Packing complete and Barrelponics?

I leave for DC on Saturday March 5th, and I'm all packed up (thanks for the help mom)!

I really wanted to keep it to three bags, but my stuff kind of overflowed. Against strong warnings from current PCVs I packed more than "a few" books (about 10). I'm having too much fun with my guitar so that's a keeper. I have lots of spices, tea, nuts, dried fruit, and I'm waiting for Amazon.com to deliver a huge amount of Pretzel and Dark Chocolate Peanut M&Ms.
I'm also bringing a nifty solar charger to charge my mp3 player and to charge batteries. I really hope i can wheel this big bag around most of the time or I'm in trouble...

There may be a good amount of biking over there, but I've decided not to pack padded bike shorts or gloves. I think that may be overdoing it and I have to stop packing somewhere! Current PCVs working in agriculture (AGs) or environmental education (EEs) have to bike from village to village, usually 5-10 km away, over dirt roads, over sand, through grass and bush and rivers to speak to farmers about their crops and offer suggestions on improved farming technique, among other tasks. I am not going to be an AG or an EE, but rather a Water and Sanitation/Health Volunteer, so I may not have to bike as much. I really hope I don't regret not taking padded bike shorts...




I've been researching potential sustainable/easily replicable secondary projects to do. People do many fun things as their secondary projects such as beekeeping, raising chickens, building houses (just one guy pulled that off), etc. A few months ago I went to a party celebrating Jimi Hendrix. I sat on the couch because in my state it looked very comfortable and spoke to a girl named Amy for an hour or so. She told me about what she does in Colorado, something called Aquaponics. Aquaponics is a system for growing plants organically using the waste fish produce as food. You feed the fish, they poop and pee, and their waste is absorbed by the plants as food. The water in the plant bed gets to a point and flushes back into the fish tank. Recently she has hooked me up with an aquaponics guru and he has given me a pdf guide on building a "barrelponics" system. The guide is written by Travis W. Hughey.

This image is from the pdf guide written by Travis W. Hughey. http://www.aces.edu/dept/fisheries/education/documents/barrel-ponics.pdf


This particular barrelponics system shown above is used to grow vegetables organically, although not enough to sustain a family alone. You can also use it to raise fish at the same time. The system shown above has held 4 tilapia at a time that Mr. Hughey has grown up to 1/2lb. in size. Depending on the fish you raise, you can eat the fish once they've grown too big. The soil quality in Senegal varies region to region, but among major national concerns are soil degradation, soil salinity and desertification. If it's sustainable, relatively easy to build and maintain and thus relatively replicable, I think a system like this has potential. Scaled up to the size of a greenhouse this system could hit those two marks that allow all projects success; it would look cool and it would save/make people money.

I have another idea for a solar powered water pump, but I'm trying my best to hold off my research until I conduct my needs assessment at my volunteer site. I shall sit tight and practice my Wolof and guitar until Tuesday when I arrive in Senegal and learn more about what's I'm getting myself into.

If anyone knows anything about aquaponics or has a sustainable and replicable project to suggest please don't hesitate to contact me!

enjoy america for meeeeeeeeeee

I've noticed that emails with current PCVs usually close with something along the lines of please enjoy america and eat a lot of food! After hearing this for the first time I had heeded the words and started eating at my favorite places. I've gained like 10 pounds, but every day is something old and true, something that I won't be able to have for two years (but I will try to replicate as best I can, for sure!). Last night was the awesome pakistani or bangladeshi spot Roti Boti for the second time in 4 days, but something went horribly wrong. I asked for the Tandoori chicken skewers with lentils over rice and one naan, and instead of getting the chicken he grabbed two fried baseball sized pucks.

My bewildered response went a little like this:

COSTA: "No no I wanted the chicken on the skewers, but what is that?"
ROTI MAN: "You'll like this try something new. Ground chicken and lentils."
ROTI MAN smiles and puts the two pucks in the microwave


Well guess what?! THESE THINGS HURT! They are so spicy, its like im eating spice, and they sprinkled powdered chicken and lentil flavoring on it. I felt bad ass eating one last night but I didn't feel bad ass in the bathroom this morning. Or... in a manner of speaking I did feel really, really bad ass in the bathroom this morning.

So another lesson safely learned the hard way. Safely because I didn't die and I was in my own bathroom, I'll try to not let this happen in my village in Senegal where instead of AM radio to console me I'll have a goat and a kid staring at me.

Brief intoduction to my assignment

Instead of purchasing a puzzle to practice patience (refer to last post), I purchased a travel guitar. I figure it'll add a little structure to my day because I have to practice a little every day to not be totally annoying to others. It's not as hard as I thought to learn basic chords, can pretty much play one of my favorite songs now, Four Winds by Bright Eyes. I'm still working on the singing while playing part.

March 7th I'll be joining my fellow Senegal Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) at our Staging event in Washington DC. I've already received two booklets, one explaining the work being done in Senegal and one explaining my assignment as a Water and Sanitation Education/Health Education volunteer. Their descriptions may change, but I'd like to share them. First, allow me to (copy another blogger's idea and) list the three objectives of the PC and the Core Expectations:

The Peace Corps' mission has three simple goals:

1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

Core Expectations:
1. Prepare your personal and professional life to make a commitment to serve abroad for a full term of 27 months
2. Commit to improving the quality of life of the people with whom you live and work; and, in doing so, share your skills, adapt them, and learn new skills as needed
3. Serve where the Peace Corps asks you to go, under conditions of hardship, if necessary, and with the flexibility needed for effective service
4. Recognize that your successful and sustainable development work is based on the local trust and confidence you build by living in, and respectfully integrating yourself into, your host community and culture
5. Recognize that you are responsible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for your personal conduct and professional performance
6. Engage with host country partners in a spirit of cooperation, mutual learning, and respect
7. Work within the rules and regulations of the Peace Corps and the local and national laws of the country where you serve
8. Exercise judgment and personal responsibility to protect your health, safety, and well-being and that of others
9. Recognize that you will be perceived, in your host country and community, as a representative of the people, cultures, values, and traditions of the United States of America
10. Represent responsibly the people, cultures, values, and traditions of your host country and community to people in the United States both during and following your service


My specific assignment (on paper) is Water and Sanitation/Health Educator. From what I've heard from current volunteers, this description is not to be taken too strictly. One volunteer said I may not hear the phrase "water and sanitation educator" ever again, but I'll sum it up about identical to how its written:

I will be working as an educator, a facilitator, a catalyst, a liaison and a mentor to assist my community members to work collectively and individually to (1) Address the major environmental health and nutrition problems of the area through non-formal education and community actions. Environmental health includes access to potable water, improved sanitation conditions, hygiene education, solid waste management, prevention of mosquito-borne diseases, access to clean energy, land restoration and tree planting etc. (2) Improve the health of vulnerable groups (mothers, babies, and children) through the implementation of communication for behavior change strategies and the promotion of good health strategies.

There is an intensive 8 weeks of training before I'm installed in my volunteer site, which will most likely be a village of 150-5000 people. When installed I will conduct a survey to assess the environmental health and nutrition conditions of my community and school, and the key health indicators. After three months of settling into my new home for the next two years, I will design and begin to implement projects and plans.

There are lots of unknowns for right now, and so much to look forward to. And it's not all work! After reading lot's of blogs of current volunteers I'm happy to say I found volunteers that play Magic The Gathering, a volunteer that wants someone to bring Settlers of Catan (ill bring it if I can fit it), volunteers that have built pizza ovens and have grown watermelons, and past volunteers that have done beekeeping. To quote the immortal (literally, I think) Sam Beckett (the physicist, not the playwright), oh boy!