Site Visit

Hey,
so this week has been a pretty big week for all of us trainees. on monday we went from our training villages to the big training center in Jenoi. waiting for us there were representatives from each of our villages. For two days we got to know our reps, and then on Wednesday they took us via public transport to our permanent sites. My site is a four to five hour bus ride from Soma up to Basse, then  a van ride for the remaining 25 miles over dirt road. I got to my new house, a cylindrical thatched roof hut a little after dark, but my family was all awake to greet me. I am living in a former volunteers house, so he already made some key investments, like building an outdoor bed and a structure for exercising. He also came to introduce me and catch up with his former family. On Thursday my represenative came over in the morning, and we walked around to meet the alikaloo, or village cheif, the alimamo, or spiritual leader, and the heads of the village development committee, womens group, teachers, nurses, and other important people. The tradition is to buy Kola nuts and then when you greet someone you hand them some kola nuts as a way of saying you are coming in peace and happy to be there. Alot of people were already off working in the fields by the time we walked through the village, so walking went pretty quick. Normally, when there are people out you greet each one and stop to chat. This is how you get to know people and become, slowly, slowly, a friend and then a member of the community. Friday morning I did the same thing in Same Kuda, which means new Sami, its the new part of the same village, but they have their own groups so I met them all as well. This morning I left in order to get back to Jenoi by tomorrow night for some more training.