1/8/96
Its been a while since I've written in a journal of any sort. I'm not sure why I quit-I don't know what else to do right now. I'm much more inclined to write when I'm miserable.
My moto broke again today. It worked for approximately 10 miles after we spent $230 fixing it.
My forgerons can't build the Treadle Pump my villagers have been waiting months for because they need training and don't have the proper tools.
I'm frustrated by my psuedo-relationship with Betsy. I've been damned lonely for a year, but no hope of a relationship is better than this waiting for her to come see me when she feels like it. I still don't have anyone when I need them.
I pushed my moto 2 miles or so today. An unwise boy mocked me and demanded I give him 100 ouguiyas. (Politically incorrect response here.) He's lucky I didn't kill him.
Though I have a lot of hopes here, I am immensely frustrated right now. We are trying to build a chain and washer pump here in Rosso, but the guy in charge seems more interested in taking pictures of the thing than working on it. I guess he doesn't want to get his hands dirty.
It is now 4pm, three hours after I last wrote. I'm in a better mood now, though I can't justify why. I think I'll go drink and eat with the French military tonight, if for nothing else other than booze, good food, and the chance that Betsy won't find me waiting at my house if she goes looking for me.
I just discovered that for twenty ouguiyas, I can take a taxi for the two miles from one side of town to the other, avoiding pesky kids and the drying sun. It is winter here now, and damn near one hundred degrees.
I find that almost always when I am in a really pissy mood, I am dehydrated and a quart or two of water and a little rest always helps.
Since I've been so lazy, it is my duty to catch up here. We have yet to make any pumps, but we (myself, Peace Corps and ATI of Senegal, US, and Mali) are going to try and coordinate a training to make good Treadle Pumps. I gave up on the fancy drip irrigation stuff, and now just want to spray the gardens directly from the pump. But, I can't find hose big enough to do it. And now, I don't think I'll subsidize pump purchases to individuals, because that has been proven to kill the market individuals won't buy them if they think us foreigners will come help them-they'll wait instead. Now, I'm thinking about including only schools, cooperative gardens, and community water sources: high visibility for advertising, high impact.
I'm going to have some pissed off people in the village, because they were looking forward to a good price on the pumps. However, maybe we can work out a financing plan with them where they get the pumps but don't pay for them until their crops come in. That just might work out for the better in the end, but right now its going to be painful. Oh well, I'm learning a hell of a lot and doing the best I can.
1/7
Planted the tops of Pineapple plants in the village school garden.
Moto runs.
1/8
Moto is broken. Clutch disk?
Ate dinner with Patrice, the French military in Rosso.
1/9
A bat was flying around my room, hopefully eating mosquitoes.
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1/11
Went to St. Louis again, this time with Betsy.
1/14
The weld on the school treadle pump broke.
1/15
Replaced the pump with one from Rosso.
1/18
Had a party at my House. Fried mullet
bought in town. Invited Pam over. Tried to give her schisto.
1/20/96 Breun
Boy, I'm doing such a good job with my journal. Betsy has been around a lot, and I guess I'm less inclined to write now that I have someone I can verbally share the stories of my life with.
As with any new relationship, life has been up and down. I'm still waiting on word from Carla on what to do my pump project. My guys in Rosso are going to be trained by a Senegalese who makes the pumps across the river in Richard Toll.
The weather here is pretty cool right now. At night its been in the low 60's. Its still in the eighties or nineties in the afternoon, but its only for a couple of hours or so. Its too cold to ride Betsy's moto in shorts and T-shirt now.
I've been shitty about writing. As Wes knows, I write the most when I'm lonely and bored. I haven't been lonely much lately, thanks to Betsy. For the past twelve days or so, things have been pretty good between us. It is still strange, because neither of us is really sure what to do, as we're both used to being alone, and we both feel we should be spending more of our energies toward Africans than we are now. I think the problems will soon solve themselves, as I am about to become pretty busy with work, and when Wayne comes, I won't be so damned dependent on her for support.
The #1 E string broke on my guitar-send more strings! I haven't been playing it much lately, but I am getting back into it. I don't like playing it around other white people-just by myself and with the Africans-they don't know that I suck.
We had a party at my house on Tuesday the 16th. We had New England Corn Chowder for dinner-it was great. We had cheese omelets for breakfast, with mullet fried in beer batter. It was great! A can of corn in Rosso costs about $2. The mullet costs about 40 cents a pound.
I still don't have a moto. And I don't know when or if the Peace Corps will ever get me one.
2/9/96
I've got a moto, a "50" like I had wen Wes was here. Actually, it runs pretty good. It is Ben's old bike. I got it while I was in Nouakchott buying supplies for the Treadle Pumps.
Life here is up and down, up and down. The relationship with Betsy has been weird-sometimes it is great, other times it isn't. I think a lot of it has been because this is the first time she has ever fallen in love with somebody. Gosh, I'm a hell of a man! And, she's been sick with diarrhea for the past three months, and she's had these bad, unexplained body aches. Similar, I think, to arthritis, it all started when she got malaria in Kenya three years ago. She's going to Dakar to get a bunch of tests this week. She's been really worried about it, sometimes saying she thinks its some dire disease. Hopefully, she'll find out soon-That it's not deadly!
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