The original Bamako, Mali post

Hey everyone,

I was able to successfully get onto the same computer where I had saved my file and I was also able to find that file!

So, here's the original post (although now that I have a few minutes, I am also going to email a bunch of you)

. . .

Okay, so the bulk of this message will not be on Bamako, Mali, even though that is where I am right now.
First thoughts: thanks to everyone who has been writing me. Sorry Im not responding to any of them individually. I would love to, but as you might well imagine, internet is hard to come by, especially here in Mali.
I will try to write to some of you individually later, but becausqe I can, I'll make a few comments to a few people on the blog:
Micah, I've been meaning to write you individually for quite some time. I would love to swap stories on experiences. Ive had tonnes of fun bartering in Dakar now knowing what a lot of relative prices should and shouldnùt be. I cant say I've had any huge deals; Im still learning at times. I'm more excited when I come away from bargaining paying just as much or just a bit more than what locals would. I don't feel bargaining to the extreme is fully justified though; since I'm probably making more money in a month than some people make here in a year. Thats probably not too much of an exaggeration. As for your not writing, don't feel bad; I'm not writing very many people either! Not by choice, mind you!
Jolene, thank you for your emails and the Christmas card. It was appreciated. I hope your next term in school goes over well. Keep on working hard like you always do.
Jim, thanks for your email. I would love it if you could come over to Senegal and explore the country with me. Alas, this is not so! But know that Im actually doing really well right now. After my first week in Senegal, the bulk of the shock was wearing off.
To my church family and my pastor: thank you too for your emails. I apologize for not responding, but your prayers have sustained me and have made my time a success so far. Pray that I would start to take initiative in my work after the holidays and that consequently, I would start to learn and grow in greater ways than I have up till now.
To my family, thank you for calling on Dec 24. Im glad you successfully got through. I'm counting on you guys calling me again whenever, because I wont have the ability to connect to Skype in the next number of days (at least I doubt it).
Now for some stories! Last Wednesday, I went on a retreat with the staff from World Vision. A wonderfully tropical, on the beach sort of place. Awesome food, and some good quiet times. And the stars the one evening I went out to see them, wow. They promise spectacular things for me on nights when I will be in the villages. Played some water polo, but we lost because they other team beat us in a shoot out. If I were to mention they got 2 bonus points j ust for adding a girl to their team about 5 min to the end, I wonder who else wonders at the injustice in our world. . .
After that, I had quite the experience getting to Mali, mostly because of my own stupidity. You see, you need a visa to get to Mali. Sort of. I think so. But arriving at 1 pm for a 440 pm flight only to have to wait 3 (yes 3) hours for them to verify that the electronic ticket you have already bought actually exists - I had to call the Kenya office and they told me the confirmation nbr was the confirmation nbr - go figure-, and then the manager called the Kenya Airways office in Dakar. 45 min and he shows up. 1 hr and Im finally processed. 20 min to take off. Zip through all the customs stuff, arrive at the gate, and? it's delayed an hour anyways. People are just starting to board!
But see the biggest issue here, getting back to the visa thing, is that this whole time, I', thinking, darn, I'm supposed to have a visa. How the heck am I going to be allowed to go. And so I'm stressing big time. BIG TIME. Cause I really want to go. And then I pass baggage check, police check, ticket check, metal detectors check, ticket check again, ticket to get onto bus check and then I finally get on to the airplane. And I dont have a visa? I'm confused (if not hopeful)
Hour and a half. I land. They hand me a sheet. Fill out, including visa nbr. Oh boy. I'm done. But wait, there's a little office here in the airport. I can just buy a visa for 60 dollars. Just like that. And frankly, at this point; i dont care whether I have to or not. The point is, I believe Im supposed to have one, I should have one, and to be fair, Ill buy one. So, I buy one. And Im in! Yaaa.
1 hr later, Im at Valer and Adina's (Adina is the other intern; Valer her husband). Their house is amazing (at least compared to mine). They actually have a living room, kitchen, and fully furnished. Oh, and a tv and microwave. Nice extras taht I dont have. I'm content with what I have now, but it was interesting noticing the differences.
Okay, 5 min b'4 I should go: since then, Ive eaten tonnes of good food (Adina is an amazing cook), we went to a Christmas service at Wycliffe on the 24th, Ive watcehd about 3 full seasons of Friends and 4 full length movies. Weve gone swimming in a few pools at the local hotels and a World Vision staff worker, and A and V actually bought me a present! Too cool.
I'll try to write more another day now that I know where I can find at least one internet café. And its decent speed etc. But please know all of you that I'm doing very well. Post the first week, my time here has been spectacular, again simply because God has provided in a huge way to surround me by friends -the American woman downstairs, a number of WV staff in Dakar and a few in Fatick, and family - phone calls home, friends back home, and A and V over the Christmas holidays.
Things are great. I would love to send pictures but as you might have guessed; I dont have the time.
But if I do and when I might, I'll try to send a few.
And everyone, get Skype; Then I can call you.
Or you can call my cell. It works quite well. If you want it, email me. I, not posting it online like this!
Have a great day.
From the sunny blue skies of very warm Bamako, Mali,
Alex

