News from April 2009

2009 has had an interesting start. Throughout January we had visitors from the UK, which was very nice, also giving us an excuse to do some fun things together. Unfortunately, Gina was pretty much locked into her new job with learning the ropes and supervising many activities, preparing for the Peace Corps regional softball tournament, etc.. We and about 100 others enjoyed seeing the Obama investiture on the big screen. During the past two months, Gina has been negotiating her job and its challenges, the future move to another apartment and the (tedious) application process for a 5-year residency permit for Senegal. She has agreed to serve on the monthly advisory board for a local organization called 10,000 Girls - http://www.10000girls.org/.

Bernard had a World Bank micro-finance translation but was able to work around the guests' schedule to enjoy a very nice 10-day trip to lush, green and friendly Casamance and the biggest Senegalese national park, Niokolo-Koba. While no match for the Serengeti or Kruger, we saw many birds, some rare such as a fishing owl, and many delightful ones such as kingfishers and bee-eaters and a few mammals such as warthogs (very common), a few kinds of antelopes (also common), crocodiles and hippos (from a distance only!), one leopard (in a large enclosure supposedly offered by Brigitte Bardot), many baboons and also a few interesting flowers.

European stork wintering (smartly) in warmer climes.

Giant grey heron

One of the many kingfishers we saw, some irridescent, some just black and white , but all very skillful fish catchers.

A hornbill

Typical Casamance beach village scene

Boat transport is a way of life in Casamance

Ziguinchor, capital of Casamance seen from the ferry.

The Gambia river with hippos and crocodiles...

Laid back but messy beach tourists....

To see “real” African animals in the wild such as elephants, lions, etc., we would have had to go much deeper into the park with an expensive 4X4 vehicle. But we traveled economy class in “bush taxis” - 15-25 year old Peugeot 505 estates with 3 rows of seats, and one even started smoking under the driver's feet! (a quickly disconnected wire under the dashboard fixed that – who needs brake lights in the bush?).

Tropical flower power

Basic park accomodation: a bed and a mosquito net, plus cheeky monkeys who come in your hut to steal your bananas!

Beautiful sunset through a baobab

Pirogues galore, even painted to the national Senegalese colors

Typical Casamance waterfront scene

Bernard just returned from 5 intense weeks upcountry in Liberia on an emergency mission for Catholic Relief Services (the NGO with whom he had two longer consultancies in 2008) to assist with a national response to a world news outbreak of “devastating” caterpillars.

Bong county, Liberia, has an equatorial climate, the remnants of a lush forest interspersed with rubber and palm plantations and many returnees from the 15 year civil war that finished in 2004. There is still a general uneasiness, basic services/low capacity and a heavy UN presence (Bangladeshi military and civil engineering). I worked with a pleasant team of 10 short-term recruited people to mainly investigate any report of new caterpillar outbreaks in a wide area, monitor any pesticide spraying performed by the Ministry of Agriculture (low capacity and equipment – more dangerous than the caterpillar!), provide support to the local government agricultural agency managing the response and provide community education to reduce fear and increase mitigation measures' effectiveness.

Overall it was intense but all went well, especially since the rains started unexpectedly early and stopped the outbreak in the most environmental way! However, we did get to see moths and “baby” caterpillars and 2 minor outbreaks of 2 other varieties of caterpillars (good thing that I raised silkworms when in primary school – very useful training – who could have guessed!). The team covered about 15,000km on the back of motorcycles and on foot and I occasionally went along – dusty and hot but pretty nice when when in a forest of rolling hills. The major lasting impact of the outbreak was the contamination of many communities' single source of drinking water and unfortunately that was the part of the national response that was completely bungled (and outside our responsibility).

Main street, Gbarnga. Dusty and with USAID signs

One of the 10 project scouts ready to find some caterpillars and with spare fuel

Pesticide spraying training in villages

Morning planning around a map

Typical village with large trees and graves

Large trees are never far away and occasionally good caterpillar fodder

Northern Liberian village view

The parts I enjoyed most: riding a dirt motorcycle in the bush/forest; splashing in possibly the only “tourist attraction” of inland Liberia: a nice waterfall in the forest; doing an emergency project that was not too emergency/dangerous with nice people; meeting a few interesting development tourists—oops, I mean international professionals, like me-- staying a short while for evaluations, trainings, project studies, etc.; taking cooling showers; beautiful lizards (but too quick and shy to photograph); a bit of email now and then when all the stars/satellites were in alignment; swinging in a hammock between 2 palm trees when it was too hot to stay in my room – uh, monk's cell.

A lovely and refreshing waterfall

Equatorial forest as seen from the road

Rubber plantation

The parts I enjoyed least: logistical challenges and lack of resources in Liberia; very hot and humid much of the time, with limited electricity; the usual apathy of government agencies and staff and a high level of corruption (similar to Cambodia); working 6-7 days/week and being away from home for a long time; no pastis. The things I found “interesting”: Liberia has so much US influence, such as hundreds of Christian sects; doughnuts for sale on street corners; US currency and electric plugs (but 220v thankfully); Liblish – a real patois of former US slave “english” - sometimes hard to understand and needing translation into French from some colleagues who had spent years in refugee camps in French speaking Guinea or Côte D'Ivoire; even more expensive than Dakar for much lower “quality” - probably exacerbated by the UN factor. But I would do it again, now that I know what to expect, and I would prepare and organise things differently. The local food was very samey (rice with sweet potato greens, greasy and pimented) but I fortunately stayed at the local Catholic Pastoral Centre which could also cater to Western palates with a bit of insistent coaching.

