People say that time here is elastic, and after the last five weeks I completely understand what that means. Some days fly by, while some hours seem to drag for weeks. I’ve been able to establish a routine at site, but even a well-crafted to do list is susceptible to “Senegalese Time” so I do my best to go with the flow.

I start my mornings here early. Because I sleep outside, I’m up around 6. By 6:30 the sun is out and it’s too bright and hot to be asleep. I spend the mornings doing chores (laundry, sweeping the ever present dust, checking my email, etc.). On weekdays, I go to the health hut (which is a two room building, not an actual hut). For now I just observe what goes on, but hopefully later in my service I’ll be presenting causeries and organizing information. I head home around 2:00, and spend the afternoon greeting people, studying the local language, and resting. In the evenings, I sit with my mom and siblings, who are all eager to teach me more about Senegal and life in the village.

As an American, I’m still uncomfortable with having so much free time, so I’ve also filled my time sporadically by decorating my room, exploring my village, and reading a lot. I’ve started working on a scholarship program to help high achieving middle school girls stay in school, so be expecting a lot more information about the Michelle Sylvester Scholarship next month! Some days, I spend all day resting, mostly because Islam communities everywhere are in the midst of Ramadan. As a show of solidarity (and a personal challenge), I’ve been fasting with my family, so I don’t eat or drink anything from sunrise to sundown. (You may have noticed the lack of meals in my daily schedule.) Ramadan lasts for 30 days, and we’re about one week away from the celebration for the end of the fast. My mom says we’re going to kill two goats, but I’m mostly excited about drinking water during the day. I’d definitely encourage you to learn a little more about Islam and Ramadan if you’re not already familiar! You can start learning here.

Now, on to the best part about this post: my family! They are the ones who are teaching me the language, showing me the most basic things (like where to buy bread), and patiently learning to appreciate my strange American tendencies. There are almost 30 people living in my compound and they’re all incredible. I wish I could tell you about all of them in this post, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll stick to the people I know the best right now.

Djarri (Pronounced jar-ee, rhymes with sorry): Although Djarri isn’t the oldest of her siblings, she has a lot of responsibilities. She’s only 11, but she cooks, cleans, watches the younger children, and runs errands every day. I don’t know where she finds the time to do anything else, but in her free time she has also taught me countless Pulaar words and phrases. She loves to dance, sing, and model. Djarri has a gift for names, and has already learned to say “Hannah Lefton” as well as the names of my immediate family members. She may be younger than me, but I strive to work as hard as Djarri every day.

Hawa: My host mom at site is a wonderful woman. Her patience with her 7 children (8, including me!) is unmatched, but she’s also not afraid to tell them when they’re out of line. When we’re not fasting, she wakes up early – around 5:00 – to make beignets, which she sells to people around the village. Her beignets are so well liked that people often come to our compound while she’s still cooking to buy them fresh. Her cooking skills are only second to her social skills. I’m convinced she knows every person in our village, and always has a friend or two over to pass the day with.

Ousmane: The boy in the green is my 4 year old brother and my best friend at site. He’s got a great imagination, and he’s taught me a lot of ways to pass the time during the long afternoons here. Some of our favorite games include making silly faces, counting anything within arms reach, popping my knuckles, and hand clapping games. I think we get along well because we speak a similar amount of Pulaar, although he’s years ahead of me in understanding what other people are saying. Ousmane makes me smile every single day, and I hope this picture will make you smile too:

As for everyone else, the pictures I’ve taken don’t do them justice, but I hope you’ll enjoy looking through a couple more all the same.