Bamako, Mali

Well, sadly, this is the second time I'm writing this post.

It was all set to go, I had 5 min to send it, and the internet went down. And the file I saved it as must have been deleted.

Oh well.

I'm alive and well here in Bamako, Mali. I've spent some wonderful days with Adina and Valer (Adina is the other intern with WV).

They invited me down to Mali for Christmas. I arrived, but not after a crazy time getting to the airport, getting past the ticket approval, and then getting onto the plane. The ticket I had, I had bought on line. Except, it said I could pick it up at the airport. Which I couldnt. But, there are crazy traffic jams in Dakar, so I cant just leave the airport, go to the Kenya Airways office and then get a confirmation number verified. I would never be back in time for my flight.

So, I arrive at 1 pm and my ticket is only approved by 4 pm, and the flight was supposed to leave at 440. I go screaming through 5 other check points in about 40 min, and then? The flight is delayed! Oh Africa! How you can stress me so!

But, mind you, most of my stress was self inflicted. You see, I didn't have a visa; I didn't think about it, didn't think I needed one, thought I had read somewhere I didnt need one . . . right.

But, I somehow make it onto the plane anyways.

I arrive in Mali. They ask for my visa. Riiight. But wait, theres a little office off to the side, and I can buy a visa there. I do, and then walk by customs without having anyone look at it. And the point was what? I guess I should try to do things the proper way anyways, despite the poor system.

Just a short blurb. Unfortunately, because of my lost message, it is all I have time for.

Internet is frustrating me.

I will try to write some of you in a group email soon! But know that I am well, having a fun time, Christmas was filled with excellent food, great company, a cool phone call to home, a Christmas eve service, and wonderful visits with friends of Adina and Valer.

Ive done a lot of swimming in hotel pools (you can pay to use them even if you arent at the hotel) and at friends houses. Some good parties, and excellent (although warm) weather. Ive got quite the burn/tan now!

The skies are sunny and blue here in Bamako. I hope to write more to you all later!

Thanks for your continual prayers!

Edible cow parts and other interesting things

Hey everyone,

I'm finally just taking the time to write up another blog. I've realized that the reason why my postings have been limited (as well as the transfering of photos onto a web site) is because I work during the day . . . meaning I don't have nearly as much free time as I did when I was in Paris. So, bear with me because it'll take some time before I can finally start snapping some decent photos and then posting them online.

I have a few, and a free evening, so I might be able to try to post some. But, I'd also like to try to get to know the 'city' of Fatick a bit this evening. Even now, I know very little about where to find things, and I'd like to become more aware of my surroundings in general.

