The Tam-Tam

The Newsletter of the Friends of

Senegal and The Gambia

It has been a while since the last Tam-Tam and I apologize for the delay.

The Friends of Senegal and The Gambia group is coming together but we still need a few positions filled. First, the FOSG steering committee includes:

Naomi Shanks -- Nguecokh in the Dept. of Foundiougne, 1989-1991, Animation

Kristen Velyvis -- Senegal 1992-1994

Shelby Tarutis –Dankunku, The Gambia, 1980-1981, Health

Marcela Hahn -- Ngayene Sabakh, 1990-1992, Agriculture

Roxanne Pieper-Kerani -- Diokoul Melbouk, Kaffrine region, 1989-1991, Health

Carol Breen (little beanda) – Senegal, Agroforestry

And officers:

Co-Group Leaders – Scott Lewis and Pip Courbois.

Member Database Coordinator –Ann Carrellas, Senegal, 1988-1992 – Health

Special Projects—Thames Fulton—Tambacounda, 1992-1995, Agroforestry

Co-Newsletter Editors – Pip Courbois – Kaymore, Close to Nioro, 1989-1991 Agroforestry; and Michael Satin – Nioro, Kaolack, 1991-1994 Agroforestry and Environmental Education

Webmaster - Eric Shaffner – Velingara, 1994-1996, Health

And vacant positions:

Treasurer – Scott Lewis until someone else expresses interest. Manage the FOSG checking account and keep records up to date on NPCA rebates and other donations.

Fundraising Coordinator –Raise funds for assistance projects in The Gambia and Senegal and coordinate the decision making process which awards money to SENEGAD, the Gambia Scholarship Fund, and other projects.

Communications Coordinator – There are several different tasks here. Handle all communications to FOSG members and sending out electronic news on Senegal and The Gambia could be part of this.

This newsletter still needs submissions. Almost any articles are welcome: stories, photos, news-items, poems, reviews, cartoons, and reprints; articles from your life in Senegal and The Gambia or from your life after West Africa. Send these to me .

Along with your feature items, we will include a rumor page and a bulletin board. The rumor page is where you can update everyone with your exciting lives or someone else’s, if you dare meddle, and the bulletin board is for advertisements, personals, and the like. Looking for someone?

In the next Tam-Tam I would like to include a directory of Senegalese and Gambian restaurants all over the United States. So please email to me addresses and reviews of restaurants in your area! We might as well as make it a food issue; if you have any good recipes, please send them to me as well. I have warmed your pallet with a Maffe recipe included here.

Other articles in this newsletter include a review of Senegal in the World Cup finals and a commentary about the National Peace Corps Association credit card. First, however, I remind you about our website and the national conference this summer.

The 2002 National Peace Corps Conference

Dates: Thursday June 20 – Sunday June 23, 2002.

Location: Omni Shoreham, Washington D.C.

The dates for the postponed 40th anniversary national conference are now Thursday June 20 through Sunday July 23. The conference was postponed from its original date of September 18, 2001 due to the terrorist attacks. The schedule of activities described in the box.

We will also have a FOSG reunion dinner at the conference, probably Saturday night although the time and place have not been finalized. We will post the date and location on the web site and email list as soon as we know.

If you have any questions or want to attend contact me at . I’ll be glad to try to answer the questions and help.

FOSG website

Please visit the FOSG website

It was created and is maintained by Lycia and Eric Shaffner (94-96). The site is impressive; it includes pictures, music, a chat board, and news from West Africa. It also has a great page of Senegal and The Gambia links.

The Tam Tam will be published and archived on the web page as well. If you have regular access to the web you can save us $$ and paper by not having a paper copy sent to you. We also decided this newsletter will no longer print Scott's news updates from SeneGambia; instead they are kept on the website and can be sent to you directly, to ask to be included on the mailing list email Scott Lewis.

Senegal in the World Cup Finals

Senegal has, against all odds, made it into the World Cup finals for football (soccer, here). This is quite a prestigious event for Senegalese sport. The World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world and only 32 countries get to go to the finals. “The Lions of Teranga” have never been to the finals before.

The World Cup finals take place May 31 to June 30 in South Korea and Japan.

Senegal has the honor of playing the first game of the tournament on May 31. Their opponent? France. France is the highest ranked team in the world and is expected to repeat their World Cup win of four years ago. The game will take place in Seoul, South Korea.

One advantage Senegal has against France is that the majority of the Senegalese players play on French club teams. Another advantage to Senegal playing France, not for Senegal but for us, is that the game will likely be televised.

