by Chisako Fukushima, Intern, The Rodale Institute, Pennsylvania

From October 27 to November 6, I visited Senegal in West Africa with other members of the Rodale Institute staff, including Dr. Laurie Drinkwater and Phuong T. Hoang. Although it was relatively cool in the mornings and evenings, the temperature rose to over 100 degrees during the day. In Senegal there are two seasons each year, a rainy and a dry one. When we arrived there had been no rain since the rainy season ended in early October. I had seen a picture of the dry season and except for a few trees, it looked like a desert. The soil was sandy and poor; the color reddish brown. As it had not been so very long since the rainy season ended, the soil still contained a certain amount of moisture. I heard that in the dry season, the parched soil blows into the air. In the central part of the country, the major crop is millet but we also saw watermelons, sesame plants, and hibiscus here and there.

Rodale International Senegal is located in Thies, an hour's drive from the country's capital in Dakar. It was in Thies that I met Mitsuhiro Oketani again, a fellow member of Shinji Shumeikai who has been working with Rodale International in Senegal since last March. He now speaks fluent French and works closely with other staff members of Rodale in its Senegal office. I was very impressed.

The director and the staff of Rodale's Senegal office are all Senegalese and all contribute to regional activities. This spring, the President of Senegal awarded the Rodale Institute for coordinating an Environmental Program for a women's group. In April of last year, President Clinton visited a village program that Rodale International helped establish in 1992. Now neighboring countries are recognizing the success of these programs and are inviting Rodale International into their own countries. I think that what Rodale International Senegal is doing is what the people of Senegal really need.

A half-hour drive from Thies, located on a gentle slope, is the village where we worked. The people do not have electricity there and after sunset, the whole village is covered by total darkness. Being on a slope, the soil has been gradually eroding due to the heavy rains. Ten years ago the villagers started to make rock retainer walls to keep the soil in place, which make the fields look rather like Japanese paddy fields that also are built on sloping land. The purpose of our trip was to research the effects of the rock walls and assess where they should make the next one. Villagers know the Rodale International staff very well. They guided us to their fields and helped with our soil sampling. I found that villagers and Rodale International staff have a very good relationship. When meeting us, the village children first would study our faces. I do not think they are used to guests. Then, after a while they gave us a hearty welcome with dancing and shouting. They had such sweet smiles.

On the final day of our stay, we went to a gift market in Dakar. When most shops were closing, a boy about ten years old came up to me with a wooden elephant and asked, "Could you buy this?" The cost was 1000 Senegalese francs, which amounts to about two dollars. I did not have much money for transportation and 5000F bills were the smallest I had. So, I gave him one and he ran away! I thought I would never see him again. But, after about five minutes, he came out from the crowd with a 4000F note for me. He had been trying to make change. I was very sorry that I doubted him. As it was dark when I bought the piece, I could not see it very well. Later I found that the elephant was off balance and unable to stand. Looking at the toppled elephant told me of the desperation of the boy who carved it. This impressed me deeply. To tell the truth, I was shocked to see so many children begging in the streets. There are many harsh realities in this country. They make me think about what happiness is, what unhappiness is, and what it is possible for me to do by remembering the children's faces. I know that the part I play is very small, but it is my hope that the little I am doing will help build something much bigger -- world peace.

FROM SHUMEI MAGAZINE, VOL. 219, JANUARY/FEBRUARY, 1999