So, a lot has gone on over the past while since my last blog. And it's about time I give you something that makes reference to a more upbeat attitude and perspective towards my time here.

Probably the most beneficial time was the weekend spent in Dakar. Although at the time of last writing, it had the potential to flop one way or the next, it actually turned out quite all right.

Friday I went out with a few of the guys. We grabbed a few beers, and then went out and 'danced' / listened to a band. This band, however, didn't start until midnight, and we didn't leave until 2:30. Now, I love to hang out and do things during the evening, but it has been quite some time since I've stayed out until 2:30 am. So, I was rather tired (and after waiting until midnight to get started, I wasn't entirely in the mood even). Still, I was content to be there, in the presence of others, experiencing Senegalese nightlife.

On Saturday (finally) I went shopping. I ended up buying a small bar fridge (a wonderful piece of technology), a little desk/armoire, a fan, and a bunch of small supplies (pots, pans, scrubbies, toilet bowl brush etc. Ended up spending about 400 USD, but it was well worth it.

Now, I can actually have cold water, juice, milk, and I can store things I cook. The fridge opened up so many possibilities. Now all I have to do is figure out where to buy a wide range of foods in Fatick.

Saturday night, after a day of shopping with Espèrance (one of the guys that I also went out with the night previous) and a bit of being shown around the city (where the main markets are, what prices to expect to get there by taxi, how to get to the port where the boat leaves to go to the Ile de Gorée etc), we had a small break. He then he picked me up to go to a gathering of Beninois people who meet once a month.

Edible cow parts. There are many I'm sure, and I've only tasted a few of them. But, I'm sure if I wanted to, I will be able to find dishes here in Senegal that explore every part of the animal being consumed. I had cow foot, tongue, and skin. And meat. The meat and tongue were good. The skin I could deal with. The foot, ah, not too good. Still, I'll eat edible cow parts before I eat fish.

Unfortunately, there will be a lot of fish . . . you can be starving to death if you're me, but at the taste of fishy fish, all of a sudden you can wait. It's a hurdle I'll have to overcome in order to survive in the villages . . .

So, I'm now well moved into my room. I actually re-arranged it last night. I only have two outlets in my room, and I've dedicated one entirely to my fridge. It's that special. The other one needs to accommodate my computer whenever I bring it home with me, my fan, and my MP3 player. Provided I can find an outlet extension block that is open faced instead of with little impressions and grounds. Those type prevent me from being able to plug in most of the outlet adapters I have.

I also finally ran across the American woman who lives on the rez de chaussée (spg? - I just can't be bothered to check). She's a 71 yr old woman from the southern States, Betty Reno, and she has been a wonderful resource person (she has a washing machine I discovered just the other day - all of a sudden I'm thinking Yaaa, clean clothes finally!)

Plus, I've spent a few nights at her house just spending time, eating dinner together, talking in English etc. It's been a nice break.

There's also an American family just across the street. Betty teaches their kids. I'll have to make sure to use their home as a resource at times, but I've already told myself to be careful not to run away from the culture I'm in. There is a lot I want to learn from my housemates. So, I hope to work on developing relationships with them more so than the Americans.

So, along with getting settled in on my side of things, I've also made easy contacts with people who come from a culture I'm mostly familiar with.

What else, what else? Work has been going fairly well. I don't feel entirely productive yet. Things take a long time to happen here, and I'll have already spent a month and a bit here by the new year, but at least a 3rd of that will have been spent on vacation. And all the the non-vac time will have been spent on understanding my environment. There's very little yet in the way of very concrete interaction at the village level.

I don't necessarily mind this; it's just taking some getting used it. And I think it's for the better because going into this context without an awareness of the big picture wouldn't be helpful.

Perhaps tonight I will be able to spend some time with my housemates. We'll see when or if they come home tonight. They're in Dakar fairly often.

