Catching up... [Part 5]

WAIST Photo Contest

For the past few years now, Peace Corps has held a photo contest on the first night of the big West Africa Invitational Softball Tournament (WAIST).  Below are the photos I submitted for the contest this past January (2012), each one with its theme and a brief explanation.

Architecture/Monuments:  This is of the grand mosque in Dakar and was taken out of the window of a taxi when my parents and sister were visiting me in Senegal.

Food:  The bowls are full of a traditional dish made from millet and typically served at baptisms and other events; this photo was taken during the baptism for my counterpart's second wife's son.

Group Portrait:  These students are helping weed the vegetable nursery in the garden at the elementary school in Kayemor; some are clearly more excited about it than others.

Hilarity-Hilariousness-Hilariousity:  This young boy was not quite sure what to make of my (real) father all dressed up in my (host) father's best white outfit; the next photo I took of the 2 of them shows the boy smiling, so he quickly decided my father was on ok guy to be around.

Individual Portrait:  This young girl, Baby Sey(nabou), is quite the precocious little girl; she was scared of me for several months when she was younger and used to run into her mother's arms crying whenever she saw me, but she quickly grew out of that phase and now struts around Kayemor as if she owns the place.

Integration:  This photo was taken when my parents, sister and I hosted a party for Kayemor when they were visiting me; I'm dancing here with my host aunt (in purple) and my host mom (in green) - everyone always enjoys seeing me make a fool of myself when I try to dance Senegalese-style.

Local Flavor:  You couldn't go a day in Senegal without seeing the components in this photo: a bowl (of rice), a tea pot and 2 tea glasses; this photo was taken in the garden that several talibe of Serigne Djim Ndiaye started in Kayemor; one talibe, Gallo, is in the distance watering on this beautiful evening.

Nature:  This photo was also taken in this garden; one talibe, Ali, strung up these bitter tomatoes to dry, which provided a nice window to the setting sun.

On the Job:  This photo was taken when we were measuring out the garden beds for one of the 4 different school gardens I helped start during my service; the teachers and I were demonstrating the process of measuring out and marking garden beds before digging, while the students looked on with intently. 

Transportation:  When my parents and sister were visiting me, we took a 3 hour boat ride from Palmarin to Toubacouta in the boat pictured here.  

Where's Waldo?:  These are 6 of the 8 girls who received a scholarship through Peace Corps Senegal's Michele Sylvester Scholarship program for the 2011-2012 school year; if I were a few inches shorter I would probably blend in a bit more.  :)