We wanted to write in order to say that our blogs will be resuming at our previous sites (www.kristivandermerwe.blogspot.com, and www.nagedagtes.blogspot.com.) because we will soon be working with a Christian relief/aid organization called “Samaritans Purse” in Uganda, East Africa. We both feel that instead of serving with the “Peace Corps,” we would like to be serving with a Christian organization so that we are able to both meet the needs of people, and also share how Christ has changed our lives. We love the development aspect of the “Peace Corps,” and we desire to continue working in a sustainable development and aid capacity. We just feel that we cannot meet the needs of people without also meeting their spiritual needs. There are so many people who are willing to serve in the capacity we are serving. There are many aid organizations even here in “The Gambia.” We know it is not coincidence that we are Believers and also that our hearts are for Africa. He has called us to Africa, and we want to be serving Him if we are here. Our good friend Mark recently sent us a quote that said “The place where God has called you is a place where your gladness and the world’s deepest hunger meet (Beuchner.)” I know that place for us is Africa, and I know Africa hungers for so much. But we still know in our hearts that the world’s deepest hunger is to know Jesus. In our short time here in “The Gambia,” I grew tremendously. I experienced what it was like to live everyday with people who accepted and loved me right away. I experienced that life is not always easy, but you take it one day at a time. I learned that despite our differences, we were so much the same. We laughed so much, and when we left our training village of “Fula Kunda.” my closest friend Fatou cried with me. She reminded me so much of my friends from home, even though we were cultures and worlds apart. I will never forget all the faces, and will carry them all in my heart. Only because we desire to be in God’s will for our lives, we have made the decision to change organizations and work with “Samaritans Purse” in Uganda, despite the amazing way we felt welcomed here in The Gambia. Thank you all for supporting us through this LONG journey and praying for us. We will keep you all updated and hopefully see you soon (We are returning to the US for training in Boone, NC!!) We love and are praying for all of you!!

Yesterday we had the awesome honor of receiving letters from my Aunt Kimberley’s 3rd grade class at Riverside Elementary. Many of the letters made us laugh, and all of her students asked great questions! Because school lets out in only 2 days, we thought we would answer their questions here on our blog so they will have a chance to see our responses.

Peyton asked:

“What do you do without TV?”

Kristi: Not having a TV is especially hard for me because I like being a coach potato sometimes, but we brought our laptop computer and are able to watch movies! Mrs. Burgoyne also sends us many books to read, so that keeps us very busy!

Ruco: I enjoy going for bike rides and reading. I’ve read more books in the three months we have been here than the whole year before.

Brandon asked:

“Do you have a pet monkey?”

Kristi: We don’t, but there is another Peace Corps Volunteer in “The Gambia” who does have a pet monkey! We do see monkeys often though, especially when we are traveling!

Skye asked:

“What are your favorite things about Africa?”

Ruco: My favorite things about Africa are the sunrises and sunsets. Every morning and evening, the sky turns a gorgeous red and the whole bush glows like a big orange fire. I also think that the sun looks a lot bigger here, but maybe that is just because it is so hot. Another thing I enjoy is the stars at night. Because there is little or no electricity, you can see thousands of stars, more than you ever see in the USA.

Cameron asked:

“How many miles is it from Louisiana to Africa?”

Ruco: That is a very good question. It is very, very far! It took us 14 hours of flying in an airplane to get here.

Alex asked:

“Can it be cold in West Africa?”

Kristi: We have heard that it gets cold in our city called Basse. Right now, it is the “dry season” and it is very, very hot! Sometimes the temperature reaches up to 130 F! We are ready for the “rainy season” to begin because then it should be a little cooler outside!

Ruco: I don’t think it can get cold here. Gambians consider it cold when it is 65 degrees outside. Yesterday, in the middle of the day when it was 130 degrees, I saw a man wearing a winter parka coat with a hood over his head. If I were to wear that, I am sure I would die.

James M. asked:

“What do you like to eat in West Africa?”

Kristi: The diet in West Africa consists of a lot of rice! Here in “The Gambia” we also have fish because of the river which runs throughout the country. We eat our lunch with our Gambian family, and usually it is rice with fish or chicken and vegetables. Gambians eat their food with their hands, which we also tried while in our training village called “Fula Kunda.” Our favorite thing to eat though are the “pancetos” which you can buy from the street vendors and are like small pancakes!

