ThirdGoal.org

Integration

Integrating into my area required a huge deal of patience, understanding, respect and most importantly, humor. It was an everyday, every minute activity. For the first few weeks… ok, months… ok, it never really ended… I got pointed at, laughed at, talked about and questioned (You’re 23, single and don’t have kids? Will you marry me and have my kids? Do you have rice in America? What does your hair feel like? How do you dance in America? What church do you go to? Will you give me your money,...
The toughest job I’ve ever loved

I spent my first two years in Zambia as a Community Health Educator in a catchment area of over 4,000 people from 35 different villages. My job basically consisted of working with counterparts at the area clinic and with seven Neighborhood Health Committees, each made up of about 15 people from different zones in the catchment area. I assisted in forming the committees and then trained three of them in basic health care (malaria, HIV/AIDS, water and sanitation, child health and nutrition, ...
For sale.

His market on wheels....
Out of the mud!

This photo was taken when I was a Response volunteer in Liberia. It was rainy season and the mud was hoorrific. These fine gentleman helped us out!
The Queer Quiz

One of my proudest achievements in service, thus far, did not include attempts to end malaria, to promote nutrition for small children, or even to introduce an alternative fuel source. No, instead, my moment of glory came in the administration of a quiz---a "queer quiz", to be exact. At the tail end June, Gay Pride Month in America, five other volunteers joined me at the Thiès Training Center to deliver a day-long seminar on sexual orientation and alternative lifestyles. Our targ...
Faux Lion

Faux Lion (fake lion) ceremonies involve traditional drumming and dancing and are common in Senegal. Performers wear colorful garb with animal influences and entertain the crowds with their rowdy behavior.
Pretty in Pink

A Pulaar herdsman pulling water from a well for his cows in a village south of Diourbel, Senegal.
Hoopiness!

Bringing the joy of the hula hoop to the children of West Africa. My Girls Group spent the afternoon making hula hoops and then we practiced our moves. They were quick learners.
learning a language

Terry and I took the same bus to school each day, he teaching at the university, I as an English instructor at the Teacher Training College of Abidjan. We both spoke French fluently, and had been placed in a dioula class during training, resulting in our enjoying chatting, both in French and dioula, in the bus with the regular early-morning passengers. As we got to know our fellow commuters a bit better, they took an interest in us and began to teach us some local slang. When someone asked if...
Ifaty

The rains coming in at sunset in Ifaty, Madagascar

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