Health Hut Renovations!

As I mentioned in my last post, thanks to all of you who were able to donate to the grant to fund the renovation. Because of your amazing and generous help, we got the whole thing funded in 6 days! That’s pretty amazing, and my villagers were pretty excited to hear that we could get started so soon on the renovations. As soon as I knew the grant was full, I told my counterpart Dabi, and the next day we started removing the old thatched roofs from the two existing huts.

Dabi, up on the roof, removing the thatch

The next day our builder showed up and we started making the mud bricks to construct the walls. Every day the builder, Sadijo, can add a foot or two of the mud wall, allowing it to dry in time to support what goes above it. Afterwards the mason will add cement on either side of the walls. This is the basic way they construct huts in village. With a good roof for protection from the rain (which we’ll have with the new metal roofing sheets) my counterpart said these huts will last 15-20 years without major repair.

Sadijo, building the mud walls

Dabi making the mud bricks, I helped out with this half the day, and ate mangoes the rest

Sadijo and Dabi decided to add a small room on the front of the 3^rd hut to help support the roof , apparently they’re going to try to extend the roof a few feet out over the front of the structure to make a porch, we’ll see how it turns out. Either way I was extremely surprised and happy with how fast everyone started to work on the renovations, they’re definitely dedicated. I left village a few weeks ago to help with the training of the new volunteers and to say goodbye in Dakar to a few friends who have finished their service. I've heard that they finished most of the construction, and when I get back we’ll be able to install the wiring for the lights and plugs in the new hut, and paint all the walls. As soon as I get back next week, I’ll post more photos of the progress.

The new walls, gaining some height after the second day of construction

Again thanks to everyone who donated, with the rainy season approaching in a few weeks, having that grant funded so quickly meant that we could actually get this project completed before the rains come and all building stops. I heard that the grant got funded so quickly that some people weren’t even able to donate, if you still wanted to help out with a similar cause, or want to help out some more, two of my friends, volunteers in the Tambacounda Region of Senegal, have health hut projects as well, click here and here to visit their sites. Thanks!

Bo-bo Ari! A New Baby Arrives!

On March 27 my sister-in-law, the new wife of my tokora, or namesake (also my older brother) gave birth to a beautiful baby girl! Of course it was Lumo (market day) so I had just left for Dindefelo when I got the call from my dad that she gave birth 30mins after I left the house… Either way, one week later as is traditional here in Senegal, they had the Denabo (naming ceremony) and named her Adama Hawa Souare, and promptly shaved her head! Well at least they used a fresh brand new razor blade. Oh and since it’s my namesake’s baby and he is away living and working in Dakar, this is my baby! And it’s funny because everyone agrees and says, “yes, yes it is your baby, you’re Amadou, duh, Amadou is the father.”

Hali Camara and her new baby, Adama Hawa

getting a haircut just after she got her name, you got to stay fresh!

my dad with his first granddaughter, he's one of the happiest people I know and I've never seen him happier than the week this baby was born!

School Garden and CIEE Study-Aboard Students Visit

Last month I hosted a CIEE study abroad college student in Pelel. Peace Corps has a partnership where we host CIEE students every semester for a few days to give them a taste of village life, and Senegal outside of Dakar. We did a group trip to Segou Waterfall and then broke up to go to our individual sites for the remainder of the week.

the group of us relaxing in a pool near the waterfall

I set up a Morenga (or Nebadye (from the English for Never Die), an extremely useful tree, with nutritious leaves, think spinach) tree planting session during my student’s visit. With the students, we planted nearly 100 trees in tree sacks, so when they’re ready in a few months during rainy season the students can each take one home and transplant it there. In addition we did a morenga intensive bed, where the trees are planted 10cm from each other in a 1x5m bed. After a few months of growing we’ll be able to harvest the leaves from those trees almost weekly and the women will use them to prepare leaf sauce. The people of my town know what morenga is and love the leaves, they know that they’re extremely nutritious, and they truly make the leaf sauce very tasty, the problem is, there’s really none of these trees in village (it’s not a native species). Hopefully after the students take these trees home, more families will be able to benefit from this useful tree.

photos of me actually doing work!

and again

Jake, the CIEE student who came to Pelel, helping out with the demo

Aside from getting to visit all the waterfalls again, having the visiting student meant I finally got some photos of me doing some work (I can’t trust the villagers with my camera, I tried, it’s too exciting and confusing for them to operate) thanks Jake!

Well...the Women's Group Garden has a new Well!

