Years have passed into months, months into weeks, weeks into days, and now I am counting the hours left in Chargel. Reflecting over my time here in Chargel isn't easy, as so much has happened during my stay here it's difficult to take it all in.

I suppose I could define my time here by the work I've focused on: The women's garden that still has an uncertain future. The skills center, where I have spent so much time promoting new projects and further education opportunities. The "current events club," where I got to answer some of the most random and obscure questions...in Pulaar. Helping with sporting events at the school. Celebrating a successful bee-keeping workshop. Promoting new agriculture techniques, fuel reduction strategies, and sanitation ideas. Helping put up new houses and roofs. Promoting chicken, duck and rabbit production organizations. Helping write the "Articles of Confederation" fora Gambia-wide peanut co-op. Or traveling throughout my region of Gambia, promoting and judging tree nurseries.

I feel good knowing that my time here leaves with the community of Chargel, and indeed the surrounding area, an enhanced potential for continued education, improved nutrition, reforestation, strategies for better health, income generation, and a new degree of self-empowerment.

But the work I've done really doesn't do justice to defining my time here, as that inevitably comes down to the interactions I've had, the friendships I've enjoyed, and the relationships that have been built.

The people of Chargel have never ceased to amaze me with their immense hospitality, their level of understanding, and the way they continue to appreciate and respect this young "toubab" living among them. I will forever be in debt to my host family, Ceesay Kunda, for the generosity and care they have shown over these past two years. None of the "work" I've done can pay back such an experience as this has been.

I can never forget: The day I rode a horse cart three hours (one way) with my friends to go pick mangoes near the river. Waking up in the middle of the night to the sounds of a baby crying as it endered the world. Mourning the loss of a friend. Teaching the kids how to throw a frisbee and blow bubbles. Getting taught how to play football. (soccer) Getting caught and drenched in a rainstorm while out int he middle of the fields weeding. Being a part of the process of helping my friends find a wife. Sitting and chatting with the older men under shade trees during the heat of the day. Enjoying the local hospitality of Gambians when my bike leads me down the wrong road and I can't reach home before dark. Spending the afternoons shelling peanuts with Baladi. Or playing cards with Batch, Modi, Samba and all the guys. Learning to pound coos and cook local foods with Nyana and Fatou. Learning Arabic from Lawo. And lying under the full moon with a most gorgeous sky of stars, drilling Saikou with question after question about life in Gambia, while listening to drumming and singing from just a few compounds away.

Suffice it to say, my time here has certainly been nothing short of amazing.

But just as any season changes, my time here is coming to a close. The anxiety is intense, not wanting to say good-bye to Chargel, yet excited to see family and friends in the States. Not ready to end this chapter of my life, yet more than ready to touch down in Jordan, where an entirely new experience, full of new opportunities and friendships awaits.

While I wish I could be leaving under different circumstances, if there is one lesson my time here has reinforced, it's that life is quite unpredictable. And while we might not have much control over what happens, we do have control over how we react to it, and what we gain in the process.

I can't thank you all enough for the support and encouragement you have offered me here. Your letters, emails, calls and packages have been greatly enjoyed, and your prayers felt. My time here hasn't been easy, but it has been good.

So, as the sun sets on my experience here one last time, I can't help but realize that my years in Gambia have truly made me a different person. As the line in "Wicked" says, "I have been changed for good." And I'm excited to see you all soon; to catch up on what has been going on in your lives.

All the best, and see you soon!

NOTE:

As the ending of my time in Gambia is truly just another beginning, please follow along with me as I soon venture out to Jordan, where I will serve with Peace Corps as a "Youth Development" volunteer beginning October 22, 2009. What all does that entail? Find out at:

"The Life and Times of a PCV...Again..."

markstrohbehn.blogspot.com

Hey Avid Readers

I have another bit of an update to share from Gambia.

As I have now been in Kombo for the past 10 days working on getting medical clearance for my extension to Jordan, the medical office has come across a few "snags" that are going to require me to see some specialists back in the States. It's nothing serious, but serious enough that the PC medical office wants it to be "resolved" before I begin my extension to Jordan. In order to not risk NOT going to Jordan, they prefer for me to come back to the States to get it resolved as soon as possible.

This means that after hanging out in Kombo for the past week and a half, I will FINALLY be going back to Chargel tomorrow, where I can spend my last few days hanging out with the village that has become my Gambian family, and Khiva.

Peace Corps will pick me up from Chargel in a few days and bring me back to Kombo where I will finish out some last-minute paper work and such. Then I will be on my way back!

This isn't exactly what one plans for or prepares for, but I'm glad to know that this will get taken care of sooner than later and not hold up my ability to extend.

So...one could say this has been a bit of a full week, with tests, more tests, and emotional ups and downs. But I'm glad to have some clarity of what is going to happen next. I guess, when it comes down to it, it would be a disservice to my time in Gambia to not use this time to appreciate some of the lessons I have learned here...such as taking each day as it is, one day at a time. And to appreciate how close I have become with my friends in Chargel. I guess, in the end, it's bitter sweet that it will be so hard to leave this place that has become my home.

You can be looking forward to one final blog entry from Gambia next week when I am back in town...and on my way out.

Until then, I wish you only the best!

Hey Everyone!

Earlier this month I was fortunate enough to get to host my aunt, uncle and cousin through what has become my life...this Gambian Peace Corps experience.

Call me lazy, but I've decided that instead of running you through a day-by-day of our adventures through Gambia, I will instead conveniently refer you to my aunt's blog...where she has already put together a day-by-day journal- with pictures!

Check it out at mmcadoo.blogspot.com

Some of the main highlights for me include:

When we went sight-see along the river, including spotting various kinds of monkeys, baboon families, tons of birds and even a hippo!

Their reactions to the heat that has become normal to me, and the humidity levels that tend to reach beyond natural.

Their comfort level in Chargel was a great comfort to me. Even though Chargel has become home to me, it's still a totally different world from the one I left behind.

I enjoyed them getting to experience the food, transportation issues, some cultural anomalies and the beautiful scenery.

But most of all I'm very thankful they were able to meet my family here, Ceesay Kunda, and my dog, Khiva.

I am fortunate to have made such a close connection with my host family here in Gambia, and it was exciting for me to get to introduce them to some of my family from the States. They were more than thrilled and did all they could to try to keep my visiting family happy, comfortable, entertained, rested, and well fed. I can't speak for my family's experience, but I know they ate well...before the chicken foot or the fish head in the food bowl decreased their appetites.

But, as you have had more than a year of my opinions and outlooks on Gambia, I'm excited for you to check out Marcia's blog and see my life here through a new lens.

What is weird for me now is that having family come visit was the last big "event" to check off my list of things to do before my service here comes to an end. After dropping my family off in Dakar and getting back to Gambia, I began my medical clearance for "close of service" from Gambia, and I am now working on my "Description of Service," which is basically like a detailed resume specific to just my activities, trainings and projects I have done here. (as in a past-tense experience)

With little less than 6 weeks left, my daunting outlook on years of service have quickly turned into months, and the months into weeks. All-too-soon the weeks will be days, and I will soon be on my way back across the big pond. Until then I look forward to living it up as much as one can with my friends in Chargel, and cherishing every passing day to its fullest. This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I don't intend to let it slip away.

That said, on a personal note I am also starting to experience a mini roller-coaster of emotions. Not wanting to say goodbye to my family and friends in Chargel, yet excited to see my family and friends in the States. Ending my service here a bit earlier than was planned, yet thrilled at the opportunity to extend to Jordan.

All in all, life really is an experience full of changes, challenges and opportunities, and I suppose it's how we take on those events that determines the next changes, challenges and opportunities we encounter. That said, I hope to finish out my service here on the highest note possible, and then continue to just take my post-Gambian life one day at a time.

I can't thank my family and friends enough for all of the support and encouragement I have received during my time here, and I'm excited to see you all again soon.

Until next time...I'm headed out to Chargel.

Hey Everyone!

Wow… where to even begin…

It's been a while since my last updates, but my life and experiences here continue to go well, Khiva is fine, the weather remains hot, and... THE RAINS HAVE COME!!!

It's such a relief to enjoy the coming of the rainy season. As nice as it is to have the same, predictable weather every day for 8 months (HOT and dry), a little variety is nice. And watching the clouds roll in is nothing short of gorgeous. I must say I never really took the time in the States to see if storm clouds roll in like they do here, but I encourage you to check it out some time.

This past week we had our Annual Peace Corps All-Volunteer Conference for Gambia. We had a good 4 days of meetings, seminars and small group discussions, as well as an open-mic night to celebrate the 4th of July. It was a fun and productive time!

All the volunteers from my region of Gambia had matching overalls made. It was pretty rediculous. And you won't find any PICTURES of ME wearing them.

Celebrating the 4th of July outside the US is truly a unique experience, as the general atmosphere isn't quite as excited as those of us celebrating the holiday, but it's still great to be able to celebrate the freedoms and privelages we have (and often take for granted) in our country.

Back in Chargel life has been good. As the rains have come, its back to work in the fields. Millet, corn, rice, peanuts and gardens are all well under way.

The entire mood of the village changes the day of the first rains, as the whole "hurry up and wait" aspect of prepping for planting finally comes to an end. It's a nice change of pace!

But it's kind of weird to be a part of the planting knowing that I won't be a part of the harvesting, but it's still fun and exciting to be a part of the planting process.

When not in the fields I've been "busy" hanging out with friends, spending time with my host family and just enjoying being a part of the community of Chargel. As time continues to tick away I truly appreciate this experience and the relationships with my friends here exponentially more every day.

And with that, I'm more than excited that my aunt, uncle and cousin are coming to visit in less than 48 hours! I'm so excited to get to introduce them to the true way of life for the Fula and Mandinka people here in West Africa, as well as the many great friends who have made such an impact on my life and life-outlook.

I'm sure they will have great stories to share of the food, transportation, weather, and scenery. But more-so, I'm excited for them to get to share with you, from a different perspective, how incredibly hospitable, welcoming and comfortable the people of Chargel truly are. The amazing time they are about to have is truly a testament to how great of a village I live in.

So, with that, you can be looking forward to more blog posts and tons of more pictures at the end of the month.

Until then, I hope you are doing well and enjoyed a great 4th of July holiday with family and friends!

Hey Faithful Readers

I'm back in Kombo through Friday to see off a few more good friends of mine whos time here has come to an end. Life and work in Chargel is pretty much about the same as the last time I sent out updates, but I DO have an update about my future plans which I am very excited to share.

No! I'm not getting married. :)

I have been offered, and accepted, the opportunity to extend my Peace Corps service to work with "at-risk" youth in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan!

And just in case you're interested, this is how it happened:

I had an informal conversation with my Peace Corps country director about my future, long-term goals of working with "at risk" populations in the Mid-East, and within just a few days I was contacted by Peace Corps/Jordan, suggesting I apply for an extension to serve as a Youth Development Volunteer there.

I had an impromptu phone interview with the Area Peace Corps Director of Jordan, and one could say that my resume with experience as a wellness RA, working with refugees in Denmark, work with the Kossuth Teen Center, and of course the projects and experiences I've been working with in Gambia were basically a slam dunk.

Really, this is nothing less than an absolute dream come true...to say the least. I will be working with at-risk youth in a community/youth center, promoting primarily informal education and recreation activities. Basically, two years of summer camp in the Middle East working with primarily Palestinian youth. I mean really... Plus, since my long term goals are to continue working with "at risk" populations in the Mid-East, primarily in relation to Palestinian refugees, this is about as good as it can get. (and I'm guessing the Arabic language skills will be a plus in the future, also...)

Life certainly progresses in creative ways, and I can see certain aspects of why this time in Gambia may have been a necessary pre-requisite to my life before taking on this opportunity. After all, personal maturity and self-confidence is a must, and I know these years in Gambia have been a great turning point in my life.

So... This means you all actually get to see me sooner than you expected! I will head back to the States in mid September for a month of vacation before heading to Jordan mid October to begin Training...again. It will be another two years of service, but I really don't have any qualms with that since this is something I thought I would have to have an MA or something to be able to work with. Something I didn't think I would get to do for quite some time. It seems almost too good to be true.

Another upside is that Jordan is quite developed, comparatively, so access to internet and cell phone reception wouldn't be an issue anymore. So, while I will continue to work overseas for a few more years, communication will definitely be improved!

Plus, can I just mention how exciting it will be to work in a country with mountains, a RANGE of temperatures, and ABSOLUTELY AMAZING FOOD (can we say kabob? falafel? shwarma? hummus??)

I'm excited to share this news with you, and I'm excited to hear back about what is going on in your lives as well! I hope this email finds you doing well and enjoying a nice spring day!

Until Next Time,

Cheers!

Hey Everyone!

We have rabbits in Chargel! Yes, we have HAD rabbits, but they have been more of the "pest" type...eating the gardens under the cover of darkness.

THESE totally cute, adorable, fuzzy, playful rabbits, on the other hand, have a more MEANINGFUL PURPOSE - one truly for the benefit of all ... meat!

Yep, in tribute to all those 4H-ers out there, I wanted to let you know we are starting a rabbit production program in Chargel. Actually, this is a program Peace Corps has been working on for a few years, and it is finally at a level where we are able to introduce it into the community level, and Chargel gets to be one of the first communities to take on this project.

We are actually modeling it after the Heifer project, meaning that when my host compound's rabbits have babies, they need to give a pair away to someone else in the community, who will then continue the gesture. And we have a system in place for cross-community sharing, in order to keep a more appropriate gene pool.

The guys made rabbit cages out of fish crates. They were REALLY EXCITED about holding and petting the rabbits. Apparently a new thing...

The Female

The Male

Just hanging out, enjoying the comforts of home.

We've only had them for about a week, so I really don't have any update other than to let you know we have begun this brand new project.

But I look forward to giving you updates in the weeks and months to come.

ALSO:

Be looking forward to updates on a final bee-keeping training, focusing on harvesting, honey processing and candle making with bees'-wax.

A training at the Chargel's skill center with three new peddle-powered sewing machines.

A training with the teachers of area schools on how to make/work with teaching aids made from locally available materials.

And most importantly...pictures from the upcoming FIRST RAINS of the rainy season.

Until next time, I wish you only the best!

One of the better aspects of the hot season is that it also signals the beginning of MANGO SEASON!!!

If pictures are worth a thousand words, I think this blog is pretty self explanitory.

Top Ten Reasons You Know It's The Hot Season:

10: Quite simply, you just never stop sweating.

9: You start dropping weight because you are drinking SO MUCH water your stomach just can't take anything more.

8: You don't even want to fan yourself because even that air is just too hot.

7: You develop an affinity for Gold Bond that you haven't felt since the days of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

6: No more writing letters or journaling by candle light...that candle flicker is just too hot!

5: No more writing letters or journaling by candle light...because the candle melted before it was even lit...

4: Thermometers overheat.

3: Each morning you wake up feeling like you have the worst hangover ever...not from alcohol...it's just dehydration.

2: 92 degrees starts to feel chilly in the early hours of the morning.

1: You lie awake all night, tossing and turning to find that one part of your bed and pillow that hasn't yet become a pool of sweat. Eventually the donkeys start making noise, meaning the sun is about to rise...and so is the temperature!

However, I must also share that on the flip-side, this means we have all been sleeping outside each night (at least for a few hours), and since the rains aren't here yet there aren't any mosquitoes, either. Let me tell you, falling asleep outside... under the full moon, watching clouds build up, surrounded by silhouettes of palm trees and hut houses, while listening to the sound of drumming coming from different parts of the village MAY just be one of the most amazing experiences one could have. It's pretty cool (figuratively speaking), so say the least.

Hey Everyone!

First and foremost, I would like to welcome Adelina Rose Baty to the world, and to the Strohbehn family. She has NO idea what she has just gotten herself into (ie the Strohbehn family), but I'm excited for her!!!

Second, CONGRATULATIONS to Steve and Kristin, the brand new parents of such a beautiful baby girl, Adelina Rose.

Third, CONGRATULATIONS to Joe, Richard, Nick, Eino, Krystal and Darin on your respective graduations. Times of promotion and change can bring along uncertainty, but your time and efforts should also be appreciated, and certainly celebrated!

I'm excited for each of you as you continue to pursue your intests and work towards your goals. Changes, graduations and new opportunities can be fun, but also bring with them a degree of stress and uncertainty. But without sounding overly optimistic or naievely "rosy," it really can be good for us. After all, even when "life" doesn't turn out in ways we would have wanted or specifically planned for, we do have an awesome Creator looking out for us in ways we can't even fathom, nor ever fully appreciate. And it can be good to find rest in the faith that a loving God is always present.

Well done! Bravo to each of you!

Hey Everyone!

Amy and I just got back into town after spending a good 5 days on the road, delivering mail, packages and supplies to anxious Peace Corps volunteers.

Now I'm sure you are all wondering, "So when I send my monthly letter to Mark out in Gambia, filling him in on all that I've been up to, since he does such a good job of keeping me updated on what he has been up to via his blog, how does it actually get to his little hut out in the middle of the bush?"

Well, lucky for you, here is a step-by-step process of how all that beef jerkey ends up at my door.

When mail and packages arrive from the States, they first end up at the Peace Corps P.O. Box in Banjul. Three times each week one of the drivers heads into Banjul to pick it up, and brings it all back to the Peace Corps office, where it sits in what we all call "the mail room." From there, everything is logged so that volunteers can see what, if anything, has arrived for them.

