Health Project, Corite, and A Husband

I had a meeting with my Rotary host counselor today downtown at his office. The meeting was supposed to start at 5pm… instead it started at 6:30pm because another meeting of his started late. So I sat in the lobby playing Snake on my cell phone, observing the bustling streets outside, and talking to Laurent. The meeting did not take very long once it started. The Dakar Rotary club is collaborating with another club to build a health center in a village about 100 km outside of Dakar. The project is in its beginning stages. The closest hospital to the village is more than an hour today and there are no real health facilities in the area. Maternal mortality rate in the area is high and there are inadequate facilities to deal with birth, newborns, and pregnancy. The center will serve those in the village as well as those in surrounding villages. The current plan is for the center to be composed of four buildings including a maternity hospital and a clinic. I'm hoping to visit the site sometime soon. In the meantime, I have another Rotary meeting on Tuesday evening to discuss the project in greater detail.

Ramadan ends today/tomorrow. I say that, because Senegal does not follow the scientific lunar calendar but instead relies on looking at the moon to determine when holidays are. All week, people have been speculating about whether it would end today or tomorrow. About half the country is celebrating the end of Ramadan today, and the rest will celebrate tomorrow. Almost all of the big celebrations are planned for tomorrow. Everyone has been talking about this since the day I arrived. My French professor this morning drank at least 5 cups of coffee because he was so excited to be able to drink it in the morning again. My classes this afternoon were cancelled because my afternoon professor is already celebrating. Tomorrow is Corite, a huge celebration. Everyone eats… and eats… and eats. They eat at home, and make a stop at all the neighbors' houses. And then there are parties all night long. My Senegalese friends have been talking about the parties for quite some time. Everyone is having a celebration during the day and so I've been invited to many. I do not yet know exactly where I'll go or exactly what I'll wear! I have not yet had a traditional celebration outfit made, so I'm left to wearing western clothing, but that's ok. I'll be decked out for Tabasque in December. Many people are sleeping this afternoon in preparation for tonight and tomorrow's festivities. I'm going to work for a few more hours and then sleep a bit to prepare as well.

In other news, a guy who lives two doors down from me is searching for a wife… and he has decided that the wife should be me. My host father thinks the situation is hilarious. I've been told that there was a Senegalese man who lived a few more doors down from this house who married an American girl and moved to the states. That conveniently is exactly what this neighbor has his eye set on as well. Too bad I'm not in the market for a husband!