Billy asked:

“How do you live without TV??” (a very popular question!!)

Ruco: You know, it is funny because the things that you think you will miss, you don’t, and the things that you never thought you would miss, you suddenly want. So how do you live without TV? You just do! If no one around you has a tv, and you never had a tv growing up, you would not know what you were missing. For us, we find other things to fill our time: like reading, biking, or talking to the people in the community.

Kaitlin asked:

“What kind of books do you have?”

Ruco: I brought many books to “The Gambia.” I brought books about how to speak French, books about history, and fictional story books. I would say my favorite books are the ones about Africa, because I feel like I am living many of the stories!

Brande asked:

“What do you like about West Africa?”

Kristi: I love the slower pace in West Africa. No one really rushes to get somewhere or is in a hurry, which is very different than the United States! I also love all of the children!

Jessie asked:

“Are the monkeys in West Africa nice?”

Kristi: The monkeys are nice, but the baboons are very territorial. We went on a 20K hike into the bush, and the baboons would make a sound that sounded like a dog’s bark. They would also shake the trees to let us know we were on their turf!

Jayla asked:

“Do you have a habitat?”

Ruco: We live in a compound with a host family. Inside, there are two houses. The first house is where our host father and his family live, and then another for Kristi and myself. We got lucky because our house is really big compared to most other volunteers! We have two round mud huts with grass roofs and a little kitchen area in the middle that connects them. We also have a backyard where I planted a garden. We do not have running water, so we have to pull all our water out of a well. With this water we take baths, water the garden, and cook. It takes a lot of work just to survive and live here in “The Gambia.”

Kristi: I think maybe this question is referring to a habitat like you may have in your classroom for a pet. We don’t have any pets, so we also don’t have this type of habitat. We hope we answered your question Jayla!

Olivia asked:

“Do you watch TV on the computer on You Tube?”

Ruco: We do have a laptop computer that we use to watch movies, but we do not have internet at our house, so we cannot watch You Tube. In the town close to our house, there is an internet café where we can go to check our emails but the internet connection is too slow to watch You Tube.

Kylea asked:

“Do you have schools in West Africa?”

Kristi: There are many schools here. All of the schools in “The Gambia” require uniforms, so we see the children all walking together heading to or from school every day. The children sometimes have to walk a very long distance to get to their school, but they all walk together and seem to enjoy the time. They have a similar school experience to yours, and even receive report cards they must also bring home to their parents!!

Sarah asked:

“Have you ever seen a tiger in the wild?”

Ruco: No I have not. Tigers are actually only in Asia, but when I lived in southern Africa, I saw lions and leopards. The Gambia does not have any lions, cheetahs, elephants, or zebras because much of their environment has been destroyed, or the animals have been killed.

Jeffery asked:

“How do you get water?”

Kristi: When we were doing our language training, we would get our water from the village water pump. The women carry the water jugs from the pump to their house on top of their heads! Now that we are in our house in Basse, we get our water from a well which is very close. Now I don’t need to carry the water on my head at all!

James F. didn’t have a question in his letter, but thank you very much for writing to us and for sending things for the children here in “The Gambia!!”

Thank you Mrs. Burgoyne’s class for writing to us and also for the box you are sending for the children! I know they will love it, and will be very happy. We know they will especially love to receive the soccer shirts! They really enjoy playing and watching soccer matches here in Africa! Thank you ALL very, very much!! We loved hearing from you and receiving your letters all the way in “The Gambia!” We hope you all enjoy your summer vacation and don’t miss Mrs. Burgoyne too much!

So my 25th birthday didnt really feel any different than 24, except for the fact that it was celebrated in West Africa! I woke up to Ruco making me a surprise birthday breakfast of omelettes and blue berry pancakes..such a treat here! We shared the good food with the kids in our compound Mohammad, Isatou and Nema. Later some friends came in town and we went out to dinner at the local restaurant and had good dinner, cokes, and ice cream! We had a fun time, and I loved being able to talk to family and some friends on my birthday!

