Today I took the village truck halfway to Dieuk, 8k away. It was a nice 4k walk there-It was cloudy and not too cold, and I saw 3 camels-my first since I've been here. When I got to Dieuk, I found that Sam did have another innertube, but in the same condition as mine. Ripped apart. I started walking northeast, in the direction of the main road, in hopes of catching a ride there to Rosso. I passed a couple of gardens, and noticed that someone had put in wells in them. Somebody is investing money in this area.

I continued walking, and whereas the land had been flat and barren, indicating a merigot (seasonal waterway/lake) it suddenly rose up in dunes with trees, brushes and grasses. I noticed dark, distinct objects on the ground which reminded of my archaeological finds in Nouakchott. I ran up to them, and sure enough, it was pottery. I have never in my life seen so much, in any of the places that I have been, U.S. or Africa. I walked around for hours, thankful that it was cool and the sun was hidden behind clouds, because I had no water. Many whole or nearly whole pots could have been pieced together from what I saw, and I saw much pottery with interesting designs and some were dyed/painted. I saw so much pottery, I couldn't justify bringing back any of it. However, I did find 20 near-whole ceramic beads, which I kept, 1/2 of some kind of bead or ornament with concentric vertical stripes imprinted with two rows of diamond shapes. I searched further, hoping to find the other half, but was unsuccessful. I also found an eight-facet purple (or blue, I am slightly color-blind!) bead, intact. This was my personal favorite.

I look forward to the possibilities for the next two years, to say the least. I would love to find some whole pots, but I don't know what I would do with them. If I found enough, perhaps we could open a museum in Rosso, perhaps brining in tourism money and fostering an interest in their history by the people who live here. Right now, I just don't know, and I could write forever on why I should and why I shouldn't do something about the things I have found. This country, though very poor now, at one time was very rich in something that native peoples wanted, evidenced by the millions of artifacts I have seen thus far. Today, the people of my village get most of their income by working in the rice fields that the Chinese put in the late 60's. I can't help but wonder what these people would be doing had it not been for the intrusion of the Chinese. My village is less than 1 kilometer from a river, yet my people don't fish. They now have gardens on the river, but they didn't ten years ago. Most of the kids here go to school, but at age 17 or so start work in the rice fields. Their education, in my opinion, is wasted. Perhaps I am being ignorant, and I am sure that I am, because some of the children do go to the university in Nouakchott and/or leave the country, but from what I can see, my village does not see any return on the investment it makes in its children. There are lots of nice concrete homes here, including my own, but they were built mostly by the monetary aid (I think) of foreign organizations. The concrete blocks made by the people here is of the poorest quality imaginable. The blocks crumble in my hands when I lift them up. Had these been properly cured in the nearby water source, so much material and effort would not have been wasted.

1/30/95

(After about ten frustrating days at my village, I packed it up and headed to Nouakchott to do some fact-finding and some rest. Plus a shower: I hadn't bathed since I was last at our Peace Corps house, hereafter the Maison de Passage. I didn't find out much, but I did get cleaned up and get a package from Mom with good stuff in it, i.e. food and flashlights, and I played Monopoly with the Business Development volunteers who were still in training in Nouakchott.)

I have been in Nouakchott five days. They have had some rioting here for an increase in food prices, but it all happened before I got here. It may have made some papers back home- I know it made the Washington Post.

2/3/95

I'm sitting now on the balcony of my house in Breun, overlooking dark purple storm clouds and bright white clouds in the distance illuminated by the setting sun. It rained here today and last night, and as I write I am breathing the cool, moist air from the storm, an experience that occurs too seldom not to relish.

Life is going okay here right now. Each day is filled with a range of emotions, from the frustration of not being able to speak Wolof and being laughed at, to the excitement of the discovery of a new field of pottery. The days seem short, but I wake with the mosque each morning, 6am at the latest, and now, before 4am in the month of February, which is the month of Ramadan. During Ramadan, healthy Muslims do not eat or drink during the hours of daylight, so the man in the mosque starts screaming early in the morning (3:40am yesterday) to get everyone up before the sunrise to eat. Of course, the sun doesn't rise until 7:20 or so, so it does bother me a bit when I am awakened over three hours before sunrise. It really bothers me, and I laugh at the ridiculousness of it. I would move houses, but it is pretty where I live now and peaceful also except for the mosque.

