Healthy Thoughts

For once, I don't mean this in a cynical way.

4 of our 5 school gardens have lots of lovely and delicious looking veggies coming up right now. So we invited our friend Albert to give a small presentation on the health benefits of eating vegetables. I followed it up with a lesson on business. 2 days, 4 schools, 4 lessons.

To date, these school gardens are probably the most successful and sustainable project I've done, so many thanks to the schools, my community members, and Albert.

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Byron Yee

Peace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009

To the idiots throwing a late night dance party

Dear jerks who decided to throw another dance party outside my window late the other night, a word of advice...

1. Timing: Start early, end early. 'Nough said there.

2. A DJ does NOT sing along to the music through a mic. That's NOT a dance party, it's karaoke.

3. Music Selection: Although you have managed to create music with a good beat for me to punch my pillow and slap my face to, it's still not danceable music. Also, Shania Twain's original recording is much better than your pathetic cover.

Follow these three recommendations and we will all be much happier and less cranky the morning after...

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Byron Yee

Peace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009

A Tribute to Bob Marley - sort of...

May 11th marked the anniversary of Bob Marley. Senegal and Gambia celebrate by playing lots of his music, which is a little redundant by the evening, but a much appreciated relief from the normal, redundant, all-day Senegalese pop music.

I overheard my brother singing his version of Get Up, Stand Up. (Read below with a meticulous and perverse eye):

"Get up, stand up. Get up for your wife."

Granted, I'm mostly to blame for his silly English (ask him what time it is and he will now respond "Hammer Time!"), but this lyrical mistake was a highlight. Unknowingly and unintentionally, he made an equally important tribute to an equally important person first name Bob and a well publicized medical issue:

Bob Dole and his shameful Erectile Dysfunction.

I've decided NOT to inform or explain his mistake and let Mr. Dole take one for the team on this one.

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Byron Yee

Peace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009

Cashews, yum!

I've been working with an NGO to try to help my community get some technical training and assistance in forming a co-op of cashew produces. So for the past two days I attended sessions on quality control, plantation maintenance, storage procedures, etc all in Wolof. So if you need to know anything about cashews, you'll need to understand wolof before I can explain anything.

The day the trainings officially started, I glanced at my notes and noticed that I first starting working with this group 362 days before and this was the very first tangible result of my work. So, either I just underwent a year-long lesson in patience, or Allah was finally bored of teasing me and full on slapped me in the face...

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Byron Yee

Peace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009

New Cuisine

I thought that after almost 2 years, I'd tried it all. Not so...

There is a large rat the size of the cat, but white like a possum in Senegal. Us PCVs refer to it as a "cat rat." Well, there's been living in my compound for a few months, and one of my brothers managed to catch it. And what does one do with a live animal that serves purpose for farming or labor? Eat it!!

My stomach is strong enough all, and also lacking in protein and iron enough that I didn't think twice about joining in the small (but large for a rat) feast.

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Byron Yee

Peace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009

In Need of a Nanny

Today was a blustery day in Karang, and for some reason I thought of Mary Poppins. Hence this blogpost,

"If Mary Poppins were Senegalese":

- Her name would be Fatou; almost all women have that name.

- Her theme song would be "another spoonful of sugar and you WILL get Type 2 Diabetes. I mean it this time."

- A magic jump into a painting or drawing and one would just be in front of another mosque or a famous Maribou (sorry kids, no merry go round in this fantasy)

- As she floated away in the winds, her umbrella would melt, but her death would not be terrible, she'd die of heat exhaustion during the free fall.

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Byron Yee

Peace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009

A New Theme Park Ride

On my ride home from these meetings, the sun was quickly setting and we were cruising down a dusty past by starlight and weak headlights. The ride reminded me of something that would be in Adventure Land at Disneyland.

Dirt roads, smelly cows, yelping dogs, people popping up and shouting at you, very bumpy ride...

As I stumbled out of the car hours later I though, people pay lots of money to go to theme parks and enjoy these rides for FUN?! Americans are weird...

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Byron Yee

Peace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009

La Couverture Universelle des Moustiquaires

The country's government is currently tackling a program to provide universal mosquito net coverage to every single household in the entire country. This follows the goal to decrease the number of malaria deaths by 80% by 2015. BTW, malaria is the number 1 killer in Senegal.

So, off to the races - sort of. I spent 3 days in 3 all day meetings planning and prepping for this logistical nightmare. After feeling very bored and braindead, I can at least explain the entire program in French.

The powerpoints, speakers, and doodles in my notebook reminded me of college except for the minor difference of:

- The presentations were all in French

- I had no homework assignments

- I was the youngest person by 15+years AND the only Asian American.

--Byron YeePeace Corps Volunteer - Senegal, 2009