New SEDers

A couple of days ago, we welcomed a new group of Small Enterprise Development volunteers to Kaolack, and seeing as everyone was on vacation, COSed or not wanting to deal with it, I ended up in charge of coordinating their installation. Luckily it was a small group, and only 9 new volunteers were here, but this continued the bizarre year-in-country experience. I found myself standing in front of them all with my notes going over rules of the house, places to eat and shop in Kaolack, and apologizing in advance for our slow annoying internet.

Our subregion is welcoming 3 new volunteers to replace my friends Byron, Cassie and Cail. This is probably the weirdest experience of all, since those people really helped me get through my first year in country and were my go-to people when I had a question about anything, and now I'm supposed to be the one responsible for having all the answers. I really do remember thinking the year-in volunteers knew everything and were totally comfortable in this country, and now I realize that nobody ever has all the answers to anything. Yes, I've adapted and I can more comfortably navigate this developing country in a language I previously did not understand a word of, but by no stretch of the imagination do I have all the answers. We'll see if it's any different a year from now.

Well I'm out.

~E