Thursday, March 18, 2010
Pilot Farmer Program Begins
I've been in Thies again since Tuesday, and will be until Saturday, for an orientation/training of Senegalese 'pilot farmers' for a new USAID/Peace Corps initiative. USAID has the money, the PC has us, to help train and support these farmers as they establish demonstration sites. Right now there are only 7 pilot farmers in Senegal, and one of them is Tumani Diamanka, Shames' counterpart and host brother in Sare Gagna. That's why I'm here, since I'm so close to Sare Gagna, and will have to work with Tumani and Shames on establishing the different agroforestry, gardening, and field crop technologies at the demo site. Then people in the area will have access to periodic trainings which Tumani will present there, a seed and seedling source, and just an idea of the possibilities. That's the plan, anyway.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Grudgingly Headed Back to Site
Well, I've got to head back to Sare Fode this morning/afternoon, as I have now been gone almost exactly a month, and my family kept anxiously calling me and asking when I was coming back. The did this all through training, even though I had told them before and every time they re-asked, 'I'm coming back when February's over, at the beginning of March.' I'm not looking forward to going back and hearing all the little guilt trips - 'You really spent a while there', 'you didn't call enough', etc. Oh well...after a week or so I'm sure I'll be back into the swing of things.
But that brings up another aspect that I'm not looking forward to - telling them that I have to leave again several times this month - this Friday I'll have to come back to Kolda for our house meeting; on the 15th I'll leave for Thies again for a USAID pilot farmer training (Shames' counterpart is one of these pilot farmers, and they are each supposed to have a network of nearby volunteers to help them set up their demonstration sites, etc.); then on the 20th I'll head back down here with all the Agroforestry volunteers in Senegal for our Ag. Fo. yearly summit, which will last a couple of days at the house here. I'm looking forward to that one, because we'll get seeds and stuff that I need. It feels like a lot of 'training' to me, even, and I can only imagine it is frustrating for my family and community to see me run off so much... I hope I come off as knowledgeable enough to justify all the training!
But that brings up another aspect that I'm not looking forward to - telling them that I have to leave again several times this month - this Friday I'll have to come back to Kolda for our house meeting; on the 15th I'll leave for Thies again for a USAID pilot farmer training (Shames' counterpart is one of these pilot farmers, and they are each supposed to have a network of nearby volunteers to help them set up their demonstration sites, etc.); then on the 20th I'll head back down here with all the Agroforestry volunteers in Senegal for our Ag. Fo. yearly summit, which will last a couple of days at the house here. I'm looking forward to that one, because we'll get seeds and stuff that I need. It feels like a lot of 'training' to me, even, and I can only imagine it is frustrating for my family and community to see me run off so much... I hope I come off as knowledgeable enough to justify all the training!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
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