Trees!

After 2 full weeks of hard work, language translation, muddy and poopy hands, Cassie and I just finished planting trees at 4 different schools. We have set up tree nurseries in polysacs and will be outplanting these trees in a couple months when the rainy season begins. At each school, we taught a handful of teachers and hundreds of students how to plant and care for trees, which will be used for shade, wind break, and border fencing. Total trees planted = about 1,000

Today after recuperating from exhaustion and dehydration, we celebrated our hard work by drinking lemonade and Cheez-Its (Thanks Nina!). What’s next? Every couple weeks we have to monitor the health and growth in the nurseries, then come the even harder work of digging 1,000 holes for all 1,000 trees…wish us luck!

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Byron Yee

Peace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009

6 Months of Service!

Nothing much to say, other than I just completed my 6th month of service. Unfortunately, I feel that I have little to show for 6 months of the most challenging job ever. Hopefully in another 6 months, that viewpoint will change...

--Byron YeePeace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009

The Myth of a famous hip hop star

The other day, a boy came up to me and said (in wolof) "Gora, I have a very important question to ask you. Tupac, is he dead or alive?"

This question then sparked a lively discussion (again, in wolof) about how rap artist can die and then release several albums...So even in Senegal, Tupac's legend continues.

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Byron YeePeace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009

Belated Birthday Party

My sitemate, Cassie, forced me to take a break and NOT do any work related activities for a day. So a small group of friends met at our local regional house for a fun and relaxing night.

Event Highlights:

- Watched some movies/TV shows

- Drank a few beers at a local bar

- Beatboxing and Freestyle rapping with Cail (a result of the beer)

- Ate a lovely curry chicken dinner, cooked by Cassie.

- Ate an even more delicious chocolate-peanut butter cake, also thanks to Cassie

- Watched Up!

Special thanks to Cassie for always taking care of me and looking out for my best interests. And thanks to all my PCV friends here who helped me celebrate. It was a wonderful and relaxing day, and now I'm ready to get back to work.

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Byron Yee
Peace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009

Seet Seetal Hopital bi

This past weekend, my counterpart and I launched a program to clean our local hospital at the beginning of every month using local sports club volunteers. Our group was small, but productive and the hospital space is slowly looking better.

More importantly, this small project opened a lot of doors. Now every month, more/different groups of people will try to get involved in the cleaning. Also, next weekend the town is holding a meeting to figure out how to clean up our entire town. AND, this opens another door into developing a waste management program as well.

All good things, which started from a small idea, which came from a Senegalese person, NOT me. Those are all vitally important steps in community development and improvement.

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Byron Yee
Peace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009

What’s on TV ?

What’s better and more fascinating than watching Senegalese music videos on TV? Watching 2 hosts from a Senegalese talk show dance and sing to these popular songs while the original music video is playing on a green screen behind them.

It must be culturally popular and cool as its broadcast nationwide...

Note to self: Master Wolof so I too can have a cool talk show and dance to music videos in between discussions.

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Byron Yee
Peace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009

Independence Day !

Sunday, April 4th proved even busier as this was also the 50^th anniversary of Senegal’s independence.

There was a small parade in my town, which I unfortunately missed due to our church service. But after the service, we all watched the grand parade in Dakar on TV. I had no idea there were so many military forces in Senegal…Also, Senegalese drill teams are way cooler than US drill teams. Sorry America, but these girls certainly know how to drum and dance.

There have been a handful of parties, dances, and concerts throughout the weekend. I missed most of it, mainly due to exhaustion and the unwillingness to stay up ridiculously late. Also, a Chinese-American volunteer in Senegal is bizarre enough without making a scene on the dance floor. Which I tend to do, anywhere in the world…

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Byron Yee
Peace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009

La Pâque

La Pâque: Easter as we know it in English. Easter is always a big and exciting holiday for Christians, and at our Catholic church, there were a long string of traditions and services.

Thursday was “Le lavements des pieds,” the washing of the feet service.

Friday evening was the Good Friday service, which I missed.

Saturday proved to be a “test of faith” as Cassie and I unknowingly sat down through a 3 hour service that went until 1:30am. It was…spiritually exhausting.

Sunday: EASTER! He is risen! After a normal length service, we were invited to a friend’s house for lunch. We were immediately served alcohol (Catholics are allowed to drink, but its forbidden for Muslims) of various types, tastes, and strengths. Then lunch: Friend chicken, potatoes, beans, and onions. It was by far the best and most delicious meal I’ve ever eaten in country. Merci beaucoup, Madame Diouf!

Monday was another party, but I didn’t really receive information about it and was eager to get back to work anyway.

Happy Easter everyone!

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Byron Yee
Peace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009

Bonne Anniversaire à Moi !

I spent my actual birthday vaccinating children, as I found this more important than a huge celebration. Nonetheless, I did take a bit of time with my family to celebrate. We sat around and drank orange soda and delicious Muddy-Buddies all the way from the USA (Thanks Mom!), and sealed the deal with a little dancing. Also, two of my friends struggled through the infamous “Happy Birthday” song in English, which was absolutely charming.

Thanks all for the cards, thoughts, and love! And I will be having an actual party with other PCVs in a couple weeks…

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Byron Yee
Peace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009

Polio Vaccinations: Round 2

Same exact program as before, but with more confusion…Many people didn’t understand that we were re-vaccinated ALL the infants again. Then there were the normal language barriers as many households only spoke Seereer, Pulaar, Toukoulo, and anything other than Wolof. There were also several families who, for lack of a good reason, refused to vaccinate their children.

However after 3 exhausting days, another session of kids successfully vaccinated against Polio.

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Byron Yee
Peace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009

Palm Sunday

This past Sunday at church, we all gathered at a nearby house where people had collected lots of palm leaves. We then processed into our church singing with the palm leaves. Once inside the sanctuary, we waved our palm leaves while saying “Hosanna doomu David!” (Hosanna, son of David!).

For the Christian religion, this was the day that Jesus paraded into Jerusalem on a donkey and the people greeted him with palm leaves.

After this procession, there was a long scripture reading – in Wolof. So my recollection and comprehension went downhill for the rest of the service…Anyway, it was nonetheless a special day and I went home and read about it in an English Bible afterwards.

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Byron Yee
Peace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009