Demist in Sokone

Hello glorious internet world! I just got back from my “demist” experience in a town called Sokone. Demist is basically ten days in another village with another host family. The purpose is to continue language practice but also to “job shadow” an established volunteer in your sector. We visited a volunteer named Erika whose two-year service is coming to a close. Most of her work consisted of working with local farmers and developing a demo garden. She did a lot of trainings on improved farming techniques and helped struggling farmers develop alternate sources of income. After hanging out with her, I am extremely excited to start my own work in Dakar. While in Sokone, we did a few trainings as well. We did one training at a school where we taught high school kids how to start a tree peppinere (nursery), another training with a women’s group where we taught how to make Niim Lotion to protect from mosquitoes and also how to dip mosquito nets. Here’s the clencher, they were completely in Wolof! I was pretty nervous about it, but they all went really well.
Another thing about Sokone that I love, is the mangroves. Sokone is located on the delta so we went swimming in the mangroves pretty often. One evening in particular, we went swimming while watching the sunset. It was defiantly one of those moments where the fact that I’m living in Africa settled in. Another thing that I really enjoyed was just experiencing another village. The people were so nice and before I left, I already had some friends I would greet every day.
There is so much more I want to write about, but I need to get going. It will be nice when I have a set schedule of when I can write blogs etc so these will come more frequently. I miss you all and hope life is challenging you.

Lastly, I started a flickr site where I’m posting my pictures. So, for any of you interested, the website is:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmtharp

I just uploaded my pics from Sokone, so enjoy!