Oh, and plans are to go to Mali over the Christmas break. The other intern with World Vision is based in Bamako, and so I'm hoping to be able to figure out how to take a bus from here to there. It should be a wonderful change as well as provide me with a comfortable context to spend the holiday season while I'm away from home.

Lastly, to everyone who has written to me, thank you. For all who are praying, thank you as well. I apologize for not being able to reply to your emails, but again, I'm rather constrained for time since there is limited to no internet hook up at my house away from the office. I should check out the internet café that isn't supposed to be too far from where I live.

Again, half my problem is that I don't know where things are in Fatick. No one ever bothered to show me around when I first arrived. Now that I finally feel mostly settled, I can start to tackle that part of my being here.

I hope this blog finds everyone well. I'm finally (I think) coming over the effects of a small cold or adjustment phase to the new environment. The constant flux of hot to cold during the night is probably part of the problem.

Take care everyone. Till next time.

Psalm 121

Just before leaving to go to Senegal, on the Sunday previous of my departure, I sat in my pastor's office. There we talked for well over an hour, well past the 45 minutes we had initially slotted. I made him arrive at his meeting on appropriately African time.

Before leaving, he read me Psalm 121. The song based off of the Psalm, rendition by Kutless, is currently blaring in my ears over the headset that is plugged into my laptop. It's 6:15 pm, and I'm still at the office on a Friday evening.

Here I wait, hoping that Jesus will "come and give me life" in a way that I can relate to, that I can receive a sort of energetic, personal revival from. I'm quickly discovering that I'm masking my loneliness by my work. Mind you, my loneliness is still not nearly as intense as it was last weekend. But if I'm honest, I love my work right now because it's interesting but also because there are people, it is a social space. It's only when work is over that that social space dies.

And, bizarre as it is, I have yet to be able to find a place in this bustling 1.5 - 2 million person city where I can be entertained (like a theatre etc). I just don't know where to look right now, but I also don't want to do it myself at the moment. I'd rather go with people who already know. I was able to do some of that over the past few evenings, so if things don't turn out tonight, I'm sure I'll survive for an evening. Tomorrow morning, I'm going shopping with one of the staff for things like a fridge and desk and such for my room. So, I'm hoping to learn a lot from him then.

So, don't be too concerned yet for me. I'm just admitting that I feel like there's nothing to do that doesn't come easily (i.e. I can't yet just go to the local theatre and sit down and watch a movie. I don't know if they actually exist; I imagine they do, but since I don't know where they are or how to find them, then for the moment, they don't exist!)

Still, I wrote John (dare I say on blogger my best and closest friend) a 4 page email. Gave me a social outlet. And the "I lift my eyes up" song by Kutless lifted my spirit. I find in those moments a sense of excitment about the possibilities of what can still happen. I'm just impatient for them to happen. And right now, there's an element of personal laziness involved perhaps.

But whichever, I'm still overall enjoying my time in Senegal. My purpose here has been made more clear to me with the passing of time, with the passing of meetings. I'm feeling more and more like this could become a really cool experience for me, despite the seemingly rocky social start.

Whatever. I just need to trust God through it all. Believe He knows best, that He's guiding me in such a way to teach me new things.

NEways, sounds like people are packing up out of the office. We'll see where this goes. . .

En françcais finalement

Alors, bonjour à tous et à toutes,

Finalement, je prendrai le temps d'écrire quelque chose en français. Je vous assure que c'était quelque choses que j'ai voulu faire plus tôt mais que c'était difficile de prendre le temps. Alors, c'est assez de ça.

Le weekend passé n'était pas bien passé. Franchement, c'était horriblement passé. J'étais tout seul, sans quelqu'un à parler, sans l'internet, sans téléphone, et sans espoirs (veritablement- je me demandais la raison pourquoi j'étais venu au Sénégal.

