PEACE CORPS volunteer Corey Dolbeare interviews a village chief in Senegal about a farming method he'd like to teach to farmers. He soon learns that communicating his ideas in the native Pulaar language is the first obstacle to be overcome.

PEACE CORPS volunteer Corey Dolbeare interviews a village chief in Senegal about a farming method he’d like to teach to farmers. He soon learns that communicating his ideas in the native Pulaar language is the first obstacle to be overcome.

Published in the July 29, 2015 edition

By COREY DOLBEARE

“Research is a human behavior that requires critical thinking, objectivity, intelligent design and passion. A true researcher seeks knowledge not for the self but for the interest of mankind as a whole and perhaps for the sake of the world at large and all of its inhabitants.”

Learn Pulaar

Wiitude = to research

Look at the Arabic script scrawled artfully across the wooden tablet. Do you know what it says? Neither do I. Just know that as you stare at the foreign symbols, full of confusion and wonder at all the possible meanings, the farmers I interview are experiencing similar sensations with each bizarre question I ask. I have seen blank stares, jaws gone slack, stuttering, talking in circles, and just plain silence. …

In every interview, we speak many more languages than just Pulaar. We speak body language, we speak facial expression, we speak intonation, we speak farmer. But even with all these forms of communication, we still happen upon misunderstandings. Struggle is an affliction that accompanies all research projects. My struggles take many forms in Senegal – the heat, public transportation, cultural practices, etc. But my biggest struggles now are related to language barriers.

I learned very quickly how specific I need to be when speaking about my project and the necessity of being able to explain everything I need to communicate in various ways with different words and metaphors.

When I first started out my research, I met with a village chief who was going to help me call some farmers together. I explained my project to him and told him I was specifically looking for Doers of live fencing. The farmers showed up. We started the interviews and discussions. And I am sitting there, interviewing non-doer after non–doer, thinking to myself, OK this wiseguy just called a bunch of farmers; he must not have specified Doers. 

… Later on I figured out he called for Doers, but his interpretation was people who would do live fencing. And these farmers are all staring me down waiting for me to hand out seeds I never promised. #MyBad. I learned I have to specify with utmost clarity the audience I’m looking for – Folks who have already planted live fencing or at least tried it.

Wadoobe = Doers

When I explain my project to a group of folks here, there is usually the token individual who understands perfectly everything I attempted to convey and has to step up and clarify to the rest of the babbling group exactly what I meant. At times it’s hilarious and simultaneously fascinating to listen to their interpretations of my work. Most people are so used to NGO handouts, they’re usually expecting something from me, products or a service. Nope! How about a training! Other times my frustration gets the better of me. But then I think to myself – these misinterpretations don’t just happen to me. I catch locals re-explaining themselves to each other pretty often. It happens to us all.

Kalasal ledde guurde = fence of living trees

Fence of living trees – this is another big trickster. It can go one of two ways:

Oh, have you ever made a fence of living trees around your field?

Yes

What tree species did you use?

Desert date and umbrella thorn tree branches

How did you plant them?

I cut down the branches and piled them up

So you didn’t plant them?

No

So the trees are actually dead. … What you have is a dead fence …

Yes

So that’s not a live fence …

No. I used live trees.

Commence Scenario 2

Have you ever made a fence of living trees around your field?

No

What do have around your field to protect it?

I have a dead fence. Thorny branches.

I’ve seen your field. There’s euphorbia in the fence. That’s alive. Did you plant those cuttings?

Oh yes those are living. I planted them six years ago. Around 2004.

Six to 10 years. They’ve been there a while. But so you have a partial live fence?

Yes

When you ask yes or no questions, you can never expect to get the most accurate answer. Sometimes, it takes a lot of discussion and probing to get to the truth of things. This is why we use the Designing for Behavior Change tools when we look to bring change to the habits and actions of our target audience. I want to help farmers better understand agroforestry principles and help them bring these techniques into practice.

My barrier analysis is helping me to understand farmers so that I can be the best prepared to help them. There’s just a lot of babbling in the process. Soon I’ll be leading my trainings and babbling on even more to them about all the incredible things I learned in the process and what I think can help solve some of their problems.

Editor’s note: Corey Dolbeare has served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal, West Africa, since September of 2013 as an agroforestry volunteer and is due to return to the U.S. in November of 2015.

He is a 2007 graduate of Lynnfield High School. He graduated from St. Michael’s College in 2011 with a B.S. in biology and a minor in chemistry. He was accepted into the Peace Corps Senegal International Program through the University of Washington in Seattle as an agroforestry volunteer. He is earning his master’s degree in natural resource management through UW’s School of Environmental and Forest Sciences and anticipates completing the degree requirements in 2016.

Readers can follow his blog at Bearinsenegal.wordpress.com.

Corey is the son of Glenn and Melanie Dolbeare of Wakefield.