A Day In The Life...

Hello everyone. We hope you are all well. I posted two blogs, the last one is our calendar of events that we will hopefully continue to update throughout our service. But here is a brief outline of what one of our days look like, just a glimpse. Enjoy the rest of the advent season.

Peace and love,
Lee George and Christine Zwicky
B.P. 222
Nouakchott Mauritania

5:30 A.M. Awake to prayer call from a mosque 50 yards away. Hopefully fall back to sleep, and often times sleep right through it.

6:30 A.M. Awake to recitation of Koranic verses by our host dad's Koranic students. Roll out of bed (matalas on the floor). Take down our mosquito net and put our matalas and daggo (plastic mat) in our host sisters salon. We sleep outside on our roof every night. Lately we have been using our sleeping bags brrrrr.

6:40 A.M. Walk downstairs give the morning greeting, An wuyi jam (was your night peace), to anyone who happens to be in our groggy path.

7:00 A.M. I go to the garden, womens co-op, and spend anywhere from an hour to two hours watering, helping people transplant vegetables, talking about soils, etc.
Christine prepares for her day. She seems to always be working on some health related work. Studying from her "Where there is no doctor" book, looking over french presentations and figuring out how to trnaslate it into Soninke.

8:30 A.M. Breakfast. Bread and Kinkillaba. Kinkillaba is a coffee drink made from the leaves of a tree that grows in a nearby village. Sometimes Christine cooks herself oatmeal to try and regain some of the 30 lbs she has lost.

9:00 A.M. Some days Christine goes to the infirmary where she works with the nurse on basic issues of cleanliness and order to the clinic. This also gives her a chance to work with the clinic attendnt who she hopes to set up with further birthing training (as of now there is no midwife in the village) and with the women who frequent the infirmary.
During this time of the day I usually go to my host dad's fields and help or watch what is going on. Currently we are harvesting the millet. Or I walk around town to talk to people and see their gardens.
Of course for both of us there is not always this much activity. Somedays we use for research, reading, or recouping from illnesses. And there are the daily chores that need to be done like washing clothes in a bucket, things never get entirely clean.

11:30 A.M.- 12:30 P.M. People usually return from the fields at this time. Say the mid day greeting Kira(goodday, response: Kira jam) We spend time with our family in the compound. The women are pounding corn, cooking rice and meat, and getting lunch together. On days when we cook for ourselves we go to the one stand in town that sells vegetables and pick up onions, garlic, potatoes, and squash (pretty much the only vegies we can get on a regular basis).

1:30 P.M. Eat lunch of rice and meat.

1:30 P.M.- 4:oo P.M. This time is spent taking naps, readign, hanging out with the family, doing research, working on presentations, and drinking tea, and visiting people. Going and sitting with people under their hangars is a huge part of people's social lives.

4:oo P.M. I usually go back to the womens co-op to water my plots and talk with the women about gardening, and the history of their garden. Greet the women Xa Lella (good afternoon to all of you). Working side by side has been a great way to integrate and learn about what problems they have had, and still have growing vegetables.
The afternoon is when Christine and I both usually do presentations. This is the time of day when most people have finished their chores or are going to the gardens anyway.
Side note: If you are wondering greetings are a big deal here. I would say Mauritanians are even worse than midwesterners when it comes to saying hi or goodbye. People here will call up a relative in France and spend the whole conversation doing greetings, even if they haven't seen them in a year! Here is a sample of just some of the greetings:
A: A moho (how are you)
B: Ma Jam (I have peace)
A: An Xiebarre (how is the news)
B: Jam (peace)
A: An Ka Moho (how is your house)
B: I Jam (they have peace)
A: An Gole Moho (and your work)
B: O do o me (we will do it together)
A: An tewe moho (and how is the heat)
B: Jam (peace)
A: Torrah su n e (no problems)
B: Jam (peace)
A: An do fa ma (don't remember what this one means, but we say it anyway)
B: Ma famata (same with the response)
A: Leminu moho (how are your children)
B: Jam (peace)
A: An na koyi ma (see you soon, if they are travelling)
B: Animine (Amen)

6:00 P.M. The work day comes to a close. People start to relax. People in our compound are less stressed. We have visitors that stop by or we go visit other people's houses. Right now is when we occassionally bathe (three times a week). We use about five to six liters of well water, a bucket, and a cup and the water is freezing. It is really unbearable but luckily since it is so dry right now you don't sweat that much.

7:30 P.M. We cook ourselves dinner, pasta or soup.

8:00 P.M. Visit with family and occassionally eat with them.

9:00 P.M. Get our mosquito net and matalas, say the evening greeting (jam na wuyi, may your night be peace) and go to bed.

Calendar of Events

We were pretty sure that most of you would find it very uninteresting if all of our blog updates were simply a list of who we had been hanging out with, what work we have been doing, etc. But, we didn't want you all to think we were waisting precious tax payer money, so we decided to create this page, which we will continually update, for our events. We thought people would like to know what "productive" things we have been up to, so here are brief descriptions of what work related things we have been doing.

