Hamidou Diogo Ba, and the PC Sick Hut

So I have a lot to catch up on since my last post. Internet access here is pretty scarce for the time being since we’ve been cycling between the training center in Thies and my homestay in Sangalkam. The internet sucks at the center and has not been invented yet in my homestay village. I’ll try to section this post off into headings since there is a lot to say, especially because the reason I have internet is because I’m at the medical sick hut (aka the resort in Dakar where sick PCVs and PCTs in my case go to get better) oh no Eric is sick? Read on if you want to know more.

Sangalkam – The Homestay

I live with the Ba family in Sangalkam which is halfway in between Dakar and Thies. The reason for living there is immersion in the language I’ll be using for the next 2 years of service in the southern region of the country. That language is Pulaar Futa, and it comes from Guinea, a lot of people from Guinea live in Sangalkam therefore…I live there now too. My host brother is the main patriarch of the compound and also my namesake, Hamidou Diogo Ba. So that’s my new name here in Senegal Hamidou Diogo Ba but you can just call me Hamidou… Either way, the original Hamidou is a teacher in Dakar, and his wife Aissiatou basically takes care of me, she is awesome and we’re basically best friends now. She literally does everything for me, including carrying the water for my bucket bath, which is a little strange since she’s only a few years older than I, so is Hamidou. My mom is actually Hamidou’s sister-in-law and her husband the missing elder brother (my dad…) lives in Dakar and I only met him for a minute literally. The whole family is very nice but speaking a new language is difficult after only a little over a week of training. Luckily for now and unfortunately for the future, my sister does not speak that language so we only ever use French, which has simplified things so far. Below are a couple of photos of the family. The best photo is the one where my sister took her wig off and put it on her 1.5yo son Baba’s head (that’s right his name is Baba Ba).

my House, my room is on the left

my room

my sister and her son Baba

the men of my house, Hamidou is in the light blue boo-boo

the women of my house

Training In General

So these 2.5 months of training are very jam packed. In the homestay villages we have language classes from 9am until nearly 2 some days, then there is a break for lunch, then we have to meet again to practice and then around 6 we’re required to do something for our group garden at the local middle school (see pictures below with some of the many local kids who like to help out).

Then we return home to never-ending children screaming and chaotic family time where we try to practice the language. I usually pass out around 10pm which leaves little time for homework and almost no time for revision. When we’re not in the villages the days are filled with shots (not the good kind, had probably close a dozen injections since we got into the country), and back-to-back talks about technical training we’ll need for when we’re eventually in our final site. As hectic as it is it’s a lot of fun and we’re all having a really great time.

the group from Sangalkam

Being Sick

So Tuesday afternoon I started feeling achy, by 1am that night I was standing in a cold shower trying to bring down a high fever. The fevers came back the next morning which forced me to skip some talks at the training center but I was well enough to get on the van for the afternoon ride back to the villages. Half way through the trip I started getting chills and I basically went to my homestay, said hello and that I was sick and went to bed immediately with a fever of 102. This continued, fevers sweating and chills for the next 3 days until medical finally said I needed to go to Dakar to have blood drawn. So that’s where I am now. This morning I got half-way through my language class and a PC driver came to pick me up. The “medical hut” as they call it is a full apartment with a kitchen dining room, common rooms, TV, AC, WiFi, free calls to the US, and lots of rooms for sick PCVs….it’s amazing after being in the shack I was in laying in a pool of sweat night after night shivering…wish I had called to be picked up a day earlier. The hut, or as I am calling it “club med” since it’s like a resort, is on the ground level of the Peace Corps Senegal Headquarters in Dakar, which is an embassy like building that is pretty cool. I’ll have to venture down the street to a real supermarket just like in the states to buy some food for dinner….i can’t wait I’m a bit sick of onions and fish, my host bro/sis insisted on giving me proper sick people food which consisted of 3 whole fish, salad covered in onion sauce and an entire baguette one night, and a pot of the spiciest soup I’ve ever had last night, which I approximately 45mins after my last fever broke, but the soup left me feeling like I was in a sauna.

It seems as if medical wants to keep me here until Monday morning, most likely because there won’t be a driver on a Sunday, but the extra day of rest will be good for me. The blood tests did come back and my awesome nurse Vonnie said no malaria and that I have “perfect blood” so it had to have been a virus. I’m looking forward to feeling 100% better and getting back to my village on Monday morning. Thanks for checking in. I’ll try to get a Picasa photo album up and linked on this page along with addresses and other info since I think this is the most reliable internet I’ll ever have here in Senegal.