The Color Orange

Good news! My regionmate, Justin’s, fencing project has been fully funded! A friend of his is a journalist and wrote an article. In a single day, the project received as much money as it had in three months. That is so cool and makes me really happy. Fencing is such a simple idea, but very important here where animals and the elements destroy structures with great frequency. Plus, many communities lack the technical skill to build effective fencing. The fact that Justin can make an impact on a basic need level renews my own sense of initiative. Girls’ Education is a much more complex issue, but if I can break it down a bit, maybe I can actually accomplish something. Though, in the end it’s not about me!

The picture above is from one of our sport days with the GMC girls in Aioun. They’re doing yoga, or trying! There is a girl’s basketball team sponsored by the community in M’Bagne, but only Pulaar girls play and they don’t have alot of resources (their court is packed earth with wooden hoop posts). There are several Moor girls in the center and they are not allowed to participate in organized sports, especially if men are around. The sport days in Aioun worked because it was just the girls and female volunteers in a walled compound. I want to start doing indoor sports at the center. We have some jump ropes and can play music for dancing but I want to get a large table and solicit someone from home (hint, hint) to send table tennis paddles and balls. That would be a perfect sport for the girls, easy to do in a veil, indoors. It’s competitive and requires coordination. We are also going to start crotchet, soon, inshallah. I have seen many women (and men) in M’Bagne doing crotchet. Makes me think I should learn! It looks so easy and quick!

Anyway, I’m ready to buckle down for the next two months until International Women’s Day March 8th. Hopefully we’ll have a big, awareness-raising party in M’Bagne. After that I’ll go to Nouakchott to get my cat fixed, go north to Atar for the marathon, then back to Nouakchott for our Close of Service (COS) conference. I can’t focus beyond that. Oh, and filling out the FAFSA! Yeay! So much fun!