Outreach 2013

**Outreach weekend happened in January, but let's pretend it's still March. That way I am only two months late telling you about it (instead of three) AND then I haven't failed my resolution to blog once a month. Watch for my April blog coming soon sometime this month.

 Dakar Academy has a long standing tradition of Outreach Weekend. Traditionally high school students and staff, often accompanied by visiting teams from North America, will go to the "bush" (country) for a weekend in November and in January. These weekends are a way for our school to live and show love to our Senegalese neighbours. 

The school partners with missions represented within our school community. Approximately 120 people load onto various forms of transportation at 5am on Friday morning, drive a few hours, unload, divide into work teams and begin our day of serving. Some of the teams include drama and VBS which are traveling teams that drive from village to village with skits, puppets, games, and music to share the message of Jesus' love with the children, and families they meet. Other teams dug a baptisimal tank, painted a church, decorated the church with a mural, set up camp, and dug wells. It is a tiring day, especially with such an early morning, but the day is not finished when the teams arrive back at camp for supper. 

After eating, we all load up and go to a large open area where we host a 'service' for a village. We learn and practice the songs we sing in several languages, the drama team does their mime and puppet presentation, and a Senegalese pastor will share the reason we are there with the crowd.

Arrival at our base camp.

This is called a jeg n jy (phonetic spelling) which is how I got to outreach. I wish you could see the inside. It's definitely not up to North American safety standards, but don't tell my mom ;)

The unloading begins. We travel in caravan with more than 10 vans, trucks, and cars.

Two of my dorm girls ready for their day to begin.

Within 10 minutes of our arrival at the camp site students line up and unpack the vehicles. The whole system is familiar and works like a well-oiled machine. It takes less than an hour from the time we arrive to the time teams are ready to head out to their various work sites.

It gets to a point where everything is so well taken care of that there's nothing left to do, so we sit and wait until it's time to leave. Cori and Keren two of my roommates, Ju Hyung is  a senior this year.

This was Lauren (4th grade teacher) and Angela's (student teacher) first outreach weekend.

The drama team girls have their hair braided and make-up done before heading out to begin their tour.

Apparently Aunt Judy does a very tight (and painful) french braid.

The local kids peak over the fence to get a glimpse of what's going on.

Judy and Shari are the dorm moms that coordinate the food and oversee the kitchen part of the camp crew. Judy will not be here next year, so I have been in training to work as part of the camp crew next year. Two dorm cooks are hired for the weekend to do the cooking, but we do all the prep work, like cutting pounds and pounds of onions and garlic, and other less smelly veggies.

The crew I worked with; Judy, Shari, Lauren, and Angela. It may be hard to see, but we tried the 'match method' to keep us from crying when we were cutting onions. We held a burnt match between our teeth. It seemed to be at least somewhat effective.

The camp crew also consists of students under the direction of Jim Adams (5th grade teacher) who set up tents and a shower area for the guys, dig holes for the outhouses (also for the guys), haul water from the well, and filter well water ALL weekend. The girls have two shower stalls with buckets for "bucket baths". There are also turkish toilets, which are holes in the ground that you squat over. Allison, Hadassah, and Gloria were the girls on the camp crew.

The tent city for the guys.

 

 

 

A view from the roof, where the girls slept in the open air. They love sleeping under the stars! A random donkey under a tree in the distance.

A view from the roof into the courtyard where we worked to cut veggies, and where the food was served.

Local kids.

Local kids checking out the camp set-up.

Another view from the roof. A very typical Senegalese village.

Breakfast at camp is set up buffet style. Hot chocolate, coffee, and tea to drink with bread and jam, peanut butter or chocolate to eat. Simple but yummy. They order bread from a local bakery so it comes in fresh in the morning, sometimes till warm. It's called tappa lappa bread and is a treat.

Mats are set out for meal times. In the evenings we eat around the common bowl. Groups of 8 all share one giant bowl of food, this is the Senegalese tradition. Everyone brings their own spoon and you only eat from your section of the bowl. We imagine it like a pizza slice section.

Some of the kids found an open space and make their own camp fire in the morning. You can also see the well on the right. This is where the camp crew filled buckets and hauled it inside to be filtered for drinking.

