I Heart Dakar

Senegal was amazing. I couldn't get over how developed it is; Dakar is like a little new york city.





Our team did pretty well at the softball tournament, but our biggest success was our uniforms: dogon hats and bogolan shirts - very Malian.





Between games, I got in a lot of good beach time, too.





Ah, the beach...




I also got to explore Dakar a little, and went to the African Art Museum (IFAN), whice is supposed to be the best in West Africa. But if this is the best, I'd hate to see the worst. I was mostly disapointed by the 'modern' art section (although happy that they even HAD a modern art section).





The rest of the museum was mostly displays of masks and costumes used in ceremonies.



One display in particular was especially interesting. ...When I first got to Segou, and was furnishing my house, I bought a blanket at the market that was really neat looking - black and white checkers and really soft. It's been on my bed ever since and was great during the cold season. However, I learned at the museum that it is, in fact, the burial blanked used in traditional ceremonies. Oops.





The way back from Dakar was possibly the hardest journey I've ever made. Not because it was tough to leave behind the beach and all the good food, but because transportation is TERRIBLE. On the way there, I was reading a book on international development, emphasizing the importance of developing the infrastructure for landlocked countries to have access to shipping ports. Ironically, the road was so bad that I could barely focus on the words on the page.



On the way home, I had planned to take the train all the way to Bamako, and was really excited about the idea of seeing the country side in such a romantic way, but it derailed on it's way into Senegal and was out of service. So I was stuck on a hot bus for 4 days that kept breaking down, was stuck on the side of the road several times for many hours, and generally sucked.

I did get to at least SEE the train station, though, and got to go inside one of the old cars. Maybe next year...




But I got back to Segou in one piece, and decided to extend my vacation by a few days and go see the village across the river where they fire all the pottery that's sold in the market here. We took an hour long boat ride, and got there just in time to see them lighting the fires. Rather than baking the pots in a kiln, they stack them on the ground, cover them with sticks and grasses, and light the whole pile on fire.

Building With Dirt

I just got back from Bamako, after attending the TERRA 2008 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EARTHEN ARCHITECTURE! It deserves all caps, because it was just that exciting. I met hundreds of people from all over the world who love building with dirt as much as I do! Who knew? And they all wanted to give me lots of money to build this school that I'm working on. So yay! It was all fantastic. We talked about different ways to build with dirt, different ways to preserve earthen structures, what additives to mix with earthen mortar, how to stabalize earthen structures with bamboo to resist earthquakes, and so many other fun topics! And it all happened right in my own back yard: Bamako!

So here's the update on the school project:

This is the condition of the current school:





The village is totally stoked about the idea, and I'm trying to keep them included in every step of the process. When I get back to site, I'm going to work for a day with the kids in the school to draw pictures of what they want the new building to look like. Then we're having a community meeting to look at the kids drawings, my interpretations of them, and get any other input that people feel strongly about.
We're leaning toward using compressed earth bricks, because the village wants concrete, which is expensive and not really available locally, over adobe bricks, so we settled in the middle with compressed earth bricks. I'm still looking for engineers to help with the water harvesting system.

As for the women's garden, things have started growing, and a few of the plots are doing great. We're having a little trouble with chickens getting in and eating everything, so the next step looks like we'll have to improve the fence, either by getting a metal fence, or planting really thorny bushes all around it.




All of the millet harvesting is finished, so the village is now busy with adobe brick production to fix up their houses before the rainy season:




I'm off to Senegal in a few days, to play softball, lay by the beach, and eat fish! I couldn't be more excited.

p.s. This is the inside of my house (since I've never posted a picture of it):
Cozy, huh?