Brief, but necessary..

Hello dear readers,

So, I know that I have been suspiciously absent these last few weeks... but it can only be attributed to my sudden busy schedule. As my friend put it, "I came here for a cool cultural experience and maybe an interesting lecture or two.. where did all this work come from??" It feels almost like I'm back to the rigorous academic schedule typical of American universities!

I felt it was necessary just to drop in for a quick update, with longer posts in the near future, I promise!

The elections are again in a state of suspense. The first round of elections put Wade in first, Sall second, and Niasse third. The other candidates trailed behind insignificant percentages. Though Wade had the majority vote, he did not top the 50% needed to win. The elections have since moved to the second round, this time between the top two candidates- Abdoulaye Wade and Macky Sall. Campaigns are as intense as ever, but thankfully, there have been no violent demonstrations. Debates concerning healthcare, education, etc have been hot and heavy on the TV, though experts end up simply yelling at each other rather than actually discussing issues. Voting for these two candidates will begin the 18th. So we'll just have to see what happens.

See for yourself: Second Round Results-BBC


My internship has taken an interesting turn as well. Currently, we are an association. However, as I discussed with my advisers at the beginning the fall semester, it is time for CIPFEM to move to the status of NGO (non-governmental organization). If you've forgotten what kind of work I do, read my post titled CIPFEM to get an idea. Quick version: I work with young Senegalese girls in public schools to build confidence and stay in school, with an age group most likely to drop out. My position is Project Coordinator, and I am responsible for the coordination of volunteers who work with the girls, as well as the administrative aspect. While I help with the sessions, I also work with my advisers to get the legal aspects of CIPFEM taken care of. With our transition to NGO status, comes a mountain of bureaucratic paperwork. None of the administrative positions on the paperwork can be filled by CIEE students, since at best, we leave every year, and at most, every four months. So I've been trying to get positions filled by anyone I can convince to do them. Teachers, the directors of my programs, anyone who would be willing to put their name on the papers. I do a lot of the busy work for the organization, I just need their signatures to keep doing what I need to. Along with our NGO status, we need to open bank accounts. However, if we open them now, we'll just have to change everything when we become a NGO, and we need administrative signatures on the accounts to get them open. These same signatures are for legal paperwork that will be sent to the Minister of the Interior of the Senegalese government, so we need to wait anyway. Every week I have meetings with my potential administrative team, trying to get them to agree with us. All the while, helping my fellow students organize sessions with our girls.

As far as school, I'm surprisingly busy. My internship seminar requires weekly papers in French about my work, my Public Health class (taught in French) has us running around the city to health centers, my West African Environmental Development class (taught in English) keeps us busy with our 15 page research project-including field studies interviews. Lastly, my two language classes are Advanced Wolof and Advanced French, both of which have their own papers and busy work. To sum up, I'm kept surprisingly busy-to a degree that last semester students might be surprised.

Though I'm kept busy every day, I've still developed a case of cabin fever. I've never been stuck in Dakar for longer than a couple months-I usually have a chance to travel somewhere, and it's getting to me. It feels like my time has frozen and no progress is being made. The pollution of the city and the yellow sand that's everywhere is dragging on my mental stability, to say the least. I want to get out the city, breathe some fresh air, see some green things, and have an adventure. Though I know I'm very close to leaving (only 55 more days!) I'm stuck between two sentiments. After those 55 days I will be traveling to Italy to visit my brother (after he spends a week with me in Dakar), and I can scarcely wait to see him and for us to finally see each other. It's already been a year since I've seen him, and I'm impatient!! And I miss so much from home-my family, friends, and big breakfasts. But I know that I love Senegal, and I love all the particulars of this culture, and how much fun it is to live in Dakar. I'll miss the close friends I've made here, the work I do, and my host family. But all in all, I've lived here for almost a year. I'm ready to travel some more, come home, finish up my degree, and figure out where my life is going.