In the states I only knew a handfull of people who participate in Ramadan, and it never had such an impact on my life as it does now. It's definitely an interesting experience. While I'm sure fasting as a community makes it easier to complete, it also comes with some complications-- community image of devotion, or merely the ease of completing the difficult month with the support of your fellow fasters (especially if you're the female who cooks in the house... nobody wants to be cooking for the house while they are making up their fasting days beyond Ramadan). Fasting is quite difficult (especially with the 100 + degree F heat we've been having) and many people power through and fast during all of Ramadan with the community (rather than skip a day for legitimate reasons and make it up later throughout the year by themselves)... this includes many pregnant women and older folks. While I understand that this is a religious practice, and I honor and respect that, it's hard to see people who need to put their health first and not do so. One of my older host-moms already had to go get an IV drip at the health post, and many women in their 3rd trimester of pregnancy are still fasting. As a health/environmental ed volunteer, I'm still trying to figure out how to address these situations in a culturally acceptable manner. This year Ramadan also falls during the short but sweet rainy season, so people are still going out to the fields to work in the morning, but luckily this means we're getting some cooler days as well.
Volunteers choose different ways to adapt to this month long change of pace, some try fasting as well, some sneak food in their huts (I am of this variety) and some just choose this time to go on vacation. I did one day of solidarity fasting (and essentially slept all day), and am currently subsisting on peanut butter oatmeal, mangoes, and Mauritanian biscuits (I may dedicate a blog post to these at a later date, they are amazing- I can't explain why because they are just bland biscuits... but I'm addicted).
Luckily I haven't started any time pressing projects yet, because the day gets progressively more sedentary, and many people aren't willing to do much more than the absolute necessities. As my job is still mostly getting to know the village and integrating, Ramadan has actually been a nice time to go greet and visit the various compounds in my village-- people are always home and nobody is trying to shove food at you the entire time you're there (sure, not eating at all isn't ideal, but sometimes overly-hospitable households just seem impossible to please... "you didn't eat anything!").
In other events, I went to Dakar for an impulsive trip to see Hillary Clinton address US Embassy/Foreign Service employees. It was a short but sweet presentation, but the real reward was all the delicious food and first world amenities I was able to indulge in while there. Burgers, ice cream and a shopping mall have never been such an amazing experience.
