Dakar again!

Hello friends. This is Jesse.

On this evening I am listening to Nebraska by Springsteen. Such a bitter-sweet opus. The perfect soundtrack for a pensive mood.

We have returned to Dakar after a successful start on distributions in the Saraya arrondissement. I'll include a map here to help illustrate the geography.

First though, I must note how impressed I have been with the Peace Corps Volunteers that I have had the privilege of meeting and working with. Each has made personal sacrifices to help provide mosquito nets to the people of the Saraya arrondissement. Thank you!

Quick Recap:

In 2005 and 2007 we had limited resources and therefore performed limited distributions in the Bandafassi and Salemata arrondissements (pink and orange, respectively). In 2008, we teamed up with Peace Corps Senegal to provide universal coverage in the Fungolimbi arrondissement (yellow). This year, we set out to provide universal coverage to the Saraya arrondissement (blue), the largest, most remote and most populous arrondissement in the Department of Kedougou. Our long-term plan is to provide universal LTN coverage for the entire Department of Kedougou. This will require up-scaling of our efforts. More on this to come.

Netlife was able to accompany and perform several distributions in the more difficult to reach villages bordering Mali. Here are a few pictures. Of course, there are many, many more which will be added shortly.

Images of Distribution 2009

Here are some images from this year's distribution...

Lighter moments from Mary

To those of you who contribute to Netlife, be assured that this organization is doing an excellent job and are dedicated to using your funds to provide nets to as many people as possible. The funds only go to nets, so as you see the numbers of nets distributed be aware that your efforts have saved many, many lives. That is the real beauty of Netlife - no overhead, no bureacracy - just your contribution directly creating change.
Having said this, there are moments that make you laugh and smile. These are moments you too should share.
For example, we bought fabric at a tiny little shop in Dakar, whose name was "Bed, Bath and Beyond." I am quite sure that the chain operation is not aware of this little retail outlet. There was another stall in the market named "Al Pacino's." Al must have been out to lunch because I didn't see him.
At one point on the way to Kedougou when our transportation broke down (a common occurence), we spend 4 hours under a tree with a gathering of little boys who claimed that one of our team (I will not reveal names) looked like Michael Jackson. Yes - this was big news in Senegal as well. This led to some shared moonwalking.
An elder in our little village thought that since Andy was newly married, Jessie should marry my daughter Alli. I quickly said, "oh,oh", which means "no", at which point he offered to marry me as in enticement so that I would allow Alli to marry. "I'm already married" doesn't really work as a response but I remain a one man woman.
Andy's village mom kept saying, "ne ne, and ne ne", mom and mom. I loved it.
As I think of other moments I will add to the blog. I am anxiously waiting for the team to return from the Saraya area.

Retrospectives - Mary Sherman

I did not stay as long as the rest of the team, and continue to watch their progress with great pride from home in North Dakota. My two weeks in Senegal were some of the most amazing and eye-opening of my life. There is no doubt that life in West Africa is difficult, very difficult. Even tasks that we take for granted prove daunting in Senegal. Plans seldom work out as planned, and a task that should take 10 minutes can and does take several hours. The country is a study in incredible contradictions. While daily life is so hard, he people are warm, wonderful and giving. I was especially impressed with the people in Bandafassi and (chokechan), this spelling is definitely wrong but phonetically it works. Andrew's Nene (other mother) in the village was funny and loving. The people have so little and are willing and eager to share it all with you. Maas, the nurse in Bandafassi, took pity on my overated biking skills and gave me a ride through the beautiful countryside to the next village. I thought to myself, here I am a 59 year old woman riding the back of a motorcycle through Africa - not bad for an old dame.
In a place where poverty seems so oppressive, it was rewarding to be able to help in some small ways. My husband, a plumbing contractor at home in ND, was particularly proud of the fact that we were able to repair a pump in the village.
I was so proud of the team members and working side by side with my son, daughter, Jesse and my amazing new daughter-in-law was inspiring. When I teach, I always remind kids that they can make a difference in the world. I know that to be a true as I watched the team prepare for distribution.
I made an audio journal which I will finish putting together and hopefully share it through a link to itunes. I need to mix it in with some wonderful Senegalise music. I hope everyone who follows these blogs can help in some way to raise awareness concerning the immense needs of these wonderful people, immense but not insurmountable. In my favorite novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch talks about taking "baby steps" to create change. Well netlife team, you have taken this baby for a run not just a step.

Andy here.

We were delayed by a day getting to Saraya due to rainfall causing chutes of water to traverse some of the roads that were, apparently, strong enough to knock over trucks. Also, our truck with the nets themselves had some problems in Tambacounda, a city about 3 hours before our hub city, Kedougou.