Senegal will bring a unique brand of soccer to Korea. Africa soccer is known for personal flair. However, Senegal’s players are not well known around the world. The stars are Elhadji Diouf in offence, Ferdinand Coli at defense, and Oumar Diallo in the goal. Diouf scored nine of Senegal’s 14 points and Coli and Diallo allowed only 2 goals during qualification.

The tournament will proceed as follows. There are eight groups of four teams each. Each team plays every opponent in their group (round-robin) and the best two teams advance to the round of 16 and from then on it is single elimination.

Senegal is in group A with France, Uruguay, and Denmark. Although France is believed to be the best team in the tournament, Senegal might have a good chance of advancing as the second team of the group. Uruguay was the final team to qualify and was fifth place in the South American region, and Ireland recently dominated Denmark in a friendly. In the end it is a good group for Senegal.

This is the first time in World Cup history that two countries have jointly hosted the finals. Half the games will be played in each country, with the final and 64th game taking place in Yokohama Japan on June 30.

Senegal is a surprise entry into the cup. Only 5 nations represent Africa in the finals. In the African qualification Senegal won group C, beating soccer powerhouses Morocco and Egypt who were clearly the favorites to win the group. Senegal showed they could win with a 1-0 defeat of Morocco on July 15 and then relied on a little luck when Egypt, needing a win over Algeria, had to settle for a tie securing Senegal’s trip to Korea.

The other countries representing Africa are Cameroon, Nigeria, Tunisia, and South Africa. All these countries have been to the finals before. No African country has won the World Cup; the best finish for an African country was Cameroon in Italia 1990 when they reached the Quarterfinals behind possibly the most famous African super star, Roger Mila.

Of all the African teams Tunisia has the easiest draw and the highest ranking. They are in group H with host Japan, Russia, and Belgium. They are ranked number one in Africa and 15th in the world. Before the eight groups were formed (the “draw”), Nigeria (ranked 6th in Africa and 42end in the world) was regarded to be the African team with the best chance of getting out of the first round due to their past World Cup experience. Unfortunately, however, they landed in the most difficult group (the so-called group of death) with the two powerhouses England and Argentina.

The official line for Senegal is 200-1 odds of winning the tournament, the lowest of all the teams who qualified. However whatever happens getting to the cup is already a victory for Senegalese Sport. Go Lions!

Some Internet links where you can find more information:

Les Lions de Senegal:

BBC: news.bbc.co.uk/sport/hi/english/football/world_cup_2002

ESPN:

FIFA: fifaworldcup.yahoo.com

AllAfrica.com/soccer

Bulletin Board

From Judy Beggs Pierson —

Hi, y'all.

As you may know, in 1995, a kid from my village came to Denver to study dance. After a couple of years, we noticed he was darned bright, and so we kept him here to finish his education. Our problem is that he's been here so long, he's forgotten Wolof.

Anyone know of a Senegalese family or community in the Denver area that he could spend time with to re-new his acquaintance with his mother tongue??!

Judy Beggs 3120 South Race Street, Englewood, Colorado 80110.

You need a new credit card!

Pip Courbois

It was recently brought to my attention that the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA) has teamed up with MBNA to offer a Mastercard, for the benefit of its members. I for one relish the thought of sporting a Peace Corps credit card. Every time I charge instant popularity! But is this right? Credit cards seem to be contrary to the Peace Corps spirit, but doesn’t everyone have a credit card? And so shouldn’t we use a “social-responsible” card? But is MBNA social responsible?

MBNA’s “bundled” contributions to President Bush’s campaign totaled $240,000 (opensecrets .org). Politics aside, MBNA supported President Bush only because President Clinton vetoed the bankruptcy reform bill written by congress the year before. Congress promised MBNA to bring the bill back this year, and with friends in the White House MBNA got their bill. Congress made the bill harsher than ever on defaulters. The bill, which was partially written by the credit card companies, gives the companies the right to challenge bankruptcy filings and, worse, it put credit cards equal priority with claimants of child support. This means a mother who is seeking child support from a former husband who is filing bankruptcy, will have to fight credit card companies for any assets that the father may have. Fighting corporate lawyers is not anyone’s idea of a good time.

MBNA is the nations largest credit card issuer. It contributed so much to the President’s campaign by getting executives, their families, and PAC to contribute the maximum amount. Sounds like another now infamous company that, ironically, did not seem to have difficulty declaring bankruptcy and defaulting on its lenders.