We have pretty much finished painting our place and will try to get pictures up for you all soon. The last picture here is of the giant lizard we found while trying to bike around town. All the kids later gathered around and Ruco took I pictures of them with the giant lizard as well-haha! Everyone here loves having their pictures taken, and Ruco loves taking pictures, so it really works out for everyone! We will try to write again soon with more pictures! We love and miss you all!!

Last night we "swore in" as Volunteers at the U.S. Ambassadors home in Fajara. It was a beautiful ceremony outside in the backyard. The Ambassador has quite the set up on the beach! Ruco prayed during the ceremony and it was really nice. We were both wearing our African clothes that we had made at the tailor!

Today we went shopping again for our house! We found out this week that we will be moving to a different home (still in Basse) than we had originally planned. This house is much larger with plenty of room to garden and relax. Its actually a great house with two bedrooms and an extra sitting room. We bought paint, furniture items, our stove, pots and pans, and dishes! We are also hoping to have a few things made for us by the local carpenters! We are excited to get to our new house tomorrow and start getting settled! We have been talking so much lately how we are so glad that God is in control. He has taken such good care of us, and we know He always will. We worried so much unnecessarily throughout this whole process! We are so glad He longs to meet our needs and the desires of our hearts!

Christi wanted me to write about what it is REALLY like here, so I will do my best to describe what the last 2 and a half months have looked like for us here, and how we have adjusted to life in West Africa so far!! We have now finished our language classes which we attended everyday for 8 weeks under the shade of a mango tree with our language instructor and my Gambian “mom” Ida. Classes were fun as there were only 4 of us and it was a very laid back atmosphere. We went to classes everyday from 8 to lunchtime, and then all ate together with food that was prepared for us (rice with chicken or beef and veggies.) After class we would usually just rest because it gets pretty hot in the afternoon, and then in the late afternoon we would go and water our community garden which we started in our training village which was called “Fula Kunda.” We planted cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, carrots, and onions!! Gardening, afterall, turned out to be very fun and I looked forward to seeing everyone in the afternoons to water. It was also exciting to start something which everyone will benefit from there in Fula Kunda! After that, its time for a bucket bath, which really is amazing at sunset and Ruco and I listen to the BBC! We then would have dinner and hang out with our friends and drink tea. Then its morning again, and I wake up to the sound of the cutest kids playing at our door, waiting for us to WAKE UP!!!

We actually just had to say good-bye to everyone from Fula Kunda this past Wednesday. I can’t believe how attached we became to the people in only 8 weeks. They all gathered to see us off, and my closest friend in our village, Fatou (her baby is Allen) cried, so of course I was crying as well. Living with the people there day in and day out, you do develop such a love and care that is not explainable. We are so very different, yet laugh and share so much common ground at the same time. One of the big jokes in our village was about my “Luppi Juice” which

is my junk in the trunk. My Gambian girlfriends, Mari, Pindaa, and Fatou would call me over while they were pounding coos just to talk about how big it is-ps, all 3 of them speak excellent English because English is the national language in The Gambia so everyone learns English from a very small age. The older people usually cannot speak English nor can the really small ones, but anyone who has gone to school for a long time speaks great Engish. I think this is another reason we bonded

so quick. We would all have so much fun and laugh and laugh before bed. I often got a flat tire when I would ride my bike with Ruco, and they would laugh and tell me my Luppi juice makes all these things happen. They were so funny, and I will miss them terribly!!! I cant even begin to imagine how attached I will become to the people where we live in Basse after two years!!

It is funny now after being here two months to see how the things we worried about so much before coming are not even a big deal to us now (ie living conditions,) while there are other things which are really hard to deal with. There was one baby in our village Bakary (prob a year and a half;) who was very sick even when we got there. I could see he was severely mal-nourished and was very lethargic and listless when you would try to play with him. He never smiled or laughed or really showed any

emotion which I now know to be a sign of severe mal-nutrition. There was a girl who came to try and help, but the problem was that his mother was not in our village so could not breastfeed him. Even though his very sweet grandmother, who insisted I always call her “Aunt,” tried very hard, he just couldn’t make it, and died while we were there in village. I was heartbroken, but I realize there will be many more things like this that will happen while we are here. I know that I should allow myself to feel the heartache, but also to move on when it does happen because that baby is in Heaven with Jesus now and laughing and happy! Its just not easy though.

