Solo in Senegal...

Well, my trip in the crazy continent of Africa began with 18 hours on various planes and in various airports, finally arriving in Dakar (capital city of Senegal) at about 4am. The people not taking the plane on were instructed to de-board and get on a bus to take us to the terminal. There were 5 of us...
So I managed to get into a taxi and tell them the hotel I had picked out of the lonely planet. Only to drive around for 2 hours with the driver trying helplessly to explian something to me in French and me, exhausted and confused, trying to remember the little bit of french I learned in high school to understand just what he was trying to tell me. I suppose we decided that the hotel was 'under construction' and he tried to drop me at a different hotel. Well aware of the many scams I refused to get out of the taxi and demanded he take me to the next hotel in the lonely planet. eventually he did....and the hotel ended up being ridiculously expensive for not very much. I bet about $65 a nite!
after sleeping off my jet lag I decided to explore the city....which was large, hot, crazy busy african city. it was hard to get around as people barely speak any english and my french is so poor. but i managed enough to get a bite to eat and arrange to leave the next day to go to a beach town 30 mins away...hoping that maybe there may be other tourists, or some english-speaking people. I took a taxi the next morning to N'Gor, the small village by the ocean, and a boat out to the island of N'Gor, where I planned to stay for the next few nights while I waited for Jessica to arrive (the girl who I working with in the village). The island was deserted...I was definitely the only tourist staying there, and only about 10 locals were anywhere to be found. it was strange...
but in the afternoon, after school got out, all the senegalese high school children came to the island in boat after boat, packed in like sardines! 100s of them showed up for a swim! and they brought with them a few tourists from europe...who, as i was to find out is why people come here, all had a local boy/girlfriend with them! i started to realize that i was the ONLY tourist on the beaches of Senegal who had not come to particpate in the sex tourism! and the locals thought I was strange for not wanting a senegalese boy-toy while vacationing here. it was all very strange and disturbing. so i ended up spending a few relaxing days on the beach, reading my book, swimming in the ocean, and exploring the deserted island where slaves were once imprisoned before being brought to america. it was quite an interesting experience.
jess arrived on thursday and we started our long journey down to the gambia. after many gestures and my broken french, which was starting to come back to me, we were able to find sept-place taxis (a bus/taxi service) and negotiate a price to take us through the desert to the boarder of the gambia. the journey was quite interesting and ridiculously hot!! we drove for about 6 hours through the desert on sand/dirt roads, passing many random villages on the way. the village houses were mostly huts made of mud and hay, built into mini 'compounds' of family areas, all close together to form a village. in the middle of the desert with little resources around we tried to speculate on how these rural villages were able to maintain the basics of water, food, and health care...
finally arriving at the boarder we had to unload our bags and walk across through customs and passport checks. we then got another taxi on the other side, which drove us about an hour to the river. then we got a ferry across the river into Banjul (the capital city of the gambia), and another taxi from there to the beach area hostel we had chosen to stay at for the next 2 nights. finally arriving, we were so happy to head down to the ocean and cool off!!
the sex tourism is also rampant here in the gambia and we remained the only westerners in our hotel and surrounding hotels without a local boyfriend....and the harrassment is out of control! it's hard because after just 5 days here we have become so hardened and unfriendly to the locals who follow us around....it's very out of our characters and we feel uncomfortable, but have been told by our peace corp friends that it is the only sensible way.
so...through a friend of a friend we ended up meeting a group of ex-pats the other night. they were peace corp volunteers, teachers, and diplomats who have been here for 1-5 years. it was great to meet them and learn all about the country where we will be spending the next month of our lives.
there is so much corruption here....the president has declared that he can cure HIV, asthma, and infertility and so the country need not worry about these diseases. when a UN official spoke up and stated that this could be trouble because it may cause teens etc to be more permiscuous and use less protection...she was given 24 hours to leave the country.
the villages are still very male-dominated communities where the women are not allowed to say no to sex, are circumcised as children, and are often beaten at home. there's also alot of corruption with the food programs, the children are supposed to get free meals at the schools provided by the world food organization, but the head masters are selling the food they get and not giving it to the children. so many are underfed and have kwoshiokor. the peace corp volunteers have tried to intervene by setting up youth clubs to start encouraging the teens to be more self confident and empower the girls. and have begun reporting the food issue to the food organization, but it is all alot to deal with and they face many risks and road blocks along the way. I am going to try and implement the same programs in my village and see what I can do to fight against these problems. i just know that i may need more time to make these changes, one month is not enough. but we will see what we can do....
today we are going to a soccer match of senegal vs the gambia (#1 rivals!) should be a crazy match...
tomorrow we head down to the village where we will be working for the next month. There is no electricity, so I will only be able to update my experiences on this blog on the weekends if we go to a nearby village that has internet. I am very excited about the possibilities to help in the village, but also nervous that there will be too much to do and too little time.
Thank you for all your love and support of me! Can't wait to tell you about my time in the village! Much love.