MAIS! Ne vous inquitez pas! C'est plus le cas! Non, tout n'est pas parfait, mais j'ai eu l'occasion de parler avec mes parents, les amitiés commencent à Dakar et à Fatick, les deux, j'ai fait le tour de Dakar hier soir avec un nouveau ami du bureau à Dakar etc.

En plus, c'est plus un question de ma mentalité, ma perspective. D'abord, j'étais inquiet ou bien avais peur de cette nouvelle culture. C'est bcp plus different que chez moi, que en France. Mais franchement, ce n'est pas si dangereux au point où je ne peux pas être moi-même. Oui, je dois prendre soin. Ca c'est clair. Mais, je ne vais pas apprendre, en plus, je ne vais pas vivre si je n'explore, n'essaie pas. Alors, après une semaine de la hesitation, de la doute, je suis prêt de commencer.

En plus, cette semaine à Dakar m'a aidé bcp de mieux comprendre mon role, mon travail, ma 'raison d'être' si vous voulez. Avec tout cette nouvelle connaissance, je commence à plannifier mon travail.

Alors, ce que j'ai observé ici au Sénégal: c'est chaud, le soleil brille tout le temps (pas des nuages etc), c'est jamais froid, même si de temps en temps il fait doux. Mais, jamais froid.

C'est très pollué. Malheureusement, les déchets sont partout. Partout. Vous les verrez quand je mettrai les photos sur l'internet. D'abord, il faut je les prenne!

On peut voyager en ville par taxi a un bon prix. Toujours, on decide le prix avant d'entrer la voiture. Et alors, si vous avez décider aller au Place de l'independance (ca prend 20-25 min par taxi) ca vous côute 1500 cfcas (3 dollar americain). Puisqu'il n'y ait pas un métro, c'est le meilleur choix.

Hier soir, quand j'ai fait le tour de la ville avec Paul, c'était merveilleux. On est allé aux endroits qu'il savait, et on a discuté pendant toute la nuit (en anglais, même! C'est plus facile, mes chers. Je suis désolé!)

Ben non, quel autre? Ah oui, peut être un peu de ce que je vais faire ici. J'ai déjà expliqué, mais je crois qu'en anglais seulement. Ici au Sénégal, je vais faire une etude, un peu de recherche conçernant la gestion des ressources naturelles (GRN) - les pratiques, techniques, et perceptions vers l'idée. Pendant mon temps ici au Sénégal, je vais passer le temps en essayant de mieux comprendre le context générale des projects de la GRN qui existent déjà. Qui était déjà fait? Quelles sont les succès, les échecs etc. Que pensent les agriculteurs vers l'idée? Pourquoi?

Ici au Sénégal, il y a le problème de la salinization et dégradation des sols et aussi le déboissement des forêts. En cause du vent et de la pluie (qui vient rarement, mais quand elle vient, elle crée de l'erosion), il y a un perte des matieres organiques sur les sols, alors il y a un perte de fertilité, de production.

Ca crée un risque pour les agriculteurs, qui, même s'ils savent qu'il y a un problème et comment à le surmonter, choisissent à ne pas changer pour peur des conséquences s'ils échouent.

Alors, le problème est complexe, et Vision Mondiale espère que peut être je peux decouvrir les raisons subtiles qui expliquent pourquoi les agriculteurs n'appliquent pas leurs conaissances.

J'imagine c'est pas tout a fait clair, mais j'espère que vous avez un idée quand même.

Et moi, je vais chercher les choses à faire ce soir. Je voudrais faire quelque chose different. On verra.

A plus!

Death of a social butterfly

I won't be lying if I tell you the transition over the weekend was rough, to put it mildly. Thanks to a few phone calls (predominantly home to my parents) and the proceeding onslaught of prayers from them on my behalf (probably combined with that of some from my church and friends too) things have turned around somewhat.