The kids here are unexplainable and so very sweet. Anytime I go to fetch water at the pump, they run to carry my water for me. Also anytime we go out of town (we stayed at a really nice tourist place for 2 weeks called Tendaba) they would come running and shouting, so excited we were home. Even the smallest kid would try to carry my big heavy bags! They are adorable and loveable, and I definitely think Ruco and I will be coming home with at least 5 Gambian kids!! They truly brighten my day, and there is nothing like opening our door in the morning to our favorite kids and baby (Allen, Tejan, and Ousman) sitting on our porch talking and playing away. Tejan is probably 4 (so doesn’t speak English) but he repeats EVERYTHING we say. When I call out to Ruco to ask him a question, he will call out to Ruco as well. I will then tell him, “A nani English moijji nobete” which means you speak English very well, and he will RUN to tell him grandmother what I said!! We taught him how to say, “for shizzle my nizzle” and it is the CUTEST thing you have ever heard-haha. I will miss all those kids, but I know there will be many more cute ones in Basse!

We have done many fun things like going on a “marathon march” which was a very long about 25 K hike! It was amazing to see all the monkeys and baboons in the bush! The baboons though are kind of scary honestly! We see the smaller monkeys often crossing the street when we are driving, and I always get so excited. There are also hyenas and hippos here, but we mostly see the monkeys, baboons, and amazing birds. I love to see the bright green parrots flying overhead! We go on bike rides sometimes for fun, and we love watching the kids play soccer games in the late afternoons. They absolutely love soccer and talk constantly about Manchester United and Barcelona! HA! They even use markers to write soccer names and jersey names on the back of their T-shirts! They are truly the cutest.

We are very excited about being in Basse! I am mostly excited because there is an awesome orphanage called SOS that needs someone to work for them and go on trek locating orphans in the Gambia. I am so excited because that really is where my heart is. There are also SO many churches In Basse, and Ruco and I have met many Christians there already. There are also many development agencies including the Red Cross in Basse where Ruco would like to work! I know that God is taking such good care of us! We have a nice place in Basse with electricity and internet close by, so hopefully I will be able to get online much more often. We are growing and learning so much, every morning watching the sunrise and doing our quiet time. Ruco and I have much more down time to talk and discuss what God is teaching us and what we are learning through this whole experience. I am so lucky to have him here with me. I just don’t know if I could be here alone, and God knew that and made Ruco especially for me!!! Everyday is not easy, but I am glad we have eachother!

As always, I miss all of you. You know that it is hard for me to be away and to miss each of you, but we have gotten in a routine of talking to our families at least once a week-Grandmama usually calls us every Saturday and sends so many sweet cards! And we talk to Rucos parents often-they call us on our cell phones from their Skype and it is always so encouraging to hear from them. Hopefully we will talk to each of you soon and hear your voices. Thank you for praying for us and uplifting us with all your encouraging words and letters. They mean so much to us. A lot of people have asked/emailed us about what to send us, so we made a little wish list of things we cannot get here in The Gambia and posted it here on our blog. Mostly on my end, it will be SNACKS and it seems Ruco always wants flavored drink mixes since it does get tiring to always drink water, but we will let you all know. We love you all so much, and hope to hear from all of you soon!!

Hono be cuude !

That means how are the home people in Pulaar. The response would then be, "they are there only." haha. We are doing really good. For the last month we have been living in the village of Fula Kunda where we have been studying language (Pulaar) and doing our best to adjust culturally. Generally we have group language in the morning after which we eat lunch and then hang out with all our friends in Fula Kunda because it is just too hot to do anything else! We recently found out EXACTLY where we will be living for the next two years-in the city of Basse. Its a pretty big city where we will totally be spoiled with a hamburger place and soft serve ice-cream!! :) We are also excited that in Basse, we will have regular internet access and should be able to communicate with you all often! We are also excited about the work opportunities-there is a Maternal and Child Health Clinic that I (Kristi) want to help out with. I worked the RCH clinic a couple of weeks ago-and looooved it! I weighed all the babies to monitor mal-nutrition and talked to all the moms, it was so much fun. There is also a great community development agency in Basse that Ruco is really interested in working with. We can definitely see that God is taking care of us, and are very excited about our site placement in Basse, but we do miss talking with each of you. Maybe you can write to us at the address listed on our blog or give us a call at 011 (to dial out of US) 220 (Gambias country code) 725-0222 (Kristis cell number) or 011 220 725-7226 (Rucos cell phone number) We cant wait to talk and hear how you all are, and tell you about all of our craziness! We recently both had the epiphany-when will we ever do THIS again-have an African family, village, and even names?!? It is amazing to be welcomed so warmly into the hearts of the Gambians. We know that everyday wont be easy, but we are excited about the adventures ahead!

