As anticipated, getting back to my life in SPB was a fairly
easy process, not too much has changed. The hardest part was the logistics of
getting there, but even that managed to work out great – three long flights +
two long layovers + an all day bus ride = Santa Rosa to Saré Pathé,
door to door in approximately 78 hours… not too shabby. Tanko was the first to
greet me as I rolled into my compound, but news of my return spread quickly and
I’ve spent a lot of time in the last few weeks answering the same series of
questions: How are the people of America? How is your mother? And your father?
And your siblings? How is your leg? Are you better? May God heal you quickly.
Amen!
I'm back to sleeping under the stars, saying “heera” fifty times a day and
eating lots of leaf sauce! I’ve returned to SPB as I first saw it – hot, dry,
full of cows and mangoes and bamboo home improvement projects. This part of the
year there is not much fieldwork to be done so everyone is getting ready for
the rains. In my compound this means new fences, new roofs and even new huts! My
bush path is back to what it looked like the first time I hiked down it and my
backyard is as void of plant life as it was when I first installed (RIP
Banana). But despite these superficial reminders of what life was like for me a
year ago, I am feeling a distinctive, fresh village vibe these days. A new
chapter begins!
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| Mamadou and Moustapha building a new hut out of bamboo. It will later get a layer of mud (from the dirt displaced by our new latrine!). |
My latrine project is well underway (click here for more details!).
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the level of enthusiasm and urgency with
which people are approaching this project and how quickly the work is
progressing already. My Care Group is also up and running again, with a couple
of solid alternates joining the rotation. This week they have been teaching the
village how to make Oral Rehydration Solution and are so wonderfully engaged in
the task! I’m hoping to expand these lessons to surrounding villages in the
coming months. All in all, I’m unusually busy at site and I love it. I no
longer get nervous about calling meetings, I know how to get the help I want
when I want it, I know how to ask more of the right questions and I definitely
know more of the right answers. My work counterpart had a baby while I was away
(I didn’t even know she was pregnant when I left!) and my community counterpart
left town, which means I’m a little more on my own these days, which is not a
bad thing. When I spoke to Laye on the phone the other day I tried to explain
that he doesn’t need to come back to Saré Pathé on my account. As far as I’m
concerned he has done his job as my community counterpart – he gave me my
introduction – and while I consider him a pal and would enjoy seeing him again
soon I’m now at a point where I feel able to find my own work partners and
friends in village. It took leaving and coming back to realize just how
comfortable I have gotten at site.
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| Mamadou digging a new latrine in our compound |
The other day, while making the greeting rounds I was in a compound
that I don’t often visit and asked the name of a baby squirming in the lap of
the woman I was greeting. “This is Lamine! You don’t recognize him?!” It was
the baby who was born on my first day in village and named for my namesake’s
husband who died the same day. He’ll be a year old in a couple weeks. My Peace
Corps service measured in terms of human life. Two years is really not so long
at all.