10/09/06 Presentation of creating insect repellent (Neem Creme) from the leaves of local tree species. 20 women attended and many more asked about it afterwards.
10/12/06 Went to a ladies house and taught here indivdually how to make Neem Creme, and talked about the benefits of producing it in mass quantities and selling it.
10/28/06 Installed a scale, which Christine designed from local materials, at the infirmary. This will help us weigh infants.
10/29/06 Callobrated scale and illicited help from Mamadu Gui Camera, local store owner and member of the health committee, and treasurer of the infirmary.
10/30/06 Measure childrens arms ages 1-5 and weighed kids 1 year or less. In total measured 241 kids.
10/31/06 Measured kids in the morning. Presentation in afternoon. Over 50 women showed up. Mamadu Gui Camera, Bakari Thiem, and Howa Macerie Camera spoke about importance of a clean city, throwing away trash, cleaning streets, and our role as volunteers.
11/1/06 Presentation on Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS). Taught Mia Kudabelli how to make ORS at home and sang songs we made up in Soninke to teach the seven children in her compound about the importance of washing hands.
11/3/06 Planted corn and beans in mens cooperative gardent. Had a small discussion with Samba Lolo Ndiaye about the dustbowl and the benefits of keepin trees in fields.
11/7/06 Composting presentation in womens cooperative garden. Eight women showed up.
11/11/06 ORS presentation with Boyi Sankari and two other mothers. Taught children songs we made up in Soninke about washing hands and drinking clean water.
Arrived with Doulos and did preliminary work for opening the Child Feeding Center (CAC).
11/12/06 Remeasure specific kids for CAC.
11/13/06 Finished preliminaries for CAC.
11/15/06 Started first garden plot in womens cooperative garden.
11/20/06 Composting presentation in womens cooperative garden. 10 people showed up.
11/21/06 Christine did first nutritional presentation at CAC.
12/04/06 Planted garden plots and helped Bonko Ndiaye transplant lettuce.
12/09/06 Finished first layer of womens coop compost bin.
12/10/06 Dug compost pit with Cruella and transplanted lettuce.
12/11/06 Taught Jagelli Dianiafaba how to use hot compresses to relieve puss in childs abcess.
12/12/06 Finished last layer of Cruellas compost.
12/10-12/06 Helped transplant eggplant, lettuce, and tomatoes in womens coop.
12/13/06 Christine gave a presentation to the CAC concerning dehydration. It was well attended. Lee had a hand washing station and taught a hand washing song in Soninke. Doulos gave out food to the mothers and taught one mother how to care for all the childrens wounds.

If people have specific questions on any of these events please let us know by posting on our page and we will fill in more details.

Learning to Play the Violin

As Christine said "trying to speak Soninke is like trying to play the violin. Every day you walk around town with your insturment and everyone is so excited to see you. They ask you 'play something, play something'. Because you have taken very few lessons you screech out a simple melody like Row Row Row Your Boat and you get laughed at and told how bad you are".

Mauritanians are competitive. People say their ridicule is just their form of encouragement. Kind of hard to believe when it disables you so much. But there is no doubt they are competitive. A quick demographic sketch:

Moors: In Woulloumboni they run all the little shops. They have and aristocratic air about them which I think is perpetuated by their placement in the majority of Mauritanian political offices. They are friendly, at least in Woulloumboni; this is not the case in every city. They are wary of outsiders, nomadic in their roots, and stoic at times but vibrant when it comes to politics, the land, or cards.

Pulaar: They seem to us like pirates of the desert. They have a wild, wandering look accentuated by their role as herders wandering the "brousse". The men wear gold ring earrings and their hair can be anything from neatly picked out to chin length straight hair usually sticking out from under a knit cap. They wear necklaces and charms around their necks and arms, and sometimes carry a short herding staff which gives a sense of rustic nobility. A characteristic both the men and women have is their ability to laugh or find humor in things. Granted I have no idea what they are saying but they always seem jovial. Their house are usually on the outskirt of town; mud huts with thatched roofs out in the open.

Soninke: Soninke people are more permanent. They are farmers tied to the land and rivers nearby. They are gruff, usually shouting commands across the courtyard, and rough to an extent. They are hardworking and survivors, sending siblings to other countries in order to find work. They are rich in tradition and not easily persuaded to change their ways. Thir houses are large and made of cement or clay, crammed together in the middle of town.

The groups in Woulloumboni are divided but how these lines are delineated I am not sure. There are three separate mosques for a town with 2000 or less people, a sign of their religious dedication but also their wealth. There seems to be no pattern to who goes where. It might have something to do with prestige and class. Competition between families is rooted in last names and heritage of nobility or slavery. All Mauritanians play one card game with slightly varying rules except that it is permissible to cheat. Even today as we left before sunrise to go to Selibaby our truck driever, Moussa Joulo, honked his horn at the truck ahead of him. There are only two taxis in town and they leave every morning at the same time from the same place. He knows this other driver and is no doubt friends with him yet he honks his horn like he is in a traffic jam of hundereds of cars. Each truck seemingly races each other through the street; one leapfrogging passed the other as they pick up the morning passengers.

Our ride today into Selibaby was smooth, only 17 passengers which is 10 less than last trip. We pass mostly flat terrain with faint hills on the horizon highlighted by the pink rays of the sunrise. Sporadic water bloated Baobab trees tower over the rest of the desert shrubs. The grasses are turning brown again and will fade into the sand as we come to the end of a mediocre rainy season. Selibaby is our refuge for a few days, breaking the monotony of Ramadan and Mauritanian cuisine. Breakfast, bread and coffee; Lunch, sonbi, boiled rice with sugar and a touch of milk; Dinner, lots of rice with a few cubes of goat meat and stringy okra. Fruit and vegetables will be a welcome luxury these next few days.

Further reading:
"Sahara" Marq de Villiers and Sheila Hirtle
This is a good over view of cultural, historical, and environmental factors of this area.
"Skeletons on(of) the Zahara" Dean King
This one starts out kind of slow but is a really good story.
"Disposable People" Bales

This last update is a little late. Internet in town has been really sketchy. We will try to post again before Christmas. WE hope the advent season finds you all well. This will be avery interesting one for us. Thank you all for your support and love. Thank you CArl for posting the last update with care package information. And to the grad student who posted on the last update, feel free to use anything from our blog in your paper. Good bye for now.

Peace and Love
Lee George and Christine Zwicky
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 222 Nouakchott
West Africa