Students Get Senegal Lesson From a Veteran

Twenty years ago, Ventura resident Tim Rake traveled with the Peace Corps to Senegal, where he coached the national swim team and trained future physical-education teachers.

This week, he shared some of his experiences in the West African country with a group of fifth-grade students at Poinsettia School in Ventura.

As part of National Geography Awareness week, Rake was one of about 200 former Peace Corps volunteers in California and more than 1,000 nationwide who visited schools over the last several days to help boost children’s knowledge of foreign places.

Rake, who met his French-born wife, Marie-Helene, during his two-year stint in Senegal, was the only former Peace Corps volunteer to visit Ventura County schools this week.

The 42-year-old printing consultant chose Poinsettia because his son Sebastien is a student there.

Rake wore a tie-dyed, yellow-and-green tunic from Senegal and brought with him several souvenirs--gourds, some hollowed out for carrying water, intricately carved bowls, a colorful woven rug.

Although he emphasized the extreme poverty of the country, some of the children thought it might not be so bad.

“The women do most of the work in this society,” Rake said as he showed a slide of women carrying heavy bowls and baskets on their heads. “The men play cards and talk.”

At this, 10-year-old Jerome Mickelson nudged the child next to him: “Oh, yeah,” he said. “That’s my kind of place.”

As the children passed around dried gourds, shaking them to hear the seeds rattle inside, some had questions for Rake.

“Since it was so hot,” 10-year-old Allison O’Connell said, “did they sell suntan lotion or did you have to bring it?”

Rake replied: “I think I had some sent to me.”