If you saw my recent Instagram post then you probably already know what I’m going to talk about here. For around a year now I have been contemplating the possibility of extending my service here in Senegal and recently (about 2 weeks ago) it became official. I’m going to be staying in Senegal for another year. I’ll continue as a regular volunteer but I’ll be working more directly for an NGO at my site. My extension also comes with a few benefits, the most notable of which being a month of Special Leaving. In short, Peace Corps sends me back home for a month to relax before starting my extension hopefully meaning that I’ll be able to visit you all back in the United States this holiday season! That’s all well an good, but now let me tell y’all a little bit more about my extension.

Whenever I tell someone that I decided to stay in Senegal for another full year they say two things, usually one right after the other: “Congratulations!” and “Why?” I don’t always know how to respond to that question especially when real question that some people are asking is “Why, are you crazy?” If I’m in a rush or don’t care to get into it I just say “Why not?” or something of the sort. But when I really think about it, there is not one clear cut answer. Thinking back, I can’t necessarily remember why I started considering an extension. I think perhaps it was just an option that I was weighing. I mean, I had already picked out my top choices for grad schools in the US that accept the Peace Corps fellowship before even setting foot in Senegal, so it would not be out of the ordinary for me to think about what I would do if I did decide to extend my service.

Now though, I’m a little more sure about why I’m staying and what I’m hoping to accomplish in my remaining time here. The NGO that I will be working more closely with and have been working with for the last year, has been active the region since before Senegal became Senegal. I believe it started as a French organization but, through a series of events that I don’t fully grasp, it has become an entirely Senegalese run operation. In the past, this group has worked on projects relating to alphabetization, ecotourism, water access, health education, and so on. Currently they run one of the community radios in my area and they have various projects relating to agriculture, particularly sustainable community run agriculture. That’s where my primary role is; my training as an Agriculture Extension Volunteer makes me a perfect fit to help this organization extend sustainable agriculture techniques to their community partners. The connections that this organization has will also extend the impact that my service has beyond the boundaries of my town to the broader community. Aside from the agricultural aspect of their work, I’m also very excited to explore what possibilities there may be for work relating to Pulaar language projects, whether that be translating English resources into Pulaar or working Pulaar literacy into other, tangential projects. All this to say, I feel that there are still a lot of opportunities for excited projects at my site and I’m not quite ready to let them go.

I do also have certain personal ambitions for my extension. I’m hoping that I can begin to set something up to pursue in grad school. My plan has always been to eventually get my masters degree, currently I’m thinking in something like biodiversity or applied ecology. Now, with my connections here in Senegal, specifically the Senegal River Valley, I think it would be an incredible opportunity to do a thesis project here. There are a multitude of programs around the world that have an international emphasis and the Senegal River Valley seems to be quite understudied, at least in the literature that I can read. So during my extension I’d like to devote some of my time to getting to know the ecosystem more in a way that could be applied academically. I’m particularly interested in an ecological concept called “edge effects.” Basically, in the area where two or more ecosystems meet, there can be a biodiversity hot spot due to a variety of factors. I don’t know if it necessarily directly applies, but it makes me think of the gradients of ecoregions in the sky islands around Tucson and the biodiversity hot spots that are the riparian corridors that crisscross the region making southern Arizona so interesting. The Senegal River Valley is undoubtedly a hotspots of biological activity, acting as the boundary between two comparatively sparse ecosystems: the Sahara desert and the Sahel.

Ultimately, I cannot predict what this next year in Senegal will bring, but I’m optimistic. I’m excited to continue contributing what I can and to see what I may be able to glean that I will be able to take with me to the following chapters of my life. I know this is a short post, but I figured it was an important one to make. I can’t promise anything but I’m also hoping to post more here during my extension; I’m going to be getting an office so it’ll be helpful to have a specific place dedicated to writing. If you want to see what my service has looked like, go check out my Instagram, it’s linked on the home page of this website. I’m a little bit better about posting there, too. That’s all for now. I’ll write again soon, and if I don’t, I’ll hopefully see you all over the holidays!