I am studying my Wolof, in the hopes of ending this frustration from not being able to communicate. It really is hard, and it drives me to my room, where I close and lock the door so I don't have to deal with it anymore. I haven't done any work here yet, and my head is filled with ideas of wells and barrel contained water filters and cisterns and windmills. I just don't yet know what to do.

2/4/95

Today was a pretty good day. I took the two flat tires from Sam's moto to town, and got them fixed for 500 u.m. ($4). One inner tube had three holes in it and the other was split (I had a replacement) I went to see Pam, who is the new Rosso Small Business Volunteer. She lives in a Kindergarten, has a bedroom and no electricity. (Which tonight, I finally do: my battery finally charged up. I fixed it by adding water to it, which I wasn't supposed to do.)

I was invited to dinner Babar and Shenez, a French and Ethiopian couple. Shenez is an excellent cook, and the dinner, combined with wine and whiskey was excellent. I stayed until about 10:30, and after trying to wake Pam up to let me stay at her place, I was forced to drive the moto home. The lights don't work very well, so I had to go very; slowly. While driving down the dirt road, I realized that it would be a terrible thing if I had taken the wrong road. Soon thereafter, when I came to a dead-end, I came to the conclusion that indeed I had taken the wrong road. Luckily, the pumping station, which I knew was on the right road, was visibly lit up and not too far away from me. I drove around in the dark for about ten minutes, unsuccessful in my search for a road to take to the station. There was a... I'm tired of this story-I've dragged it out long enough. I tried to drive up a wall. Wrecked. Couldn't get the bike started. Looked with the flashlight (luckily I had one!), discovered I'd knocked the chain off, put it back on. Finally got the bike started, and finally found my way home, about 11:30 at night.

2/6/97

I've been working on my latrine and shower the past couple of days. I burned my garbage, and watched with amazement as the children played with the fire and burned themselves. The little kids here are real intelligent. NOT! I took my first shower in my village today. It was nice. Here, because I haven't had a shower and I don't sweat too much, I haven't really felt the need to shower. But now that I have other volunteers around me. I think I should shower at least once a week.

2/8/95

Worked on my latrine yesterday. Took pictures of me in latrine. Today was pretty good. I went with Sam across the road to Breun-Darou and met some really nice people there, who contrast nicely with the people here who harass me about not being able to speak Wolof. One person who is particularly annoying told Sam that I don't speak Wolof, I don't speak French, I just stay in my room all day. It really made me mad. However, she had said it all in Wolof and I understood everything so my Wolof must be improving (while my feelings for a person here are not.) I set up a meeting with the women of both Breuns for next Monday. I am going to tell them why I am here, and encourage them to come to me with their health questions, wants and needs (in Wolof-that I don't speak!)

2/10/95

Because it is Ramadan, and people here don't eat lunch (and I'm running low on cash) I've been eating all of my extra snacks. If you want, I would like some more stuff like soup packets, flavorings for stuff, Kool-Aid and other stuff that is light. Plus, the rats get into the heavier foods like candy bars and sausage.

I haven't shaved in a couple of weeks, and I haven't had a haircut since the beginning of December. I have been showering though, so I haven't become a total scuzz. I even brush my hair every now and then. I played football with the kids this morning. I had fun, and they enjoyed it too. Not real football, really just keep away. I think real football is too complex for them.

2/11/97

A French teacher from Rosso and his wife, Catherine and Lauren Banzel came by my village and picked me up last night. We went to a Baptism, and then had a few drinks at their house while we talked about corruption here and other stuff. I slept in a real bed and had a fan blowing on me all night. The mosque didn't even wake me up. Gosh, I wish I was living like this instead of my village, but then I wouldn't be roughing it.