PS- we will update and post alot of Rucos photos soon!!!

Here is another video of us all riding around and seeing the city! We are excited to make little videos and share our lives with you guys!

We are attempting to become REAL Gambian women here-complete with the wrap skirts, babies in slings on our backs, and carrying water on our heads!! I think I am well on my way (I bought fabric today in the market for my first wrap skirts!!) Ruco also makes quite the cute Gambian woman!!

Today we started off our morning with a little gardening practice (Im so excited to actually learn to garden!) and then this afternoon we went to the National Archive museum in Banjul. The museum was really interesting, and I think everyone had a great time! After this, we went to the marketplace. It was definitely busy, and we loved all the colors and sights! Ruco wanted to capture everything with his camera, and kept telling me how he can see so many great shots, but he just cant capture them all...we do have two years here though, so I am sure he will have plenty of time for his photos!

Ruco and I are also learning the language of Pulaar and will be "Fulas" starting tomorrow. We are starting our language training, and will be in our small training group of only 4 people. We will be staying in our training village near Tendaba. I am so excited to start building relationships and for us to start developing our language skills! We will be very busy over the next few weeks with our language learning, but we will try to post again when we can! Pray for us through our language learning, I am sure it is going to be tough! I also know it will be so worth it when we are able to integrate and build great relationships with the people here in Gambia!!

Today, we had the day off from training and were able to go to church (at the cutest church on a cliff overlooking the ocean,) and then hung out at the beach. It was our first real break since we have been here.

The atmosphere so far here is busy, colorful, and alive! We are in the Kombo area for now, so there is lots of hustle and bustle! Its almost been hard to sleep at night with the car horns honking and all the noises outside. For now, we spend our mornings, afternoons and evenings attending language, culture, and safety training with the other 15 individuals in our health group. On Friday, we had individual interviews so our trainers can better pinpoint where we will best be used in the community. It is exciting to think about where we could end up working in the community, and I think the work we are doing here excites Ruco and I the most. It is exactly what we have dreamt about doing for so long now! Last night, we went to a local restaurant and met many of the volunteers here, including 2 other married couples. They were all so ENCOURAGING, helpful and nice. It was really great to talk to one married girl in particular who really put my worrying mind to ease about many things! Tomorrow we will find out exactly what language we will be learning (there are essentially 3-Mandinka, Wollof, or Pulaar.) We are very excited about finding out our language and getting started! We know it will be overwhelming and hard at first, but we are confident now...we can do this!! We know that we were led here for a reason, and we have already been blessed with so many people willing to help us, and excited about us being here in The Gambia! Here are our pictures so far, we will hopefully post again soon and let you know what we are up to!

Hiking down to the beach from church.

Our first round of Attaya-a strong/sweet green tea

Some of our fellow trainees.

Sunrise over Belgium. A stop on our 24HR trip to The Gambia

Our volunteer group on the beach.

Hiking.

Kristi on our hike

My first Gambian friend.

We arrived very late last night in Banjul. I still cant believe we are actually here! Today we went to the post office, to exchange money, and are now at the PC office in Banjul. Its beautiful here. I could never have imagined it in my mind. We are excited, but wanted to you know we are all safe and sound! Pictures to come, we miss you all so much already!

We are just finishing up our staging/

orientation in DC. It was such a good time to get to know the other members of our group and also get a handle about what exactly we will be doing over the next two years! We are all feeling and experiencing so many of the same emotions such as excitement, nervousness, etc. I think mostly, we are all just ready to get to Africa already!! We fly tomorrow from Washington Dulles to Brussels, then from Brussels to "The Gambia!" I cant believe that in a couple days, we will actually be in Africa!

