Jessica Brandi Lifland's Photo Blog

This was the view as I was along for the ride as Molly Melching, CEO of Tostan NGO and Sanjit Bunker Roy of the Barefoot College of Engineers in India visited the last of the day of several small villages in Senegal to discover which 5 villages would be the best to serve as models for the implementation of solar energy. I was recording the conversation during the town hall meeting (a circle of chairs under a beautiful tree.) Just as the conversation turned to the cost of batteries, the battery in my mp3 recorder finally gave out. A villager and I both noticed the sunset and he escorted me out to a good location. In my opinion I was about 5 minutes late for the fiery red sun we both saw from the meeting circle and the ideal baobab tree silhouette still evades me. Senegal. December 25, 2008.

This was the welcoming we received in the village Keur Thione Saar where Beth and I visited an Operation Smile patient that was recovering from surgery. The whole town came out to give us a formal greeting complete with  music and dancing. It was one of two villages we visited yesterday, Monday, Dec 22. I hope to go back under less pomp and circumstance.

This was shot a few days ago while walking along the beach in the N’Gor district of Dakar.

It is Tuesday Dec 23 and I am back in Thies after a few days of R&R in Dakar seeing off the rest of the Operation Smile Mission team members. Yesterday Beth and I went to visit 2 villages. On was the one Tostan was founded in called Saam Njaay and the other was a village called Keur Thione Saar where one of the girls who had been operated on lives in. It was quite a welcoming. Pictures to follow at some point. Today I have been hanging out with Tenley as she distributes micro growing tables to some families. Later she will help the families assemble the tables to be prepared for growing and seeding fruits and vegetables. I have no notes with me at the internet cafe so I can’t be more specific about any details. I am just enjoying an iced glass of ginger juice.

Woman at a Daara which is a Koranic school for children.

Woman bathing

Just a single image from during screening at the hospital.

Click on image to link to a soundslide. Apparently WordPress won’t let you embed a soundslide (SWF) file. As well as let you do alot of other things. May switch blog to Blogger or some other host soon. Any advice?

The Presidio Trust and real estate development company Forest City broke ground on renovations on the Presidio and possibly the city’s biggest eyesore, the old Public Health Services Hospital. The following are some images of the inside of the historic section of the building that will undergo extensive renovations. Throughout the years of neglect, the building has attracted many trespassing graffiti artists.