Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Internship Expectations

Today has been my first day of "work," and I feel like I'm in over my head. I'm supposed to create a manual of procedures for the partner organisations that work with Catholic Relief Services. I have a brief outline, a computer and my own creative ability to come up with the information needed and present it in French. I'll be working on my own for the most part. I feel like soomeone with experience could manage this, but that's not quite me. I'll figure something out.
I now know the names of my host family. Sada and Coumba's (the husband and wife)children's names are Iatoro, Khady and Bimeta. I've already been given a Senegalese name, Emmi. It's the name of Sada's mother so I guess that's a good sign. The house is always filled with people coming in and out whether neighboors, relatives or the kids. I like that there's constant chatter, but for the most part I do not understand it. That's because they speak Wolof and Pular, both African languages, along with French. So once again I've entered the life of the smiling foreigner.
I had my first meal with the family and though they suggested I could eat with a spoon, I jumped at the chance to dig in with my hands like the rest of them. My first night here felt calm and peaceful, which sometimes is not the case when you're in new surroundings. My favoirte moment was brushing my teeth in the open night time air. The room with the sink-type hole in the ground has no ceiling so you can brush your teeth while looking at the stars. Oh I forgot to mention that we share the house with a pet goat, but he won't be with us too much longer. He's going to be sacrificed for the upcoming celebration (maybe the passover?)
It looks like my routine here will consist of going to the CRS office each day, and returning home to spend the evening with the family. I hope to be able to exlpore the city soon, maybe this evening with another intern working here from England. Alright well I should be attempting to work. May God bless you all! Please pray that I'm able to accomplish something here while I'm interning.

2 Comments:

At January 11, 2005 at 11:36 PM, Blogger JB said...

Just so you don't get confused--its Jen! anyway, i was just curious what the house looked like--the way it was set up...etc. you said that the sink was outside and that sounds pretty neat! ooo! and what is the temp like? bisous et a tout :)

 
At February 8, 2005 at 2:05 PM, Blogger Imaginer said...

I used to go to SU (dropped out, took some time off, whatever). Anyway, I just got back from Ghana and am keenly interested in your experiences in Senegal. I want to go to a francophone country next. I absolutely loved eating with my fingers. We had fufu, banku, kenke, palmnut soup, ground nut soup, okro soup, jollof rice and plantains. What sort of things are you eating in Senegal? Is there an incredible exo-christian influence? In Ghana, everything was god oriented right down to the carberateur shops. What exactly is your work? My email address is rachels_imagine@gmail.com if you have a mass email list you are sending out.

 

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