2005-07-28 - 2:23 a.m.

SECOND uploaded entry for today! Click on "older" to the left to view the previous entry.

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I did end up going to Kaedi to meet the new trainees and to facilitate a session for the Small Enterprise Development group.

Limnaye came with me. Originally just to keep me company and take a few days off from Magta Lahjar, also to purchase some tie-dyeing materials for the cooperatives (they're actively working, going through the supplies we gave them and re-investing in their new business!!!)... but then she was invited to speak with me on her role as "a very active and committed counterpart". It was great to have her there with me and I think the trainees also enjoyed seeing a "real life example" of volunteer interaction with counterparts and examples of projects (I had prepared a powerpoint presentation about feasibility studies - what they are, how to conduct them, as well as how to teach them... with a short intro on the recent tie-dyeing project and photos from it).

This year's group of trainees seems to be very excited, optimistic, and energetic. Hopefully they will stick around throughout the entire training time... or at least, most of them! Unfortunately after the first two days of "homestay" with the local families we had already "lost" two new trainees who decided to go back to the US.

One of them was actually on my same plane to Paris!

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Yup... I left Africa and woke up in Europe on July 13th!!!!

I am still in Italy at the moment, enjoying family, friends, food, the lake, lushous greenery, pubs/bars/restaurants/stores, sand-free spaces, my comfy bed and pillows... and the fresh delicious smell of laundry!!!

I must say it was hard to adjust to not being allowed to litter anywhere anytime!! And even harder walking through the aisles of over-stocked grocery stores... I felt quite disoriented in front of all that abundance and thinking about the huge disproportion in wealth distribution I witnessed on my own skin. At the same time, with mixed feelings that included guilt, I "wished" to come back to all this abundance once my service will be over... as opposed to continuing on to other assignments in developing countries, at least under the same "volunteer" conditions (as opposed to salaried expat conditions... much more at ease!). Having those thoughts and feelings put me on shaky ground for the first few days... I guess it was just a natural part of re-adjustment.

Now I must admit, as my departure comes closer, that I am looking forward to going back to Mauritania... to see the people I miss and also to live that peaceful, simple and rewarding life for a little more time! Maybe knowing that friends and family will soon be coming to visit also makes it easier for me to leave again - it even makes it a bit more exciting: I can't wait to REALLY be able to share my experience with loved ones, to really have someone back home who can fully relate to my experience here... I'm looking forward to their visits!

Love and hugs,

Jordy

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