Hey…I went to Senegal!

 

This February, I went to Senegal for a workshop focusing on “Stomping out Malaria in Africa.”  While I was there I spent most of my time in Thies (pronounced chess, like the game) at the Peace Corps Senegal Training Center.  The workshop brought together Peace Corps Volunteers from 16 sub-Saharan Africa countries, several Peace Corps staff, and a couple representatives of national malaria programs. Daily sessions were long (10-12 hr days) with presentations from world experts on malaria and various bio-medical fields. The ultimate goals of the workshop were to train all PCVs in sub-Saharan Africa directly and in-directly in malaria eradication, fight malaria in every PCV’s village, partner to reduce malaria across Africa, build an online team of malaria professionals, and end malaria in our lifetime. I enjoyed the “Stomping Out Malaria” trainings and look forward to using my new knowledge to work with PCVs in Botswana to help eradicate malaria from the country. 

 

Although most of my time was spent at trainings in Theis, I did spend a day at the beach and a couple days in the capital, Dakar. It was really nice to see, smell, and swim in salt water. I also got a nice hike in with a Response PCV along a ridge paralleling the beach. The ridge was littered with World War II bunkers as it was nearly the western most point of Africa. The bunkers are also occupied by wildlife; we had a close encounter with a couple of Puff Adders in one of the bunkers! Luckily it was a “winter” morning so they were pretty cold and sluggish.

 

 

 

Dakar was a very active city with a night life that went well into the morning. Dakar was not really my scene, but I did get to enjoy some fresh sea food and gelato. I also got to spend a couple hours with my cousin, Jamie, who is doing a study abroad in Dakar. It was nice to see here since we only cross paths ever 5 years of so.  

One of the best parts of Senegal was the food, it was amazing. The combinations of a wide variety of spices and the French influence made the food really great. Most meals are eaten communally with 3-6 people eating out of one big bowl. This was something completely new to me but very enjoyable. 

It is hard to compare Botswana to Senegal since my stay in Senegal was so limited. There were some obvious things that are worth noting. The main differences are that Senegal is a French speaking, Muslim country (~90% of the population) with a much denser population than Botswana. Another notable thing was all the USA paraphernalia - American flags (painted on cars, car air fresheners on shirts), US sports teams, and other things were all over the place. These few things make the “culture” much different than that of Botswana. Africa is a huge continent (the size of three USAs combined) at various stages of development so there is a lot of diversity of experiences. I enjoyed my time in Senegal and would recommend a trip there for anyone who speaks French.