"People here are really excited that the U.S. has elected its first black president," Semmes said. "I've been congratulated a lot, and told that this proves that America is a real democracy, and people like to point out that France or another European country would never (at least so far) elect someone of immigrant ancestry. "People really like to look at photo albums here... so when people have a guest over they like to pull out their photo album and show it to the guest, and they especially like pointing out any photos of 'toubabs' they have and telling people that they are friends with a toubab. Some people here have camera phones, and a couple times I've caught people trying to take a surreptitious photo of me while I'm just out in public somewhere, and I'm pretty sure it's so they can brag to their friends about how they're friends with a toubab (even if they don't actually know me). So basically, my experience here has been that everyone loves America and wants to go there and wants to be able to claim an American as their friend."
There have been challenges in Senegal, but Peace Corps experience has been worth it for Rebecca Semmes
There have been challenges, but Peace Corps experience has been worth it
Elizabeth Ayres
Herald-Citizen Staff
Sunday, Dec 14, 2008
Editor's Note: This is Part Two of a two-part series of Rebecca Semmes' experiences as she is currently abroad serving the Peace Corps in Senegal.
TAMBACOUNDA REGION, Senegal -- Rebecca Semmes' Peace Corps service in Senegal will end in a few short months, but she has already made plans to stay in Africa and volunteer with an NGO called Tostan in Djibouti for six months to a year.
"Tostan is an NGO started by a former Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal, and they have a program teaching local language literacy, human rights and democracy in villages, and they also do a lot of work to stop female genital cutting. I'm really excited about their program, and also about going to East Africa. My parents of course would like to know when I'm going to start getting paid for working again, and I do hope to get a real paycheck again someday, but right now, as long as I can afford it (which won't be much longer) doing something interesting is more important to me."
While in Senegal, Rebecca Semmes has experienced many unforgettable moments, some good and others not so good. One of the scariest experiences she encountered was being chased by a bandit. Luckily, she was on bike and got away safely. But she says that the good experiences outnumber the bad ones.
"Highlights for me tend to be relatively small things in my village, like the first time my sisters were having a conversation with each other and I actually was able to understand them, or the time 'my' baby stuck a rock in his ear, and I had to tie him onto my back and bike him to the hospital 20 kilometers away because his mother was too busy with chores to take him and she doesn't know how to ride a bike.
"The most challenging part of being here, contrary to what I think most people expect, has absolutely nothing to do with not having running water or electricity or having to eat the same not-so-delicious food every single day. The hardest part is about how I am treated here and figuring out how I can fit into the community. When I first got here I was treated like a child because I could barely talk to people and didn't know (or they assumed I didn't know) how to do a lot of things for myself, like cooking and laundry... Thankfully, my language and other skills improved (although my sisters still think I can't wash clothes properly), and teaching classes got me a lot more respect, so that problem finally resolved itself... And it is hard to be seen as the rich 'toubab' ("white person," "foreigner") and have friends and host family members and strangers all asking for money and presents, and obviously not always be able to give them what they want."
Another momentous occasion for Semmes was experiencing the recent American presidential election from another country's perspective. With the swirl of political press encapsulating the globe, she really got a feel of what other nations feel about the U.S.
"People here are really excited that the U.S. has elected its first black president," Semmes said. "I've been congratulated a lot, and told that this proves that America is a real democracy, and people like to point out that France or another European country would never (at least so far) elect someone of immigrant ancestry.
"People really like to look at photo albums here... so when people have a guest over they like to pull out their photo album and show it to the guest, and they especially like pointing out any photos of 'toubabs' they have and telling people that they are friends with a toubab. Some people here have camera phones, and a couple times I've caught people trying to take a surreptitious photo of me while I'm just out in public somewhere, and I'm pretty sure it's so they can brag to their friends about how they're friends with a toubab (even if they don't actually know me). So basically, my experience here has been that everyone loves America and wants to go there and wants to be able to claim an American as their friend."
Sooner or later, Rebecca Semmes will return to her home country with many stories to tell and lessons to reflect upon in the future.
"There are the lessons I hope that I've learned, like how much stuff I don't need to survive or to be comfortable, and things I've learned about myself -- I've never thought of myself as being tough, but I know now that I can bike 80 kilometers in a day, or 40 with a baby tied on my back, and I can share a living space with mice and lizards and cockroaches, and I can go to a completely new environment where I don't speak the language or know how to do basic everyday things and I know I'll be fine.
"But even more important to me than those lessons is that 'Africa' and 'the third world' and statistics about literacy or malaria are about real people to me now. Literacy is about my 28-year-old sister Mbalou who was never given the chance to go to school and is completely illiterate, but who is determined that her three kids are going to go all the way to university. Malaria is about a little boy named Nfansu who would have died if they hadn't loaded him on a donkey cart and taken him 10 kilometers away to the health post in the middle of the night.
"As I said before, I'm not sure I'm going home just yet. I want to go to Djibouti and volunteer with Tostan for a while, helping them run their program on literacy and human rights and stopping female genital cutting. But after that, I want to go home and spend some time with my family, and enjoy eating American food and walking around on carpeted floors without shoes. And then I'll have to try to find a job where I can actually get paid -- hopefully still doing something related to development and humanitarian assistance, but we'll see."
And she also wants to extend her experience to friends and family in the States, those who can help these nations from the comforts of their own homes.
"Peace Corps has a program called Peace Corps Partnerships, which is basically a formal way for volunteers to get financial assistance for projects from their family and friends -- and strangers -- in the United States," Semmes said. "The way it works is that the volunteer writes a project proposal, and then the Peace Corps staff look it over and decide if it looks like a worthwhile project. If they approve it, then information about the project gets posted on the Peace Corps Web site with information on how people can donate to the project.
"I'm in the process of writing a proposal to get bicycles and gardening equipment for a Health Workers' Association that works in my area. The bikes are to make it easier for the health workers to travel from one village to the next to do their activities, which involves teaching health lessons to the villagers and cleaning weeds and trash out of the villages to limit mosquito breeding, prevent cholera outbreaks and reduce the risk of wildfires, and the gardening equipment is to help them expand their gardening projects. So far, they have started a mango orchard. They're going to sell the produce from their orchard and future garden to help finance their health activities. The project proposal isn't quite done yet, but it should be up on the Web site -- and accepting donations! -- within a few weeks."
