Nder is a small traditional village of 600 inhabitants in the northernmost part of Senegal, a half hour trip to the Mauritanian border.  The extended village stay was what ultimately sold me on Living Route’s Senegal semester program.  The village would be the setting for the practical application of all that we had learned in the classroom. Since day one, we had become familiar with the nebulous concept of Nder, but the reality always seemed distant.

While my Dad was visiting way back at the start of March, the rest of the group had made a preliminary trip to Nder to ready themselves for the pace of life, as well as assess the village’s needs and collect some preliminary data for the Nutrition and Ecotourism groups to be analyzed in Yoff in preparation for the second, extended stay.  When I rejoined the group, they complained only of the heat, the abundance of rice (and what some claimed was rodent) but generally extolled the village’s virtues—clean air and communal living. 
 
Academically, our first two months in Yoff were divided between Sustainable Development, Ecotourism, Language/West African Literature, and Service Learning—the idea being that, in Nder, the brunt of our time would be dedicated to the continuation of our Service Learning Projects in a different setting while the other three classes would structure our approach towards living in a traditional village.

Prior to leaving, we did a little re-shuffling of the Service Learning groups that had existed in Yoff and ultimately formed five groups:  Organic Agriculture, Ecotourism, Education, Nutrition, and Micro-Credit. 

With a Senegalese partner, Ronald, I had focused on so called organic agriculture for Service Learning since the start of the program.  Though, as organic agriculture is virtually nonexistent in the mainstream Dakar markets, we had shifted our focus to Dakar’s produce markets in the hopes of stipulating where organic may one day find its niche.  We visited Thieroye, the major wholesale market just outside of Dakar, and then Castor, the bustling produce market within the cities bounds, and conducted price surveys at both. 

While I found the intricate and chaotic market system of Greater Dakar fascinating, I was merely observing and had no means by which to act.  Even insofar as interviewing the vendors, Ronald had to do all the talking and writing and I just stood by smiling and watching clouds of flies rise from piles of stinking fish and shiny tomatoes alike.  I looked forward to Nder as an opportunity to get my hands a little dirty, perhaps literally, and fine-tune my sense of the agriculture industry starting at its source: the fields.

Ecotourism would work, aided by Senegal’s Ministry of Tourism, with Nder to create an ecotourist circuit and produce a brochure highlighting Nder’s ecotourist attractions (Senegal’s largest lake/reservoir, the Sacred Baobab Tree, the ancient battlegrounds of Talata Nder where the legend has it the women of Nder burned themselves alive rather than be captured, etc.).

Education would offer some basic English classes.

Nutrition would utilize the Positive Deviance or Hearth approach to combat early childhood malnutrition.  During the first visit, the group had weighed and measured all babies/toddlers, three to twenty-four months of age.  With a simple prick of the babies’ fingers, the group had also tested the babies’ blood iron.  In Yoff, the data was analyzed and each baby was plotted on a growth chart divided into three sections: green, yellow, and red.  Those in the green zone were in good health, those in the yellow zone were in questionable health, while those in the red zone were severely malnourished. 

Positive Deviance takes what could be considered hindrances to good nutrition in small villages—isolation and limited resources—and, allowing that there are at least a few children in the green zone, turns these factors around to illustrate the idea that “it takes a village to raise a child.”  Positive Deviance follows a time-tested protocol utilized by various UN initiatives and NGOS.  The first meeting with the mothers entails simply putting the growth chart up for all to see, explaining its significance, and asking the mothers some leading questions.  Hopefully, what the mothers themselves will conclude is that the answer to providing nutritious meals for their children lies with those mothers whose children are in the green zone.  What follows is ten-day sequence of workshops in which the women, using ingredients from their own homes, cook nutritious meals together.  The mothers with children in the green zone provide recipes for mothers with children in the red zone.  The fundamentals of nutrition are reviewed and the women are encouraged to prepare meat and fish not just for the adults but for the children as well. In facilitating such detailed workshops, Marian would enlist the help of a local nurse as well as a couple of the Senegalese students.  The workshops also stress the importance of early brain development and the women are encouraged to actually talk to their infants (a novel concept!) and provide them with toys other than sticks and sand.  The children who are anemic and subsequently listless are given iron syrup.  The workshops are concluded after three weeks, ample time for the mothers to see a noticeable difference in their children’s behavior, and the mothers receive certificates.

Micro credit struggled to get off the ground and though they had planned to help some of Nder’s farmers in obtaining credit, the group soon realized that identifying and traveling to agencies near Nder would require more time than we ultimately had.  So the group disbanded and joined Ecotourism in their efforts.

And then there was Organic Agriculture.  Prior to our arrival in Nder and for what felt like much of our time in Nder, we weren’t quite sure of our activities or end goal.  We knew we needed to conduct some preliminary research to better understand the system in place and assess in what areas we could be of some use.  However, as far as any kind of conclusive aims, we threw around the idea of initiating a women’s/children’s organic garden, but only if it was something in which the villagers expressed interest. For those interested in our final activities, I will post bits and pieces from our closeout report.

On the whole, each group accomplished its goals.  And some even went above and beyond  what they had hoped to achieve. Ecotourism produced brochures in French, English, Spanish, and German.  And though Nutrition had intended to only give iron syrup to those children that were markedly anemic, when Marian crunched the numbers and discovered that around 85% of the children were moderately to severely anemic, she gave the syrup to all of the mothers.

While I was truly committed to and enjoyed my work in organic agriculture, my most rewarding experience was undoubtedly the time I spent with my family. Just thinking about the Diaws makes me smile. A huge family whose baobab-like family tree I still do not understand, the Diaws, on the whole, spoke little French, but were insistent that I should learn Wolof and patiently instructed me.  As my Wolof improved, my attachment to them grew ever stronger. 

If most Senegalese families bend over backwards to accommodate their guests, the Diaws bent over backwards and inside out. 

Perhaps the most illustrative example of their hospitality would be the Story the Coq. 

But I've already written too much for today, so I'll explain that story later.

Thanks for reading.   The rest of my tales will be less education heavy and more about the experience.