Community Based Training

It was only a matter of time until I was going to get sick; however, I did not expect to get ill on Wednesday (just 5 days since stepping foot on this unique continent). Being sick in the United States is miserable but being violently ill at your stomach in a place with occasional running water, limited electricity and no toilet paper is torture. Nonetheless I have made it through and today am feeling much better although I am limiting my intake to water and non-Mauritanian food, especially since the goat for today’s lunch was chained up in our front yard all yesterday afternoon. Today our Community Based Training (CBT) sites were announced and I will be traveling to the small, rural village of Tekess, 15 miles North of our current position in Rosso. I will be intensively studying Pulaar (one of the four Mauritanian languages) for the next 10 weeks with two other trainees. Tomorrow we are leaving Rosso and heading to our CBT sites where we will meet our host families and begin what is likely to be one of the most awkward days of my life. After meeting our host family at the house of our language facilitator (mine is Nango), each trainee will be sent off with their host family who do not speak any English or French, ONLY Pulaar (which we do not begin to learn until Sunday morning). For now, I will have to live with this family without understanding a word of their language! But don’t worry I will be living in one of 30 houses in my village (talk about small town) and an abundance of animals. Cool African exotic animals, you ask? Nope, I was informed that no camels or elephants or zebras would be present, rather goats, sheep, cows and chickens are what I have to look forward to. By the time I finish my home stay I am sure I will master a variety of farm animal sounds in addition to listening diligently to the cow sounds to see if they “speak” a different dialect of cow than ours back home in Virginia.
In addition to learning about our future CBT sites and languages, today we had a cultural fair in which a local women’s NGO brought some premade clothes and mother cloth items to sell and local musicians played drums and other instruments while people danced. Later in the afternoon we also witnessed a local tie dye demonstration in which they showed us how they create the distinct designs of all their beautiful fabrics. We also had a sampling of a variety of local foods including doughnuts, hibiscus fruit popsicles and a variety of milks. The dancing was very entertaining and although I did not participate this time, I am now ready for any future spontaneous African dance parties! Later tonight we have a Town Hall Meeting in which approximately 30 different Peace Corps Trainees have the opportunity to share their god given talents of music, dance, poetry, comedy, etc. in an attempt to entertain the entire group.
Internet has been limited due to too much traffic during the day which restricted the staff from accessing their email…therefore, this posting comes later than I had hoped. I will not be taking my laptop (or camera) with me to my new site initially so do not expect another posting until around June 2 (when we return to Rosso for a few days of training) and I again have access to my electronic belongings. Hope everyone is well and enjoying the cooler temperatures back home and all the luxuries provided to us by merely being born in the United States. As we begin to learn more about the health care system and other sectors of life in Mauritania the more I appreciate the United States and all that being an American truly means.
Hugs all around…