If anyone is poking around, I want to let all of you, I've arrived to Senegal safe. The arrival has been met with all sorts of warmth, energy and hardwork! I will be spending the next few weeks, trapping my first impressions into a larger net of observation and experience. When it's topfull, I shall release the net right here.

see you then,
RR

The Seacoast 7 Miler, Magnolia, Gloucester 7/18/09

You can be rest assured that I will represent all Westerners when I introduce JOGGLING to the African people.

Blast Off!

Greetings Everyone!

While I have all of you at once, I've wanted to update you on some important news. Wednesday, the 12th of August, I'll be headed to the West African Nation of Senegal, where I'll strive to accept an invitation to serve in the United States Peace Corps. If I am so lucky as to be sworn in and, in turn, complete my expected term of service, I will be there a duration of 27 months, returning to the United States in the autumn months of 2011.

As the gateway to West Africa, Senegal is as rich in its culture as it is in its beauty. Also, if you locate Senegal on the map, you will find that it is not wretchedly far away from the East Coast of the United States, and as a matter of fact, it is no further away than Italy. Just on the other side of the Atlantic, Dakar, Senegal’s capital city is West Africa’s largest and busiest port, as well as cosmopolitan and architecturally significant. In many circles, it is often referred to as the “Paris of West Africa.” The Senegalese are in particular revered for their rich musical heritage, but many native men may want you to believe it is their obsession for le fut soccer, while on the other hand, the women of Senegal would submit that it is the bedazzling shopping, inside the bustling, labyrinthine outdoor markets that defines the true splendor of this culture. Whatever the case might be, all 13 million Senegalese are to be proud Africans, and having experienced over a century of French colonization, they are no doubt also tasteful and refined.

I am truly blessed to have been assigned to a true cultural cornerstone of Africa. Of little surprise, Senegal’s national language is French, but of course, there are several other indigenous dialects being spoke around the country, Wolof, being the most widely heard. Peace Corps ensures that every volunteer is immersed in the local language(s) as soon as he or she steps off the plane, and I’ll declare, if I can’t finally raise my French to a near level of fluency in my two years of service, I am one horrid linguist.

All over West Africa, city centers are trying to accommodate unprecedented levels of population. The rapid urban population growth is a combination of worsening conditions in the rural regions and the attractive opportunities that are being created in cities. Needless to say, the cities are being overburden by the demands of such strenuous population density, and as urban planners and city officials scramble to make room for everyone to live, there is a more fundamental question that is being asked throughout West Africa. How will the cities be able to feed so many people, especially when many of the country’s agriculturists are abandoning their land in the villages to find work in the city?

In the Peace Corps, I hope to be assisting innovative and preemptive projects that answer that exact question above. I will be focused on food security, as well as new technologies and disciplines of sustainability to better transition Senegal into an ineluctable future of urban sprawl. I will be sure to consider the creative solutions I learned in India of recycle and re-use into the greater imagination of my work in Senegal. All West African Peace Corps volunteers, regardless of specialization, are expected to lead efforts in raising the awareness of HIV/AIDs. In our two years, we are also granted the freedom and highly encouraged to lead a project of our own, whether it is to host a talk-radio show, introduce and organize a recreational sport and/or activity, or fundraise for and build new facilities, such as libraries. You can imagine I have a few ideas of my own.

Before I receive my exact work-site and assignment, I will participate in a 3-month intensive training with 56 other trainees in the Senegalese city, Thies. During which time, if I meet all requirements, I'll be sworn in as a volunteer and my two years of service will begin.
This email of notification, not to be mistaken as a Chronicle, is primarily in response to a decision I had made after returning from India. I have, believe it or not, caved. The Chronicles of the past have always been disseminated via the medium of email, but I’ve accepted to be true, in our dizzyingly advancing world of technology and multimedia, all of today's blog mania might hold merit. With that said, my Peace Corps adventures to come will be available on my very own, Overseas with the Senegalese at http://www.richardaross.blogspot.com/. I had seriously considered the title Rich and the Poor but I feared that it would have been construed as a mere affront and much less the playful double-entrendre I had originally intended. You will also find there chronicles and photos of the last five years, as well as new installations of my South-East Asian escapade of last spring and an impulsive holiday in Sweden this past June. Do give me sometime once I arrive to settle in before it is routinely updated.

I want to say farewell and for those that will make the switch with me to the blog, Hello, Bonjour, or as the most courteous greet with in Senegal , Assalaamaalekum!. Let the next two years for all of us be safe, healthy and happy!

Xoxo,
Richard
My address, once I arrive for the first 9 weeks will be as follows:

Richard Ross PCT

Corps de la Paix

B.P. 229

Thies, Senegal

West Africa

Letters to Senegal are 98 cents. Flat rate int'l boxes start at $37.And be sure to send airmail and write "PAR AVION" and "AIRMAIL" on all letters, otherwise they will be sent via sea and can take years to arrive.