2004-08-18 - 9:56 a.m.

Hi there!

I just came back two days ago from Site Visit in... Maghta Lahjar!!

That is the name of the town where I will be spending the next two years of service as a Small Enterprise Development Agent... Inshallah!

I have a new family assigned to me as community contact and a counterpart whose role is to be easing the integration process.

I felt great throughout my site visit, soaking it all in, getting a feel for the place, culture, and community, finding a house, meeting authorities and officials, getting a feel for the community's immediate needs, etc. But when I came back to Kaedi that's when it hit me: BANG! Culture shock once again!!!!

I suddenly felt the weight of how much more conservative Maghta Lahjar is compared to the more southern, diverse, and open-minded Kaedi.

There are no Puulars, Wolofs, or Soninkes up there, just White and Black Moors (and some sort of racial/political tensions between the two groups). Only two people I met spoke some degree of French, everyone else spoke Hassiniya. No man shook my hand except for two. Some men did not even greet me or talk to me, preferring to talk to my language facilitator instead. The women themselves are very conservative, repeatedly telling me to cover my head even in the house compound and had a fixation with me sitting with my legs crossed... apparently a must-do for proper women here! Small things that, I did not realize while there, actually did get to me...

It will be challenging but also very rewarding - I hope.

Overall, the people I met and had conversations with, seemed very interested and excited to be getting a PEace Corps volunteer in their town. The Mayor's primary focus is for me to work directly with women's cooperatives on literacy/numeracy, accounting/book-keeping, organizational management/conflict management/teamwork, marketing, etc. Additonally, the community seems very interested in learning how to usecomputers... but before I can start teaching a computer class I have to get computers for the town!!! IF anyone comes across any computer-related grants please let me know!

I definitely plan on getting a Girls Mentoring Center started in the High School... Inshallah I will find a local group of women interested in the project enough to be actively involved and make it a "sustainable" project. If any of you know of good books/websites/resources dealing with girls confidence and creativity building activities and initiatives, please pass me the info!

Oh! I forgot to mention, there is no post office or internet cafe' in MAghta LAhjar... but there is electricity and running water (the latter only between 4AM and 8AM)... and it's located on the Road to Hope (the paved road that connects Nouakchott to Nema, which is the last stop before Timbouktu!!! Yes, it really does exist and I am not too far from it, relatively speaking...)

I must go now... it is time for my next training session!

Love to all... Mom, Sheri, Karen, and Nicole: thank you for your letters and packages... I got them! :-) And thank you to all of you who wrote me emails and guestbook messages (huge smile on my face)

Love to all,

Jordy

previous - next