Typically, mail run heads out to start delivering on the third Friday of each month. That means whoever is going to be delivering that month's mail will spend Thursday prepping the mail and getting it packed and ready to go.

This means...

Step 1: Organizing the mail in people's mail boxes.

Step 2: Tackling the craziness that is the mail room,

and organizing it so that the mail is divided into which "day" (1-5) it will be delivered.

Step 3: Load everything into the truck. ("Load" is just puting it nicely. Really, we just need to make sure it all fits.)

NOTE: It can be a problem that some volunteers consider the mail run truck to be their own personal moving company, and often try to send beds, chairs, bikes, mattresses, gas stoves, tables... all at the same time.

NOTE: It can also be a problem that there is always that ONE volunteer who has a super important item to send out, but they don't let you know they have it to send out until the truck is already loaded.

Step 4: Head out at the crack of dawn on Friday morning, delivering firs to volunteers on the North Bank, before reaching Basse several days later and turning around to deliver mail to volunteers on the South Bank.

Step 5: Deliver mail, packages and whatever else has been sent out in the mail truck, to eagerly waiting volunteers.

Step 6: Enjoy the nicely paved north bank road!

Step 7: Brace yourself for all the bush roads!

Step 8: Enjoy the scenery of Gambia from the beauty of air conditioning!

Step 8: After a few days, reach the ferry crossing at Basse and head down to the South Bank.

Just waiting to cross the ferry.

Still just waiting to cross the ferry...

Step 9: Remember the good ole' days of the paved north bank road.

Step 10: Repeat step 6 for all the south bank volunteers.

Step 11: Beware of bush fires!

Step 12: Just enjoy the time on the road, getting to take in the sights of the Gambia with friends!

And that, my friends, is how all the letters, packages, and beef jerkey you send makes it to my front door.

Hey Faithful Readers,

It is with true sadness and, indeed, regret, that I share the following news with you. I don't mean to be too personal in what I share on my blog, but as my relationships with people here have become such an important aspect of my time in Gambia, it's only right that I offer a tribute of sorts to my good friend Bembanding.

On the morning of the 1st of April (April Fools), Saikou Ceesay, my host brother, woke me up with the news that one of my closest friends here in Gambia, Bemdanding Jimbara, lost his life that previous Monday night. Bembanding had left Gambia mid November to pursue the "back way" (illegal immigration) to Italy with one of his uncles.

I knew for quite some time that he was planning to go, and guys my age from this area leave each year pursuing the back way. So, when he left I didn't encourage it, of course, but I also know it's their own form of the "American Dream" per se, pursuing wealth and stability to support their families.

Even after he left we still communicated on a fairly regular basis, as he would try to call me once a week or so with updates of where he was at in his "back way" journey. He was a great friend of mine, and a relative to my host family. (Lawo and Saikou's cousin)

In the end, as he and about 300 others were crossing the Mediterranean from Libya headed to Italy, the boats they were traveling in (think of large canoes) capsized and all but about 20 of the people traveling lost their lives.

Oddly enough, on Tuesday I had heard on BBC radio about the boats capsizing off the coast of Libya. Immediately my mind went to Bembanding, since I knew he had been waiting in Libya for some time, just waiting his turn to try to cross. So my worst fear came true Wednesday morning when his family received word (from other relatives in Libya) that Bembanding and his uncle were among those in the boats.

It's been a huge shock. I really didn't see it coming, and one could say I've had a hard time coping with his death. He was a very, very good friend of mine, and his loss has stirred quite a few emotions in me. Of course, I'm sad. I'm sad for his loss and sad for his family. I'm upset that this had to happen in the first place, that such a tragedy could happen to these guys risking their lives just trying to improve the lives of their families. And just disgusted that we live in a world so unfair, so unequal, that just a few years I was able to join my sister and a friend to enjoy a luxurious and fun cruise around the Mediterranean, even sailing from Libya to Italy, while Bembanding lost his life in a most horrific and terrifying way. It really just makes me sick to my stomach.

So this past Monday (April 6th) was the funeral. That day helped bring quite a bit of closure, one could say, as I was able to cry with his brothers and his mom. (his father passed away quite a few years ago) And these past few days (Thursday and Friday), I spent again just hanging out, spending time with his brothers. He was actually from a village other than Chargel, but not too far away. These past few days with his family was actually quite therapeutic, as we were all able to spend time just trying to move on in our own ways. Our conversations were able to move back to discussing what else is going on in our lives, and his mother and I were able to have some good conversations reminiscing about the good times he and I had together, instead of just grieving that he's gone.

To answer some questions you may have:

*No, his body was not returned to Gambia. I have no idea if it was even retrieved from the sea.

*The funeral was more of a prayer service, following Muslim tradition, since there was no actual burial.

*About 300 people were traveling in three boats. (like I said, think of large canoes) The people were from all over West Africa, and even some from Libya and Egypt. But about half of the people traveling were from Gambia. I keep learning of more and more villages around me that lost someone in the boats.

The loss of Bembanding has really shaken me up. But I truly do feel fortunate for my friendships here, and especially for my friendships back home. And really, I can say that if his loss has to shed a silver lining, then I can say that this experience has truly helped me re-focus somewhat, and gain a refreshed perspective of what is most important in my life, that being my faith, family and friends.

Bembanding is on the left (with the sunglasses).

Other than that, life in Chargel is going well. This time has actually helped me realize what good friends I have made here, and it has sunk in a bit deeper that this place really has become my life, my host family is like family to me, and I feel blessed for the relationships I've built.

So, to not end on a "downer," all things considered, I'm doing quite well. I'm healthy, safe and enjoying my time in Gambia. I certainly have much to be thankful for, and this Easter weekend is certainly an appropriate time to keep that in mind.

Until next time, take care.

Yesterday I was able to enjoy the Easter holiday by 1) sleeping-in, 2) having a fun and relaxing afternoon, and 3) enjoying the evening with friends, as we had a wine and cheese party at some cliffs overlooking the coast.

I can honestly say it was an Easter unlike one I've ever had before, but hey, Gambia tends to be full of experiences like that!

As it is currently a full moon, we were really hoping for the chance to see some sea turtles coming in and out. But catching a glimpse of them is pretty difficult.

Alas, we had a good time...

...the wine and cheese was great...

...the sunset was gorgeous!...

...And a good time was truly had by all.

On a random note, even though it wasn't Thanksgiving we decided it would be nice to go around and share what we are all thankful for. Everything was shared from family and friends to sea turtles and the ability to appreciate coming from such a truly privileged country and society.

So, without getting too "deep" or personal, allow me to just share that my time here in Gambia has been a constant (though expected) roller-coaster of ups and downs, good days and bad days, character building experiences and days where I just can't stop smiling. Some experiences have pushed me to limits I didn't know I had, while other experiences and relationships continue to remind me of how much I have to be thankful for.

In so many ways, my time here and the experiences I've come across have truly helped me re-focus somewhat, and gain a refreshed perspective of what is most important in my life, that being my faith, family and friends.

That said, here is an excerpt I find appropriate to share with all of you in honor of this Easter holiday. It's from one of my favorite authors/theologians, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Take the time to read it, re-read it, enjoy the truth behind its words, and stop to take the time to be truly thankful for how blessed we really are.

Each morning is a new beginning of our life. Each day is a finished whole. The present day marks the boundary of our cares and concerns. It is long enough to find God or loose Him, to keep faith or fall into disgrace.

God created day and night for us so we need not wander without boundaries, but may be able to see in every morning the goal of the evening ahead.

Just as the ancient sun rises anew everyday, so the eternal mercy of God is new every morning.

Every morning God gives us the gift of comprehending anew His faithfulness of old; thus in the midst of our life with God, we may daily begin a new life with Him.

In the first moments of the new day are for God's liberating grace, God's sanctifying presence. Before the heart unlocks itself for the world, God wants to open it for Himself; before the ear takes in the countless voices of the day, it should hear in the early hours the voice of the Creator and Redeemer.

God prepared the stillness of the first morning for Himself. It should remain His.

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Happy Easter!

Hey Everyone!

As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, my host father, Lawo, and the school in Chargel are both working to take on an expanded poultry project in Gambia.

In a nut-shell, they are now part of a program looking for "middle-men" to help produce poultry (chickens) locally for the tourist industry, as well as local consumption. A business is now in place to import the chicks from Senegal and provide the feed and medical attention. The role of Lawo and the school (as well as many others throughout Gambia) will be to raise the chicks and get them fully ready for consumption within 6 weeks, as opposed to the usual 8 weeks, so that they can then be sold within the tourism industry for an even greater profit.

Well, just last week the chicks arrived. All 200 of them!

You may be asking yourself how one actually handles a formal poultry project in Gambia, as opposed to just free range birds. I'm glad you ask. Allow me to explain the process.

First and foremost, you need to have a chicken house. Bear in mind that not just any mud hut will do. No no. The huts for chickens have specific dimensions based on the number of birds each house is intended to hold. For example, Lawo intends to eventually be able to host 500 birds by himself, so he has just recently constructed a second chicken house. Each house is 4 meters by 5 meters.

Additionally, the houses must have several windows at low levels, providing for proper ventilation.

So, first you make bricks.

Then you collect grasses which will be weaved together to form the roof.

Next, build the house.

Put the roof on the poultry house.

Kill the cobra that decides to crawl out of the grasses you are transporting on your head to the construction site!

Resume constructing the roof.

Build the windows and door.

And once your house is finished, just add chickens!

LOTS OF CHICKENS!

Then, you basically just feed and water them for 6 weeks, keep them safe and healthy, and in the end sell them for a hefty profit! Not a bad deal.

And that's how we run a poultry project in Gambia.

Hey Everyone,

So, on the evening of April 5th, Chargel was affected by a pretty intense bush fire. I don't actually know where the fire itself came from, what caused it or how long the fire had been going before it got close to Chargel, but at around 7pm a pretty intense wind brought what seemed like basically a really long line of fire straight at our village.

Now, it's important to know that bush fires happen pretty frequently here. At the end of each rainy season villages prepare by burning the fields immediately around them to act as a fire barrier. And the people are also quite familiar with the whole process of putting out fires, as there really isn't a "fire department" here to help them out. Nevertheless, the wind on that day was pretty intense, and the fire seemed to be coming dangerously close to Chargel. So on that day I learned first-hand how to put out a bush fire, and I wanted to share that experience with you.

(note: I apologize in advance that the quality of some of these pictures is less than good, but in my defense, the smoke and flying debris was a bit of a problem.)

Step 1: All the women and children get the the wells and start pumping as much water into buckets as possible. This water isn't actually to put out the fire in the bush, but to have on hand to start drenching houses and fences once the fire gets too close.

Step 2: Send out the small boys to collect full branches (as in, full of leaves) that will then be used by all the men in the village to quite literally beat out the fire.

Step 3: GO BEAT DOWN THE FIRE! I must admit, at first I was quite skeptical about the whole idea of just beating out a fire with branches, especially a really BIG fire. But, as it turns out, it actually works quite well! You do have to get a bit closer to the fire itself than I would have preferred, as the smoke is quite intense. But yeah, basically you just kind of smack the branches towards the fire, smothering it with the sand and dirt around it. It basically creates instant charcoal, which is much more manageable than huge flames.

Step 4: Spread out. As I mentioned before, this particular bush fire was QUITE big. It actually spread from the border of a town called Sare Guia, past Chargel, and on towards a village called Sare Nallen. I realize this really doesn't mean anything to you, but it was basically about 8k long, which I believe is just short of 5 miles. I mean, we had multiple villages out there taking this thing on.

And Step 5: Just try to make the best of the situation. It was really hot, really smokey and all-in-all probably not the safest thing I've ever done. (don't worry mom!) (And in retrospect, taking my camera along wasn't necessarily the best decision either, considering I lost my last one to a river...) But in a strange way I actually had a really fun time with my friends beating out this fire. One could call it a "bonding experience."

We ended up actually fighting this fire off from about 7pm until about 2am. By the time we were finished we were ALL quite tired. Fortunately, I'm glad to report that the fire never actually did hit Chargel (or the other villages around), so no homes or fences were affected, and no one was injured in the process. It just smelt really bad for the next few days.

And that was the Chargel Bush Fire of 2009. A true Peace Corps experience!

Hey Everyone!

You NEED to check out Alicia's blog (there is a link to the right of this page and in this blog post itself) and see her most recent videos!

http://aliciamacmanus.blogspot.com/

One is of children dancing to the new hit song "Barack Obama."

And another is a detailed description of "taking a bucket bath and the whole bathroom experience."

These two videos basically encapsulate our entire Gambian experience.

Check them out. You will enjoy them immensely!

So, I just uploaded THREE fairly long blog posts and TONS of pictures. Please note that my first Picasa web album is full, so now I have a second one in order to continue sharing my experience with you through picture.

Thanks again for your emails, letters, thoughts and support!

Until next time, I wish you only the best.

Hey Everyone!

I was really pleased to see so many nice (long) emails in my inbox! I haven’t had time to reply to many of them yet, but a few people had some insightful questions/clarifications that I thought would be good to address here for the benefit of everyone.

(A quick disclaimer: I cover quite a few different topics with several long-winded answers, so you may want to take this blog entry on bit by bit.)

First and Foremost: I’m sorry to have mislead any of you with the Chelsea jersey I’m wearing on the main picture of this blog. I am not, nor have I ever been, a Chelsea fan. I am a proud FC Barcelona fan! I don’t care what Real Madrid fans have to say about it, FC Barcelona is the best team in the league. That’s why you lost to us. Remember? So stop whining and train harder next time.

(So why the Chelsea jersey? I didn’t want to ruin my FC Barcelona jerseys hiking and rock-climbing in Guinea. And I liked its shade of blue.)

In what way is the current global economic downturn in the West affecting the lives of people in Gambia?

This is a great question. I don’t think I’m fully qualified to answer it, but here are some observations I can share.

The Gambia itself, as you are aware, is a very small but densely populated country. The Government here has been peaceful since gaining its independence from the UK, and has therefore been a safe and stable place for non-governmental organizations and other aid organizations to work. This, in turn, has lead to a very high number of aid organizations for such a small country. Aid organizations work here throughout a variety of areas, such as malaria prevention, HIV-Aids education, small enterprise development, community development, women’s rights and gender equality, education development, healthcare, and even best-care practices for caring for horses and donkeys. Some organizations you may be familiar with that work here include the World Food Program, The United Nations Development Program, UNICEF, Christian Children’s Fund, Future in Our Hands, The Horse and Donkey Charitable Trust, The United Nations High Commission for Refugees, The International Red Cross/Red Crescent, Concern Universal, and the World Wildlife Fund, to name a few of a great many.

There are quite a few opinions I have on the high number of organizations working in such a small country, but my main point with this blog entry is that, typically, during economic downturns, as people watch their incomes a bit more closely and are a bit more “tight”, one area where many save money is by decreasing their donations to aid and charitable organizations. This is a broad statement and assumption, and I don’t have any statistics to back this up, but my impression is that many of the organizations working here in Gambia are working with much tighter budgets than they had originally planned, which, in turn, means whatever skills trainings or projects they had intended for their fiscal year will have to be either scaled back or eliminated altogether.

As far as the day-to-day life of people in my village goes, I can’t say I’ve noticed much of an impact yet from the “global economic downturn.” Quite frankly, most people I work with are subsistence farmers who plan to just make it year-to-year, anyway. Most people don’t have bank accounts or any kind of investment to speak of. More than anything, gas prices and the cost of goods shipped into Gambia, specifically rice, have a great impact on the day to day economic situation of the “average” Gambian farmer. Currently the prices of gas and shipping seem to be in Gambia’s favor, as rice prices have gone down from about 1000 Delasis per bag (of 50 Kilograms, or 100ish pounds) to about 750 Delasis.

However, it’s definitely worth mentioning that the tourism industry is one of the main income generating forces in Gambia. And as far as that’s concerned, the tourism industry here has seen a slight but steady decline over the past several years. Most tourists coming to Gambia come from the UK, Germany or Scandinavia. If their pockets are hit by an economic downturn, my guess is they are probably more likely to take a vacation within Europe than trek down to Gambia.

Moreover, it’s my impression that an economic downturn in the West is more likely to affect developing economies such as Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, or South Africa, which currently rely on substantial international investors to take on building and infrastructure projects. Those countries also rely on a very strong tourism industry, and as I have mentioned before, for the next few years people’s pockets might be more open to enjoying a national park in the States than experiencing a safari in Tanzania or a trek to Kilimanjaro.

What kind of malnutrition, hunger, or even famine have you witnessed in your village?

I can safely say that I have not witnessed anything I would classify as “famine” here in Gambia. But malnutrition is definitely a problem.

As I have mentioned before, the staples of the diet here include rice, coos (millet), peanuts, cassava, fish, and, to an extent, corn. Most vegetables that people have regular access to include tomatoes, onions and various hot peppers. Fruit tends to be seasonal. Cashew, coconut and baobab fruits are ripe now (February and March). Papaya is also almost ripe, and mangoes should be getting ripe by mid April. For the most part, oranges and bananas are available year round since they just need constant irrigation and can easily be grown in orchards along the river.

So, all in all, the food available is quite decent. In my opinion, the main concerns are two-fold. Yes, you can find most any vegetable here that we are used to in the States, but the vegetables will either be 1) available for a very, very limited time during the year, or 2) too expensive for most families to afford on a regular basis.