2/12/95

After spending a couple of nights with a French couple where I ate and talked and slept well, I returned to my village after several hours in Rosso buying shell to make concrete, nails, boards and screen. I and some boy whose name I don't know built screens for my windows and they worked real good. My windows open out, so I had to make removable screens. Ate dinner with Khady and the boy (I found out his name was M'cheikh or something) and their family, and when Khady asked me something and I asked her to repeat it, the boy turned to her and said "deggul " which means "he doesn't speak French. " I nearly strangled him, but instead of physically attacking him, I told them how upset it made me when people say things like that, etc, etc... I don't think he'll make that mistake again. is the same boy who last week was left alone in my room, my candied pecans that Aunt Dot sent me disappeared, and later he said "the kids did it." It really pissed me off that he lied, but I can't really blame him for eating them since he fasts all day long.

2/13/95

Woke up a bit congested, worked in my room. Sam came over about noon for our meeting with the village women at 4pm, which didn't occur because of a funeral in the village. It turns out the man that died lived right behind me. He was older, but no one knew why he died-here, they never do. It was the first funeral I have witnessed here. I didn't eat with anyone tonight-I felt bad and in. I read a book, King David's Spaceship, by Jerry Pournelle. It was interesting in that it dealt with the introduction of technology to an another planet that was like a colony of King David's. There was a big ruckus over what sorts of technologies could be introduced to the aboriginal peoples, like ships, ox-harnesses, and eventually some sort of spaceship that was caused by explosions that differed in how propulsion had evolved on earth, (I think.)

2/14/97

Still felt a bit sick today and stayed in all day. I worked on my equipment a bit, made drapes over the windows and over my stereo stuff to keep the dust off. Listened to the BBC all day. Boy, what fun. Tomorrow I will probably begin working on the latrine and douche (shower)-pour concrete floors. Also, I started working on some French lessons today. I am going to try to do it everyday.

2/15/97

Today sucked. But I got some work done, and I am feeling somewhat mentally and emotionally stable now. I woke up early this morning (about 7-I have been up 9) and when I hit the button to light my watch, I couldn't see the time and the light wouldn't go off. Finally it did, and when I opened the door to let some light in the room, I saw that my watch had died. My favorite watch for the past 4 years. I had had some trouble with it a couple of weeks ago-I think it was damaged by static electricity-there is a lot of it here because it is so dry. Anyway, it's dead now except for the digital date. It came back on, but I can't get anything else to work. It seems a bit eccentric to wear the watch for the date (and style.)

Today was latrine day. I was going to prepare the sand floors in the shower and latrine area, mix the concrete and put in the floors. I knew it was going to be tough, but with the kids getting me water and others helping to mix, I knew it could be done. Then, my good buddy Amadou Diagne (he annoys the hell out of me-it was with he and his wife Aminta that were my first family, who ridiculed me each evening for my lack of language ability and who served the food that gagged me) and the kid that stole the pecans, M'shekh or whatever, showed up to "help." The first thing Amadou did "to help" was point out that if I left a piece of fabric on the ground where I was going to pour cement, then I was not a "vrai mason" or "true mason." Enraged, I went over to the wall of the latrine, and shoved in one of the "bricks" that had been "cemented" in the wall by a "true mason." Amadou, undaunted, explained that the grout was not cement, but banko (a manure, mud and grass mixture they make bricks with.) First of all, the grout was , like cement, whereas banko is brown. Second, I asked why a "true mason" would use banko with a latrine made of "cement" bricks (that crumble in my hands) instead of cement grout. Amadou replied, "It's only a latrine."

He proceeded to show me how to mix the concrete, in parts that were ridiculous to me (much too weak)-I finally mixed it the way I wanted. He put about 1 cm down, in the shower, very dry, and put water and straight cement down on it. I must admit, it looked good when he finished, but it wouldn't be durable, just like everything else here. While I was mixing the concrete the way I it, my good friend/thief/liar M'shekh pointed out to Amadou that I didn't "know anything." I picked him up, and while squeezing him, the crazy urge came over me not to kill him. I didn't.

Amadou graciously finished my latrine floor for me. I used the leftover cement to patch some holes in the floor of my room, and sent everyone away, red with anger and frustration. I thought that maybe I was supposed to be learning a lesson or something but I am not sure what it is. I thought that perhaps the lesson was that I wanted to do my latrine the I wanted to do it, to African villagers, and Amadou, like an aid organization, came in, told me everything I was doing was wrong, constructed something that looks nice but won't last, and left. When it breaks, he won't be coming back to fix it. Speaking of analogies, I just checked my watch again: the date is still on, but the analog part doesn't work and I can't get it to display the digital clock. It reminds me of an autistic:looks normal, appears to be operating normally, but on further inspection all is wrong because the inside can't be made to come out in the open. Probably one of the most stupid analogies I have ever made.

