The Independent Study Period (ISP) of the program has been enjoyable, but at the same time a lot different than the first 2 ½ months of my time here were. For the first 12 weeks of the program I was essentially taken in as the child of a Senegalese family. They fed me, gave me a place to sleep, did my laundry, included me in family outings, and did everything they could to make me feel comfortable. At the same time however, I was given the limitations of a child. I wasn’t allowed to leave the house after a certain time, I had to eat whatever it was that they chose to prepare, and I was basically just told what and what not to do. By no means however, am I diminishing or trying to complain about the time I had there. I enjoyed my time there a great deal. I love my family and developed a stronger sense of what Senegalese culture is really like. There is no better way to become immersed in a culture than to live with a family. Additionally, I would be at school from pretty much 8:30 am to 5:30 pm everyday. So all in all my life was fairly structured.
It has been a huge transition to go from a life of such structure, to one with relatively no structure at all. I now live with my friends in a house we are renting and classes have finished. I wake up when I want, I cook for myself, I do my own laundry, and I was given a lump sum of money that I have to budget accordingly.
It’s kind of like summertime has started early. For most this would seem like an ideal situation, and in many ways it is. I have more independence than I could ever hope for. I am able to go out and explore the city whenever and however I want. And I can eat whatever I want.
With so much time though, it does become easy to procrastinate on actually doing my research project (I’m actually procrastinating by writing this post right now). My project, whenever I get around to doing it, has been fun though. As I said before I’m doing the ‘creative alternative’ to the ISP option. I’m attempting to capture the essence of Senegal through photography and spoken word. I’ve become pretty apt in the art of photo-taking and photo-editing, and as always I love writing slam poetry. I’m writing my poetry on several different Senegalese themes (child beggars, polygamy, the village, and on more that is TBD) and doing photography portraits of people who have shaped my experience here over the last 3 months. Below is a sneak peak of some of the photo’s I’ve taken:
This summer, as I’ve already told many of you, I will be interning with the World Water Organization. In agreeing to work for them, they offered me the opportunity to go back to the village I stayed in and creat a report regarding the agricultural and water situation there. They said that I would have the opportunity to present my report to the executive board and possibly get funding for the village to build wells and get more effective irrigation systems. This way, they could become self-sustainable instead of having to buy their food from other areas of the country. While I knew that the trip to the village would mean me sitting on a hot, foul bus for more hours than I would like, I couldn’t pass up the chance to possibly make a real difference in the lives of people I who become such a wonderful part of my own. Thus, this week I went back to the village, to gather information for the report I’m going to put together. I had my father - who as I mentioned has a degree in agriculture from the University of Dakar (God works in mysterious ways) –bring me to different agricultural estates within the Kersadora and in neighboring villages. I spoke with farmers, cultivators, school leaders, village chiefs, and countless others as I made an effort to obtain every detail possible so as to have the most specific report possible.
It was great to see my village family again. The love I’m shown when I am there is unbelievable and it was difficult to leave them once again. But I know I’ll be back again someday, hopefully soon.
I only have two weeks left here and it’s probably going to fly by. I’ll miss this place, but I am also excited to go home and be with my family and friends, whom I have come to appreciate that much more since being here. I’m also starting to make a list of all the thing I need to devour as soon as I get off the plane: 3 Double Cheesburgers and a 2 Large Fries from McDonalds, Chili’s Baby Back Ribs, pork fried rice from the greasy Chinese place down the street from my house, a monster ham and cheese sandwich with iceburg lettuce, honey baked ham, and miracle whipe, a 5 piece meal from Popeye’s…alright alright I gotta stop because I’m making myself salivate on my laptop.
Hopefully I’ll have a few more post in me before I leave but you never know.
Be beneen yoon.
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