For the most part, people in my area rely on rice, coos, peanuts, fish, various leaves (such as baobab or Moringa) and hot peppers for the staples of each meal. The food quantity itself is usually enough, but the nutritional quality of the food, specifically in terms of vitamins and minerals, is greatly lacking. Yes, a bowl of rice and peanut sauce will fill you up. But it will not offer any real nutritional benefits to young, growing children or pregnant women.

However, I can also safely say this is one area where Peace Corps has had a strong emphasis in Gambia. There has been a strong push over the past several years promoting Moringa and Pidgeon Pea trees. These two trees are fast growing, durable, and offer an extremely wide variety of nutritional and health benefits. In fact, the Moringa tree has been named the “miracle tree” by many development organizations because of its potential for enhancing nutritional possibilities in places just like this.

Many agro-forestry and health volunteers have focused a good part of their time in Gambia helping families, women’s groups schools and even hospitals grow Moringa and Pidgeon Pea trees for their own consumption.

For example, the school in Chargel has its own vegetable garden at the school yard. Older students are each assigned a bed to water and care for, and the food is either enjoyed by the students or sold to help cover school finances. A major problem for any gardening attempt in Gambia is the threat of destruction from goats, cows and monkeys, as fencing tends to only last a few years before the weather wears it down and it becomes ineffective. So this year the school has planted two rows of Moringa trees along the current line of the garden fence. That way, by the time the current fence is ineffective, the Moringa will be strong and stable enough to act as a natural barrier to the goats and cows. (Monkeys always find a way through any attempt to keep them out. I think of them as the raccoons of West Africa...just cuter.)

Hopefully efforts such as this, spread throughout the country, will help improve the nutritional quality of the diets here for everyone, from school children, to hospital patients, to families just trying to get by.

Have you experienced any Parliamentary Elections during your time in Gambia?

The leading political party in Gambia is the APRC, lead by His Excelency, The President, Doctor, Professor, Ahlagie Yah-Yah A.J.J. Jammeh.

During my first few months in Chargel I did experience Regional Elections (but not Presidential Elections). Quite honestly, as odd as this may sound coming from someone as enthralled with political science as I am, I really can’t tell you much about the electoral process in Gambia. I know the President has Secretaries of various executive departments, such as the Department of Health, Department of State, Department of Forestry and Department of Education. And I know government representatives are elected from each of the different regions, as well as Regional Governors and Regional Representatives. But I really don’t know the process as to how they are chosen by the APRC to run, how they fundraise, or what the main political platforms are.

Something I did find quite interesting is that on the election day that I did experience, representatives from the Voter Election Commission came to Chargel with a voting box for each of the political parties participating in the election, but not for individual candidates. (Voting for parties over candidates isn’t all that different from the voting process in quite a few European countries or even the US, where you can either vote for a candidate or political party.) From what I understand you must be at least 18 to vote and you must have a voter-registration card or identity card. But since much of the population is illiterate, voting is done through a process by which each person voting puts a marble into the box of the political party they support.

But let me clarify once again, I really don’t know that much about the voting/electoral process in Gambia, or how the various layers of government are actually arranged. That’s really about all I can say on this topic.

Has Gambia been affected at all by the various political issues going on in the other African countries?

That’s true. Since I’ve come to Gambia in the fall of 2007 we have witnessed the devastating political unrest in Kenya during the December of 2007/January 2009. Political tensions in South Africa have reached a critical point. Pirate attacks on aid-cargo ships off the coast of Somalia have reached an all-time high. And much closer to home, Mauritania, Guinea and most recently Guinea Bissau have all experienced various forms of political coups.

I’m sure these events have a significant impact on the way the government of Gambia interacts with the heads of state from other West African countries. But as far as the day-to-day life of people in Chargel, these events have basically just been just talking points of interest, especially since many people in the part of Gambia where I live have family in Guinea. (The Fula tribe spreads throughout much of West Africa, and indeed across Africa well into Sudan and even Ethiopia. Moreover, many people have migrated from Guinea and Sierre Leone to Gambia over more recent years.)

Hey Everyone!

So this past weekend was the “Chargel Basic-Cycle School’s Annual Inter-House Competition.”

It’s the schools annual track and field competition, and it was a blast!

Quick background:

The school in Chargel teaches grades 1-9 to about 400 students from a combination of Chargel and about 12 other surrounding communities. Some students travel up to 7 kilometers a day to and from school, and other students who live futher away than that will stay with families in Chargel during the week for school and then go back to their own families on the weekend. For example, in my family’s compound we have a boy named Marlang who is from a town about 12 k away. He is a student in grade 9, so he stays with us during the week but usually goes back home on the weekends and holidays.

In any case, the students at the school are split into 4 houses, or kundas, (Red, Green, Yellow and Blue). Each “kunda” has several faculty supervisors and a “prefect,” or student selected to basically lead the house. (kind of like the school system in “Harry Potter”) Then, from all that, there is a head boy and head girl selected from among the entire school to basically act as the liaison between faculty and students.

So, this past weekend, beginning Friday afternoon and continuing through Saturday, the four kundas had their annual “Inter-Kunda” track and field competition. This is really one of those experiences where a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are some pictures from the various events.

Some of the events are typical to what we are used to seeing in the States.

Running

Relay

Long Jump

High Jump

But other events take on a distinctive West African twist and are, well, quite frankly, a lot of fun!

Potato Relay (Truly indescribable in words. I don’t even fully understand what was all involved myself, except that it involved getting potatoes into a bucket and running.)

Three Legged Race

Musical Chairs

And my personal favorite, the Water Bucket Race!

It’s a great time with tons of cheering…

Lots of community involvement...

A DJ blasting West African music…

Great food and fun snacks….(such as pop corn, fried crackers, pankets, fish-pies, and baobab juice!)

And even a Red Cross committee to handle heat and dehydration issues.

And what was I doing through all of this? Well, when I wasn’t strolling from kunda to kunda cheering students on or taking pictures, Taba and I were having a good time just hanging out and enjoying the great events (and the great snacks).

That evening the DJ kept the party going by playing dance music all night long at the school yard, as the school hosted a huge dance for everyone, free of charge. You can be sure it was a lively night!

Truly a good time had by all!

Hey Everyone!

I’m currently back in Kombo for a few days for a Tree Nursery Competition meeting, and I’m excited to take this opportunity to fill you all in on a few updates with my life/work/experiences here in Gambia.

So…where to begin…

First off, as I talked about in one of my most previous blog posts, an aid organization was planning to host a three-day-long seminar on gender equality in Chargel. We had a very successful time organizing representatives from 10 different villages, some students from the school and even a few teachers and the headmaster to come be a part of the discussions. The topic definitely took interest with people who wondered what there could possibly be to talk about in regards to gender equality. Additionally, a few of my Peace Corps friends came to Chargel to help out with sparking conversations and supplying insight. Everything was looking on the up-and-up.

So then Monday came and the facilitators hosting the event were supposed to show up that evening, but didn’t. Typical enough, the roads can be pretty bad and transportation can be a constant headache. We tried calling them but didn’t get through. Also typical, as phone reception is a constant issue in my area. But then Tuesday morning rolled around, and when it became pretty clear that they weren’t going to be here in time to start the meeting we called them again. This time we got through, only to find out that they had postponed the meeting (until this week when I am currently here in Kombo and not at site) and the person responsible for informing us never did. Unfortunately, this too is also quite typical.

What was probably most unfortunate about this whole thing is that when my friends and I found out that the meeting had been postponed, all we could really do is laugh it off…because this happens so very often. And it’s not necessarily that meetings get planned and canceled/postponed often (although they do), but that communication between parties, in general, is always a problem in that it is rarely clear, consistent or followed-through. And that’s frustrating, sure. But, more so, it’s really just sad when you see the issue of consistently poor communication hold back potential development and progress.

So what did we do? Well, for the most part people just dispersed and headed home. And Alicia and I just hung out and had a great time. Some of our afternoon activities included…

Visiting the cooks at the school and helping with “quality control” for the school’s lunch.

Hanging out with my host family.

Strolling the village.

And going out to the bush and throwing sticks at baobab trees with some kids to try to get the fruit to come down. Despite how full the trees are with the baobab fruits, it’s actually pretty hard to get them to come down. But fun when they do!

All in all, despite the unexpected postponement of the gender and equality meetings, it was a good day!

And we topped off the next morning by enjoying pancakes and Starbucks coffee before Alicia headed back home.

So, lesson learned? Here’s a thought. In the end life isn’t all that predictable, no matter how much you think it should be or want it to be. But just because something doesn’t work out the way you think it should doesn’t mean that it can’t be productive, meaningful and fun. But now Mark, how, you ask, is just strolling around the village, eating the school’s lunch and throwing sticks at baobab trees meaningful? Well sure, those events in and of themselves aren’t all that insightful. But the moments you can have with people… the true happiness that comes to the ladies cooking when two young “toubabs” just show up and help them cook for the afternoon, or the laughter that accompanies the young boys when they watch “toubabs” throw sticks at baobab trees and the boys trying to teach us the “right way” to throw a stick…those moments are truly meaningful and irreplaceable.

And it’s amazing how many times I have to learn this lesson for it to actually sink in.

It's been good to be back.

Since I've returned some really good developments have happened in my village, and I can already feel my remaining months here filling up fast! I was kind of concerned about what would happen with the bee-keeping project when I went back to the States and wouldn't be around to keep encouraging it for a few weeks, but it turns out the guys who attended the training are all still really excited about it, and most of them have actually made the grass hives like they were trained to do and ahve gotten them placed in good apiaries. I'm excited about the potential for this in my area, and it's good to see the guys taking strong initiative about something like this.

De-shelling the peanuts and getting them ready to sell at market or plant in the next rainy season.

Also, the skills center in my village, in cooperation with Future in Our Hands (a Swedish development organization), has arranged to have two trainings in the months to come. In March we are doing to have a week-long seminar/discussion thing on "gender issues" in Gambia. I think we are mostly going to focus the discussions on the division of labor, but it's a conversation that the community (well, most of the world) needs to have, and I'm excited to be a part of it. It will be three days long, and some of my female Peace Corps friends are going to come help facilitate it, also. So I'm encouraged for the kind of empowerment that could come from this. Even if habbits don't change all that much, maybe at least they will value sending their children (daughters, especially) to school more, or something along those lines.

A boy dressed as a traditional "konkurang," a figure that scares the evil spirits out of the village.

Then in April we are going to have a tree-nursery and live-fencing workshop. I hope to arrange to work together with the school on this and make it more of an area-wide thing. The only drawback is that April is the WORST month (because of the high temperatures) ...so the workshop will be taking place early morning and late afternoon to accomodate the weather. But that's fine, because it's also just before the rainy season, and really the most appropriate time for this kind of workshop. And it will encourage me to do more than just sit under a tree and sweat!

So these projects, along with being a co-regional coordinator for the Gambia All-Schools Tree Nursery Competition, should keep me occupied through June when the rains come. To note on the Tree Nursery Competition (TNC), a good friend of mine and I are working together as co-regional coordinators. I won't get into it too much since I plan to do a detalied blog entry on it (with pictures) in a few months, but it's basically a program which allows Amy (a good friend or mine who is also a PCV here) and I to visit the schools in our region and talk with them about ways to protect and enhance their tree nurseries and then also give follow-up advice on the outplanting process to help produce the best orchards and such. It's a cool project and, if done correctly throughout the country, could really help with re-forestation, which this country DESPERATELY needs.

But again, you can be expecting a good blog entry on it over the next few months.

Another project that has just picked up since I've been back, is that my host, Lawo, as well as the school in my village, have been accepted to be a part of a nation-wide poultry-production program. In a nut-shell, they will be part of a program looking for "middle-men" to help produce poultry (chickens) locally for the tourist industry, as well as local consumption. A business is in place to import the chicks from Senegal and provide the feed and medical attention. The role of Lawo and the school (as well as many others throughout Gambia) will be to raise the chicks and get them fully ready for consumption within 6 weeks, as opposed to the usual 8 weeks.

Cutting grass for the roof of the new chicken house.

The program has good potential, and each group in Chargel will be raising 500 chickens for four cycles a year, meaning a total of 2000 chickens per year. There is a very good prospect for income generation from this project, granted close care and attention is given to the project. I'm excited to be a part of this project from the begging stages! And I will be sure to give more updates in the months ahead as the project gets under-way.

I hope you are all doing well! I look forward to sending out (hopefully) many updates about these projects in the months to come.

Finishing the day with a football match.

Thanks for your questions! Here is an attempt to answer some of them. If my answers don't make sense, don't feel bad asking me to try to answer it again or give a more in-depth explanation.

"What made you want to join the Peace Corps?"

The long and short of it is... during my junior year of college at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, where I studied to get my bachelor degrees in political science and economics, I studied abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. I studied at the University of Copenhagen for my full academic year as a part of an "International Political Systems" program. The way my class schedule worked out, I had each Wednesday free and wanted to do some type of volunteer work/service to fill my time. I ended up working with the Red Cross in Copenhagen, and I ended up working in a special program they had designed to try to help refugees and assylum-seekers who were in Denmark. I basically spent my Wednesdays working with refugees, primarily from Iraq, Afghanistan, Georgia, Syria and Egypt, teaching them English and basic skills they could use to promote their efforts looking for a job in Copenhagen. I fell in love with this work, and was extremely touched at how I was able to build such strong relationships with people from Iraq and Afghanistan who had fled their homes and lives because of being at war with my own country.

So when that academic year was finished and I was back at Luther for my senior year, I decided that I wanted to postpone my original plans of pursuing law school and spend some time doing more work, specifically development work. I already knew I wanted my experience to be long-term, and not like a 6 week internship. I also knew I was interested in working overseas. The Peace Corps offered the best option for work overseas, long-term, with only a bachelor's degree. I ended up taking a position working specifically as an "agro-forestry volunteer." But the bulk of my work isn't actually focused on agriculture itself as much as it is focused on micro-business development in an agricultural setting. So, for example, one of my biggest projects has been working with bee-keeping; helping run trainings for the men and my area to learn how to begin the process of bee-keeping themselves.

"Did you have to learn any languages? Or have you learned any since you've been there?"

The Gambia has three main ethnic groups, the Wolofs, Mandinkas and Fulas. Gambia itself is actually an "English speaking country" from the days when it was a colony of the British empire. However, once you get out of the bigger towns, it becomes quite apparent that most people don't know English, and if they do, they still probably speak their own tribal language a majority of the time.

The village where I live and work, Chargel, is about 3/4 they way east into the country. If you look at a map of Gambia, my village is about 10k east of Bansang, or 40k west of Basse. My village is very rural, and there are very few people in my village who speak English. The main ethnic group of the part of the country where I live is teh Fula tribe, so I speak Fula.

As a part of our training, before we actually become volunteers and begin our service, we are required to meet an "intermediate-medium" level of language ability in whichever of the three languages we were assigned to. We are all assigned to learn the language of one of the major ethnic groups, depending on where we will be living. So I speak Fula, and I actually speak it pretty well, since most people in Chargel cannot speak English.

"Do your family and friends support you?"

Yes. My parents, family and friends are very excited about the work I'm doing. Of course my mom is always a bit concerned about my safety... after all, Gambia does have heyenas, leopards, crocodiles, hippos, baboons, bush-pigs, several kinds of cobras, other poisenous snakes and insects, and it's very, very hot. But, my family and friends know I'm really enjoying this experience and encourage me to enjoy each day as it comes and to not rush through this experience, planning for whatever will come next. Sometimes I have a bit of a hard time "stopping to smell the roses."

"What do you do in your free time?" and "What is the food like?"

Well, I guess that depends on how you see "free time." Technically, the entire two years of my service are left up to me to get to know my village, assess their greatest needs and the projects with the greatest potential, and pursue programs that I think would be in the best interest of the community as a whole. That kind of work-structure means I can basically do anything I want. So, a typical day of mine is something like this...

I wake up at about 5am, when the roosters and donkeys start waking up. As The Gambia has a predominantly Muslim population and my community is entirely Muslim, at 6am we have the morning "call to prayer." By 6:30 I can hear the women working to prepare a breakfast of either ground millet (think bird-seed) or boiled whtie rice. I turn on BBC world news (radio) around 7, to see what is going on in the world. We have breakfast around 7:30 or 8, and then head out to the fields to take care of whatever work there is do be done. During the rainy season (June-Sept) the morning work usually revolves around the fields, such as planting and weeding. The rainy season is followed by the harvesting season (Sept-Dec), where each morning is spent harvesting the crops, gathering them and preparing them to be stored through the year. The rest of the year is the dry season (Jan-May). This is the time of year when we will work to repair fences, build new houses (out of mud bricks), put up new roofs (out of grass) and take care of the work that is best taken care of when it is dry.

Usually the morning work is done around noon, and we have a lunch of white rice and peanut sauce (think boiled peanut butter with onions, peppers and fish added in).

Most afternoons are usually too hot to work, so this is what I consider my "free time." Sometimes I use this time to wander the village (of about 800 people) and chat with the men and women about what they are up to. I try to keep a good feeling of what the village has going on, in terms of births, weddings and such, and they enjoy knowing that I'm interested in their personal lives. This is also when I usually have a good chance to bounce ideas around to see if development ideas I have (such as bee-keeping) is something the men and women there would be interested in. They will also share ideas they have with me, and I will get a good feel for projects the village is probably most likely to pretend to be interested in (because they don't want to tell me I have a bad idea...such as trying a new crop), as opposed to ideas they will actually be interested in (because they know many people in the community will benefit from it...such as when we had a training/demonstration to make a mosquito repellant cream by boiling local leaves.)

