Peace Corps volunteer Jessica Daniel gets an education while working in Mauritania
Peace Corps volunteer gets an education while working in Mauritania
By GEORGE MORRIS
gmorris@theadvocate.com
Advocate staff writer
Like many people who travel overseas, Jessica Daniel wanted to do more of it.
"Studying abroad in Ireland for three months and also in France for six weeks really gave me the chance to see how different a culture appears when you are a part of it or when you are just a tourist," said Daniel. "I also wanted a challenge and to do something different."
She found it in the Peace Corps.
Since June, Daniel, who is from St. Francisville, has been working in Mauritania, a country in northwest Africa. She is on a two-year assignment teaching a variety of subjects, including computers, and working as a trainer at a women's sports center. After 10 weeks of training in Kaedi, she lives in Atar, a city of about 30,000, in the northern part of the country.
It took no time at all for Daniel to see that Mauritania -- which includes the western edge of the Sahara Desert and whose population is entirely Muslim -- is nothing like anywhere she'd been.
"In ways it is hard to remember those first days, but at the same time, there are so many things about them I will never forget," said Daniel, who responded to questions by e-mail. "Getting off the plane to immediately be greeted by kids asking for presents, seeing unbelievable amounts of trash in the streets -- there is very little organized trash disposal system here -- seeing the goats and sheep run around in the street. Then arriving in Kaedi, our training site, and having to eat with my hands and have oil drip down to my elbow then to have to use a Turkish toilet and use my hand instead of toilet paper!"
The cultural differences confront Daniel in almost every aspect of life. Some children cry when they see her, terrified by someone with white skin, curly red hair and different clothing. Because she is an American, Mauritanians commonly assume she is a spy or a Christian missionary.
As in many non-Western countries, there is no set price on anything that is for sale. Everything is subject to bargaining, and it is routine for locals to ask if her own possessions -- like her bicycle -- are for sale. The cultural differences make it easy to unintentionally cause offense.
"I am constantly making cultural faux pas," Daniel said. "Asking people how many children they have here is rude, and saying that a child has grown up a lot since the last time you saw them can be a cultural faux pas if you don't say something like, 'Thanks be to God' or the like after this comment. Also, I have to be very aware not to schedule things at prayer times."
Actually, Daniel had expected the religious difference to have a greater impact than it has. People ask about her faith and if she wants to become Muslim, but when she tells them she is happy as a Christian, they usually let the subject drop.
Mauritania has its share of diversity. The north is influenced by Mediterranean countries like Morocco, while the south has a more black populace, including immigrants from Senegal. The country's development is spectacularly uneven. Everyone has a cell phone, and teenagers do Internet dating at cyber cafés, but paved roads are few.
One constant -- tea. It is a big part of Mauritanian life, quite sweet and flavored with fresh mint. People drink three glasses at every meal, during breaks on long trips -- they bring travel tea sets for the occasion -- and to welcome guests.
"It is also done when you arrive at someone's house to visit," Daniel said. "If you allow them to start, it is considered rude to leave before all three are over. Also, it is used as a courting type activity for young girls who are of marrying age. Her family buys her a very fancy tea set, and when suitors come over, she entertains them and impresses them with her tea set and her tea-making skills."
The people's hospitality impresses Daniel, who said she could walk into a stranger's home and they would greet her and start making tea without asking who she was and why she was there. To do otherwise would be rude in their culture. She has learned not to compliment women on their clothing or jewelry because they will insist on giving it to her -- and expect the same in return for their compliments.
"The people here will give you anything -- seriously, the shirt off their back if you ask for it," Daniel said.
Daniel's computer students at the technical college range in age from 16 to 40, and she teaches mostly Microsoft Word and Excel. She teaches three classes a week, each to a different group of students, only about a third of whom are literate in the Latin alphabet. After lunch, most businesses close from about 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. After 4, Daniel performs various jobs -- teaching geography and culture at the Peace Corps-run Girls Mentoring Center, working as a fitness trainer and teaching English to adults two nights a week.
Daniel has done a lot of learning herself, much of it by creating relationships across vast language and cultural divides. She hopes the reverse is true.
"I think most of the results will come long after I have left Mauritania, but I do feel like I am making a difference," she said. "I think I show the girls at our mentoring center than a woman can be young, unmarried, well-educated and have a job and not have to focus on a family and home life at such a young age. I also think I teach people to be a bit more organized, professional, efficient by my actions and the way I prepare lessons and interact with others.
"I also think my presence makes people interested in traveling some and seeing the world. Many people never think about getting out of Mauritania, but after getting to know me, many are more interested in what's out there. Many people here think that all white people come from one place and don't really understand the difference between America and France, so small conversations regarding things like that definitely make a difference. I think most of the differences I make or changes are small, individual and might not mean a lot, but perhaps one day there will be a girl from one of my classes who remembers me, my headstrong ways, and a few conversations we had and decides she too can go to college and get a job, etc.
"In general, the experience is so rewarding, and I think once I am gone, I will realize that much more. I have met some amazing people and had the chance to experience a culture from a perspective most people will never dream of. Also, it has been very rewarding personally. I have learned a lot about myself and my limits and my abilities to change."
