Birthday Party

     Mbagnick is a special little friend.  He is the nephew of the the girl who was my language teacher.  He was celebrating his 7th birthday so we were invited to join the party.  Jourdan and I went earlier in the afternoon to help with the "fixings."  Martine was preparing fatayas and shrimp chips.

Preparing the fatayas

Pinching the fatayas

Cooking the fatayas

Shrimp chips (before cooking)

Shrimp chips (after cooking)

     After the food was prepared and the children got home from school, we were ready to enjoy the meal.

     Following the meal was the delicious birthday cake.  Because there were so many people, Kim had baked two cakes.

     Of course there were birthday presents for him to open.  It was so much fun getting to be a part of this family celebration.

   

Searching for Schools

     Today was supposed to have been our fishing day.  However, due to the cold weather (70's) and cold wind, we had to cancel the trip.  We were disappointed but Travis came up with another adventure for us.  There is a team coming to do ministry in village schools in January.  He still had several schools in the Fatick region that he needed to find.  So we were off on a road trip in search of village schools.  As we drove down the road we had to wait for the "traffic" to clear (cows).

     We were able to find all of the schools in the villages for which we were looking.  These schools are small and lack many supplies.  The team that is coming in January will be sharing the Gospel message and giving each student a notebook and pen.  Many families will only have one pen so the oldest child is in charge of the pen.  It will be passed around to the younger children as needed.  Below are a few pictures of some of the schools that we found.

     We got out of the car in one village and were followed around by a group of school children.  We found some ladies selling various items.  We were getting a little hungry so we bought beignets (sweet bread) and raw peanuts.

     Life in the villages is quite different from the towns.  There is a village well where they go to draw their water.  Transportation is usually a horsecart.  If they have to travel very far, they will go to the main road and catch a bus.  The people in the villages make their living by growing their crops and selling them by the road or take them to town to sell.  Their homes usually have a thatch roof with only one room.  They cook over a fire outside.

Village water well

Watermelon field

Village transportation - Horse cart

Village house

Waiting to catch the bus

   
     Since our trip took us close to the town of Kaolak, we decided to go there to get some lunch and pick up something in the market.  We ate a traditional Senegalese meal of fish and rice.  I took a few pictures of some interesting sights while we were in the market.

Horse cart loaded with watermelons

Child's toy (a tire)

"Joseph" (man with an outfit of many colors)

   
     On our drive back to Fatick we saw a few more interesting sights.  It's not a long drive but it takes almost an hour due to the bad condition of the road.  It may not have been as much fun as going fishing but it was still a fun day.

Huge baobab tree

Birds at a water hole

Water flowers

Water hole

Mission Kalima - Baby-naming Ceremony

     Today we had the opportunity to go to Mission Kalima, a group of believers here in Fatick, and attend the baby-naming ceremony of the pastor's newest baby.  It was so good to be able to attend a Senegalese church service even though I didn't understand all that was said.  We began the service with singing.  Sometimes I could pick up on the words and other times I would just clap along with the songs.  This was really good singing as opposed to some of the noise we hear when people are having parties.

     After a time of singing and praying there were two visiting preachers who preached a message.  They also had a special time of prayer and dedication of the baby.

Pastor Victor and wife Tening with baby Grace and their youngest son

Baby Grace

Tening and Grace

         Following the service we went upstairs to their apartment and enjoyed a wonderful dinner of rice and beef.

          When you attend these kinds of events it is always customary to dress up for the occasion.  All of us girls had dressy Senegalese outfits to wear.

Jourdan and Me

Amy, Kaitlin, and Me

Field Trip

     Since Melody and Ethan had both studied about animals and plants, I thought it would be a great idea to take a field trip.  Our first thought was to go to Bandia where they could see some animals unique to Africa that used to live in this area.  After finding out the cost, we decided to look for another option for a field trip.  Kim found this place called Domaine de Nianing that was just a little south of Mbour.  Not only did it have a nature walk where we could see various small animals plus many flowers and plants indigenous to Senegal, but it also had a hotel on the beach with a swimming pool.  We could pay a fee that allowed us to walk through the nature park, eat a buffet lunch, swim in the pool, and enjoy the beach.  We arrived around 11:00 on Friday morning which allowed us plenty of time to walk through the nature park before eating lunch at 1:30.  The peacefulness of the place as well as its beauty and sounds of birds were a refreshing break from the classroom.  Below are some pictures of some of the animals and birds that we were able to see.

Hyena

Crocodile

Monitor Lizard

Tortoise 

Kingfisher

Peacock

Flamingo

Crested Crane (head)

Crested Crane

     Besides seeing the animals, we saw many beautiful flowers and plants.  Since I'm not very good at identifying the types of flowers and plants I will just let you enjoy the pictures.  If you are curious as to the type, then you can look them up for yourself.

Huge Baobab Tree

Weaver birds' nests

      The buffet lunch was amazing!  We had a salad area with all kinds of salads as well as oysters and shrimp.  After the salads we went to the two hot food buffets.  There was some wonderful homemade bread to go with the food.  We also had a fruit bar with cantaloupe, watermelon, and pineapple.  The meal was finished off with some delicious dessert.  After eating all that food I decided to spend my time walking the beach rather than swimming.

Fishing boat

Fishermen with their nets     

      Of course, no walk on the beach is not complete without someone approaching you.  This guy saw me taking photographs so he walked up and began a conversation.  He then wanted me to take his picture with his fish.  He continued to walk with me down the beach.  When I decided it was time to turn around he pointed out his village where he had a shop.  I tried to get away but he insisted that I just come "look" at his shop.  I was barefoot so I told him that I needed shoes.  That was not a problem.  He went up to some of his friends and came back with a pair of flip flops for me to wear.  Fortunately, I did not have my purse with me so I was could not buy anything from his shop.  I returned the flip flops and headed back to the hotel.