These are the two ladies who cooked our food all weekend, Mami and Madeleine. This was their 'kitchen' and the giant pots they use for preparing rice and sauces we eat for our suppers. In the bottom right corner you can see the large silver bowl with a lid that is used for common bowls. The tray/lid that sits on top keeps the food warm and allows the large bowls to be stacked or transported easily.

(Belated) Christmas at the Fort

I know, I know, it's February but I was very proud of our Christmas decor and this is the first opportunity I have had to put this post together. My roommates and I think we may have more Christmas "stuff" here than our families in North America. Sadly the trimmings came down two weeks ago but I figure it's never too late to wish you a Merry (belated) Christmas from Dakar!

 

Our foyer

Dining room (taken from the foyer)

Living room. Our stocking are hung by the TV with care.

Living room

"Christmas day" at the Fort (Jan 12)

Christmas Celebrations at the Fort: Saturday, January 12, 2013

I brought this charcoal grill back from North America. My dad advised my to use sticks and cardboard as kindling. Unfortunately we weren't able to find sticks near our apartment so I improvised with wood clothes pins. It's important to be resourceful in Senegal.

 

 

 

 

 

The steaks grilling The clothes pins and file folders we used as fire starters made for a nice smokey flavour ;)

The master grillers, Emily and Cori.

The 'fam' at Christmas dinner.

Keren's ready to enjoy her meal. We have created a traditional menu (two years now) of steak with parmesan potatoes, fresh green beans, salad with balsamic vinaigrette, with fried onions and mushrooms. Yum!

Dessert was chocolate mousse garnished with a snowman peep, and a side of funfetti cookies! Is your mouth watering? It should be.

Keren's new stocking to match the 'fam'.

Cori's matching stocking.

Yep, we all have them.

It's a DA rookie tradition. I got mine my first year here.

The remnants of Christmas.

Keren and the creepy Santa. We kept putting it around the house to freak her out because she found it unnerving.

Our "Christmas Card" Picture.

With love, from Dakar.

2012 (August-December) Highlights

The first few days back in Dakar for staff orientation I always find myself thinking I will be busy and then things will quiet down as we get back to "normal". A month or two later I realize that staff orientation is the quiet part of the year and the excitement just keeps on going from then until June. We started back to school August 15 and took a few weeks to fall into the routine. Then, just about the time the day-to-day starts to become tiring, the summer rejuvenation wears off, you fall out of the honeymoon stage with your new classes, and the hot and humid weather is making you cranky, the administration hosts a staff retreat weekend at a resort a couple of hours outside the city. 

The weekend starts with a half day of professional development (it's not ALL fun, games, and tanning time) before we board coach buses that whisk us away from the city. The weekend is typically full of sunbathing, reading, napping, gourmet food (I still dream about molten lava cake, goat cheese salad, and pain au chocolat sometimes), swimming, beach volleyball, board games, and wherever else your whims take you. The staff gathers together for a devotional and worship time Saturday night and Sunday morning, but otherwise the most enjoyable part of the weekend is not being confined to a schedule.

Keren and I reading in the pool.

Dinner with friends

Late-night Killer Bunnies in the game room.

One of the times I most enjoy is Handball Season, but who am I kidding, there's always something to look forward to at D.A. It's somewhat difficult to pinpoint when handball season is because it seems to get longer each year (due to scheduling issues), but I think it's fair to say it runs September-October. The Advance P.E. class organizes teams (staff and students mixed) and we play. My favourite part of handball is the atmosphere...the lights coming on as dusk turns to night, people chatting, concessions being sold, music playing, and the energy on the court.

Orange Crush takes on the Her-ricanes

 

Orange Crush holds it's breath as Mrs. E-M takes a shot on net

Orange Crush takes a shot at the crease

Harvestfest is a fall fair hosted by the Senior Class. It traditionally falls on the day of first quarter parent-teacher conferences. I suppose it gives us (students, parents and teachers) something to look forward to after the "business" of the day. Events include "hayrides", a zipline, karaoke, square dancing, a cake walk, face painting and more! Of course, no D.A. event is complete without good food and this year was no exception. The Senior Class imported bacon for bacon cheese burgers and other North American delicacies that are harder to find in Senegal.

A not-so-traditional hayride on the soccer field.

You can pay to have people put in jail. One of my students decided to seek some revenge, but the joke's on him...triple the homework the following week ;)

Sack races...a classic! (with Lauren and Emily)

Mustaches!