Once the sun starts setting, I wrap up my conversing and head to the football (soccer) field to meet up with the local guys and either train or play against the guys from a neighboring village.

Once the sun sets I head back to my hut and my host family. I will usually spend the evening just hanging out with them, chatting about stuff we did during the day, or projects coming up. I usually ask alot of questions to try to have a better understanding of what's going on, such as holidays and special events.

But, some afternoons, if it's just too hot to be out wandering or if I want to have more "down" time, I usually read. I probably get through about a book a week, and I had a great time reading the entire Harry Potter series with practically no interruption, and no waiting for the next book to come out!

I also hang out with the little kids. They teach me games and songs, and I teach them the alphabet and stuff like that. I usually just end up getting laughed at, but we always have a good time.

"Best and worst part of what you do?"

Best would be getting to build relationships and friendships with the people in my community.

Worst is probably the overall climate. During April and May the temperatures will get to be about 130-140F, with humidity, and that is just very, very unpleasant.

"Is being in Gambia lonely?"

No. Sometimes I practically crave interraction with other Peace Corps volunteers so that I can have a conversation purely in English, and at a level I am more accustomed to. But I wouldn't say that I am ever really lonely. As far as that goes, I've never really been homesick either.

One big reason may be because I have a dog named Khiva. She is a GREAT friend to me, always keeps me up-beet and enjoying the moment. It's completely against the norm for Gambians to have dogs as a pet, so it has been a great experience for me to teach them how to treat a dog as a friend, and not just an animal. She has been a great asset to my time here, and it's probably thanks to her that I enjoy it so much, even on the down days.

"Do Gambian people have traditional clothes or do they dress "like us"?"

For the most part, they have traditional clothes. I encourage you to check out the pictures on my blog (the "My Pictures" link) to get a good feel for the kinds of clothes they wear. Most of the fabric they wear is imported, but the styles for the clothing are done by local tailors. Almost each town, no matter how small, has a tailor who can sew the traditional clothing for men and women.

On the flip side, it is becoming more and more popular to wear "American" clothes. It is really easy to find knock-off soccer jerseys, and what basically amounts to iron-on shirts with pictures of people like Britney Spears, 50 Cent, M & M, and the Dixie Chicks. Something I've noticed alot of but don't fully understand the process of is that apparently the clothes that gets donated to places like Goodwill eventually end up getting sold by local "store owners" here to the Gambian people at rather expensive prices, as they make a business out of "dressing American."

As far as answering questions directly about the culture and Peace Corps experience, I'm going to need to put a bit more thought into how I answer those so that I can relay a full answer without writing a book. But I really do encourage you to check out stories and pictures on my blog, which help relay character-building experiences I've had and different things I've learned about the culture and way of life here. There's a ton on my blog, so even if you just skim through the different months you should be able to come across a few things here and there that help answer those questions. And quite honestly, those are questions I'm still learning the answer to, day-by-day.

"Are you interested in continuing your volunteer work in Africa after you finish this time in Gambia?"

My service in the Peace Corps ends at the end of November, 2009. I'm interested in going to graduate school to study "conflict and security resolution" or "state-building." And I'm also still interested in going to law school. (preferably at the same time) But before I continue to graduate school I'd like to work for a year or so on a refugee camp, learning about refugee camp management. This is an area/field I have a great interest, but would like to get some first-hand experience in before I head back to school. Down the road I would like to work with running the day-to-day logistics of refugee camps and resettlement projects, specifcally in Middle Eastern and North-African countries.

Thanks for your questions! I hope these answers help you get a better understanding of the work I'm doing and the life I live here.

Thanks again! Until next time, take care.

Hey Everyone!

Well, I'm glad to be back in Gambia and get this last year of service underway. I've been enjoying this first week back visiting some friends, attending some meetings and just kind of getting my bearings straight again and back in "Gambian" mode before I head up to Chargel later this week.

I can honestly say it's nice to be back in Gambia. Not only is the weather fantastic right now (in the mid 80s each day), but I really do enjoy the people and my way of life here, and it's exciting to think of how much I would like to get done during this down-hill slope of my service.

Throughout the rest of my service I will most likely be focusing on working with Chargel's women's groups, continuing to promote bee-keeping with men in my area and helping out (where possible) at the school. I'm also a part of a nation-wide program promoting schools to plant trees (fruit orchards and such) through "The Gambia All-Schools Tree Nursery Competition." It's a fun initiative that I'm happy to be a part of.

Of course other projects and ideas will come up along the way, but as I'm now looking to see what I can take from my first year of service to help it become sustainable through when I'm gone, it appears that focusing on these projects and ideas will be the best areas for me to promote through these last 9ish months.

Another fun project I've just picked up is connecting with a class back in the U.S. who is now a part of the "Coverdell World Wise Schools Program" (CWWSP)

Basically, this means I now have a class I am officially pen-pals with. I happen to be paired with a class of high school students from Illinois. Apparently the class had a special awareness program last fall to bring attention to the rest of the school's students about the on-going crisis in Darfur, Sudan. After their awareness-program they decided they wanted to connect with a Peace Corps volunteer serving in Africa in order to learn a bit more about the culture, lifestyle, hardship, etc... currently going on in Africa. And I'm very pleased to have this new school connection as a great outlet to help share the experiences and lessons I've learned during my time here in Gambia.

One of the main ways I can connect with the students and help them understand the way of life here for Gambians and myself is obviously through sharing questions and answers back-and-forth via email. Additionally, whenever possible, I will go ahead and post their questions and my answers on this blog, in addition to what I send them via email. It just seems appropriate that you might also be thinking of the same kind of questions. And it's a great way for me to keep this blog updated with new stuff, and not just continuous rundowns on what I'm up to from day-to-day.

I hope the winter weather is treating you well, and until next time, enjoy!

Hey Avid Readers...

I've had a great time back in the States for my "Christmas" vacation, but now it's time to head back to work...to Gambia.

This has been a great break and change of pace, getting the opportunity to see so many family members and friends, and getting to talk to so many people over the phone, IM, email and even facebook chat. (which I didn't even know existed until I got back for Christmas!) And I'm sorry I wasn't able to get in contact with everyone I was hoping to. But please be sure that it wasn't a matter of me not wanting to catch up, but just simply the constant issue of too much to do and too little time.

I'm glad to see and hear that so many of you are enjoying where you are, and the places you have been blessed to call home, work and life. I was pleased to get to see a few friends I hadn't expected to see, but then also thrown off when weather prevented me from getting to visit South Dakota as I had originally planned and hoped for. Nevertheless, it's a blessing to have friends who you can go for months, even over a year without seing, but then when you do get back together it's as if we were hanging out just last weekend. And I'm truly blessed to have so many friends who I can share that closeness of friendship with.

I'm glad I was able to clarify some questions, share some stories and even vent a little bit in the atmosphere of family and friends. The food has been great, and just getting to relax (and sleep in without the morning noises of donkeys and chickens at 5am) has been truly refreshing. But now, well over half-way through my service, I'm excited to get back. I'm blessed to also call so many people in Gambia my friends, and I look forward to getting to spend these next 9 or so months back with them. And who am I kidding...I really miss Khiva! I know the time will pass all-too-quickly, and before I know it I will once again be looking for gainful employment. But I also hope to cherrish these next months and the experiences (fun and character building) that I have.

I will continue to keep this blog updated with stories, pictures and movie clips (with a new camera that has NOT been dropped in a river or have the sound of sand rattling around when I move the zoom in and out).

So I will be flying out from DesMoines at 5:45am on Sunday the 25th of January, but I'll be back soon enough around Thanksgiving this fall. I don't have to tell this croud how quickly that time will actually go by.

Thanks again for all the support and prayers you offer. I'm having the time of my life, and hope that you are able to experience even just a bit of the experience I'm blessed to have through my stories, pictures and video clips.

And please, keep the emails and letters coming. It's always great to get YOUR updates!

Until next time, best wishes and take care!

November 10th I set out from Basse with five good friends as we rented out a car and a driver and excitedly started our 28 hour(ish) drive to our destination of Dukie, Guinea. Five full days of hiking, waterfalls, a good time with friends and a well-deserved break from Gambia lie ahead!

50 hours later, with still no definate end to our drive in sight, but with tempers reaching a critical point, emotions running high, a driver ready to abandon us, hundreds of kilometers of never-ending craters...generously called a road, and a group of 6 young travelers ready to abandon the driver, --- the journey had certainly become what I like to call, simply, memorable.

In respect to you, my devout readers, I will not delve into what could be the equivalent of a 25-page, day-to-day play-by-play of what was truly an adventure, full of random twists and turns, and enough 11th hour revelations to fill a John Grisham book. But it is worth pointing out the more lively points of our memorable "vacation." (Come to think of it, even traveling with the Griswalds coundn't have been more interesting.)

(DISCLAIMER: To all those wishing or planning to visit Guinea, your vacation does NOT have to be like this. No no. This trip was certainly unique...in so many respects. Yet unfortunately not all THAT unique...since, after all, this is West Africa. So then again, maybe this disclaimer doesn't really have any merit to it after all.)

*We get off to a great start, leaving the parking lot with the wind (and dust) in our faces!

*2 hours in we had our first (of many) break-downs.

*Immigration officials are great a wasting time and power-tripping.

*The first day in the car goes by really well. We are all fresh, excited and think the driver knows where he is supposed to be taking us. (That assumption, that just because the driver SAID they knew where we wanted to go and how to get there, and we believed him, was our first great mistake.)

*We try sleeping as the driver pushes through the night, but on a "road" with more craters than the moon. Sleeping is met unsuccessfully.

*Surprise! The car is infested with cockroaches!

*The sun rises to reveal we are at a ferry crossing. After a cup of roadside coffee, we are excited to keep moving. "Hiking by sunset" is on our minds.

*We enter Guinea and it's GORGEOUS!! The first forests, and yes, even mountains we have seen in over a year!

*We stop to refuel (our stomachs and the gas tank) in the city of Labe. It's fun to get to speak Pulaar outside Gambia. There's a definate dialect, but we get by alright for our own needs.

*While in Labe, an elderly woman who was either extremely enthusiastic or, well... anyway, she was covered in small placards and buttons with pictures of Barack Obama and she gave us all multiple hugs... before begging us for money.

*As the sun is setting and we approach our FIRST 28 hours in the car, the forested mountains turn into rolling plains.

*At about 10pm the driver told us we were there... to Tugay. Too bad we should habe been to DUKEY about 4 hours ago.

*We somehow manage to come across Robert, the one man in Tugay who can speak English enough to help us convey to the driver our problem of Tugay vs. Dukey.

*Spent the night in a random hotel. No light, water or food. But don't worry, plenty of cockroaches to cuddle with.

*Off to another good start, sure that THIS TIME the driver knew where to take us. We were so naieve...

*2pm rolls around and we reach the PROVINCE/DISTRICT of DUNKEY. Again, NOT the TOWN of DUKEY.

*Somehow this too is "peacefully" resolved and we reach Dukey that evening around 8, after a mere 56 (yes, fifty-six) hours on the road. (Not that we were counting by then any more. It just wasn't fun to keep adding hours after 28 of them had already passed...apparently in the wrong direction.)

*The lodge, run by a great guy named Hassan Bah, is awesome and gorgeous! Truly postcard picturesque.

*Short hikes. Long hikes. Absolutely gorgeous hikes!

*Great Guinean food!

*Good times with friends surrounded by truly awesome scenery.

*Swimming under waterfalls in fresh water springs.

*Relaxing in natural whirlpools.

*Picking and eating oranges right off the trees.

*Oh yeah, one of the tour guides tries hitting on two of the young women in our group. (You can escape Gambia, but not West Africa.)

*Nice, lazy afternoons lounging, reading and sleeping in hammocks.

*Good weather.

*Good health.

*Great hikes!

*Push my limits with my fear of heights.

*Fear of heights NOT successfully overcome.

*Rock climbing.

*Vine swinging.

*Dropped my camera in the stream while vine swinging on our last hike. Memory card is alright. Might be time for a new camera though... (one where you can't hear sand moving around when you bring the zoom in and out)

*Met some fun, recently completed Peace Corps Volunteers from Togo and Morocco.

*Decided not to follow in their footsteps of backpacking West Africa upon completion of my two years of service.

*Our drive ACTUALLY came back to get us at the scheduled time! (We had been wondering over the days if he would actually come back and spend another 28... or 56 hours with us.)

*Another bumpy ride.

*Immigration officials still power-tripping.

But a mere 28 hours later we were back in Basse, Gambia! (Boy does time fly by when it's not 56!) (Over an entire "work-week" spent sitting in a car... just on the way there.)

It truly was a great trip. Not everything went according to plan, but really, what does in West Africa? Surely we could have planned better. Maybe we could have/ should have even brought along a map of Guinea to refrence. (Yeah, my dad and aunt Janis are going to literally rake me over the coals for not having a map of the hundreds of kilometers of roads we were traveling.)

But it was fun and memorable! A truly "once-in-a-lifetime" adventure. Except of course for next summer when I plan to take a similar trip for backpacking and hiking in Mali...with a map of Mali. I know, I'm just asking for it.

But for the record, I never lost my temper or composure on the trip. I'm not saying anyone did, just that I, personally, did not. On the contrary, I was the perpetual optimist! (not always appreciated) But I was well stocked with candy, pixie-sticks, fruit-roll-ups, gummy candies and countdown-callendar "Bush-isms" to help keep the mood light, tempers at bay, and a mellowing sugar coma all around.

So the trip wasn't exactly smooth (quite literally!), or even slightly predictable. But it really was a ALOT of fun. But oddly enough, I was glad to be back in Gambia when it was over. Flat, bland, "give me mintie" Gambia. It's somehow refreshing to be back. To be back "home." I guess my heart is really in it here.

Hey Everyone!

I am in town for the election and thought you might enjoy a quick update with my life as of late.

First and foremost, Khiva is still doing well. She has gotten quite big (thanks in part to many dog treats that have made it over here in gift-packages). She's my baby, and she's doing fine.

I'm also doing really well! I'm excited to be going to Guinea this weekend! I am going with 5 friends. We will leave from the town of Basse at the very eastern edge of Gambia, and hopefully reach the place we're staying after about a 36hour car ride... a long, bumpy car ride. We will be there for about 6 days, mostly spending our time hiking and swimming. I mean, it's not easy to hike all day through mountains and jungles and then go swimming in natural streams and waterfalls... but someone has to do it. I'm really excited to finally have a bit of a vacation. Actually, this will be my first real vacation since coming to Gambia over a year ago! I mean, trips into Kombo and to the beach are nice, but I'm still in the perpetual Peace Corps fish-bowl. This will just be a nice break.

After I get back from Guinea I will be mainly just hanging out in village until Thanksgiving, when I will be coming back to Kombo for the annual all-volunteer conference. That should only just last about two days. Then in early December I will be helping out a bit with training the new Ag-Fo and Health volunteers! They get in on the 6th of this month, but I won't really be working with their training until December. I think I will be discussing local farming practices with them. Mainly I will be helping them try to gain a good understanding of what to expect before they get to village in terms of how their host-families and communities approach farming, and also help them think about some ways where maybe they can work to improve farming practices during the next planting season, such as inter-cropping, as well as ideas for fertilizers and pesticides. Kind of crazy that I'm now in the older group. It's been odd to see the volunteers from the year ahead of me packing up and getting ready to go back to the States. Time really does go by quickly!

And I can honestly say that over these past few months I've reached an appreciation and enjoyment with my service here that I didn't actually think possible. I'm not just enjoying it as an interesting and educational experience, or as a great way to get overseas experience. But I'm actually really loving it here. The relationships and friendships I have been fortunate to build with the people around me is unexplainably refreshing and rewarding. You can be sure that not every day is "great," but I truly am having a great time. I'm having the time of my life and truly loving it here.

Last week we had a bee-keeping training in my village. The main focus was on building sustainable bee-hives out of grasses and other local materials. We also spent quite a bit of time discussing the life-style of bees, trying to help them gain an understanding of bee communities and how they work. There were about 30 people who attended from about 8 different villages. In the coming months it will be their responsibility to actually build bee-hives, bait them and set them out in areas likely to attract bees. In a few months time we will have a follow-up training to discuss harvesting, processing and marketing.

(Bah-Fodi using his new training to make a grass bee-hive.)

I'm really excited about the potential for this project. It's something I think the people in my area could really get into, and really benefit from. Check out my pictures for more shots from the training!

With the corn, coos and rice harvested, now all that's left is the groundnuts. This year's rainy season was pretty good. (Even a bit longer than expected.) So now we have been using the mornings to plow up the groundnuts and group them. Next we will thrash them to seperate the nuts from the hay. Then we will collect the nuts for eating/selling, and then collect the groundnut hay for the horses and donkeys to eat through the dry season. The whole process is a bit labor-intensive and will finally finish up mid-December.

Mid-December will be their Tobaski holiday again, which will be fun to celebrate once more. And shortly after that I will be heading up to Dakar to fly back! Several of us are going up to Dakar on the 22nd. Two of us are flying back to the States, and the others just think it sounds more fun to celebrate Christmas in a different place for a nice change. It should be a fun few days!

Then (weather permitting) I should be home for Christmas! I'm sure it will be a bit of a whirlwind during the first few days, but as long as there is coffee I should be ok!

