Work Work Work FETE Work WEEKEND

Sup y'all.
Bzurk here giving you a little rundown since Tuesday.

First, quick question for the blogosphere. How do these women carry so much stuff on their heads? The back baby I am beginning to understand, but its the head balancing that is beyond me.

Tuesday: the anniversary of Bob Marly's death. He was a pretty great guy. Huge parties all over town. I had work but I was going to check out the beach party at night and I walked down there with a friend of mine but it was wayyy too sketchy and we got kind of freaked out and left.
Wednesday: I had a terrible day at work which was made so much better by the fact that Thursday was a random Senegalese holiday. I went to a saweet concert put on by the US embassy (random) in honor of Peace, Tolerance, and Understanding. I like all of those things and the concert was free. It was in this huge stadium and thousands of people started out in the stands and then all of a sudden somebody said something and everyone rushed the field where the stage was. We basically did a one story jump and made a mad dash with a ton of Senegalese folk. Then the dancing began! ... and didnt stop. We left at 2. It was excellently fun dancing Senegalese style and acting a fool for hours on end. The big artists: Titi, Baaba Mall, Youssou Ndour.

They had partner Senegalese concerts in New York and DC also.

Its Friday now dude
I'm ready for the weekend
Lets go to the plage

Sénégal nekhna

FEBS continues but is not rolling like I had anticipated. I had good meetings with USAID and ANCS (national AIDS association in Senegal) but we have still not begun do really do it to it.
I think the program is going to have to scale back and be more realistic. Stay tuned for new strategy update that will be ready by next Monday.

My financing troubles are not the be and end all in this world. At the end of the day I am a student doing my best. The situation in Uganda is much more dire and I blame poor governance on of a history of colonialism and European imperialism... but that's just me. After so much success in fighting AIDS in Africa, its just not moving forward quickly enough (see a pattern?) watch the video, The Battle Against AIDS is Failing or read the article:
At Front Lines, AIDS War Is Falling Apart
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/world/africa/10aids.html?pagewanted=1
Its hard to really visualize the AIDS epidemic when you aren't here maybe this helps:

This weekend was fun. Friday night was quiz night where we got a little silly and asked some questions. I won the first time and then I got to pose the questions the next time. Maryland Sports Trivia
Saturday was mega laid back and I did absolutely nothing all day and all night, glorious.
Sunday I kicked it with a new friend Lucia, her and I went to Ngor Island (paradise) and just asked this dude if we could help him paint his boat. He was glad for the help and then said we were part of his family. I love Senegal.

That's all for now. I still love mail. Here are some multilingual haiku, French and Wolof. translation in italics

La developpement
C'est trop compliqué , je crois
Faut travailler dur
Development
Is too complicated, I believe
You must work hard

Sénégal nekhna
Q'est-ce que on peut faire?
Je voudrais aider
Senegal, its good
What can one do?
I would like to help

J'aime la vie ici
Oui, je viendrais encore
Trés tôt inchAllah
I love the life here
Yes, I will come again
Very soon G-d willing

Walk by the ocean
I can smell the States from here
I miss barbecue

Teranga

American haze
Blinders, showing one culture
What ELSE is out there?

Wait in the shadows
Invisible, motionless
Smile and watch them dance

A bean sandwich seemed
Like a good idea at the time.
Def not for breakfast

The Senegalese in Dakar mainly speak the language Wolof. I really have got to work on my skills. One word I do know is teranga, basically meaning hospitality, but so much more. If you go to any Senegalese house for dinner they will have not only made enough food for their family and expected guests, but also for anyone who comes along. Teranga. If you are walking through the street looking lost, someone will walk you to wherever you are going. Teranga. After being here, you realize that hospitality can go over the top. But who wants to say no to a helping hand? One of the first things I noticed was the feeling of teranga you get everywhere in this city.

Last night my Earth Day presentation went well, je pense. I (sadly) ran out of power on my camera, I was trying to film it or take a bunch of pics so I'll just try to describe it for you. I went to the Ecole Publique in Yoff where the literacy group (APADA) meets from 1830-2030. We showed this video by OXFAM

I made a powerpoint and the teacher, Monsieur Dieng, presented it in Wolof. Pretty great. He is my main man in helping me actually do the project too. We had a brainstorming sesh last night and we are getting it all down on paper on Saturday. Here is the man, the myth, the ledgend, Monsieur Dieng.
If anyone want to help with fundraising stateside (or wherever you are) for t-shirts, bowls, dice, the van, or anything else we can use to try to get health information to the people please let me know! I will have all the materials ready, you just have to go out into your community and ask local businesses or individuals to help a marginalized population in Dakar learn the basics of malaria, HIV/AIDS, and what health services are in their community. Please e-mail me at benjamin.p.zucker@gmail.com if you want to get involved.

Bienvenue mes amis!

Shalom.
My blog has begun.
Hopefully I keep this up.

My name is Benjamin Porter Zucker and I am living in Dakar, Senegal. I am currently working at the Alliance for Migration, Leadership and Development (AMLD), a global migration NGO, that aims to work within Africa and with the international community to implement initiatives which could bring tremendous change on the way migration, leadership, and development are linked and how their synergies can foster and boost African countries development framework.

I am running a migration health program here connecting the migrants living in Dakar to the health actors and services available. I do teachings and presentations about topics ranging from the symptoms and causes of global epidemics (HIV, TB, Malaria) to climate change. If you want to learn more, just ask!

InchAllah this blog will be: 1/3 travel blog 1/3 haiku, music, funny internet stuffs 1/3 public health information if you think of anything cool you want on the blog or just want to holler e-mail it to me at benjamin.p.zucker@gmail.com and ill read it fo sho

Tiny insect buzz
Whispering epidemic
Oh noooo, malaria!

Waaw, Dakar by night!
Stay alert, feel the dark night
Brush the sandy roads

Atlantic waves crash
Onto this developing
Land of teranga

Watch, look, and listen
Learn Africa from the people
I'm the migrant here

Pics so far:
http://picasaweb.google.com/benjamin.p.zucker/SenegalEstExellent?feat=directlink#

Alright, thats all for now.
I'll leave you with this because I am in Africa and Akon est un vrai Sénégalais
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C1uqBbeaPI

Peace