What I'm Doing Here

My internship here at The SEM Fund is going well. I thought I would update you all on exactly what I’m doing while I’m here. (Other than enjoying the sun and the music!) I’m hoping that most of the next 8 weeks or so will be spent traveling to the different ecovillages that GENSEN has here in the northern part of Senegal. (They’d love for me to go to Casamance, but traveling back roads to get to villages is exactly what toubabs are NOT supposed to be doing – I think my parents would have heart attacks.) I’m hoping to leave for Mboumbaye on Sunday or Monday. It’s just north of Saint Louis, apparently, which must make it very close to Mauritania, so I’ll have at least 5 hours in the taxi or bus to read Middemarch. Once there, I’ll be meeting with each group that has received a loan from SEM micro-credit. I need to gather enough information from them to be able to write an update for both Kiva.org and for SEM’s own website. (These updates are basically the same thing, and will probably be in English although I’ll also provide a French version.) I need to know background information on the village, the group receiving the loan, the business venture being attempted, and how the repayment is going. I’m going to try not to sugarcoat it – if there are problems then the Kiva journals are expected not to gloss over them. However, what SEM chooses to send to Kiva or publish to their website is up to them, so I’ll be interested to see if they make any changes to what I write.

I’m also charged with taking pictures (I know, do I have the best job or what?) of the businesses and ecovillage staff for the website and for Kiva. Basically all of this sounds like a lot of fun, but I’m anxious to get started. I knew things would be moving on Senegalese time, here, but having someone else paying for me to work here (namely CELS and CISLA and Connecticut College) makes me feel guilty about the pace of things. I’ve spent this week writing out the information that I need to know, having some refresher Wolof classes with my old SIT professor, Moutarou, and reading through the documents and guidelines for journaling that Kiva provides its field partners with. Sorry if this is unclear, it’s hard to keep straight all the NGOs I’m working with. GENSEN and CREPS are basically the same thing, and SEM micro credit is a integral part of their ecovillage system. Then when you add in Kiva, it all gets confusing.

While in the villages, I’m also tasked with figuring out how SEM could best be expanded to fit the ecovillages needs. I think they have in mind buying some equipment to lend out to their ecovillage members (equipment for agriculture, transformation of grains, fabric dyeing, etc). To that extent, they are going to (eventually…) provide me with a questionnaire for the ecovillage staff/members. I’m not sure how long it’ll take to do the questionnaire, so in the mean time I’m just going to go ahead and include it as a question in my interviews.

That’s enough work update for now – I have to get back to work! I’m trying to meet with a group from one of the two ecovillages located here in Dakar. We’re having some difficulty reaching the president on the phone, however… ::sigh:: Still, it’s nice to be back in the SEM office. Everyone is friendly (if exceedingly busy). I forwarded them Nicholas Kristof’s article on microcredit in Africa from a few days ago. Ata, who is from here but attended NYU, is teaching everybody English. Tuesday and Thursday are ‘English days’, and from the sound of it, everyone is really good! I don’t know how much of the article they will have been able to read/translate but I’m curious what they thought of it. Here's the link, for those of you who are interested – the comments are more interesting than the actual blog. He also wrote about microsaving in general before that.

Later I’ll try and post an update with my ‘walking tour of Yoff’, which is the neighborhood I’m living in. Ba ci kanem! (See you later!)