to shop.  Yes I know very random but those are some examples of the intense cravings I get when I am walking from my hut to a neighbors hut or when I am tidying my hut up.  Its nice to think about those things though.  After the "oh shit I'm not gonna see that for two years" moment, it becomes comforting.  Then I snap back to reality as I am making sure the baby doesn't fall off the cement slap as she is reaching for a piece of goat poo.

Well this is all I'm gonna write for today.  Hope you find some enjoyment from it.

Ba beneen yoon (until next time),

Miss everyone all the time!

Tina