The Arts department always puts on a great show, whether it's the fall play, the winter concert, the spring musical, or the year-end Fine Arts Festival. This year's play was no exception. The Clumsy Custard Horror Show is a silly, comical play that includes audience participation and several clever one-liners. I spent much of the fall running lines with one of the actors in our Study Hall, so I like to say I was the biggest fan!

Dacron, the villain, in his lair. He was arguably the most comical of the characters and well played by senior, Jonathan L.

Sir Vival, Sir Cumference, and Sir Prize (get it?!?) hold the hero, Swashbuck Valpariso at sword-point as traitor, Malforce, looks on.

Worfle and Swashbuck check for cracks in the dungeon's force field. Their timely escape happens as they are about to be devoured by turkey spiders.

One of my major commitments this fall was the International Appreciation Week committee. We hosted a week of events for the whole school to highlight and promote our international identity at Dakar Academy. The week started with a parade of nations representing over 25 nations, and also included a talent showcase, a taste of the nations, lunch time competitions inspired by international games, and an Olympic day featuring sports from around the world.

Organizing for the Parade of Nations

The flags flying over the blue top (center of campus).

Worship time at the opening ceremonies.

That's me announcing the week's schedule of events to the entire student body.

I hosted lunch time events throughout the week. This is a chopstick competition. Students had to move kernels of corn from one bowl to another. We had professional and amateur contestants.

Another lunch time competition, cockroach races. Students had to blow a ping pong ball (their cockroach) from one side of the blue top to the other.

My other responsibility for the week was Olympic Sports Day. Students gathered with their colour teams (the colours of the Olympic Rings) before beginning rotations to the five world sports.

Cricket was first played in England in the 16th century and is still the national sport. When the British Empire expanded, so did cricket. It is played particularly in Australia and New Zealand, Indian, the West Indies, Southern Africa and the British Isles.

Canada’s official summer sport, lacrosse comes from Native American origins. It is mainly played in Canada and the United States.

 

Bokwele: A game originated in the Congo. When the game begins the players yell “Bokwele” while they try to steal their opponent’s scarves.

Bocce Ball has been adapted from the ancient Roman Empire. The modern form in Italy is called bocce, the plural of the Italian word boccia which means "bowl". It is played in Europe and has spread around the world, to places such as Australia, North America, and South America.

Sepak Tawkraw, also known as kick volleyball, is a sport from Southeast Asia but known by different names in different countries. Traditionally a rattan ball is used to play.

Dakar Academy is an American school which means that we (us Canadians included) observe a long weekend for Thanksgiving. The Wednesday before the holiday is a half day of school and then...TURKEY BOWL (a flag football tournament).

Like I've already mentioned, no school event is complete without a special menu. Turkey Bowl is hosted by the Junior Class.

The Middle School tournament kicks off the event. I teach or have taught all of these students at some point. They play hard!

The female staff put together a team again this year. We were the defending champions going into the tournament. I don't know that we ever settled on a name, but we were Orange.

Some people have called this a "play of the day" which is somewhat embarrassing for me. I had played center all day, but for the last match up (All-Stars vs. Staff) I was sent in as a receiver. I was so shocked to make the catch that I paused for a minute. When my teammates yelled at me to run I turned around and ran straight into Cari-Brooke. You can see me mouth saying "oh no..." The best part of the play, not shown in this picture was when Cari-Brooke, just slammed by a teacher, held up both my flags in a gesture of surrender.

We take the game very seriously! We practice together before the tournament and have our plays on cards which we consult between plays. It payed off though, we were the tournament champions!

The boys games were where the exciting, talented, entertaining plays happened. It was the next best thing to the NFL for Thanksgiving weekend.

Finally, when there aren't "big events" happening it is not uncommon to find me field-side or court-side cheering on DA teams as they play.  Softball, varsity volleyball, middle school soccer, boys varsity basketball, and girls varsity soccer have kept me busy most Wednesday afternoons and Saturdays since August. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, DA takes sports very seriously.

Adan's fancy footwork.

Caleb and Martin get past the opposing team's D.

Soo and Sara gaining some ground.

Basma is one of the team's high scorers.

So you can see that my lack of communication does not mean that life has been uneventful or boring. Stay tuned for more Dakar happenings in 2013.