Slowly, in Segou

It took me about a week, but I am now pretty much settled into the next part of my summer as a volunteer with 10,000 Girls in Segou, a very, very small village in southeastern Senegal. It took almost 15 hours to get from Dakar to Segou on Monday, and several different types of transportation, since our car broke down in the middle of nowhere after driving for about 8 hours. Luckily, I was with another American volunteer and we made our way to Segou, but not without a lot of bargaining in French and waiting for cars, drivers, and animals to get moving.

The village is so small that its center is delineated only by a slightly larger clearing with a small shack that says Telecommunication, but doesnt actually sell anything. The village is made up of family compounds which have a few thatched huts each, where people cook and sleep, though most sit and work under trees in the shade during the day. I am staying at the 10,000 Girls Welcome Center that is still in the middle of being built. My room is a large thatched hut with some bunk beds, a small window, and a bathroom. We are in the mountains, which means our water supply is very clean and abundant, which is really great. We only have solar power, which means that during the rainy season; in which we are now, there is not much electricity. The pace of life here is slow, so slow. Everything we do, from eating meals to gardening to teaching the local girls, takes many discussions, phone calls, and waiting.

The best part of this week was meeting the group of teenage girls in Segou who are in the program. Two of the American volunteers here are teaching them English conversation, and I am teaching art. We had our first art lesson on Thursday, which turned out to be really eye opening. Of the thirty girls, from about 10 to 18 years old, none of them had seen a paintbrush, paints, crayons, or colored clay before. We basically just spent an hour experimenting and playing. Normally the classroom, which is just a concrete square, is silent because the girls don't understand the English lesson. This time, the classroom was silent with concentration while we were playing with art materials. Hopefully in the next two weeks we will be able to finish the photography project I brought. Since nothing here happens easily, it is relatively difficult to make sure everyone is at the same place at the same time. We will see!