Thursday, September 19, 2013

Gelly-Gellies and School Days

Just a brief update here. I'm back in Kombo for a day or two with an ear infection. I saw the Peace Corps doctor this morning, recieved some medicine, and will make my way back to site tomorrow. I took public transportation here. Gelly-gellies, as they are called, are slightly longer than typical vans. They are often in less than mint condition. During training, my first gelly-gelly's side door fell off. The trip from my site to Kombo is about 120 miles but takes a good 6 hours. Yesterday took me 8 hours. Our driver hit a motorcycle at low speeds. No one was hurt, the bike didn't even fall over but there was damage. I then waited with 23 adults, 3 children, 1 infant, and 1 squaking chicken on the side of the road in a Lundvan sized vehicle while the drivers yelled at each other for 30 minutes. A cop arrives. Now 3 people yell at each other for 20 minutes. Suddenly they stopped, the driver came back, and we drove on.... until we suddenly pulled over at the police station for another hour. My Wolof helped me enough to find out that they needed money and did not have money. "I see. So when will they finish? What will they do?" I asked. -"They need money," someone replies. And we waited until suddenly they were finsihed, the driver returned, and I survived my first solo gelly-gelly experience.

I've been at site for less than two weeks. My initial impression is that the village is very social and supportive, and my school and headmaster are the best in The Gambia. We've been fast at work this first week of school to create action plans for committees and organize school based trainings throughout the year. I will be working with my headmaster and another teacher to lead a training on learner centered teaching and math methods of teaching primary grades. I've been getting to know the teachers and students. My school is supported by the Dutch Ngayen Sanjal School Fund. I've included a link to their website on my blog now. The students do not have to pay tuition to attend school, but they do need uniforms, pencils, paper, and some money for lunch. Through this organziation, the students recieve the assistance they need to not only go to school, but stay in school. The leader of the school fund came to visit last Friday. Gifts of money, mattresses, and even a goat or two were given to children and families. The organization has help fund the school's library, office and staff room, and solar panel. They are working to provide the families with solar lanterns so the children can do they homework at night.

I also added a wish list to my blog for those who have asked what they should send me. Packages are wonderful, and letters are my favorite.

That's all for now. I'll brave the gelly-gellies again tomorrow to head to site. Love and prayers.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Go Time

I'm all sworn in and about to start doing actual work. It's hard to say exactly what I'm feeling. On one hand, the completion of training meant leaving my training village and the family I've grown to love for the last two months. My little brother especially has a huge piece of my heart. 5 year old Mustafa would see me coming home from class each day and and would run down the path to greet me. I've uploaded a video of his precious laugh for your enjoyment below.
 
The last morning in my training village, my family gave me my favorite breakfast "rui," which I believe is a cos porridge, though I'm really not sure. I finished my final packing while eating this first breakfast. I then joined my family to a second breakfast of rice and fish around the foodbowl. Mustafa and I played Dem Napa(Go Fish) until the Peace Corps truck arrived. I swooped Mustafa up to say goodbye and broke into tears when he began to sob in my arms. As my friend, Melissa, says "Peace Corps: Teaching you to say goodbye since 1961." The good news is, few goodbyes are forever, and I've got plans to visit my training village family this December. 


On Friday, I swore in as an official volunteer. The ceremony took place at the US ambassador's residence and was attended by embassy officials, Peace Corps staff, and representatives from the Gambian Ministry of Education. Both the Gambian and American national anthem were sung, a number of speeches were made, and we raised our hands to be sworn in. 

“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

And we can now say we're volunteers. Alleluia! We celebrated with the rest of the PCVs on a boat cruise down the Gambia River. Saturday morning we went shopping for necessary items. I bought a bed for sleeping, propane tank and burner for cooking, and bucket and rope for laundry. What more could I need? Today I went to my LCF's house for lunch with my two classmates (pictured above) and got to Facetime my sister at home this evening. It's been a great weekend.

Tomorrow morning I head out to my permanent site. The next phase is called the three month challenge in which we are to stay in our villages until December. The goal is to get to know my host family, school, and community. I will spend time chatting, building relationships, and learning about my village. I will also spend the three months writing a baseline assessment. I will assess what needs my village actually has. The goal is to build knowledge of what the village wants, would benefit from, and be able to sustain. When the relationships are built and baseline understood, I will the be able to create projects with community members to build their own capacity and meet their needs. 