Oh, and a fun random story. Just about a week ago I came back to my compound around 10pm after spending some time chatting with some friends in village. When I walked in I thought it was funny that a bunch of people were walking around the compound garden area with flashlights. I knew something exciting must be going on, and I was pretty sure what it was. To my un-surprise, Lawo had spotted a snake moving around in the compound. A BIG snake! Of course I jumped into the action with my flashlight and machete, scouting out the perimiter of the garden, looking for anything resembling a big snake.

There were about 10 of us looking around until about midnight, but with none of us seing anything, we were pretty sure it was too scared to come out of the garden area. So, figuring we had it trapped, we left the dogs to keep scouting around the garden and went to bed. The next morning we went back to work, trying to find the snake. I asked Lawo how he could be sure it didn't leave during the night, and he explained to me that the snake was coming to try to eat the chickens or ducks, and wouldn't give up too easily. And he was right! Just a little bit later one of the guys scouting the garden fence saw it. The guys jumped into action, and shortly after the snake, which turned out to be a python, wasn't a threat to the chickens or ducks any longer.

It was a fun experience to be a part of. Truly a "Peace Corps West Africa" memory in the making! (And mom, now you don't have to be afraid of snakes around my compound, because we got rid of it!)

Well, that said I should probably get going. But yeah, in a nut-shell: promoting bee-keeping, python in the compound, Obama '08!, Guinea, Thanksgiving, groundnut harvesting, Tobaski and then I'll be home for Christmas!!

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the November weather. It has been cooling down here, too. We are getting closer back into the cold season. It's getting down into the 70s at night. And yes, I've started wearing jeans and long-sleeved shirts when it drops down into the 70s. So this year I'll probably be huddling around the fire with everyone else. And the Iowa December weather may be a bit of a shock!

I hope this finds you all doing well. Until next time, take care!

(My host-family, friends and actually most of the village are all VERY excited about the prospects of an Obama victory!)

Several of you have emailed or written me asking if I will be able to vote in this year's election. You can be sure that I proudly voted absentee for Barack Obama to become the next President of the United States!

(my hut showing pride for Obama. my sign and flag have actually lead to some great political discussions, a great means for cross-cultural understanding and education)

This truly is an historic election, and I thought you would enjoy some pictures of Obama support coming from the West African bush!

(even Bah-Fodi is showing his Muslim prayer beads to show just how seriously the rest of the world takes the outcome of this U.S. election)

Go OBAMA! Obama '08!

Hey Everyone!

I don't have much to share (not that there's nothing to share but that I don't have much time to write it out...) But I thought you would appreciate knowing that I have uploaded some more pictures from October and also a few more video clips.

The pictures give a good look into parts of celebrating Koriteh, the end of Ramadan, and also some more shots of daily life in village and a few shots from Kombo (the capital area). And hopefully the new video clips will help offer a bit more into understanding life in Gambia.

I am doing very, very well! And I'm also looking forward to a trip I'm taking to Guinea in November, and then of course my trip back to the States in December!

The rainy season is almost finished, so now it's time to head back out to the fields for harvesting. First we will bring in the corn, then the coos, then the rice, and then finally the ground nuts. It was a great rainy season, so hopefully the harvest will prove strong as well.

"Projects" have kind of come to a standstill currently, as most everyone has been focused on their farms. But this time of year has also provided a fantastic opportunitity to just hang out with people and get a much better understanding of lives of Gambians. When it comes to cultural understanding, there is always so very much to learn.

For example, did you know that dragons still exist in West Africa?

Did you know that hippos are actually demons who come up out of the river to cause destruction?

And did you know that my community has apparently been discussing how I should stay on after Peace Corps to serve as the school head master?

I didn't. But I do now.

I hope all is well with you on the other side of the big pond!

Hey!

If I understand the timing correctly, there will be a new group of agro-forestry and health and community development volunteers coming into Gambia to start training mid-November. And if that's the case, that means most of you should be getting your invitation packet to serve here any day now, if you haven't gotten it already. If you're anything like me, you will now be spending quite a bit of time browsing anything you can find to clue you in to this country which you've probably never heard of before, including Peace Corps blogs.

So, congratulations on being accepted into and accepting your position into the Peace Corps. It's not easy or always fun, but definately an amazing experience to look forward to. In so many ways much of the experience you are about to begin is completely unexplainable, so it's a good thing you are headed over here to experience it for yourself!

Since the experience is so unique to each volunteer, and as the surroundings, experiences and culture are very different from probably most things you've encountered before, I won't really go into much detail on how to prepare, because, really, the best thing you can do to prepare is just not overly-stress about the commitment you just made. In fact, the best thing you CAN do through November is just spend time with family and friends, finish out your work, pack up your stuff, and EAT all day, every day. Eat anything you want anytime you want. Go on the "I'm going to Africa" diet, and all your favorite foods, because unless your favorite foods are 1) rice, 2) rice with peanut sauce, 3) coos with peanut sauce, or 4) coos with unrecognizable green sauce, you won't be finding your favorite foods here, and you will definately not be finding a variety. It's not a bad thing. Just be sure to eat to your heart's content before stepping onto the plane.

And I also figured for your benefit I'd share my packing list, along with commentary on my packing list now that I've been here for a year. (Keep in mind, this packing list is for a young, male, single, agro-forestry volunteer.)

CLOTHES

*5 t-shirts (only really need 3 or 4)

*2 polos (only really need 1)

*2 nice, button up shirts (only really need 1)

*1 pair nice pants

*1 pair jeans

*1 pair outdoorish/lightweight pants

*3 pair shorts

*5 pair socks (I never wear my tennis-shoes so don't really need socks)

*5 pair boxers (it's just too hot for some things. way, way to hot)

*3 pair running shorts

*1 pair swimming trunks

*1 rain jacket

*1 tie

*2 pairs Chaco sandals

*1 pair flip-flops

*1 pair tennis-shoes (I only wear sandals and flip-flops, but still not a bad thing to have along)

ELECTRONICS

*cell phone (it's super easy to get one here that will work just fine)

*cell phone charger to fit with Solio (you can get any kind of charger here you need for any kind of phone, and for much less than in the States)

*iPod (music is essential for so much down time)

*small speakers for iPod

*camera

*crank shortwave radio

*crank flashlight

*head lamp

*Solio solar charger (my site doesn't have electricity, so I use this to charge my phone and iPod on a regular basis)(you probably won't have electricity at your site)

*rechargeable batteries (I never really need to use them.)

*solar-powered battery charger (So I never really need to use this.)

*travel alarm (to have a clock in my house)(but time here runs on a different schedule, so it doesn't really matter what time it is)

*watch (with extra battery)

VITAMINS/MEDS

If you take a prescription medication you're supposed to bring a 3-month supply, after that Peace Corps provides it for you.

They are also good about providing your malaria medication, sun-screen, daily multi-vitamins, re-hydration tabs, calcium supplements, and a medical kit full of lots of interesting stuff you will hopefully never need to take. But sometimes Peace Corps runs out of stuff for a while, so it's not a bad idea to have your own supply of sun-screen or vitamins.

OTHER

*2 pairs eye-glasses (Contacts are discouraged for cleanliness reasons. Some people still wear them. I haven't heard of many serious problems, but apparently a person lost an eye a few years back from some kind of infection attributed to his contacts.)

*sun-glasses

*hat

*umbrella

*Swiss Army knife

*Leatherman

*small supply of soap, shampoo, and deodorant to get you through the first few weeks

*toothbrushes and toothpaste

*shaving razors

*pictures from home

*addresses of people back home

*Nalgene bottle

*day pack for travel

*camel-back for travel/biking

MONEY

Once you become a volunteer, your monthly Peace Corps allowance will be plenty to cover your basic needs of food, housing, travel and such. However, your monthly stipend as a trainee is actually quite small, so if you do plan to buy a cell phone and other things immediately when you get here, you will want to plan to bring some extra cash. But, once you swear in you will also get an "adjustment/moving in" allowance, to cover the costs of furnishing your house (ie. bed, mattress, chairs, gas stove, cooking supplies...that sort of thing)

COMMENTS & SUGGESTIONS

**I know it's going to be tempting to pack food to bring with you. The problem is, for your first 3 months you are in training, and everything is provided for you. Additionally, your schedule is pretty full and there isn't actually all that much down-time for cooking on your own. I recommend waiting and if you have certain foods you really want, have a family member of friend mail them over.

**I can't stress this enough, it's HOT here. It's hot enough that when it falls down into the 90s it feels fantastic and the 70s are down-right cold. So I recommend packing light-fabric clothing, and just be ok with the fact that you will sweat alot over the next few years.

**And you really can buy anything you may need here. The bigger markets have varities of radios, cell phones, adapters, small speakers, clothing, toiletries, and local food. So if it doesn't fit in your luggage, don't fret about it, you can get it over here.

**Oh, which reminds me, don't worry about packing cooking supplies (ie. pots and pans), since you can easily get that stuff here, as well.

**Spices are another matter. If you have special cooking spices you want to have on hand, you should probably either bring them along or plan to have them shipped.

**Peace Corps told my training group not to worry about paking bed sheets, but that they would be provided for us. That didn't exactly hold true, so I recommend bringing your own set of bed sheets for a double bed.

**And finally, don't bring anything of any real or sentimental value. Your stuff is going to get wet, sandy, moldy, moved around alot and possibly destroyed by termites or rodents. Other than a few things, such as a camera and mp3 player, I would suggest leaving anything expensive back in the States.

Alright, I hope this helps some of you while coming up with your own packing lists and figuring out how to fit the next two years of your life into two suitcases. Again, don't worry about it. You can find anything here, and food, books and those things ship easily.

Enjoy your last few months in the States. Eat alot! And we all look forward to greeting you when you get to Gambia!

(PS: Yes, time does go fast. I feel like I just got settled in, and now it's time for the older group to move out and the new group to come in.)

Hey again!

I thought it would be worth mentioning (as I have just uploaded tons of new pictures) that I really would like to be taking many more pictures of the local people here, but since most of the women are usually very scantily clad and the children tend to not be wearing anything, and since I really don't want to get arrested for the pictures I post online, I hope you can just enjoy the shots I have to share.

Enjoy!

Hey Everyone!

If you check out the right-hand side of the screen you will notice I have a new feature. You now have the life-changing opportunity of getting to see another angle of my life and work in The Gambia via my (very short) video clips!

I've taken the liberty of taping some clips with my camera. (so the quality isn't always the greatest...) I do sincerely hope you all enjoy yet another aspect of "Making a 'Mark' in Gambia."

Also, I have recently uploaded quite a few new pictures, giving you all a fairly good glimpse into my life for the past few months.

Cheers!

Hey!

I'm back in the Kombo area again for a week or so and wanted to send out a quick update from my side of the pond. First of all, THANK YOU all so very much for the amazing birthday wishes, cards, packages, letters, emails and even facebook posts! They are all very, very greatly appreciated! And I am pleased to say I had a great, and memorable 24th birthday here in Gambia.

Village life has slowed down a bit lately. The crops are planted. The weeding is mostly finished. And the rains are starting to clear out again. These past few months have been slower days, as we are now basically just waiting to harvest the crops. We should be harvesting the corn any time now, the coos in October, the rice in November, and the groundnuts after that. Lately we have just been hanging out in the shade under trees with sling-shots to keep the birds, goats and monkeys out of the crops. It's been a cool experience, and I'm not THAT bad at the sling-shots! (the bigger animals are easier to hit)

But despite the slower pace of work and life-in-general lately, I suppose it should be able to go without saying that I am truly having a blast in village with my host family and friends! Each day brings something totally new and random. Something worth getting out of bed and opening the door for. (hence... not too many blog updates lately. I hope this one will suffice for my more avid and regular readers, and make up for lost time.)

Right now is the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, where they do not eat from sun-up to sun-down. It's also been very interesting, as we get up for breakfast at 4:45 or 5am, and then don't eat or drink anything until about 7 in the evening. But to answer your immediate question, no, I'm not fasting. The compound was really polite and asked me if I wanted to fast with them, but I explained to them that if it was a cultural holiday, something specific to the Fula or Mandinka people, I would be tempted to try it for a while. But it's a Muslim holiday, and I'm not Muslim. And it works out that the children in the compound don't fast, and neither does Fatou, one of my host-moms who is EXTREMELY pregnant. So since they are already cooking lunch for half the people in the compound anyway, it's not a big deal for them to prepare some food for me as well. But it has been an interesting experience, and a good time to learn about Islam. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but Lawo, my host dad, is the assistant Imam in the village (the leader of the Mosque in the community), and it is great to have conversations with him about Islam, and how it differs between West Africa and other parts of the world.

And for my birthday itself I got together with a few friends on the 29th in the town of Basse, where Peace Corps has a house we can use when to go to Basse for banking and such. We cooked a nice dinner, I got to chat with my family a bit, and was even surprised by my friends with a brownie cake after dinner! The day was topped off with a great thunderstorm. It was like getting fireworks for my bitrhday! Someone up-above must really like me!

The next day, on my birthday itself, I was traveling back to village with my friend Alicia when our gele-gele broke down. And as, of course, the gele-gele didn't have a spare tire, I spent much of my 24th birthday hanging out on the side of the road, waiting for another vehicle to come along. But it really was beautiful, and definately memorable! I topped off my birthday hitching a free ride to Bansang. And since the sun was setting and I wouldn't get to my site before dark, Alicia and I ended up catching another ride to get back to her place. (Vehicles don't go to my village, except, of course, Peace Corps vehicles.) I got back to my site the next morning. And yes, at 24 I do actually feel older than I did at 23. Perhaps it's the new experiences, refreshed outlook on life, or just the fact that 24is an even number... But I do feel more mature and older.

Yesterday I met up with a bunch of my friends here in Kombo. There is a new education group swearing in on the 12th, so many of us are coming back down to the city to welcome them to Gambia. I spent the day with my friends at the beach, then went out for pizza and topped the day off at a nice outside moon-lit bar, where my friends surprised Alicia and myself with a joint-birthday cake! (as her birthday was September 8th) And we brought the day to a close singing and dancing to the Jackson 5. A successful day, indeed.

So now I will be around for a few days, or maybe up to a week, working on paper work and such. Yes, even when working out in the bush I'm required to come in every three months and fill out TONS of paper work about my projects. I'm still not exactly sure how we are supposed to "quantify" much of the work we are doing, such as working in rice fields with women, planting tree nurseries, or teaching English phrases to children. But, I suppose if Peace Corps wants to keep getting a budget from Congress, they will keep having us fill out arbitrary paper work. In some ways it does make me feel more "professional," other than the fact that all my statistics and "quantifying" numbers are still completely arbitrary.

In other news:

For October I'm looking forward to leading big bee-keeping and rabbit-production trainings. I've been organizing these with several men in my village, and I'm hoping for (but wise enough not to expect) a good event. I'll keep you updated!

For November: I'm looking forward to taking a week-long trip to Guinea (Conakry) with five other friends in November. It should be a fun hiking trip through mountains and waterfalls. Well, not "through" waterfalls, but you know what I mean. I'm REALLY excited for it. Then around Thanksgiving we will be having our annual all-volunteer conference, which should be a nice time with friends working in parts of the country I don't get to visit often.

And for December: I'm coming home for Christmas! All I can say is, if you want to make sure to have lots of extra time to hang out with me while I'm back, contact my parents to arrange some kind of schedule. I plan to just enjoy, rest and EAT all the time.

So Allison Hoff, a good friend of mine who is serving as a health and community development volunteer, wrote these awesome haikus. They do a good job of pretty much summing everything up!

I can't speak Pulaar.

What the heck are you saying?

I'll just smile at you.

You're still talking.

I hope this isn't important.

My answer is yes.

This meat is chewy.

Maybe it's just bad chicken.

Nope, sheep intestines!

I need something sweet.

There are cough drops in my med kit.

This can't be healthy.

They are called freckles.

They are not mosquito bites.

And that is acne.

Please kids, wash your hands.

Fine, just don't grab the goat shit.

Okay, don't touch me.

Life is full of exciting and new experiences in The Gambia!

Hey Everyone!

I’m back in Kombo for a few days so I wanted to get out a quick update on my life and work here with the Peace Corps.

First and foremost, Khiva is doing really well. She has been growing really fast! Whenever I leave for a few days and come back again I’m always surprised with how big she is getting when I don’t even realize it. And her appetite is matching her growth. She is now completely house trained and she doesn’t even chew on the furniture when I’m not there, but we are now working on keeping her from chasing the chickens. It may be all fun and games now, when she actually gets afraid of the chickens and ducks when they turn around and start chasing her. But soon enough her playful chasing of the family poultry could easily become her wanting to satisfy her appetite. So we are working on that.

She likes to wander all around the village and into the fields with me. Every morning when we go out to the fields for weeding she comes along and sits in the shade to watch us work, when she’s not chasing birds, bugs, butterflies, other dogs or digging holes. She really likes to dig holes. (It’s become a bit problematic in my backyard as I’m trying to grow things.)

And in the late afternoons when I take my daily walk around village to see what is all going on she likes to tag along. I consider that a part of my “cultural exchange,” since they really aren’t accustomed to having animals just hang out like that. And my host family thinks it’s hilarious when she tries to play with people who come into the compound by chasing them around. I was afraid at first that maybe that wouldn’t go over so well, the whole chasing people thing. But as it turns out, Lawo thinks it’s the funniest thing in the world when someone walks into the compound and Khiva runs up to them to greet them and lick them, but they in turn get freaked out and run away. Ok, so maybe it’s not the nicest thing in the world, but people get used to it, and it really is good comic relief to hot afternoons.

We are now about a month into the rainy season, and it’s amazing how quickly this land that I remember looking like a desert turned into a lush, green rainforest. It’s kind of scary, really. But it’s beautiful!