The women have finished digging all of the beds, and have transplanted or planted vegetables in all the spaces. At the beginning of last month our mason came by to finish the well cap. I’ll forever be immortalized in the well because my villagers wrote my name in the cement…Amadou Toubape… it’s really Amadou Souare, but “toubape” means white person, so it’s Amadou White Person, classic.

the completed well cap

recognition for Amadou 'White Person' (that's me...)

my village mother models off the new well

action shot of watering the Morenga trees with water from the new well

and a photo of me and some of the women, I love these ladies!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

thanks to all who donated to the health hut renovation grant! thanks to your amazing generosity we got the whole thing funded in under a week!!! I´m in Dindefelo right now updating the blog from my friends remote internet connection because I wanted to thank everyone immediately! I´m running (well biking) back to site tomorrow to tell them we can start the construction immediately!!!! Thanks again! I´ll keep you all fully posted on the details of the renovations

Health Hut Expansion and Renovation Grant, PLEASE DONATE TO HELP

Hi Everyone, so I’ve been mentioning the Health Hut in my town and the upcoming renovations that my counterpart and I have been planning. Last month we finalized the details of the plan and completed the budget. Now I need your help. The grant we have written is called a Peace Corps Partnership Grant and is funded solely by friends and family who donate directly through the Peace Corps’ website. In the next few paragraphs I’m going to describe the project in better detail for you.

Some quick background info on my town: Pelel Kindessa is a rural community of around 1,100 people is located in the region of Kedougou, in south-eastern Senegal. There are no businesses or shops in the town and nearly every family farms to make a living. Since there are no means of income beyond small subsistence farming there is not enough money in the town to expand their health hut to a point where it can finally begin serving the community.

Pelel Kindessa’s single room health hut has neither the space nor the resources to function as the town’s health center. As a consequence the villagers must travel 7km down an extremely rough dirt road to the nearest Health Post in the neighboring town, Dindefelo. Even with the newly trained staff the lack of space is preventing the hut from operating as it should. Recently, solar panels that were donated by another NGO a year ago were installed on a neighboring hut, since the current health hut’s walls were not sufficient. As a fortunate consequence the owner of this neighboring hut has agreed to donate it as part of the expansion project. This new hut houses the solar panel equipment and would serve perfectly as the office and pharmacy/medical supply area. There is exactly enough space in between the two huts for a third, creating one large structure for the health building.

the existing health hut to the left, the space in between for the expansion, and the newly added hut to the right with the solar panels

a really bad 'blueprint' explaining the existing huts (yellow) and the area of expansion (green)

Three rooms; one for child birth, one for other patient treatment/observation, and one for the office and medical supplies. This expansion includes a permanent metal roof which will protect the structure for years to come. It will also provide adequate space for the newly trained mid-wife to work, room for general medical visits, space for the new patient beds and sufficient room for the pharmacy stock and administrative items. In addition to the building expansion we plan to deepen the well to ensure year-around access to water.

Dabi Souare, my counterpart, and the town’s ASC (Agent Sante Communitaire, or community health worker) is the driving individual behind this project. He built the current health hut and neighboring hut with the solar panels in his compound and will be directing the construction of the expansion to combine the two into one building. Villagers from each of the 5 neighborhoods of Pelel and members of the health committee will be helping with the construction as well as supply and transport such items as sand, rocks and wooden beams. Many of those workers who will be doing the actual construction have all agreed to take a percentage off of their fees to contribute towards the completion of our project, and a local Tourist Hotel in neighboring Dindefelo has donated money in addition to some money put forth by the local municipality.

Now, my plea for your help and your money. My villagers and I need your help to improve their rural health care access. Hopefully everything I’ve written above (and sorry I tend to ramble and it’s not concise at all), will have painted a complete picture of what we’re trying to accomplish in Pelel. Our grant request is small only about $800 and we’re hoping that with your help and the help of anyone you wish to refer these links to, we can reach this goal quickly, allowing us to complete the expansion and renovations before this year’s rainy season starts in May-June.

So please if you’re considering helping out, the link to donate is located on a personalized Peace Corps web page at this by clicking HERE. The box to donate is found on the right hand side of the page and is a quick process. And in addition, please forward the link to this blog post anyone that you think would like to contribute. The villagers of Pelel Kindessa and I thank you in advance!

again the link to donate: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=685-165

two models of roughly what the finished health hut will look like

the roof on the right will be slanted in another direction to accommodate the existing solar panels

1 year anniversary in Africa!

Well 1 year ago today I landed in Dakar and began this crazy journey. Lots of stuff happened, but no need for a recap, I know you all diligently read this blog.

Just some village/work related news. I’m now working with 3 active gardening groups in Pellel, the Women’s Group in my neighborhood, one in the far out neighborhood of Pellel called Tanege, and one at the school with the students. Got a well funded by appropriateprojects.com (you can view my project here ) We’ve already completed the well digging and a local NGO AfriCare will be donating a rope pump after we cap the well. Enjoy some photos below.

some of the Jam Weli Women's Group Garden with the vegetable nursery

the new well that was dug next to the Women's Group Garden

the vegetable nursery at the school garden

the students and teachers at the school garden after our transplanting work party

the very beautifully kept beds at the Tanege Pellel Women's Group Garden

I’ve recently submitted the budget and grant proposal for the Health Hut renovations, more on that when the Dakar office finishes processing it and it moves on to Washington.