When it rains like this, and there are delays, you can't do too much. We had lunch with friends yesterday. We also read our books, which are all in their own way, horribly depressing. I'm reading about the history of malaria and how many people it affected in the world of poverty. Chrystal finished reading a book called "First they killed my father" about Cambodian strife. Chrystal then switched to a story about a native american growing up in a horrible situation. Jesse is reading about Tuberculosis and poverty. I can't remember the book Alli is reading, but it seems like someone is always reading a page with someone dying.

After all this, we decided we were all crazy for reading only these types of books and we were becoming horribly depressed.

So we switched it up by watching an episode of Northern Exposure on Jesse's computer as we piled under one of our mosquito nets. Then we played a card game called Phase 10 (I won).

We are most excited lately because of our progress. We've reflected on papers we've read and have started to realize that if we cover the Region of Kedougou, we will successfully covered one of the greatest populations ever in the world to be universally covered by insecticide-impregnated mosquito nets.

This year our goal, as you know, is about 16,600 nets. Next year, in order to cover the rest of the region, we will need to buy about 60,000 nets. This means we are brainstorming about fundraising. None of us really enjoy asking people for donations, but we all know we have to scale up in multiple ways in order to purchase a sustainable supply for this area. We are always looking for help. If any readers out there can help write grants, find donors or donate themselves, please help us in any way you can.

Thanks for reading everyone. We're doing great.

Leaving For Distribution

Hello

Alli here...

Well we are preparing to leave for Saraya today at about 2pm for the distribution. We will be in the Saraya area until the 17th partnering with the Peace Corps to distribute about 16,000 nets. Lately we have been hanging out in Kedougou having meetings about the current distribution but also Netlife future role in the region of Kedougou. It has been very exciting to see how this organization is planning to evolve. Within the next two years the whole region of Kedougou will have complete net coverage. This will be the largest area ever that has been universally covered not just in Africa but anywhere. It is very exciting to know that we have been a part of something that will be used as a model for other parts of the world that are dealing with Malaria.

The area we will be covering this time around has a lot of new villages that have popped up around mining camps. Gold has been found in the Saraya area so there have been many mining companies that have moved in. This has resulted in newer migrate communities being formed near the camps. None of the Netlife team have much experience with these communities so it will be very interesting to see how these communities are set up. We did have a meeting with one of the big ups for one of the gold companies last night and it was interesting to hear about the camps and villages from his point of view. Crazy side note...after a couple of huge rains the termites came out of the ground last night to feed and mate. We were sitting in a outdoor bar where the ground was literally moving with all of the termites. And today the ground is littered with wings of the termites.

We will write again after the distribution
peace

The Netlife Team

To the health post and back

Hi everyone. Andy here.

We've had a very busy time here. The nets are being shipped from one side of the country to the other as we speak. Meanwhile, we've been getting some basic information about malaria rates, as well as birth rates and prenatal visit rates. We went to visit my old Peace Corps village, Thioke Thian. We were greeted warmly by my village family, and we even had our own little wedding there. While we were there, we also noticed that the village pump was broken, and with rainy season delayed, both wells had very little water. The water you could get from the wells was quite dirty, and it was interesting to see my wife, sister and mom learn how to bathe with a bucket bath of this water in the village. We found out that it would cost about 240$ to fix the pump, so everyone in the Netlife team personally donated the money to fix it. A water source is so vitally important to the overall health of the village. Like mosquito nets, a small amount of money here can improve the health of so many people, especially the children.

We also spend some time at the Bandafassi health post. Chrystal and Jesse looked at the books which held information on every general, prenatal and birth visit to the health post over the last 5 years. We didn't have time to write all the information, so we stood there with our cameras, taking pictures of all the pages in the books. Overall, the village trip was good, but we are all quite tired now. We're resting in Kedougou for the next few days. We'll make some more village trips, then take the mosquito nets to the Saraya area.

Be in peace.

Dakar Update

Alli here...

Well the gang is all here. Jesse got in to Dakar yesterday so our Netlife team is complete. For now we are still in Dakar staying with Andy's friend from the Peace Corps, Aaron. He has beautiful house in a nice area of Dakar by the ocean. Aaron has been a huge help to us and we are very grateful for his hospitality. For now we are still trying to figure out transportation to Kedougou. It has been a bit of a struggle. Andy with the help of his lovely friend Fama negotiated for a car and driver for most of yesterday without much success. We are looking at a couple different options today and hopefully we will settle on something by the end of today. We were hoping to leave for Kedougou (the base for our distribution) today, however, it looks like it will be tomorrow instead. Dakar has been better than I expected, but I am very excited to get to Kedougou and get started with the work of distribution. There is also a large 4th of July party for all the Peace Corps volunteers in Kedougou so I am sure that will be an adventure in and of itself.

Peace

The Netlife Team