Dr. Seuss in Wolof

Reading aloud to a remarkably respectful group in a village near Foundiougne.



It has been a long time since my last blog post! I haven't been busy, exactly, but somehow the time got away from me anyway. Things in the village are going, ndank ndank. People are farming, and most have seeded what I have them. I am more hands-off this season because there are so many other things to do, and besides the village is occupied with other activities, such as constructing their new mosque, which got financed from somewhere. There's a big green sign in Arabic no doubt explaining it, but of course I have no idea what that says. Many of the young men spend all day there, building, and of course there are also fields to be tilled. It's a busy season!

I just finished a long but satisfying week with the Bookmobile. Finally a little money came through so we were able to do another run, and it went extremely well! Actually, not all of it went smoothly. Because of the rains, the soil is soft, so almost once a day the heavy truck got stuck in the mud. It went in DEEP, and we had to solicit help from whoever happened to be nearby to dig out the tires and get the Bookmobile back on the squishy path. Our poor chauffeur exhausted himself every day just driving on these questionable bush roads, dodging potholes and maneuvering around bumpy deviations. On one memorable occasion, he exclaimed: "This road doesn't have potholes - it has wells!" Which is practically did. So our truck is feeling pretty battered. I'll recommend that from now on the Bookmobile only run in the dry season, when it can't damage anyone's field (that was a loud and intense situation) and the ground is packed, so it cannot get sucked into the dirt. I am just grateful that we got around to all the villages, and back to Kaolack again, safely and in mostly one piece.

Despite automobile difficulties, though, the program went smoothly. We left 150 books in each of four villages, checking them out to anyone who could write their name. Everyone loved it! We got such amazing welcomes everywhere we went. The villages cooked us tasty meals, and provided overnight accommodation (organized by their Volunteer, usually) as their contribution to the project. Meanwhile, we spent a day in each, distributing books and reading stories. One of the biggest hits was Dr. Seuss' "The Foot Book", which was fun and easy to translate into Wolof. Also, "Tikki tikki tango", that story about the little Chinese boy with the too-long name that I remember from my own childhood. They loved that one! Things were calm and people really seemed thrilled to have the Bookmobile in their villages. Seeing kids clustered around a book in the shade, looking through the pictures or sounding out French words, was reward in itself.

Still, I am exhausted from the terrible roads and constant break-downs. So, a weekend in Kaolack, then village time again, then another Ag conference, then back to the village again. Alhamdullilah!