It tends to rain almost every other night, providing a very nice contrast to the hot humid days. The fields are now completely planted with coos (millet), corn, groundnuts and rice. Now the trick is keeping the weeds down. Basically we spend each morning weeding the various fields (by hand). It gets to be a bit tiring and really hot, but usually each day after we have been out there a few hours a conversation like this happens:

Them: Saikou, it is very hot. You must be very tired. You should go sit in the shade.

Me: Oh, no no. I’m not tired. If you can work out here I can work out here.

Them: No, Saikou. The sun is very hot today. You should go sit down.

Me: No no. If you can work in this, I can work in this.

Them: No. Go sit down.

Me: Ok.

Then I go sit under a near-by tree and wait for them to finish. Sometimes I feel like a wimp for not working longer. Other days I am realistic and know that for as much as my body has adjusted to much of the setting here, if I was to work much longer in that kind of heat and humidity I would be in really, really rough shape.

Other than weeding I’ve been working with some farmers to get some orchards going. I worked specifically with Lawo to plant cashew trees all around the parameter of his fields, and he is very excited about that. Additionally, the seeds we planted are supposedly an improved variety that grow from germination to fruiting in around nine months! That would be awesome, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

I’ve also helped a few other interested farmers get some orchards started with cashew and mango trees.

my hand next to a hippo print in the mud

At the skill center we surrounded the perimeter with a row of cashew trees and then planted some mango trees in the middle of its front yard. We then filled in the rest of the yard with coos and corn. It has good potential for income generation in a few months, and that could be great to get some new projects going with the center!

And the women’s garden is actually working! I mean, they are growing things and the goats aren’t eating everything. The fence still isn’t as good as I think it could be, but, things just happen at a different pace here than we are used to. One thing I’m interested in with the women’s garden is that all the women are basically growing the same thing. Red peppers, onions, and bitter tomato seem to be favorites. I tried talking with them about growing a variety of vegetables to add some more options for cooking and nutrition, but they just weren’t interested, (unless I wanted to just give them seeds, that would be OK).

But I’m not really into giving anything away because that just adds to their overdependence on aid money and free, un-sustainable projects. But that’s an entirely different blog entry... on another day.

What I’m hoping happens is that when the women harvest all their vegetables and take them to the market we started in village, they will realize they are all trying to sell the exact same stuff and maybe be a bit more interested in trying a variety of vegetables next time. Sometimes you just have to see it to believe it. Especially in this culture and setting.

a dung-beatle's view of a groundnut field

The school year is finished, so there really isn’t much going on there. But it was a good year and I’m excited to work with the agriculture teacher next year to get an Environmental Awareness club started. I figure many of the older students will come because I’m there and they always like to watch whatever I’m doing anyway. And it will be a great opportunity to talk with them about environmental issues to the Gambia, maybe sometimes current events, and really just anything I think is important and they should be discussing. And since they next school year will be starting towards the end of the US general election, there will definitely be issues to talk about.

The current events class is going well. Lately the main questions and discussions have focused around the US primary elections, and them wanting to learn how people get elected (in a primary) to try to get elected again (in the general election).

Other than that, site is basically the same old routine. I am having a great time and continue to learn new things about my setting, the culture I am in, and myself. By now I have definitely been stretched beyond measures of patience and understanding I knew I had. And I continue to be amazed when I think of just how bizarre this entire experience really is. But I am having a blast, most days, and really enjoying this incomparable experience.

I hope this email finds you all doing well and enjoying your summers! This time of year our settings are kind of the same.. It’s hot there and it’s hot here. It rains a lot there and it rains a lot here. Except where here the heat can become a bit much, you have air conditioning. But where your rains are a bit much, we love it!

Thanks, as always, for your prayers, letters and phone calls.

Until next time, take care and God bless.

So if you have been paying any sort of attention to the news lately, aside from the ongoing primary campaigns there is a food crisis happening throughout much of the world.

In one aspect, rice production world-wide has been hugely hurt by a severe drought taking place in Australia, preventing a massive amount of rice from being grown and harvested. As one of the largest rice exporting countries in the world, this drastic shortage means that countries who rely heavily on imports, such as Indonesia, China and the Koreas aren’t getting the rice imports they require, and are therefore stockpiling all of the rice they are producing themselves for their own populations, regulating against any exporting.

Another aspect is that a growing standard of living in massive countries such as India and China means that millions of more people are now consuming more meat. In order to supply this growing demand for meat more animals need to be raised and processed, which leads to a huge increase in the demand for grains, and what we consider “cereal” crops, such as corn and millet. Inevitably, the price for these grains is growing with the demand.

On the other side of the big pond, the United States (and much of Europe) are investing heavily in bio-fuel technologies, such as ethanol. In order to stimulate the potential for rapid adoption of bio-fuel technologies as an alternative to oil (and perhaps more importantly to win over the Midwestern swing-states during political campaigns), the US Congress and the European Union are pumping massive amounts of subsidies into the promotion of crops such as corn. This new and growing market for corn and other grains is supporting a rapid increase for prices of these grains in the US and Europe, which in turn promotes a rapid increase of prices across the world market.

a corn field

On top of all this, as I’m sure you have noticed, oil prices have gone through the roof, approaching nearly $200 per barrel. As I’m sure you are aware, this rapid increase in the price of oil has affected nearly every industry across the planet, especially if the industry has any kind of transportation involved. Airlines, shipping companies and trucking companies are experiencing sky-rocketing fuel costs for the transport of any and all goods.

If I’m not mistaken, this global phenomenon is mostly affecting the US in terms of transportation. People are biking more and driving less. Predicted sales for gas-guzzling SUVs have dropped into critically low numbers. The auto industry, especially GM and Ford are basically at a loss in terms of how to revamp their fleet to produce more efficient cars. People aren’t flying very much if they don’t have to, leading to mergers between airlines such as Continental and Delta as they try to save their already financially disrupted industry.

And overall, people just aren’t traveling as much as they used to, or as much as they would like. Amusement parks and national parks alike are seeing a shortage of visitors this year as some people just can’t afford to get their car out of the driveway if they really don’t have to.

What we are experiencing here is a bit different. This is where it gets a bit technical.

Countries in West Africa, like most other places in the developing world, are experiencing a situation where the education standards are rising just enough that many people, at least boys, are able to attend some sort of school and graduate. Granted, they might not actually graduate until they are around 25 because they take years off to work at home or just because the school systems are constantly changing things around, but for the most part, men have a growing opportunity to get an education. When they graduate from school they don’t want to live in their villages anymore, but are instead drawn to the ideas and dreams of living in a big city, such as Dakar, Freetown, or even Banjul (the capital of Gambia).

Unfortunately there really isn’t a need for all this influx of workers to these cities, as their industries really aren’t growing at a pace able to keep up with the amount of people looking for jobs. So, what you find is that cities such as Dakar, Freetown and Banjul have a large and growing population of young men (in their 20s) who are fresh out of school looking for jobs. While this situation is leading to problems such as over-crowded cities, homelessness and sex tourism, my main point in sharing this with you is that there is a huge population making just enough money to get by, able to afford just enough food.

On the other end of the spectrum, people living and around villages like mine are subsistence farmers. The farmers I am working with are able to grow just enough food to feed their families from one growing season to the next. While some improvements with this situation are happening (which is also the main focus of the work I and other Peace Corps volunteers are doing here), farmers can only plant enough corn, rice and coos to get by eating for the year and save some as seeds for the next growing season. Gambian farmers used to be able to rely on exporting the groundnuts they sell to the world market for a steady yearly income. However, as other countries expand groundnut production Gambia can’t keep up. Moreover, the world demand for groundnuts from Gambia has collapsed, and so has its price. Just a few years ago a farmer used to be able to sell a 50 kilo bag of groundnuts for around 1200 delasis (or $60 U.S. dollars). This year, however, they were only able to sell a bag for about 600d. (a bit of a drop, if I do say so myself) So what we have is a situation of growing urban areas, just making it by, on the one hand, and subsistence farmers with a steadily decreasing income on the other.

a baby groundnut (peanut) plant

For the past several years this situation has been offset by the fact that governments of countries such as Gambia and Senegal have subsidized the price of imported rice. They were able to keep it artificially low so that their low-income population would still be able to afford rice as a staple food to their diet, especially in the urban areas where the people aren’t relying on farming for their own food source. Moreover, even in the rural areas farmers were able to make enough from selling their groundnuts (despite the loss of value) to still afford the imported rice. Over a span of about 30 years, imported rice became a significant staple food item into people’s diet across the country.

That’s changed.

So, back to the rice shortage and increasing grain prices I mentioned earlier. The fact that Australia is suffering from a drought that has been going on for several years and taken out their rice production, along with the fact that more wealthy rice-consuming countries (China, Indonesia, Koreas, Vietnam) are creating policies against the export of rice, means there is a drastic shortage of rice that can actually be imported to West African countries, including Gambia. The skyrocketing grain prices in Western countries has made it nearly impossible for West African countries to be able to afford subsidizing the rice, or any other grain for that matter, imported into these countries, meaning these skyrocketing prices will inevitably be passed on to the consumer… people just making it by.

On top of it all, the “through the roof” oil prices means that organizations such as the World Food Program, which help provide lunches for schools across many of these developing countries, including Gambia, did not expect such a drastic increase in the shipping (oil) costs for distribution. For this fiscal year, the World Food Program is estimating around $500 million in unexpected and unbudgeted costs, because the synonymous increase of prices for goods all-around was not expected to the extent is has reached. Moreover, as the World Food Program also helps provide food to refugee camps and displaced peoples around the world, they are facing critical ethical dilemmas of where they can continue their work and where they must make budget cuts. From what I understand, the World Food Program is phasing-out its assistance to The Gambia over the next two to four years. That’s not going to be a good day.

a rice field

Furthermore, the rice currently imported to this country is only going to be subsidized through September. The national government here has made it very clear that they cannot afford to offer assistance with this situation after September because it will just be too expensive. They will incrementally increasing the price of a bag of rice to around 1000 delasis per 50 kilo bag in order to help “sensitize” people to the rising costs (it was around 650 delasis when I got here last September), and then it will be completely up to the world market. Costs are only expected to skyrocket with oil.

So, basically what we have is a growing population reliant on cheap imported rice as a main food item that will not be able to afford to eat it past September, if they can even afford to eat it now. While they used to be able to sell a bag of groundnuts for two bags of rice, this equation has now flipped.

So what is to be done?

Fortunately, the people I am working and living with are subsistence farmers who are used to eating what they grow. We have had community meetings to discuss this situation and the overall reaction is “Well, we used to grow and eat coos more than rice, so we will just have to do that again.” It’s a pretty good reaction.

Peace Corps volunteers here are trying to help introduce different methods of inter-cropping in order to get more food from the same amount of space. (such as beans and corn together) We are introducing different kinds of fertilizer methods to help increase yields. (such as an interesting urine-based fertilizer they can make on their own) And we have even tried introducing and promoting a line of rice called NERICA rice. It is an improved line developed by the Taiwanese that, under the right conditions, should have much larger yields and smaller growing cycles (about 80 days) than the rice they are used to growing for themselves.

NERICA Rice

All things considered, as long as the rainy season is good, the people around me should still be able to grow enough to get by.

That’s not the case for everyone, though. Urban areas, such as Dakar and Freetown, have already experienced food riots protesting the government over their inability to afford food. And there’s nothing to say that kind of reaction won’t happen here in The Gambia after September. As tightly as some countries may like to control the security of their countries, when people are hungry, or even starving, they will take on desperate measures.

Personally, I’m not expecting much of a strong reaction this coming year. For various reasons, I think people will be able to make it by and get enough food to meet their needs. However, I am more skeptical about next year. If people don’t have a good growing season and end up having to eat the seeds they set aside to grow the next year, that will only enhance the already growing potential for a devastating food crisis.

So what will happen as the rice shortage continues, combined with rising grain and oil prices? You’re prediction is as good as mine, maybe better. But one thing is for sure, people, both in the United States and in developing countries, will be going hungry. Sorry to end on such a downer, but that’s just the way an unequal world works. Some people can’t afford to fill their SUV for a summer road trip to the Grand Canyon. Other people can’t afford to feed their families.

Hey Everyone!

I hope you were all able to enjoy getting together with various groups of family and friends to celebrate the 4th of July!

I met up with six other friends at Alicia’s house, the place we tend to go for American holidays, and celebrated the 4th of July with them. We had a blast!

making mashed potatoes

In true summer holiday tradition we grilled hot dogs and made smores… kind of. In true Peace Corps fashion we took spammed chicken from a can and cut into strips to kind of resemble hot dogs. Then we smoked them in a grill so they would hopefully acquire a smoky flavor. (it kind of worked) And to make the smores we took apart chocolate cookies (kind of like Oreos) and put marshmallows in them. And for a special treat we even bought ice in Bansang so we could have cold beverages! (It’s the little things that make the biggest difference.)

grilling hot dogs

We had a great time just hanging out together, cooking, relaxing and sharing stories from our sites. And to top it off we even had a good fireworks show of lightning at the end of the day!

Amy and Allison making "onion rings"

Interestingly enough, the 4th of July actually felt much more like Thanksgiving to me. No, I wasn’t really craving turkey or mashed potatoes (mmm….mashed potatoes). And it definitely didn’t feel like fall, let alone time for Christmas shopping specials. But getting together with friends to celebrate American independence and the freedoms and privileges we have in our society really struck me this year. Perhaps it’s because I wasn’t actually in America, or maybe it’s because my setting here is just so very different. But I just kept thinking of all the differences between here and the States and we truly do have so very much to be thankful.

For example, the fact that kids are required to go to school in the States differs a bit from the families who won’t send their daughters to school so they can stay home and pound coos and rice.

We may rely over-dependently on cars, but at least we have an overall functioning transportation system (be it cars, trucks, trains, airplanes, subways, taxis, and even busses, and most especially bridges!) to get around wherever we want to go.

We may hot have the best healthcare system for all members of our society, but at least people aren’t dying from malaria or dysentery, and most people have access to at least basic medications to cover most basic ailments and diseases. And so much of our society has it far better than even that.

We can drink water without fear of parasites.

Women in America can get an education, work, make their own independent life, and even usually leave their situation if it is abusive and unbearable.

People can speak freely and openly about their political opinions and frustrations without fear for themselves or their family.

People can protest and be heard if they are unhappy.

We have access to any kind of media we want, even uncensored.

Americans still have a belief that if you work hard and are dedicated to something, you will succeed. You can achieve anything you put your mind to. I’m thankful to come from a country where that is possible.

America isn’t perfect. There are still many policies and several laws that I either just don’t understand or completely disagree with. Our society, on the whole, is wasteful and selfish. (come on, admit it, maybe not you personally but our society as a whole…) And we are depleting our resources faster than we are planning to live without them.

But we also come from one of the greatest countries in the world. And we have so very much to be thankful for.

So, it wasn’t quite the same missing out on the Reinbeck parade, not going to the park in the afternoon for fried food, pie and ice cream, bingo, and small-town socializing, and it was very weird to miss out on the amazing fireworks shows I’m accustomed to. But it really was a great 4th of July. It was what the 4th is supposed to be about, a good time with friends, good (or at least creative) summer grilling, and a true and deep appreciation for all the rights, security and privileges the U.S. offers its citizens, and even the world.

So, I realize it's really not a big deal and all, but I'm very pleased with how my new book shelf turned out so I want to show it off. I made it myself and it actually works! (it holds books...)

We are now well into June and the rainy season has officially arrived!

It actually officially arrived in Chargel on the 13th of June at 1:30am when it started storming. It was our first "real" rain since October. That's right, after a good seven months with practically no precipitation we finally had rain. And boy did we get rain. Thanks to the handy rain guage my dad sent me I can tell you quite accurately that it rained right at about 3 inches that morning between 1:30 and 7AM.

The change of seasons is greatly appreciated and I am enjoying the drop in temperatures with the more overcast days. Unfortunately, the drop in temps (from about 130 to 110) is more than made up for in the humidity that just came out of nowhere. At the same time, when it is raining and the breeze is constant it feels great. And I love sitting outside under my overhang watching it rain with the rest of the compound.

During this past week, the first of the rainy season, we have consistenly gotten an average of about 2 inches of rain each day.

I understand that's the same kind of precipitation my family and friends back in Iowa are experiencing right now, which is leading to massive flooding and and disasters from too much water. Here, on the other hand, the ground was so completely dry that it is still soaking up the water as fast as it can fall. Any puddles that do form don't last long. Granted, there are areas near and along the river which get pretty muddy and will surely flood. However, they are expecting and hoping for that so they can turn it into well watered rice fields. In fact, with the severe food crisis hitting us here, if we don't have a strong and consistent rainy season, the people here may very well slide into a famine.

Which leads me into... with the rains comes plowing and planting!

It's quite amazing how literally overnight, with a few inches of rain, the ground went from being a dry, concrete desert to very fertile and workable. It's actually kind of scary how quickly and drastically it changes. Moreover, unfortunately with changes in global weather patterns, the farmers are saying that each year the rainy season is getting just a little bit shorter and the dry season just a bit longer. That fact, coupled with how this land and vegitation is able to go from desert to tropical, literally overnight, just doesn't seem very well balanced. To me, it comes across as a clear sign of how susceptible our surroundings and indeed, the world, really are to our actions and behaviors. And it's a clear sign that if that pattern doesn't change and the rainy season does continue to get shorter and shorter as the surrounding lands become more and more deforested and polluted, the people who rely on the rains for food will be in a world of hurt.