I'm feeling excited and empowered, nervous and uncertain. There's a lot of ambiguity in terms of what happens next. The last 10 weeks have been scheduled out hour by hour, but that schedule ends the same hour we get picked up tomorrow for site. The schedule's now in my hands. There is freedom in the ambiguity. I can make these next two years what I want them to be, creating projects, forming friendships, and living the adventure that is The Gambia. There is pressure in the responsibility. Successful service entails building strong relationships, integrating into a new culture, learning Wolof, and hopefully initiating a little progress. There's a lot to take in. I guess it's as the Gambians say when you ask how the work is, "I'm on it, slowly, slowly." I know I've got the love, prayers, and support of those at home, and these faces welcoming me into their home tomorrow. -I know, they look thrilled!
So here it is. It's go time. Be beneen yoon! (Until next time) Wish me luck.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

The End of Training



Training’s over. I’m just about official. I swear in as a volunteer on Friday, September 6th which is only a few days away. I’m officially at an intermediate high proficiency in Wolof! I’m able communicate my needs and speak in sentences, though my grammatical accuracy and fluency are definitely on the poor side. A new challenge in learning Wolof is that the Wolof spoken up country at my site is not the same as what is spoken here in Kombo. It’s not drastically different, but different enough to annihilate my current language skills. Here we go again.

Last week we had our Marathon March. It was twelve miles through salt marsh, river, mangrove swamp, and bush. There were two points in the journey that we had to hold backpacks over our heads and walk through water up to our chests. Our hard work trudging through sand, mud, and swamp was well rewarded in the end with delicious pizza and cold beverages, a real treat when living without refrigeration.

Hiking through the bush
My language and culture facilitator, Ebrima, has been facilitating my culture learning by quickly turning me into a Barcelona football fan. Last Sunday he took me and my two classmates to watch the game at a house by the baobabs with electricity and a television. We bought cookies and soda from the bitik next door, and I felt like a little girl again, watching football with my dad. “Which team to we want? They’re red right? Yay, we scored! Oh, I mean boo! They scored.” Ebrima’s been a very patient teacher to three monolingual Americans. 
Ebrima and I during a Peace Corps Staff and Trainees versus Host Families Futball Game

Since coming to The Gambia, I’ve encountered various and unique forms of wildlife including monkeys, lizards, hippos, and an unbelievable number of ants. Ants have quickly become one of my least favorite creatures on this earth. I had, until a few days ago, been fortunate enough to avoid any encounters with snakes. My fear of snakes is quite extreme, bordering the line of a phobia. Three nights ago was at first another pleasant evening, reading a book by the light of a lantern, laying in my bed. Imagine my surprise when my eyes glimpsed movement on my floor. I look down and there is a living snake in the middle of my room. It was not very big, maybe a foot long and small enough to come into my house through the gap below my closed back door. Africa must have made me tougher because I didn’t scream, nor did I panic. I grabbed my flashlight and spotlighted the snake as it went underneath my watering can. I ran to my front door, spotlight still centered on the fowl being, and called to my family for help. I said “Mariama, Mariama, kai, kai!” (come, come)" My sisters and mothers came inside and I said “There’s a snake in my house! Ragalma ko! Ragalma ko!” (Small Wolof mistake as Ragalma ko actually means it fears me and not I fear it as I intended. Foreign languages are hard). My mom grabbed a 6 foot stick, knocked over the watering can, and beat the snake for the next several minutes. Meanwhile, my sisters and I stand back, horrified and holding the flashlight. When all was over, I made my sister stay with me while I looked underneath my bed, behind my shelf, and in every corner for any more of its friends. Ebrima came by shortly afterwards and helped me shove a broom under my door to keep any more out. My fear didn't not really hit me until it came in the form of tears after I said goodnight to everyone for the second time and headed to bed. When I first came to The Gambia, one of the other PCTs had a snake in her pit latrine. When she told us about it, I thought to myself, “No way. If that happens, I’m out of here. I’ll do rats. I’ll do massive spiders, and I’ll handle a plethora of lizards. I won’t do snakes. First sign, I’m calling quits and going home.” Well, it’s happened, but as it turns out, I’m too happy here to be ready to throw in the towel. I survived an encounter with a snake, a snake that came into my house through my closed door in Africa. I survived, and the snake definitely did not. Plus one to me.

The way things stand right now, I’m finished with training, and on the verge of swearing in. Back at home, my family and friends are headed back to school and enjoying the final days of summer. Here it seems that I’m stuck in a perpetual summer, a summer that’s about to get hotter and longer as I move to site and settle into the next two years, during the two hottest months. I’m grateful for God’s providence. I’ve been blessed with beautiful and supportive friends both here and stateside, good health, and high spirits as I move into this next stage. I look forward to transitioning from a Peace Corps Trainee into the life of a United States Peace Corps Volunteer. I hope to post again after I swear in to fill you in more on what this transition means.