A Look into my Village continued...

The main sources of income for the male villagers are peanuts, millet, rice, cashew processing, and animal husbandry. For female villagers, the means of income are rice, gardening and cashew processing. Some of the villagers work in other villages/cities to supplement their income. Those types of work are mostly seasonal (e.g. during the rainy season). They usually go to work in Betenty and Richard Tolle. There are no markets in my village but there are 4 boutiques where almost all items I would need are sold.

Sources in the village provide sufficient water for everyday use during the rainy and dry seasons. There are three cement lined wells in the village. There are no significant problems with salt water, however, flooding during the rainy season is considered by villagers one of the greatest problems in Dassalami Soce.

The village is very eager to have a health volunteer in the community. My role as a health volunteer will be to do home visits where I will be sensitizing people on health/nutrition issues at the school and health center. I will be doing causeries, baby weighing, and promote nutrition. The health post works with 4 villages.  During my first 6 months, I have to get to know the people in these villages before any projects can take place.

I would have never thought that I would be living in a small village and biking from place to place. But I have learned early in life that if you want to make progress, you need to take yourself out of your comfort zone. You must place yourself in situations that force you to grow. Upon my arrival, I was scared and intimidated but my fellow Senegalese have taught me that you must be kind to yourself, take everything one day at a time, and not to be afraid to make mistakes. My strategy has been not to have expectations, take everything day by day and to remain flexible when situations do not turn out as planned.