Bernard's sister, Tiphaine, our across-the-street neighbor with now 5 cats was also starting her career as a regional development consultant and spent a few weeks in very hot inland Bamako in Mali to design pilot micro-finance products for artists. Never a dull moment for all of us and it certainly beats 9-5 office jobs! Now is going to be busy with moving, finding the next job for Bernard but also enjoying what Dakar has to offer: culture (music especially) and the ocean (sailing, snorkeling, scuba, kayaking, waterfront restaurants, beach and birds).

We wish you all a pleasant and happy spring (in the northern hemisphere and the opposite in the upside-down hemisphere).

Bernard, Gina and the ZZs

Choice views of the Cap Vert Peninsula and Dakar

Iles Madeleine from Soumbedioune beach

View from Soumbedioune beach.

View of Almadies, the westernmost point of Africa from the Mamelles lighthouse

Our neighborhood seen from the Mamelles Lighthouse

Renée and Gina in front of the Mamelles Lighthouse

The Divinity Mosque of Ouakam next to the Ouakam fishermen village.

View from Ngor Island.

Friday 2PM prayer time in downtown Dakar.
All traffic stops.

One of the many beautiful stainglass of the Dakar Cathedral.

The Dakar Cathedral - a blend of 3 architectural styles of the Faiths of the Book.

Our favourite town centre hang-outs, the French Cultural Centre - nice restaurant, a bit of peace and greenery and great cultural events.

The Dakar train station - looks much better than the train systems runs (hardly at all).

A concert of Christian music on traditional West African instruments inside the Dakar Cathedral.

The return of the fishermen at Yoff fishing village (hold your nose and watch where you step).

This is taken from just down the road

Flora and Fauna of Senegal

Flame tree
Local lizard

End of year 2008

We love tropical Christmas....quiet, warm and sunny. And we love the local Santa at the grocery store: a tall African man in a red Santa outfit.
This end of year finds us well and with a good likelihood of staying in Dakar for a while longer. Update of the last couple of months:

Gina just started a permanent half time job as the manager of the Club Atlantique with 8 Senegalese staff. It's a sports and activity family club where we have been using the 25m pool. There are also tennis and handball courts, a great children's playground, a Lebanese snack restaurant, a club house with a bar, books, TV, games, DVD lending library, etc.. All in all it's about supervising the running of a small business as an NGO. Patrons are largely expat families of many countries. Until February she is also doing her 2 nights/week of English EFL teaching.

Bernard finished his second Catholic Relief Services contract and is waiting to hear back from a few local/regional job applications. Thanks to his sister Tiphaine (our neighbour across the street who is also applying for jobs to keep her in Dakar) he is now doing a 25 day technical micro-finance Fr/En translation for the World Bank (oh, can the French be wordy about nothing! My CRS Anglophone colleagues liked my translated French best as I can write reasonable French but at least in an English get-to-the-point manner).

Tiphaine and Bernard took a scuba diving course and after all the hard work (lugging heavy gear and preparing for all unpleasant contingencies) we finally got to blow our own bubbles "inside the aquarium", among the underwater rocks of a marine reserve. So many fish and other critters with wonderful shapes, colors and behaviours. Fortunately, fish are mostly curious creatures, so it's great to just hover over rocks and look at the live show in 3D. (Sorry no underwater photos, my camera does not go that deep).
It is also the season for migratory birds and it's great to see them around. Bird watching is fun, part of it is the just the environment (quiet and reasonably natural) and the feel of discovery.

Our other sister Françoise came out to see us from Virginia for a week, which allowed her to decompress and enjoy the tropics and allowed us to do some touristy fun stuff (usually to do with beach, islands, swimming and good food).

Bernard also went with some guys on a moto excursion, up the coast on the beach at low tide (oh, so smooth and quiet) and back on mostly dusty and bumpy but occasionally swampy or sandy tracks.

That's all for now and we wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year, full of health and happiness.

Bernard, Gina and the ZZs.

Trip to Casamance

I spent 10 days in Casamance, Southern Senegal for work, researching about rice production, and it was difficult to be in work mode rather than holiday mode. Firstly I got there on an overnight very modern ferry (of course I also spent a couple of hours with the engine technicians and on the bridge with the captain and pilot). Secondly I stayed in a wonderful waterfront hotel.

The place is tropical, green, full of beautiful birds and scenery, with many ecological and ethnic microcosms and very friendly people. I am ready to work and live there, it's clearly the best place in Senegal. Paradoxically, although it has the best agricultural potential of the country with abundant rain and water resources, it is also one of the poorest and very food insecure. Too long of an explanation for a blog, but it is full of potential.

So here are a few photos to try to convey the feel of the place:

View from my hotel room. How can one think of work?

The French Cultural Centre, based on the local architecture and styles which included round compounds so that the circular roof would funnel water to the centre for a water source for people and animals.

Typical inland scenery with rice fields interspersed with clumps of trees.

Sunset over Ziguinchor boats (pirogues)

Termite mound next to a crop of millet, very commonly grown in "upland" areas and which is a prime source of staple food, after rice.

Typical view of the banks of the Casamance river from the ferry.


There are many waterways called "bolongs", some are lined with mangroves and also with salt-resistant varieties of rice.

Atmospheric sunset
Casamance premier beach resort place, called Cape Skiring, very mellow though.

A bus owner everyones love: "I love my mother. The customer is king", if only it were true!
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And now for the bird life I could photograph with my quick and easy camera

Some kind of swallow on a hotel pier

Storks nesting right in the middle of Ziguinchor

All sorts of seabirds, including pelicans (not this one though)

Also many kingfishers, but they are shy.

A hotel "pet", a crowned crane.