But despite my concerns for where the Gambia may be headed down the road in terms of sustainability and food production capabilities, I have been having a very good time plowing and planting in the fields with Lawo, Saikou and Bah Fodi.

As you can see, the equipment we use here may be quite reminiscent for my grandparents and more mature blog readers. But it gets the job done.

This year we will be planting two types of coos, corn (maize), rice and ground nuts (peanuts). Most all the food the plant will be used primarly for their own consumption needs for the next year. Much of the population here is still at a subsistance level of production and development in terms of producing food. There will be some farmers who will plant enough of a crop to sell it off at the market, such as ground nuts, but as the prices for grains and cereals continue to sky rocket, it is most likely that the people here will save as much for themselves as they can produce.

Now that the farmers are back in the fields for another season of crops, most of my projects will be shelved for the time being. As any farmer can attest, planting and sowing is extremely time sensitive, my projects are not. But that's fine with me. I'm excited for this change of pace and to experience Gambian farming. It will be a fun time working with the horses, learning about new equipment that I would have otherwise considered antique, and I already have an increased appreciation for the technology and agricultural advancements I grew up so accustomed to.

Additionally, after eight months of no rain, I'm excited to finally have a change of climate, of daily weather pattern, and the knowledge that soon the ground will be green once again! It's amazing how refreshing these rain showers are after now completing one year straight of summer, sunny, hot weather!

So, while you may not be too excited with the prospect for more rain on your side of the big pond, I say let it come! It's about time!

Hey Everyone

A family member of mine recently posed two good questions to me in relation to several aspects of the developing world. They are both very applicable to several aspects of my work here, so I wanted to pass these questions and answers on to you as well.

Please note that I do no claim to answer these questions as an expert on the subject, but am merely sharing my observations. Additionally, what is happening in my village should not be taken to broadly represent what is taking place across West Africa. But it is a clue as to how many Gambians in and around my area are handling these two issues in particular.

Question 1: I've read recently that there's a huge potential in improving the human waste logistics: latrines. Etc. And thus avoid a number of deadly diseases across the developing world. How is this thing handled in your village?

Sanitation is a problem. In my village each family compound has several "latrines" or holes in the ground used for "waste disposal." If you check out the pictures of my backyard you will get a good idea what they look like. It's basically just a hole dug about six feet into the ground and then reinforced with cement around the sides to keep it from caving in. This is the toilet system.

The good part to this system is that it is locally sustainable and as long as people are careful to keep them located a good distance away from the community wells, the water quality itself isn't really compromised. The problem is the lack of the use of toilet paper and the lack of hand washing...ever. So basically when the people finish doing their thing they rinse themselves off with a kettle of water using their left hand.

The importance of using the right hand, and the right hand only, for doing things such as shaking hands, eating, and such is very important because of what they use their left hand for.

But because people don't wash their hands with soap and hot water, no matter what they think, their hands, both their hands, are always really dirty. So as men and women shake hands and such, tons of germs are spread all over the place. As women cook and work with food, germs are spread into everything. And all this is on top of working with livestock, working in the dirt, and the constant exposure to the manure from their goats, cows, sheep, chickens and anything else that wanders through the compound past the kitchen or is carried in the air.

After a while you just kind of become desensitized to how dirty everything really is, and it doesn't seem that big of a deal. But now that I write about it and think about it again, it really is a hot bed for disease. (writers note: I always have toilet paper available) (And I wash my hands frequently with soap.)

But yes, because of this, it is very common to frequently get dysentery and guiardia no matter how careful or clean you try to be. In the West both of these diseases can be treated very easily with some pills, salt, rest and staying hydrated. But here, the leading causes for death among children are diarrhea and dysentery...in large part due to the uncleanliness.

Question 2: The other question relates to energy crops: one new possibility to raise energy crops that don't compete with food is a plant called jathropa. It yields poisonous oil that can be used as a feedstock for making diesel and it can be grown on a very dry land where probably other crops would not thrive. Have you come across jathropa, or any other stuff of such kind?

In regard to jathropa, yes, I am familiar with it. There is actually an organization/co-op here in the Gambia trying to spread word of the potential uses and development options with jathropa. Right now it is a fairly new concept, but the organization (I forget the name) is trying to encourage farmers to plant it around their fields as a way to help prevent erosion, and then having those crops harvested.

Some of the main problems they are facing is 1) The lack of a a clear system to collect the beans so they can be processed. Apparently it is best for the beans to be processed ASAP, otherwise it loses a lot of the potential oil. 2) Having the right infrastructure to process and store the oil. 3) Having a clear market for the product once it is processed. 4) In light of the impending food crisis from raising grain and oil prices, the farmers are not very willing to give up any of their land from corn, coos and rice to grow this new crop. Maybe in the years to come farmers will be more open to it, but in these next few immediate years it doesn't seem too likely for farmers to be willing to spare any of their farm land.

But they are now just in the early stages of introducing this as a legitimate product here, so these are problems that can be addressed along the way. When I saw their presentation, they would like to use it primarily to reduce the people's reliance on kerosine for lamps.

Our main fuel for cooking (and heat during the cold season, when it gets down to 70 degrees F and the people here start wearing coats) is firewood. That's one of the reasons why deforestation has become such a big issue here. The booming population is requiring more firewood, but the wood they cut down isn't getting replaced.

One of the ways we are trying to address this is by encouraging what we call "mud stoves." It's basically a small stove made out of mud, clay, and dung that is mixed together and then dried so that it becomes very hard. Before it dries completely it is shaped into basically a U shape so that the cooking bowls and such can sit on top of it, and then the firewood is fed into it from just one opening, while there are several small air vents in the back.

I'm actually glad you bring that up. I will be sure to blog about this more in the future. But basically, but using the "mud stove" it helps contain the heat much more, reduce the smoke that the women are exposed to as they cook, and cuts down on the firewood usage by about 2/3. There are quite a few major benefits to using this for cooking, but, most people aren't too interested in actually making in themselves, they just want one.

Many volunteers work with groups of young guys to make them and then the group of guys sell them as a kind of income generation thing for their group. I've been having a tough time getting people interested in it in my village, but I have been planning with a group of boys to start making them soon. My village is in a part of Gambia that is still quite forested, so they are having a hard time seing the need to preserve the wood when it is available. It's all a part of helping them plan long-term and understand "sustainability." (On a side note, sustainability can be quite a difficult and humbling concept to try to convey coming from the United States, where very little is sustainable.)

It took many, many months of chatting up the issue, talking about the importance of keeping the women’s garden going, pointing out the food they could be eating had they fixed the fence earlier, and finally just dropping the issue on my part and letting things sink in, but the men and women finally organized and have fixed the garden fence so that the fence can actually be used during this rainy season!

After my first several months at site as I tried to talk up the issue and stress its importance, it became clear to me that the fence was not going to get fixed in time for it to really make a difference this dry season. So eventually, for my own good, I just dropped it and moved on to other project ideas. After all, if they are not interested in doing it in the first place, it probably won’t be too sustainable once I leave in a year and a half. So I let it go.

Fortunately, a few weeks ago, somehow the women and men got a renewed interest in the idea of wanting to fix the fence so they can actually use the garden during this rainy season. I’m not really sure what happened or what clicked, but I’d like to think it had something to do with the day I wandered around the village carrying two bundles of barbed wire asking where in the village I could use it, since it obviously wasn’t going to get used at the garden, and I was tired of having it just sitting unused in my back yard.

You see, each afternoon I tend to wander the village and just chat it up with people in the different compounds, getting a feel for what’s going on in town and what the people have on their mind. That day, my carrying two rolls of wire did not go unnoticed. Most all my conversations that afternoon went something like this, in Pulaar:

Them: Saikou, you have barbed wire.

Me: Yes, I do have barbed wire.

Them: What are you doing with the wire?

Me: Actually, I don’t really know. I wanted to use it for the women’s garden, but they don’t want it, so I’m looking for other uses.

Them: Oh.

Me: Yeah. Do you have any ideas?

(At this point I should point out that this day I made sure to visit the compounds of the organizers of the women’s garden.)

Them: (They would then jump into a conversation with each other discussing how they needed to get to work at the garden before I gave the wire away.)

Them: Saikou. They are saying they plan to fix the fence soon.

Me: They have been saying that for a long time. They have wasted an entire growing season, and I don’t feel like wasting another one.

Them: (More rapid-fire talking between the people in the compound.)

Them: Saikou. They plan to fix the fence Saturday. (This was a Wednesday.)

Me: Really? I don’t think they will.

Them: Yes. They will.

Me: Really?

Them: Yes.

Me: Great!

This conversation happened many times that day, and I think I did a pretty good job of getting my point across. As it turns out, they did gather that Saturday to cut new poles to hold up the wire, discussed how to purchase the nails for the wire, and a few days later the men got the wire nailed up around the garden.

So yes, it may have taken six months to get a women’s garden fence fixed, but I learned a ton through this one project. I now have a much more realistic and informed idea about how to address and handle other projects in the future. And I have a much more realistic outlook for how slowly some things take to get done.

But, in the end, the women have a workable garden again! And with a food crisis going on, and only expected to get much, much worse, I’m excited for the potential the women now have for being able to help offset the food their families consume and increase their nutritional intake. It’s not always easy, but it’s rewarding!

Each community that has a school, such as ours, also has teachers stationed to live in the community to teach at the school. As such, most of the time the school itself has an area with living quarters, since the teachers are moved from community to community at the government’s discretion and, obviously, need a place to live.

Unfortunately, during last year’s rainy season the teacher’s quarters building was hit by what I understand to be a very serious rain and wind storm, and the teacher’s houses collapsed. Since then the school has been facing the dilemma that the Ministry of Education and the government don’t actually have the funds to help Chargel put up new teacher’s quarters, thus pushing the teachers to live in compounds open and willing to take in the school staff for the time-being. While it is great of the community to take on the roll of housing the teachers, it really isn’t their responsibility, and the teachers themselves would prefer to have more private areas of their own where then can get more work done without as many distractions. After having several pleas for financial help declined by the Ministry of Education to help with this dilemma, I worked with the school head master to arrange the construction of 5 new locally-made houses built on the same site as the original teacher’s quarters building. It took quite a bit of pushing, pulling, community meetings and even some guilt trips to convince the members of the community and surrounding area that this was the best solution, and that it wasn’t practical to just keep waiting for money to flow in to pay for the construction of new houses.

(I will insert here that you may notice a trend in my work focused on helping the people of the community and area take on initiative to brainstorm problem-solving ideas for themselves of then implement them on their own, without outside funding or help, in order to keep the solution sustainable and manageable for the people relying on the project/program/solution.)

We spent many Saturdays making mud bricks at the local quarry just outside town. And we spent many more Saturdays building up the mud-brick walls for the houses. It isn’t the most fun job one can do, especially when it is so very hot. But the men were eventually convinced enough of the need for the houses that they were more than willing to devote a huge amount of their time and energy to this project.

We then spent several more weekends cutting branches and grasses to build the roofs. As you have seen from my previous pictures, building thatched roofs is a bit of a job in itself as well. Once the roofs were finished it was time to begin preparing for the backyards and building a fence around the houses. One day a few of the men decided it was a good day to rake up the area behind the houses and burn the area clean. (That’s what they do instead of mulching to get rid of the stuff they rake up when cleaning out yards and fields.) Unfortunately, they picked a particularly windy day to do this cleaning and when they lit the raked up grasses on fire it quickly blew out of control and very easily burned down the roofs to all five houses. It was a bad day.

On top of that, because it has been so dry, there are no more grasses that can be cut to replace the original roofs before the rainy season. But if the mud-brick houses aren’t covered by the times the rains hit, they will quickly melt away. And that would be a big problem. Fortunately, the community was still convinced of the need to finish the houses and protect them before the rains hit. (At this point the first rains were expected within about one week.) The school ended up hiring some local carpenters to fix temporary corrugate roofs for the five houses. It won’t be the best structure, but it will keep the buildings from collapsing on themselves, and it will allow the teachers to finally have their own housing.

Hopefully around this same time next year I will be able to tell you that the teacher’s houses are finally complete, barring any unexpected rain storms intense enough to knock the houses over, tear the roofs off causing the walls to melt in on themselves, or another unexpected fire disaster.

All in all, experiences like this one lead to good “character development” for all of us involved. It’s about learning, accepting and moving on.

Hey Everyone!

It has been a while since my last update. But I can assure that is not due to any lack of activity going on at site! Typically, May can be quite a low-key month. It is too dry and far too hot to really grow anything. And the heat greatly reduces the hours during the day that can actually be used for manual labor. This is typically a month when the farmers spend the day preparing their seeds and make sure everything is lined up so they can begin working in the fields plowing and planting as soon as the first rains come mid June.

But we have not been sitting idly by this past May. Here are a few highlights from the month.

Bee-Keeping

During the same time I was learning bee-keeping for my in-service training at the end of April, several members of the skill center in my community were at the same place for trainings going on to make different types of craft items to sell. They have known about the concept of bee-keeping for quite a while and the two volunteers in Chargel before me tried to introduce the idea of working with bees for the honey and wax, but were met with minimal interest from members of the community. As it turns out, seeing is believing.

They came back to Chargel with a great interest in the concept of bee-keeping and the uses of honey and wax they could be getting. I was very encouraged when they actually came to me with the idea as their own idea and had even already organized a men’s group or “kafo,” who wants to begin making bee-hives from local materials.

Since this is actually the “dearth period” (yes, dearth, not death), the bees won’t begin really settling down and producing honey until September, giving us a few good months to organize and get ready to start bee-keeping this coming fall. Chargel and six smaller surrounding communities have each organized a men’s group who will make and maintain several bee-hives. I’m very excited about taking on this project and am planning to host an extensive training session in August for everyone interested with help of a few of my Peace Corps friends who have more experience working with bees.

This is a project I think has great potential for the farmers involved, and I’m very excited to help them take this on. Not only will it give them great access to working with the wax and comb for income generation, but they will also be able to easily add honey to their diet for nutritional and medicinal purposes. Additionally, having this influx of bee-hives will be great for the growth of several new cashew, mango and orange orchards we are starting at the edge of the village. I will be sure to keep you updated in the months to come as this project gets up and running!

Chargel Area Market

Chargel officially has a market! I have written before about the difficulty for women to really take on income generation projects since the two closest markets they have access to are both around two hours away by horse cart, and that’s just not workable when they are also caring for children, cooking, washing clothes, gardening and taking care of the daily projects going on in the family compounds.

Originally, the women’s groups I have been working with, and the community in general, though it would be a great idea if I would just write them a proposal for the people from “toubabadou” to just give them the funds to put up a huge cement structure to house the market, like they have at the more major market areas in the country. But after quite a few meetings with the community about all the aspects involved in organizing to build such a structure, the labor intensive work involved with maintaining it, and with the actual cost of something like it, we all decided it would be best to put up some structures made from local materials and see how successful the market actually is before moving forward with trying to put up any permanent structures of seeking outside funds. When it comes down to it, they can do just fine with local-made structures, just like they do in hundreds of other smaller local markets throughout the Gambia. The key is helping them realize they don’t need something donated or given to them from “toubabadou” for it to be good or successful. In fact, often times the key is trying to avoid, at all cost, actually helping them get something from “toubabadou” so that they don’t develop a dependence on foreign aid for the success and continuation of their project. I have much to share on the topic of foreign aid and donations to places like the Gambia, but those will have to wait for another blog of their own.

In any case, the community spent several days working together, men and women, gathering materials and actually erecting the market structures. (The main purpose of the structures is really just to provide shade, which is why 500,000 Delasi concrete buildings are definitely not necessary.) I was glad to see that they were even helped out by many people from the surrounding communities who want to see this kind of area market succeed.

And when the work was finally finished and the community could celebrate that they finally had their own market to work with, they did indeed celebrate! The women put on a program with food (pankets (like a donut) and rice with bean sauce), singing and of course, dancing! It was a fun time, and I’m glad to see the women and men working together on a project like this. It’s was rewarding to help them see that they really can do things like this for themselves, it just takes some brainstorming and organization. And even though it happened to get finished at a time of year where there really isn’t much to sell, we are all excited to see its success!

The Horse and Donkey Association of The Gambia

One organization I have been working closely with in village is the Horse and Donkey Association. This UK based aid organization raises funds to help provide donkeys, plows and carts to farmers in The Gambia who otherwise would not be able to afford these animals and equipment.

Farmers who are selected to receive a donkey are required to attend a training session to learn proper care and treatment of donkeys, as well as understand common nutrition and medical problems animals face, such as worms or malnourishment. Once a farmer “graduates” from the training they are “loaned” a donkey and the necessary equipment to help the farmer get started with their field work. The Horse and Donkey Association then sends out a field staff member to check up on the health and treatment of all the donkeys they have “loaned” throughout the country and as long as they are in good health and taken care of the farmers can keep them, but if it is clear they are not upholding the contract for animal care they agreed to, they will have the donkey taken away from them.

This organization visits the farmers in my village about once every two months, and it has been great to get to spend time with them learning about their organization and helping them become more integrated with the community and help address the farmer’s needs. And it has lead to some interesting learning experiences here at site. For example, one of the requirements from the contract they sign says they agree to provide a shelter for the donkey no less than 3 meters by 3 meters. But the farmers here just don’t understand why it would be a big deal for an animal to have a special house. After all, it is just an animal. Once it became clear to the H&D field staff worker and myself that the farmers really weren’t committed to building shelters for the donkeys because they didn’t find it necessary, it opened up the opportunity for what turned out to be a fun meeting for me to share our cultural differances. Basically, I was able to explain to them that how we “toubabs” tend to name our animals, provide special houses for them, and even sometimes let them live with us. I was able to better explain this by comparing their donkeys to Khiva and how I bath her, feed her and she lives in my house, even though she is an animal.