Mostly, my struggle over the past few days has been largely social. There has been no one to talk to in such a way that I feel I'm connecting. There are very few people to talk to to begin with, but then just because you're talking AT someone doesn't mean you're necessarily talking WITH someone. When the world has changed completely overnight, and there is no one there you truly feel, life, at least for me, gets difficult. Death of a social butterfly. (although associating myself to a butterfly is perhaps a little depressing, although slightly funny)

And there you have it: if I'm honest with myself, I don't feel I was welcomed in both the way I was expecting and in a way that seemed well planned. Part of the blame falls on last minute scheduling changes. The rest falls on culture and perhaps a bit of personal unpreparedness (both on my part, but definitely on their part). Needless to say, I can't really blame anyone, whether I want to or not.

Still, combined with the loss of social interaction over a period of 6 days, when all I really wanted to do above anything else was talk with someone about what was going on, what I was seeing, where I was going, and the why's of everything, all these things came to a boil Friday night. That's just the way I am. I'm extroverted. I process externally, but talking to yourself only gets you so far . . . ha ha ha!

I wrote an email to a friend that night. I didn't send it because I wasn't connected to the internet. He has never received it, but soon he might. It's pretty dark, but it probably gets across pretty accurately what I was feeling at the time. It would be unfair, however, if I sent that email without a follow up of how I'm currently doing, having now passed, at least in part, through a dark, shadow time.

And God was there through it all, both in times when I could feel He was, and times when I wondered where the heck he went. But, there were moments of peace in the storm, and there were some good resources to be reading during that time.

Still, I feel that if I am to last in the field, I will need to understand that that process will probably happen to me every single time I go somewhere new. It might help if I have someone with me next time, whether that be a friend or maybe a wife. That would be good. Not sure how that would work, though. Maybe that'll be the next thing on the "to do" list. Ahem. I don't think it works that way . . . ha ha ha! But regardless, someone I know, and who knows me, will be a huge help in allowing me to process through everything. And, besides, I think the work might be accomplished more effectively as a result.

But ya, besides the frustrating times over the weekend, there were some cool developments:
I went to church. It's composed of 20 people about. The service is conducted in Serer and French. I liked being in the House of the Lord, but I have yet to connect with people. It will be interesting to see where that goes, but God's house is a great place to be no matter where you are in the world.
I also started taking some initiative. That's been part of the problem. I'm still coming to my 'aggressive' senses, still coming to a point where I just say 'to heck with it' and go out, ask a billion questions, and start doing some exploring. That's been harder than normal only because it's a totally different environment and it sort of disarmed me for quite some time. But, on Sunday, I just started investigating prices of certain products, basically so that I empower myself to be able to buy my own products, whenever I want to, on my own terms. I'm become tired of waiting for them to do it for me so that they feel better about my safety. Still, there's a long way to go about learning about all that is around me.
I started wandering around the 'city' too, so I have a better sense of where some things are, and how to get to and from work and my house. That was a good move too because this morning I walked to work instead of being picked up. I will continue to do that.

Anyways, this blog is getting long, and I need to get back to work. I'm more excited to do so for the moment because I have a sense of what I'm doing.

I hope everyone back home is doing well. Please continue to pray for me, though, as the change here has been harder than I imagined (and yes, I'm just as surprised as you are!).

And although only a few lines, it's the most important part of my blog: Pray for the development of friendships; pray that I discover the city I'm in so that I can do things independently. Pray that I do so in a culturally sensitive and personally safe manner. Pray that I find a home at the church where I go. Pray that I get a cell phone if that cell phone facilitates social networking. Pray that I'm able to develop a friendship with my house mate, Mor. And pray that I might become excited about the possibility of my being here so that I view things from a positive and hopeful perspective. Just pick one or a few though. Don't worry about them all. Because between you and the rest of you, the strengh of community will get the bases covered.

And then, once my head is on my shoulders, I'll be able to direct you guys to pray more for others than for myself.

I look forward with hope, knowing that there is time for friendships to grow, and out of that social support network, a productive time away can be had as I engage farmers in the villages to investigate what it might mean for them to go about 'managing their natural resources' in a sustainable manner.

