Day 61: AI Completion

We woke up this morning to find a misty fog outside. While it was still cool, it was kind of unpleasant because of the humidity. We had our final AI meeting to do the Design phase.

We took the dreams that people had come up with the previous day and tried to design projects to fulfill them. We had the villagers prioritize their dreams, and figure out which ones were really possible for us all to accomplish together during our 18 day stay. Their first priority was to install a drip irrigation system in the community garden, to increase the water-use efficiency. We then figured out what materials/resources would be needed to do this, and how much it would all cost.

After designing projects for the drip irrigation and 10 other goals, we finally finished our meeting. The meeting had taken about three hours, and we were all pretty tired. Eric and I returned to our compound for lunch (back to Ceebu Jen, 6/7) Eric and I then got some cold sodas at the boutique, and hung out with Ousmane Thioye, one of the brothers in our family. Ousmane is my age, and he is studying for his baccalaureate. He really likes math and physics, and he’s really good at repairing electronics and in general, fixing things.

After the afternoon break, we met again to discuss the results of our AI. All of the groups came together and had a big meeting; each group presented what they had come up with and how much money it would cost. By the time the meeting was over, it was time to break the fast (because it’s still Ramadan) and we returned to our families to do so.

Once again, dinner was Ceebu Jen. Honestly: it’s really not that bad. It’s just the fact that we eat it every meal that makes it distasteful. After managing to eat some of the dinner at our house, Eric and I went to Tom’s (the British marketing student studying ecotourism) house and enjoyed goat over pasta. After finishing our second dinner, our brother, Ousmane, led us back to our house where we ate once again with some of the older man. This time, it was beef and couscous.

I haven’t really liked any of the couscous that I’ve had in Senegal, but, like the Ceebu Jen, the couscous is better here than it is in Yoff. Anyway, Eric and I ate with these older men, and no one sitting around the plate was using a spoon. So, for the first time since I’ve gotten to Senegal, I really had to eat completely with my hands. Usually, when there aren’t spoons, there will be bread to help with the messiness of the meal. However, this was not the case.

So visualize: Me, sitting (wrapped in my sheet to keep the bugs away) with my Senegalese friend, Eric, with five other Senegalese men, all reaching our hands in to a giant platter of couscous and beef. There’s a special technique to eat with your hands: you just kind of pick up some food, and roll it into a nice ball, so it’s easy to eat. This may sound easy, but trust me, it’s not. So there were all of the Senegalese have spent their entire lives eating with their hands, and me, who’s never done anything of the sort. Yeah…I was made fun of. It was a good experience though. Another one.

After dinner, one of the two French students traveling with us (Fred) had everyone over to his house to just kind of hang out. I played chess with Ousmane for a little while, and went home to go to sleep. The heat really drains your energy, so even though it cools off really well at night, you still feel the effects of the day.