I can’t lie, they think we “toubabs” are pretty crazy in this regard and they laughed at the idea of having different houses for different kinds of animals. But they also understand why it is important to us and even how sometimes an animal can become a part of our family. In the end, they all agreed to build houses for their donkeys... but they still think we are funny.

So as you can see, I have been able to find enough to do throughout May to keep myself busy... most of the time. But I still find plenty of time to chat it up with people around the community, enjoy attaya with the guys my age who like to come over for “current events,” and help out with the projects going on in the compound. In fact, I even built a new book shelf for my house! I was pretty excited about how that turned out.

In any case, I hope this blog entry finds you doing well, enjoying the change into spring, and just a bit more clued-in to what exactly it is I am doing here in “The Smiling Coast of Africa.”

Until next time, God bless!

In many ways, The Gambia is a very unique country. It is a tiny country in West Africa, yet it hosts a wide variety of climate zones. For example, you can find well forested, lush areas in the south western corner, yet the north eastern section is practically a desert.

It also has a unique political system. It is a democracy whose current president took power through a coup in 1992. Since then he has been elected to continue serving as president without any great resistance or competition. As one with great interest in politics, there is much I would like to share and say about the political history and experiences of The Gambia, but I believe this short video does a fantastic job at it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jqFW124WYGc

The Gambia truly is a unique country, yet much of the political structures and experiences are all too common throughout much of Africa.

That's really about all I can say about this. So please take the time to watch the video linked to this page, and feel free to email me with any comments or questions.

Wishing you the best from "The Smiling Coast of Africa!"

So imagine this...

One sleepy morning you are driving to work, listening to music trying to get yourself fully awake before a day of sessions on bee-keeping, cashew trees, and small business development, when you glance out the window and notice that the road-side newspaper salesman is holding up the newspaper with the headlines...

"PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS NOT CIA AGENTS"

Well, that's exactly what happend one morning during our IST training. Needless to say, we were all quite intrigued by this. The article also went on to say that we are not "FIB" agents. So that's all reassuring!

Unfortunately, the combination of CIA and the Peace Corps is an all-too-common myth around the world. But now we can all rest assured, appreciating that Today has set the issue to rest.

Just wanted to send out a quite public service announcement to let you all know I have a ton of new pictures uploaded if you care to check them out.

Enjoy!

Here is a list to showcase some of the many new experiences and adventures I've had since arriving in The Gambia.

(Disclaimer: I don't recommend trying all of them at home. But they really are a fun experience if you do!)

*spent days, and even weeks, shelling peanuts

*hauled peanut hay via donkey cart

*ridden on a donkey cart

*driven a donkey cart

*fallen off a donkey cart

*sweat to 140 degree temperatures

*been rather comfortable in 100 degree temperatures

*felt cold in 80 degree temperatures!

*considered a mud hut with a thatched roof "home"

*learned bicycle mechanics and tube repair

*watched a ram be sacrificed, butchered, and then eaten it (Although I couldn't tell where the meat was from until they clarified... we were eating the cheeks and the brain. It was an interesting texture.)

*NOT worn deodorant or had jell in my hair, because, honestly, it doesn't really matter

*danced until 3am at the village drumming circle party

*learned to sew a rice-bag mattress

*taught someone to read and write their own name in their own language

*pounded coos

*cleaned rice

*eaten out of the same bowl as at least 4 other people at every meal

*eaten with only my hands or a spoon for each meal

*eaten bananas, oranges, mangoes, limes and papayas RIGHT OFF THE TREE

*fashioned a dog door out of duct tape and cardboard

*lived on, quite literally, $1 per day

*been issued a machete for my job

*been issued a lantern for my job

*been issued malaria medication for my job

*had to wear sunscreen on Christmas

*eaten bush pig

*developed a lifestyle without electricity or running water

*read books and written letters by candle light

*had a candle melt even though it wasn't lit...because that's how hot it is

*pumped, hauled, filtered and chemically treated my own drinking water

*live without TV (That ones's actually not very hard at all.)

*read books before watching it as a movie

*lead meetings...in a foreign language

*helped build a mud brick house

*helped assemble and put up a thatched roof (...for said brick house)

*fallen asleep to the sounds of heyenas laughing and dogs barking

*woken up to a mixture of the call to prayer, donkeys, and women already pounding coos to cook for breakfast

*eaten rice or coos for each meal... every day

*not minded having a mouse living in the ceiling

*welcomed small lizards living in the ceiling

*relied on pre-natal vitamins and malaria medication to keep me alive

*not had to receive junk or bogus adds in the mail

*learned to speak, read and write a foreign language fairly well in under 6 weeks

*been able to wear shorts and a t-shirt almost every day for about 7 months straight

*built a dog house

*gone for about 7 months without rain, snow, sleet or any other form of precipitation

*had to stop and wait on the road for the baboons to finish crossing (Because I'm not going to mess with the baboons. They are big. They have big teeth.)

*watched an "African" sunset

*watched an "African" sunrise

*observed the animals grazing at the watering hole

*had to chase monkeys away from the garden

*gotten lost in the African bush

*held a baby that was literally only just hours old

*played the roles of teacher, consultant, tree farmer, architect, committee member, organizer, gardener, mason, student and friend... all in one day!

I'm sure there is much I'm forgetting and much to add as my service here continues. But I hope this helps clue you in to some of the new day-to-day experiences quite common to my life. There is rairly a dull moment in The Gambia!

So, I don't know much about life on the other side of the pond right now, but over here time seems to be flying by!

Ok, so honestly, the first few months were a bit slow. Very, very slow. It was kind of one of those experiences where each day felt like a week unto its own. Each day I found myself trying to find something to do that was worthy of journaling about, or at least just writing down on the calendar, so that I could actually feel like I was getting something done and making good use of my time here in Gambia. And I had a fairly liberal outlook on what constituted something productive. For example... sweeping the house, visiting a new compound, learning a new word, starting a book, finishing a book, learning a new name of a food, napping, not napping, visiting the school, greeting someone new, or cleaning my bike all became quite worthy of topics to write down to show a successful day. And the key was to not do much more than one of them each day, for fear of not having something "productive" to do the next day.

I know, I'm here for two years to work on community and small-business development through an agricultural context, but, quite honestly, it is not easy.

But things have changed. And for the better! Now, instead of waking up and trying to decide what to do during the day to stay busy, it just happens. And it's great! Sometimes it can even be a bit overloaded with activity! Instead of going into great detail at this point, I hope my previous blog posts do a sufficient job of filling you in with my past and current activities.

However, at this point in time, just at 7 months in, my service is just over 1/4th the way through. And if time keeps speeding up as fast as the temperature keeps rising, this next year and a half will truly fly by! At this point I'm starting to look at the many projects going on and that I would like to get started and hoping there is enough time to get them well off the ground before my time here is done!

Today is actually my group's 7 month anniversary of serving with Peace Corps, which inspired me to put in this blog entry just to touch on that fact. The time here has treated me well. I've learned a ton about many things I'd really not considered before. I have learned a ton on topics I thought I understood fairly well. I've become much healthier (oddly enough...) I've eaten some odd things. I've made some amazing friends. And I've had some truly life changing experiences.

Additionally, I have been receiving amazing support from you, my family and friends, back in paradise! I thank you very sincerely for the cards, letters, emails, packages, phone calls, thoughts and prayers. I am extremely thankful for all you do to support my time and work here. Thank you!

All in all, it's been a good 7 months and I look forward to the next 20!

Hey Adiv Readers!

I'm just finishing up a trip to Kombo where I've been having a good mixture of in-service training and a bit of R&R. Now that my training group has successfully served about 4 full months in village, it was time for a bit of additional training for more technical projects. Some of the key topics training focused on throughout the week included:

* bee keeping, honey extraction, wax processing (working with Killer African Bees, mind you)

* small-scale enterprise development and opportunities for small-scale development loans

*tree grafting (a truly fascinating idea, no joke, but also very hard to get right!)

* the effects of carbon emissions and climate change in The Gambia

* designing wood lots and re-forestry initiatives

* different venues for grant applications

* various types of composting and fertilizing

* pest management

* small-scale irrigation techniques

* poultry projects

* rabbit projects

* and addressing various issues and experiences we have encountered at our sites

Our training was a truly unique one in that the director of Peace Corps worldwide, Mr. Ron Tschetter, happened to be vising West Africa and was in Gambia during the weekend we began our training sessions. He came to the first day of training to tell us about different projects going on around the world and fill us in with the experiences he has had visiting different sites around the world.

Interestingly enough, a few days before training started he also happened to be in Gambia for the swearing-in ceremony of the newest group of health volunteers to begin service here. I came to Kombo several days early to get to go to the ceremony and have a chance to meet Mr. Tschetter. After the ceremony was over I had the chance to chat with him for a short while and I brought up the fact that he and I are both from Huron, SD! Of all places, he and I share the same home-town! He seemed pretty excited about this and had his assistant come over and give me an interview and took some pictures together. Supposedly in the near future you should be able to read my interview and see our picture in the Huron Daily Plainsman. I'll let you know if I see it printed. So that was cool.

Training was fun and very rewarding. Now that we've all been at site for some time we have a much better idea of the projects that our communities are actually interested in, and also the likelihood of being able to implement a specific project. For example, I'm very excited about the different prospects of bee-keeping, but it's been difficult to get people in Chargel excited. So, unless they want to do it, I really have no place starting a project. However, I may start a small project for just me and my compound to work on, and people can see the benefits of a bee project that way. I'll keep you updated!

During another day of training we were at a demonstration farm called "Gambia Is Good," when who should show up for a walk-about than His Excellency Ahlaji Dr. Jaya A.J.J. Jammeh, President of the Republic of The Gambia. It seemed a bit odd when a caravan of armored vehicles just randomly showed up and kind of surrounded us. (armored as in soldiers with machine guns pointing in all directions atop very intense vehicles) We were in the middle of a discussion on pest management, but when he started coming our way with his entourage we got kind of distracted. We're not exactly sure why he chose to visit, but he basically just made some small talk, welcomed us to Gambia and made some jokes about who we might be voting for in the upcoming US presidential elections. That definitely made for an interestingly random day.

Training was additionally fun because our training session was opened up to volunteers from the same sector but from other countries. I was able to meet several volunteers from Senegal and Guinea Conakry. The volunteers I met are also speak Pulaar in their villages, so it was interesting to compare the lifestyles between the different countries. I was actually surprised to learn of the relatively few differences between our cultural experiences. It looks like you can draw up country boundaries wherever you want, but the cultures and traditions of the peoples who were living there before the boundaries separated them into different colonies will remain the same, or at least very similar, for quite some time. One volunteer from Senegal who I got to chat with quite a bit actually doesn't live too far away from me, so some of us are hoping to go visit him sometime soon and experience a Fula village there. I'll keep you posted!

Now training is over and I'm just spending a few extra days in Kombo to catch up with some office/paper work and to enjoy a bit of a small vacation. Plus, down here by the coast the temps stay around the 80s and 90s, which is absolutely beautiful coming from the 140s!! (I actually get really cold at night, which is sad, but I'm ok with it.)

It's been nice to have some down time to chat with friends, visit the beach, catch up on some emails, and upload more pictures. But I also miss Khiva and the compound, and I'm excited to get back to them soon. And strange as it may sound, I'm actually looking forward to the food back home (in Chargel). I guess my stomach is adjusting. But don't let that worry you. While I've been back in Kombo I've done my share of splurging on cheeseburgers, pizza, pasta, fried chicken, and of course, ice cream!

Another good thing about getting back to site is that three of the new health volunteers are placed at sites pretty close to me! I finally have a neighbour closer than a few hours away! Travis is at a site just a few kilometers away from me, and a Ruco and Kristi are just up the south-bank road. I'm excited to get back and visit them, welcoming them to the up-country heat!

Well, I that's about all I have for an update right now. While I'm in town and have access to good computers I intend to upload another round of pictures, so you can be looking forward to that very soon!

Other than that, it's hot, it's fun, it's crazy, and life is never predictable. I'm doing well and pray the same for you!

Until next time, I wish you the best!

I have received several questions about my host family and to explain more the logistics of living in a compound. So here it goes!

My host compound is fantastic! Towns and villages here are divided into many different compounds. The basic idea of a compound is that an extended family lives together in one common area which includes their houses, the kitchen house, their gardens, and their animals. There is generally some kind of a fence to enclose the entire property, which has probably been in the same family, and in the same location, for hundreds of years.

My compound is made up of three brothers and who live together and their families. My “guardian”, Lawo, is the head of the compound. He is in charge of the finances, settling any disputes that arise, handling any problems, making sure the fields and animals are taken care of, and representing the compound at community meetings.

During the rainy season his main projects include farming corn, sorghum, coos, rice, and peanuts. He has just recently, with the help of the Peace Corps volunteer before me, started a cashew nut orchard, which I intend to help him expand. During the dry season most of his work is focused around compound maintenance, such as repairing fences, putting up new thatched roofs, and other projects. He also raises cattle, chickens, and ducks year-round.

He is married to Nana, and they have three kids, Lamin (male, 7), Gundo (female, 5), and Taba (male, 1). Nana spends most every day, all day, cooking, caring for the kids, and taking care of odd jobs around the compound.

Lawo has an older brother, Bah-Fodi, (they actually share the same father but have different mothers, because here the men can have up to four wives). He is older, but since he is deaf the position for him to act as head of the compound was passed on to Lawo. His main role is to work with Lawo to insure the family has food and is taken care of. They work very closely together, and he is by far one of the hardest workers I have seen.

Like Lawo, he grows corn, sorghum, coos, rice and peanuts during the rainy season. He also has a mango orchard which is in full bloom right now! He also has many cattle which he grazes year round. He also makes mattresses for people in the community out of rice bags and straw. Amazingly enough, they actually last longer and are, in my opinion, of better quality than the mattresses you can buy at markets in big towns.

He is married to Fatou, and they have two children. Tida (female, 10) and Abdoulie (male, 2). Fatou works each day with Nana to prepare the meals, watch over the children, and take care of what needs done in the compound. Nana and Fatou, as sisters-in-law, spend every day, all day together working.

The compound also has Saikou, my name-sake. He is in his early 20s, but just finished with school. (That’s quite common.) He also raises peanuts and has some cattle, but his main project is the bitik (small store) he runs out of his house. He mainly sells rice, sugar, and other basics for cooking and cooking attaya (the green tea + sugar that the people here drink each day, all day).

And finally, the compound has Baladi. She is Lawo, Bah-Fodi, and Saikou’s mom. She is a spunky woman who, like her sons, works very hard. During the rainy season she mostly focuses on growing rice, and tons of it. She also has fields for peanuts and corn. She spends most of her time during the dry season shelling peanuts, which are then either turned into a peanut paste to eat with rice, or saved as seeds for the next crop. If you can imagine shelling peanuts all day, every day, for several months, that what she does. But it also provides time for good conversations and to practice Pulaar. She is also very involved with the skills center here. She is one of the officers representing her village, and she and I spend a lot of time discussing different ideas for projects and potential training activities. Currently we have been focused on a training to increase the quality of the jewelry they make so that it will be more marketable to the different tourist spots.

I get along with everyone in the compound very well, but she and I share a special bond. She is a spunky lady, and even though we can’t always communicate as well as we would like to, we always have fun and find something to laugh about. And she really likes picking on me when I do something stupid, like fall off a donkey cart or getting lost in the forest during the peak heat of the day…

And just recently Baladi’s sister moved into the compound with us also. She used to live with family near Basse, but wanted to live with us instead, I guess. Maybe she just wanted a change of scenery? I’m not quite sure. She is also a fun lady, named Sukara. And even though she has only been here a short time, she is already involved in one of the woman’s groups (the one I am helping start a community market) and she has a garden going.

So that’s the general make-up of my compound family. It’s a fun place, and crazy at times. I get along with them very well, and they look out for me very closely. During the mornings I tend to work with Lawo, Bah-Fodi, and Saikou in the fields or with other projects. And during the afternoons I get to chat a lot with the women, and they like to laugh at me when I try to pound coos (it’s hard, and you develop blisters quickly…).

And the kids are great too. Lamin tends to want to follow me wherever I go, but I always encourage him to go to school instead. And it has been fun introducing the kids to how to play with a puppy. Raising animals for domestic, fun purposes just isn’t done here, so this is a new experience for all of us.

Another aspect worth touching on in this blog is to explain that I do pay a monthly rent to the family. It covers the cost of three meals a day, laundry (hand washed) and repairs and such to my house and yard. The amount I pay is enough to cover my costs, but the family doesn't really make any monetary profit from having me live with them. I'm not exactly sure how the rest of the community takes the situation, but when my village first decided to host a Peace Corps Volunteer they had a community meeting and decided that Lawo's compound would be the best place because it is much smaller (people wise) than other compounds that have upwards of 20 to 30 people in them, it is quite private, it is close to the water pump, and it is a fairly young compound (other than Baladi and her sister, I think everyone in the compound is in their 30s or younger).

I hope this helps offer a better insight to my life here and the people around me. Of course there are many others I work with and spend time with, but this is the family I live with.