Anyway, I felt better today after I ran everyone off and ate half the package of Fig-Newtons with way-too-sweet raspberry Kool-Aid. It was hard to drink, but because of that I enjoyed it in some sort of masochistic way. Dammit, look at me: I can make and drink Kool-Aid as sweet as I damn well please.

2/22/95

Howdy! Not much is going on here right now. I boiled some peanuts two days ago, and I have been sick ever since I ate them. The boiling should have killed any bacteria, but apparently it didn't. I've been eating dinner over in Breun Darou this week, and I've met some real nice people over there. Last night, I ate with two teachers from the school here, and had a really good time talking with them. They speak good French, and were very supportive of me, unlike many of the other villagers. I always get along a lot better with the educated types.

Its been kind of lonely and boring here. I read a really good book last week, Michael Crichton's Disclosure. I haven't started another book yet, because I know I will probably be disappointed that its not as interesting as Crichton. My thoughts and dreams have been mostly of home lately. I haven't gotten any mail at my new P.O. Box yet-that may be part of the problem. Mail day, Saturday, something I always look forward to has been disappointing thus far. I haven't gotten mail from Nouakchott in a couple of weeks either.

I've been thinking about my career, and my further education. A heck of a lot would have to happen with me in the next two years to make me want to be a doctor. Its just too much school, studying something that too much work for me to learn. I've thought at times that I was just lazy, but I know that I am not. The things I am interested in, I attack. Biology attacked me. There has got to be some job/career out there that will fit me. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. I am pretty sure there is more school in store for me when I get done-I just don' t know right now. I think I won't return to school until the summer or fall of '97. I want to travel .....

How are the dogs? I really miss them. Sandy was quite a friend to me when I was lonely-I wish she was here with me now. She'd be in heaven here: squirrels and birds to chase, bones and hooves to chew on, water to swim in: dog heaven!

I haven't started fishing yet, though I plan to soon. I still have to finish my latrine: maybe I'll do that today. As soon as I get some barrels, I am going to make a water filter with shell, sand and charcoal. I'm going to talk to the village chief tonight to see if he'll give me the things I need. If I feel better, that is.

2/24/95

Today was a better day. The diarrhea that plagued me for the last three days has subsided. I met with Sam and the women's cooperative of both Breun's this morning at the garden. I hoed some as the women planted carrots, onions, sugar baby watermelons (boy, the sugar baby candies would taste good right now!) tomatoes, and cabbage. After they finished, Sam and I spoke to them about my work (in Wolof-and they seemed to understand) and when I told them that I wanted to make some water filters, they seemed to get real excited. They even offered to buy what I needed for the filters. Great! Though a limited success, I feel much better about things right now. Tomorrow I'll go to Rosso and buy the stuff for the water filters-some pipe and spigots, take my mail and *hopefully get some*, and by a cannery. A cannery, for those that don't know, is a large clay pot that I will put my filtered water in, and through the evaporative effects of cooling, I'll be able to drink healthy, cool water. How exciting! For me, it is, but I know all of you back home take it for granted. I certainly did!

After lunch, I offered to play UNO with the kids. One day, I will learn. It was hell, as usual. Everybody wants to play, they don't play that well (though they are slowly learning,) and those that don't play spend their time rummaging through my stuff while I'm not looking. I love it! I made a rule today that I will only play in groups of four from now on. Maybe that will work.

Oh, one interesting day this week: during my bout with diarrhea, I spent a lot of time in my latrine. It is not finished yet, as I have sheets over the doorways. It works fine when it is not very windy, but yesterday we had strong winds which I estimate to have been up to 50 mph. As I sat in the latrine (crouched, actually) getting sandblasted and trying to hold the sheet in front of the doorway so that not too many people saw me naked, one of the kids thought it would be neat to see if I was in the latrine. He came over, and pulled open the sheet for him and a couple of other kids to see. He is only about four or five, so I didn't kill him. Boy, African life can be fun.

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