2011-02-28
My (biological) family recently visited me in Ecuador, and we went on a trip to the Galapagos. During my week away from my home away from home, I realized how much I missed being with my host family. I realized that the main reason my stay here in Ecuador has been incredible is my host...
Read More2011-02-26
Ever since the day I wrestled with random Senegalese people on a beach in Dakar during orientation, I knew I wanted to learn how to Senegalese Wrestle – Lutte in french, Lamb in Wolof. I had seen my supervisor’s brother, Pascal Ndiaye, walking down the street the other day wearing a robe “Lutte” written in...
Read More2011-02-25
As a group we often go into different communities as part of our exploration of beautiful buildings, composed of people who dress in designer clothes, to areas where homes are built on water or children are begging for money as a way to support their family income. Often times before leaving to go on our...
Read More2011-02-25
Once or twice a week, I stay overnight at the maternity ward with the sage femme, waiting for expectant mothers. It’s heavy and cramped, and there aren’t any mosquito nets to cover us from the beasts that plague the halls at sunlight. I am wary of a coming storm of numbness where I begin to...
Read More2011-02-25
“La Casa de la Juventud” or The Youth House is a youth group in Ibarra city that was started ten years ago to provide a program focused on leadership, human rights and youth development. It was founded with financial help from the city that paid for a space and a few social workers to run...
Read More2011-02-24
I think it’s a tabooed subject that plays too big of a role in society to be ignored. It doesn’t strike up the same awkwardness in the village in America. In Senegal, people have more kids than in the States and the quality of health care is less, so death is a more common occurrence...
Read More2011-02-23
Previously: I prepared to travel to Touba, the center of Mauridism, in order to provide free medical support for the millions of people making pilgrimage, taking heed of the many warnings against a variety of dangers I might face there. I stood on the brink of the unknown: Friday, 2 days until Magal: I was...
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