The Color Orange

The countdown is on-the Néma Girls’ Mentoring Center will be open for business April 6th, inshallah! My new boss at the Women’s Ministry is highly motivated and is making my project a priority for her first few weeks on the job. With the aide of Hawa and another Mauritanian volunteer, Lalla Meriem (Lallyé), I think it will all come together. It’s exciting and scary, but mostly I’m reveling in having so much work. Keeps me out of trouble, smaat? (smaat=you with me? in Hass). So many of my friends and family members have been extremely generous to me and my site mates already, but that doesn’t keep me from asking for more!

All of the following are for the center:
Maps and posters of the world/culture/art
Craft items (colored pencils, markers, glitter, beads, yarn, thread, old magazines, scissors, pretty much anything!)
Science and Math textbooks, magazines, or activity books

I appreciate anything anyone chooses to send to help me, truly. Surprises are wonderful! But I can get by, while the kids here have so little in terms of school supplies and graphics. New, used, horribly out of date, I’m not picky!

And here’s a challenge anyone can meet: Shoot me an email with your name (first only is fine), city, state (or country), and the names of the most important women in your life and why you chose them. I have a world map and a map of the US to put up in the center so the girls can see where you’re writing from. I’ll post paper copies of your responses. English is fine (let me know if you object to me translating it into French) or French or Arabic if you got it! I want responses from men and women of all ages! Thanks in advance!

1. Whatever possessed you?!?!
I still maintain the “quarter life crisis” reason, but the truth is I love to travel and see new places, meet new people. If I had taken a year after college to travel the world I might not be in Peace Corps. Even so, the longer I am here, the more convinced I am that this is right. We shape our lives by how we react to and embrace change and opportunity.
2. So, what do you really do?Currently I am planning the opening for our Girls’ Mentoring Center in Nema. I’m busy asking for money, buying supplies and furniture, dealing with a spastic kitten, dealing with spastic Mauritanians, adjusting to a new boss (the coordinator at the Women’s Ministry changed recently), and adjusting to the heat. Really, the lion’s share of the job is creating and maintaining relationships. I could spend 24/7 just doing that.
3. Why do you wear a veil/cover your head/live in a crappy house?
All in the name of integration. Because we are volunteers and don’t have loads of money to throw around, we need to show the locals that we are living and working as they do (sort of) in the hope that they accept us and eventually will be willing to volunteer as well.
4. Are you going to marry a Mauritanian?
My stock answer (very acceptable around here) is “c’est pour Dieu à decider,” that’s for God to decide. I was voted “second most likely to marry a Mauritanian” by my training class but since there is usually only one woman per class to do so, I’m off the hook! I have met very few Mauritanian men, thus far, who even slightly interest me. Most aren’t worth a dried goat hoof--kinda like home.
5. Are you going to marry a fellow volunteer?
Not likely, unless there’s someone in the 2008 class. (Hope springs eternal)
6. Is religion a problem?Not really. I feel disconnected from the Christian community, especially now during Holy Week, but I can count on one hand the number of times I have felt pressured to convert. The mulafa may actually be a shield. Some people assume I’m a Muslim because I wear the veil. A couple times a week I get questions about my faith. Most are fine with the answer that ‘no, I’m a Christian.’ Some even want to compare notes! (“You Christians do such n’ such. Is it anything like the whatchamacallit we do?”)
7. What languages do you speak?
Every day I use Hassaniya and French. English as well, because it is taught in the local schools and a number of people can at least greet in English. I probably use French the most because, at least with educated people, it is the easiest way to accurately express myself. It’s a crutch and means my Hassaniya isn’t getting better, but I’d rather be understood!
8. Read any good books lately?
I’m reading more here than at home, mainly because there’s no tv or Target. Probably the most significant book so far has been Peter Hessler’s River Town about his Peace Corps experience in China. I read it during training and it is amazing how similar the feelings and experiences are. As I go along, I can identify stages in my own life that he aptly described. It’s comforting and fascinating to know that every volunteer, every expat, is walking the same difficult road.
9. Will you write a book about your experience?
Probably not. I journaled almost daily during training, but have not done so since. I should, but should doesn’t mean will. Actually, blogging has been a great way to highlight some of my experiences, so far.
10. Are you a CIA operative/a citizen of the UK/French/an Australian miner/close personal friends with Hilary Clinton and/or Barack Obama?
No to all of the above, though HC and I share a birthday and are graduates of women’s colleges.
11. If a tree fell in the woods and nobody heard it, would it make a sound?
I think the answer is yes, but it’s a moot point here because there are no forests.
12. Any travel plans?
Yes! I live for travel!!!!! (probably another reason I’m still single!) I will be in Saint Louis, Senegal for their Jazz Fest in May, inshallah, France in July with my family, maybe South Africa next Christmas if I can capitalize on a family connection, and summer of 2009 I plan to drive from Nouadhibou along the west coast through Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya(?), and then cross the Mediterranean to Sicily, then fly home from Italy. That’s a big inshallah!
13. What are you going to do after saving the world (i.e. Peace Corps service)?I continue to think about Haiti and working with the Haiti-Micah Project. When I get back stateside, I would like to get TOEFL certified and perhaps get a degree in international development. There is a program at the U of Indiana Bloomington that would allow me to study Creole at the same time. If I could get a scholarship that would be a great avenue. I’ve also though about teaching, probably secondary school, or perhaps sitting for the Foreign Service Exam again. I have another year and a half, but the end of service will be here before I know it! Unless I decide to do a third year . . .

Sung to the tune of "Camptown Races"

I've got a cat that you all know,
Dinah, Dinah (pronounced dee-na)
I've got a cat that you all know,
Dinah, Dinah cat!

Dinah, Dinah cat, hey!
Dinah, Dinah cat
I've got a cat that you all know,
Dinah, Dinah cat!

We're going on two weeks together, now, and are both still alive, which I take as a good sign. Dinah is from a recent litter of my friend, Aurore's cat. Aurore is a Belgian volunteer here in Nema with Sante Sud, a French ONG. Dinah enjoys meowing, almost constantly, eating canned sardines, and knocking over the trashcan. Yeah, it's the good life. ;)