Moving from One Phase to Another - Notes on the trip so far

We are finishing up our time in Senegal ...

The time here has gone quickly, and we are at the Airport Hotel waiting to fly out in the morning to our next destination.   I wanted to have a look back at some of the events of the last few days. 

Goree Island 

One of the top sights to see in Dakar is a boat trip to Goree Island, just off the coast from the center of the city.  It's a cool place to visit with a lot of history from the early colonial days, when Senegal was ruled by the Portuguese, Dutch, and French.  It is where a lot of slaves were shipped to the New World between 1600 and 1800. 

Visiting this place always has an emotional impact.

The Rose Colored Lake 

We also did a lot of walking on the beach in Dakar, and at one point went to visit Lac Rose (or Pink Lake in French).  There was a nice restaurant there where we had lunch and we then set out to walk back to where we were staying - no small feat, as it was around ten miles.

We walked all the way home on the beach.  It was fun but walking in soft sand for three hours kinda takes its toll.

Wall hanging Senegal style 

As a follow up to the earlier story about our search for a long stick to hang some wall art, this is what it looked like once we got back to our base house in the village of Keur Soce.   It's pretty funky, but it works.  We ran out of time to do a better job of decoration.  Next time we'll take off the feather duster part on the left.

  

Handing out pictures to someone who has never had one ... 

As a professional photographer, Danae was a key part of this trip. She not only took innumerable photos of the people and places, but she also printed them.  She had a small but fairly sophisticated printer than ran on a battery pack, so we could print in the village. 

Below shows some of the people when they were given their pictures. 

These are the well diggers in Sama Toucouleur

 
This local lady is Nene Sy, the midwife at the health post we are building in the village.  Senegalese people typically don't smile when their picture is taken ... 

Danae with pictures of the kids in the Garden.

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Speaking of Gardens, we have just undertaken a major expansion of our Market Garden program in the village area.  These are solar powered pump systems that provide water year round to parched regions.  This allows almost anything to grow in that sunny climate. 

A Market Garden is where the local ladies can grow not only enough hearty and nutritious vegetables to feed their families, but also have enough produce left over to sell.  

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Danae is on her way home, but our next stop is place much further south from here.  Fiona and I will spend ten days in the southern part of Africa.