Kaolack to Bustane Diouw - Day 185

Date: February 19th, 2010
Distance: 52km
Country: Senegal
Song of the Day: Stand Up - Flobots

Today I headed back to Gossas. A look on the map will show that is back the way I have come. I don't usually want to go backwards, but I still have a couple of days before my visa for the Gambia is valid. So I might as well spend it wisely.

Sadly the trip up wasn't as pleasant as the trip down. The day before I had a slight tail wind. Now going the other way, it had turned into a major headwind. So the going was slow. It took me over an hour longer than expected. But I got there.

Rithvik met me on the highway at a place called Bustane Lo. This is what he called his "road town". From there it was about a kilometer north along a bush path to the town he lived in. A bush path is basically what it sounds like. A trail through the bush. But in this area it meant sand. Biking on sand is lame. It is almost as tough as biking through snow. Not quite though.

Still, we made it and I met Rithvik's host family. They were excited to see me and had a bunch of questions. I think they thought I was crazy for traveling so far. They were wonderful though and even provided lunch for us which is great.

The villages here are made up of these compounds. Just a fenced in area with a collection of huts. Rithvik's hut was about as good as it got. Just a thatch roof, but the mud brick walls were plastered over with concrete so it wouldn't melt in the rainy season. He also had a back yard with a private "douche". That is what the locals call them. It is basically an outhouse with two little chambers. One has a pipe that leads to a septic tank. The other has a bare slab for taking bucket baths. Let me tell you, after a couple of hours sweating on the bike, pouring cold water on yourself feels great.

Afterwards Rithvik game me a tour of his village. He also explained what the people were doing here. I guess in the rainy season all the land around is fields. It was hard to imagine. At the moment the area looked more like sand than dirt, with just a few spots of dead grass or thorny plants. I guess Rithvik's host father collects the grass in the dry season to make a little extra money. A hard life to be sure.

Goats, sheep and cattle that roam the area eating almost everything green. The leaves on most of the big trees in the area are too high for the animals to reach. Also, there is a kind of thorny plant that is mildly poisonous so it is left alone. There were also a few tiny trees protected by what looked like crab pots inside the village itself. This was to keep the tenacious goats away. Everything else was gone. Including a few trees Rithvik had planted earlier this year. That is just how it goes here.

Our jaunt through the village didn't go un-noticed either. Everyone there wanted to see who the visitor was. The villages are mostly from the Wolof tribe. Since I don't actually speak Wolof Rithvik was translating for me. The people here like to ask a series of rapid-fire questions as a way of greeting. I didn't catch mutch of it, but Rithvik explained where I was from and all the countries I had been to. Apparently one of the young men in the village said "I am sorry for you."

After the sunset I had dinner with Rithvik. We talked about what he was doing. I guess he works with the "health hut". This isn't in a doctor/patient way. He knows that he is leaving at some point, so has been working to make sure the place can sustain itself. I guess that is one of his big complaints about NGOs. They just come in and build something, or start a program, but don't leave any money to keep things going. So while the hut isn't much now, no real medical equipment, supplies or even furniture, he is hoping they are able to continue running it without him. A lot of this stuff had to do with getting the village to take active ownership of their health hut. If it can be run without ouside help, then the NGOs can come in and provide more equipment to make it more effective. You have to walk before you can run.

That night it was too hot to sleep inside the hut. Rithvik hauled his mattress outside and slept under a bug net. For me I pulled out my tent, but just as a bug screen. It felt good to fall asleep under the stars.

-Dravis