I just returned from a weekend in the region of Fatick in the Sine-Saloum area where I conducted a public health survey for a course. Nine of us left Dakar at 9:30 am on Friday morning to be met by our comrades at a later date. Predictably, we were stuck in traffic at 10:45 in the town of Rufisque and had plenty of time to listen to the radio. Our favorite songs? A techno remix of the "Titanic" theme (for clubbing?!) and "Scrubs" by TLC. According to the latter, "a scrub is a guy who can't get no love from me, hanging out the passenger side of his best friend's ride, trying to holler at me." All of the female passengers agreed that this accurately described Dakar men and resolved to sing, or at least hum, the song the next time that they were hissed at. I worked a little on my Wolof homework, as we all know the week before finals is the PERFECT time for a field trip, before passing out. Upon our arrival, we ate delicious ceebu jen and were shown around the research facility where we would be staying. The goal of the team was to test whether a conjugated or a non-conjugated vaccine for meningitis would be more effective - important when one considers that Senegal is in the "meningities belt" of Africa and experiences severe epidemics every eight years. We read, talked, and hung out for the rest of the day before peacefully reposing under mosquito-repellent nets in our individual cabins (which looked like tiki huts).
Saturday began early with the 5:45ish call to prayer being blasted over the compound. Several birds were apparently awakened as well and decided to praise Allah for the coming morning by shrieking at the top of their lungs. I took a freezing cold shower in the 65 degree weatherbefore walking around a bit and taking some pictures. Breakfast was amazing village bread with chocolate, cheese, and lots of milk. We then split up into three teams in order to measure the height, weight, and arm circumference of local children in order to determine if any were acutely or chronically malnourished. The data we collected and will analyze this week will go back to the village chief who will speak with the families and use the figures if any NGO's (non-governmental organizations) come by offering to help. Jen, Kate, Andrew and I set off to measure 20 representatives of the under-2 set, a daunting proposition. Since the researchers had been in place since the 1960s, the mothers had been measured before and were very cooperative when our Serer-speaking guide approached them. Most of the children screamed, but we had a few who slept through the procedure, alxamdulilaa ("thanks be to God" in Arabic). We even encountered a set of female twins named Awa and Adama - versions of Adam and Eve. That afternoon, we received a tour of a psychiatric health center. Conviently, Jake's psychiatrist father was visiting and was able to help us understand what some of the drugs were used for in the US. Yet things were still rather off - the doctor was out for awhile, and our tour was initially led by a bipolar patient who described his white happy pills. Computer lab closing in five - will write back with more tomorrow!
PS I got a beard trim the other day and now look far more Euro-chic than Backwoods-brush.
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