Homecoming

So I am completely done with my service and am officially a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer!!!  

Our Group of Health and Environmental Volunteers 

And to top it all off I am back in AMERICA!  I had to say goodbye to my village, which was the hardest thing I have ever had to do...  And then I headed to Dakar, the capital city, where I had a physical and some blood work done before I could be cleared to leave.  My friend Steve and I just flew to Dubai and eventually will made it THE U.S.  We are spending four days in New York to adjust back to life in the States and hopefully start acting like normal people before any of you all have to see me again.  Wish me luck.  I’m going to need it.

My Baby Oumar (already missing this one too much)

My Sister (Aissata) and Little Bro (Oumar)

While preparing to leave, I had to wrap up my work here and getting everything ready for my replacement volunteer.  I could bore you with the details, but I am a nice person.  Well, maybe just one…

The AIDS/HIV project I have been working on wrapped up the other day with a post-project evaluation and final training day.  The project as a whole worked out really well, considering that we are in Africa and things don’t always end up going exactly the way you plan.  All-in-all, 1,328 individuals were educated on transmission, prevention, and living with AIDS/HIV by twenty-four of our trainers.  In culmination of the project, we hosted AIDS testing days in three centrally-located villages, one of which was my village – Diagaly.  The night before my village’s testing day we had a movie night – thanks to a generator rented from a nearby village -- and played a bunch of short films about AIDS/HIV in general and the importance of getting tested. 

HIV/AIDS Film Night

The next day the doctors from our nearest hospital came out to test individuals in my village and the surrounding communities.  To encourage this voluntary testing, we had some music, dancing, and a group of students even put on a little play about the importance of knowing your HIV-status.  We had such a great turn out, and 60 people ended up getting tested.  Unfortunately, seven of the community members tested positive, but it is important for them to know of their status.   All of them were given information on the next steps to take in order to get further testing and support.  I was a little surprised with the high AIDS-prevalence rate after the testing day, which ended up being around 12%.  Hopefully, this is only the beginning of AIDS work in the area and my replacement volunteer can take these results to heart and continue the project in the future.   Blah…blah..serious…blah   

AIDS Testing Day 

Tattooing Ceremony

Even though I have been here for over two years and am pretty much on my way out, I am still constantly learning new things about the culture and the people here.  The other day I saw my first tattoo ceremony and actually had batteries to take some pictures.  As you might have noticed in some my previous pics, most of the women have black on their bottom lip, on their chin, and on their gums.    Apparently, they have a ceremony once a year where all the young girls about to hit puberty get tattoos on their face and gums.  One of the young girls and the ‘tattooist’ are placed in the center of a large circle of women and children.  The girl is lying prostrate on her back with a sheet covering her body and fabric over her eyes.  I couldn’t help but think that it looked strangely like the girl had passed away, but maybe that‘s supposed to be a part of the ceremony.  Anyway, so the women in the circle are playing drums and singing and dancing all the while the tattooist is repeatedly piercing the girl’s lips with a needle until blood is flowing down her chin.  I don’t mean to be so graphic, but it really is a painful process according to everyone else in the circle and is especially jarring considering the party-like atmosphere that is going on around them.   

PAIN!

Even though it is a rite of passage for these young girls, they do get to decide if and when they want to take part.  But if they decide to, they are told that they can’t show if they are scared and especially cannot cry.  If they cry, it is said that the family will disown them and they can no longer live in the village.  Understandably, I didn’t see any one of them shed a single tear.  Of course, no one is forced into it, and girls who are still in school usually refuse to have it done. 

Post-Tattooing

Kumba Dia - My Cousin

Actually, there is kind of opposition to the whole tradition of face tattoos in my village.  The younger generation feels like it is an old-fashioned tradition that can be extremely dangerous.  They are, of course, right on the dangerous aspects.  Watching the whole thing, I couldn’t help but think about the AIDS prevalence rate in Diagaly, praying that none of these girls were infected.  There are no precautions taken against spreading of blood-borne diseases.  They use the same materials for all the girls, including needles, and nothing is washed between girls.  Pushing these thoughts out of my mind, the tradition on the whole was extremely interesting for an outsider, although as much as the women tried to convince me, I definitely could not hadle having it done on me.

Oh and that reminds me of another new thing I’ve witnessed lately.  The lady who did the tattooing gave birth last week and I was there to watch.  Ahhhh!  The whole giving birth thing is very different here than in America.  First of all, most women have their babies in the home.   This one was actually in the health post, but only because she had apparently been having contractions for an entire day before she decided it was time to come in.  Also, when the women actually give birth, they are relatively quiet.  There is no dramatic screaming out, no cries for help, nothing like I had seen in my experience watching numerous episodes of Grey’s Anatomy.  The mom-to-be, Mettu Sow, simply just looked a little uncomfortable and then sighed, relieved. 

Binta Sow -- My New Namesake

I, on the other hand, thought I was going to either pass out or die and had to stop myself from screaming out in sympathy pains.  They also don’t coddle the mother or baby like we Westerners do.  I wanted to bear hug the new mom and the baby until we exploded in a smiles and kittens love embrace, but they, on the other hand, grabbed the baby in one arm and stuck her on the scale and proceeded to leave her there crying for a few  excruciating minutes.  The mother just sat there kind of shocked.  No one shouted out in joy, “It’s a GIRL!”.  We just cleaned up the area and took care of business.   Of course, everyone was fine and the coddling is not a necessary part of the birthing process, but it was just so different than what I imagine an American birth to be.   BUT a few days later the mother told me that she is naming the baby Binta – after my village name.  I was pretty stoked to have a namesake!

I really can't believe that I am done with this experience and am already back in America.  The whole thing feels ubber bittersweet.  I was ready to go, but not quite ready to leave.  It’s been so difficult saying goodbyes to my village, Peace Corps friends, and to Senegal.  I was basically a hot mess for like a solid week and am just starting to feel a little better about things.  But my village was so sweet to me and sent me off in style.  We had a big goodbye party and so many people gave me going-away presents.  It was emotionally overwhelming, but I now have little pieces of my village to back home. 

Going Away Gifts

All in all, I just wanted to thank you guys so much for your support over these past two years.  I really appreciate everything you all have done for me throughout my entire service.  I am so lucky to have all of you in my life.  AND I can’t wait until I can actually see yall face to face! 

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The Donkey Who Brings Me My Water



Love,

KIM