New town, new job!

So classes wrapped up without incident last week, and this week we MSID students start our internships. Two students stayed behind in Dakar for internships there, but the rest of us boarded the bus (the same one we took to Toubacouta) Monday morning to travel to our new towns, scattered over the southwestern region of Senegal.

Thiès is on the left, close to the ocean

I was the second one we dropped off, as I'm only an hour outside of Dakar. I'm in Thiès, the second largest city in Senegal and the capital of the region of the same name. With about 274,000 residents, it's still a bustling metropolis compared to a lot of the country, but after Dakar it's like a slow, small town - definitely more my speed.

A view of the main road I take to work every day

Its market, open every day of the week, is a wonderful place which one could almost get lost in. I pass through it every day on my way from my house on the edge of the city, where I live with the Seke family, to my internship, which is closer to the town center. I plan to explore it a little more fully this weekend, and write a bit here about it.

I'm working with Agrecol Afrique (their website is unfortunately only in French right now), an organization which promotes sustainable and organic agriculture in the Thiès region. I'm spending this week learning about all of their projects, and choosing which I will work with for the next few weeks. I'm here for six weeks total, and then after my winter break I'll be in Séssène, doing more direct work and research with the farmers who partner with Agrecol. 

Madame Sira manages the store for organic products from growers partnered with Agrecol

It's all rather new and exciting, and I feel as though I really have the chance to accomplish something here. At the very least, I'm planning to organize Agrecol's library a bit - it has serious need of some alphabetization, and luckily organizing books is one of my favorite hobbies. 

Ba beneen yoon! I'm glad so many of you seem to enjoy my haphazard notes about my journey, and promise to try being a little more regular with my posting!