Have a great day guys. I'll work on it from my side over here.

Bonjour tout le monde

Voici un blog pour mes amis et amies francais(es). Franchment, il y a été un nombres de changements pendant ces derniers jours. J'ai rencontré plusieurs personnes et au fur et mesure, je trouve les choses necessaire pour survivre. Par exemple, juste ce matin, j'ai démandé un homme au bureau s'il pourrait me montrer où trouver le pain et le fromage. J'ai démandé le prix, et maintenant, j'espère de le faire tout seul bientôt. Ce matin, on fait un marche pour l'appui pour la lutte contre le SIDA. Ce sera très interest, je crois. Honnetement, j'ai pas le temps d'écrire, mais alors vous savez que quelquefois (pas toujours!) la vie ici peut devenir un peu occupé, je vais faire le poste. Mais voila, je vous écris bientôt pour que dire en plus.

My first blog in Senegal

Wow. Pretty crazy. It's very interesting trying to get used to what's going to happen over the next seven months. Frankly, a lot of things seem to be up in the air, but I'll be okay with that as long as the rest of the WV organization is okay with it.

Funny to think how much work gets put into you for an internship. I had 5 weeks in Canada just for orientation, and there's at least 1 week here where I'll do nothing but try to understand what's going on around me. At least, that's my impression.

NEwho, it's 9:30 am here in Senegal. I arrived at the office at 8 am, according to schedule. They've been pretty good about that so far. But, as for what I'm doing for the rest of the day . . . It is in these moments where Carrie's words "it'll be whatever you make it" become very real. Interestingly enough, though, my supervisor here in Senegal just moved to this office himself a few days ago. So, I think he's trying to get a sense of what to do himself.

Basically, I have the rest of the week to move into my own place (where I'll be permanently, I think), do my own research on anything related to the Sahel and natural resource management, and figure out, hopefully with the help of someone, where to buy food, how to go about eating, obtaining water! (that's a big thing - I have a litre on my desk that I know is safe to drink. After that . . . ) So, I'm thankful sincerely to the Lord that I decided to buy the Purina water droplets. Otherwise, I'm not sure what I would do beyond today. Mind you, that's only good for 120 litres. That won't take too long.

I woke up this morning to the call from the equivalent of the miniaret here in Fatick. It reminded me that, yes, I am in a very muslim country. Pretty eerie, but that's mostly because it's unknown. The sound made me reflect on the reality, though, that there are just as many Muslims in our world as there are Christians and that this is their reality. If they were to come to Canada, can you imagine the culture shock they would have? Just as strong as mine has been so far.

I slept under a mosquito net for the first time last night. The first night I was in a hotel in Dakar and decided against it. "I didn't see any mosquito's" and I sprayed shadows in the room. Not sure if that was rightful logic, though. It just seemed freer of the bugs. Last night, on the other hand, I used different judgment, and will so from here on in.

There was also a cutting out of electricity last night. I never thought I had taken electricity for granted, but arriving at that hostel, in the dark, with all of my luggage, and not having eaten yet (it was 6:30 pm), you should read my journal. There is a motif of despair almost that runs inbetween the words. There will be many more moments like that.

And yet, I lay in my bed, praying to God to help me make sense of my world and I realized the self-centred nature of my prayers and of my perspective. There I was, lying in a bed, with a fan going (electricity was on again), a mosquito net, a stomach full of food. Most of the people in the area outside this city, I assume, don't necessarily have a bed, they don't have electricity, they maybe didn't eat dinner, and if they did what was it? If I think Fatick is a shock, I have to wait until I go into the villages. Like I said, there will be many more moments like that which I've had. The path will just go further into the forest.

Anyways, it's time I try to get some work in. I should try to be proactive with my time. I just thought it would be best to set up a blog first while I had internet and could publish something.

More to come, whenever I get the chance.