The local gossip:

Ladies and Gentlemen, hide your flocks.
This morning, a taxi slowed to a crawl in the middle of a busy St.Louis street. An unidentified passenger exited the vehicle, seized a nearby goat (adult, male, beige and ivory, last seen grazing), thrust it horns-first into the back of the taxi, and sped off. Local authorities have contacted radios with the message, which is now being broadcast across Northern Senegal.

Can you hear me now? Baxhna!
Last Wednesday evening, I found myself in one of those very interesting situations in life... This time? A Mauritanian cell phone smuggling scandle. To my surprise, I was in the very same car as a heap of Motorola cellphones who were trying to make their way from Mauritania into Senegal via a small black suitcase (what a fun place for a very real cliché). The border patrol was thrilled to find the cell phones, and even more thrilled at the monetary prospect they posed. Two and a half hours, one dinner, and lots of money exchanging later, the cell phones got their wish and were set free to roam Senegal (oooh bad pun). The guards got an unexpected bonus, and I learned how 'supple' the senegalese legal system is. My advisor (who happened to be party to this whole ordeal) explained to me that everything in Senegal is quite negotiable. (Oui, comme je vois...)
I wish I could tell you that part of this adventure involved actually going to Mauritania, however all attempts on my part to hop a pirogue across the river into foreign land proved futile.

What was I doing in a car full of smuggled goods?
In fact, I was in the process of interviewing rural Senegalese groupement members who live near the border. That day, I met:

• A Mauritanian refugee, now vice president of her groupement:

"We must reinforce ourselves, we women, integrating ourselves into the development of Senegal, and not behind it."

• Katy Cissé, a girl who started her own groupement at the age of 17 :

"This is why I formed the group: I left school for my parents; I came to work with them in the fields. I was alone, I couldn't work; so I formed a groupement to bring others together with me, to regroup them, to give them a style of life."

• A 56 year old women who firmly stated:

"Men used to be in our groupement, but they never paid their dues on time! They would use their loans to either eat or buy another wife. They are not just. They can never really be part of Senegal's development. Not how they are now."

• ...I also met my advisor's friend who teaches judo and sells cell phones on the side. On this day, he traveled to Mauritania...(see above.)

I have held 31 interviews in the past two weeks in French and Wolof (translation necessary at times...all the more fun!). These interviews have spanned economic specialists, NGO managers, and groupement founders. The majority, however, have been with hard-working rural women with big ideas and incredible ingenuity. I am in awe of the Senegalese farmer right now - she is, very truly, the one that keeps this nation going. My research originally centered around whether or not microfinancing works in rural Senegal: particularly what motivates people to pay back (or not pay back) a loan. That question has become null and void. Groupements will ALWAYS pay back their loans. (As banking goes, these rural villages, even while strapped for resources, have perfect loan histories.)

My research now examines the microfinanced groupement's role in Senegal's development. If my results so far are any indication, it's pretty exciting. These women know how to ORGANIZE! (As a dabbler in mass-organization, I stand stunned by their efficiency and drive.) I now understand why Project Hunger moved all their Senegalese offices into rural areas, working solely with groupements: the groupements get things done in this country. School house needs building? Check. No electricity in the village? They will petition for a loan-matching partner. Bad sanitation? They will hold seminars to educate local families, then will mobilize the community to seek new latrines.

Next up? Spending some evenings with a groupement of fisherwomen down by the wharf. I hope my results will smell as good as my clothes...