Mind you, The NPCA benefits from their relationship with NPCA. According to the NPCA, the organization gets $1.00 for each new account that is opened and $0.15 for each transaction. In 2000, NPCA received a little over $16,000 in royalties. This is a lot of money. So I can see why they like this relationship.

Also credit cards are very useful; I have a couple myself. Does anyresponsible credit card company exist? So I have a suggestion: Become a dead-beat: get a NPCA credit card and use it often, but be sure you pay your debt completely every month. Notice that the NPCA does not get any percent of interest from the card, simply money per transaction. So happy charging!

For more information about the new bankruptcy law look at the Consumer Federation of America (

For a list of “socially responsible” credit cards go to

Also see MBNA.com

To order a NPCA credit card visit the NPCA website.

Vegetable Maffe

Pip Courbois

Here is a recipe that I have shamelessly copied out of the cookbook The African News Cookbook edited by Tami Hultman and published by The Africa News Service and Penguin. The cookbook is excellent and includes recipes from all over Africa. Don’t tell Greg Griffin, though, because I stole the book from him. (If you don’t know who Greg is, he is a volunteer who served in Mauritania at the same time I was in Senegal. I did not know him then but met him in Corvallis OR. about a year or two after COSing. Believe it or not he was a Wolof speaker in Mauritania. He lived right across the river from St. Louis on the beach. Lucky Greg.)

2 large onions, finely chopped
4 tblsp. Peanut oil
2 cups pumpkin, winter squash, or sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped in chunks
4 turnips
4 medium potatoes, quartered
2 large carrots, chopped in chunks
½ of a small cabbage, coarsely chopped
2 large tomatoes, quartered
1 bunch of fresh leafy greens (spinach, Swiss chard, turnip greens), or 1 small package frozen greens
2 chilli peppers, or 1 tsp. Cayenne pepper
2 cups tomato sauce
¾ cup peanut butter

Brown the onions in moderately hot oil in a large, heavy skillet or stew pot. Add the vegetables, one at a time, sautéing each for a minute or so before adding another.

Stir in tomato sauce, along with about a cup of water, reduce heat, and simmer until all the vegetables are tender (but do not overcook otherwise you get mush!). Spoon out about half a cup of the hot broth and mix it with the peanut butter to make a smooth paste. Add to the pot, and simmer for another 10-15 minutes (be careful here, you want the vegetables to be solid!). Serve over rice.

FOSG 2002 Financial Report

The box at left contains the 2002 FOSG financial report. We are doing well. The loan to the Friends of Swaziland was to help that group establish a free checking account, since the Group was just recently reactivated. Pip and Scott agreed that this was a helpful gesture to this new group and since the checking account interest is only .25% this loan has a negligible impact on FOSG finances. Friends of Swaziland is paying back the loan as their monthly rebates arrive.

We are currently working on obtaining 501-c-3 status, but need someone with the time to do it. The 501-c-3 status would allow all donations to be tax free.

Friends of Senegal and The Gambia needs your support!
Annual membership in Friends of Senegal and The Gambia (FOSG) is only $15. This money covers the cost of sending out the Tam-Tam and is also used to enhance Volunteer projects in The Gambia and in Senegal. There are several different ways you can support FOSG. Either you can submit $15 directly to FOSG or, if you are already a member of the National Peace Corps Association (NPCA), you can select FOSG as your Country of Service group and we will receive a $15 rebate from NPCA to cover your membership. If you are not presently a member of NPCA and wish to be, we can process this membership for you (see below). There are also several special projects listed here for which you can provide extra support.
Name: ______
Address: ______
Phone: ______E-mail: ______
Occupation:______
Country and years of Service______
(if RPCV, include program and location)______

MEMBERSHIP/ CONTRIBUTION OPTIONS
______I wish to become a member/renew a membership in Friends of Senegal
and The Gambia. Enclosed is my check for $15 (annual dues).
_____ I wish to become a member of both FOSG and the National Peace Corps
Association (NPCA). Enclosed are my annual dues of $40 (NPCA sends FOSG a
$15 rebate for each membership).
FOSG will process your membership in NPCA.
_____ I wish to contribute to the following projects:
1. The Gambia Student Scholarship Fund. Amount ______
2. Michele Sylvester Memorial Scholarship Fund for village girls. This is
also known as the SENEGAD Project. Amount ______
3. General support to PCV Projects (FOSG is occasionally receives requests
to support other projects)
Country ______
Amount ______
Make out all checks to "Friends of Senegal & The Gambia" and send them to:
Friends of Senegal & The Gambia
c/o Scott Lewis
1276 North Wayne St., #425
Arlington, Virginia 22201