Staging has been great, I was really impressed at how fun Peace Corps makes the sessions! It really gives you the opportunity to open up and get to know everyone! We also had the opportunity to do fun things in DC and go out to lunch/dinner all together everyday! We were very cultural in our meal choices..we had Ethiopian food, Mexican, Thai, and then Italian tonight! :) Staging really was a good time of calming our fears, and really taking a close look at what our lives will look like over the next two years.

Please pray for us over the next couple of days as we travel. We are both thinking of all of you and miss you already! I guess our next post will be from "The Gambia!!!"

How do you pack up your lives for two years?? We weren't really sure either, until today.

BEFORE:

AFTER:We cant believe we fit it all in either!

PS-Thanks to Kaleb for loaning us your room. You are the best, and we love you.

Last weekend, Ruco and I headed north! We wanted to see some friends and say good-bye before we head off for our great adventure in "The Gambia!" We went to see our friends Danielle and Len in Chattanooga, Jill and Justin in Cincinnati, and my friend and room-mate from college, Shannon in Lexington. Ruco was the most excited I believe about seeing his best friend Nick, who drove down from Michigan to meet us in Cincinnati! The two of them braved the cold weather and went on a crazy over night hiking trip. All of our friends showed us the best time...we had many great meals (we were actually big fans of the skyline Chili,) and even went ice-skating with the Manny's in Cincinnati! Its the strangest thing to say good-bye to friends and family for possibly 2+ years. We will miss everyone more than we possibly can express. Like I said before, the missed special occasions-weddings, babies, etc. will lie very heavy on our hearts. Thank you to the Martinis, Manny's and Shannon for opening up your cute homes and allowing us to stay with you-and thanks Nick for driving to come see us!!! We love you so much, and will carry you in our hearts over the next 2 years!

The good-byes carried over this week, and we had the chance to meet my Grandmother and Aunt Kimberley in Biloxi for a day of shopping and a yummy lunch. We also had the chance to see my friends Christi and Amy and their husbands, Justin and Josh this weekend. It was so good to see both of them and catch up-but Ruco kept forgetting his camera, so I dont have any pictures to show for it... Last but not least, we had a wonderful time with my family at mine and Ruco's going away dinner last night. Heather and Rhett also came, and were so sweet to stay with us this weekend and help us with many of the things we needed to get done. I will definitely miss mine and Heather's almost daily lunch dates and daily talks about life! Ruco and I feel so blessed to have friends and family who love us and stand by us. We will miss you all so much!!! Come visit us in "The Gambia!!" We love you all!

We leave two weeks from today for our staging and orientation in Washington DC! I cant believe that our time to say our good-byes is coming so soon! So far, Ruco and I are experiencing similar and very different feelings and emotions. I for one, am having quite weird dreams! For instance, we were told to check into the Holiday Inn in DC no later than 2pm on February 4th. Since then, I have dreamt repeatedly that I am trying to get to the Gambia by 2pm by myself. In the dream, I am strolling along the beach (where I did run into Bill Cosby I might add-who knew he vacations in The Gambia?) and I am quite stressed because I am late-its way past 2!! Due to these crazy dreams, I wake up a little edgy in the middle of the night and cant fall back asleep! My mind goes crazy thinking of all the ways that our lives are going to change. When I wake up in the morning though, I do feel such a peace about our decision, and I have no idea why I was in such a panic the night before. Ruco is...calm. Go figure!! He is constantly reminding me of all the adventures we are going to have and the crazy stories we will have to tell our families. I think the one thing that reassures me everytime I get scared is the burden God has given me for Africa. I have such a heart to serve there and love on the people there. I remember when I worked at my old job, I would daydream all day just about being in Africa. Also, I know only God could have orchestrated all of this in my life-especially marrying this crazy South African who also feels called to serve people! Those things reassure me and I know we are right where we are supposed to be.

The next two weeks will be very emotional. I have already said good-bye to very close friends and that is hard. I will miss them terribly over the next two years.

I am excited though about the growth that will take place in me, and in Ruco. I am excited to be stretched. I am excited to be outside my comfort zone and build new relationships. I am also excited about the growth that will take place in our marriage. I look forward to a new adventure in a new place together.

We are now just doing our last minute things and tying up all the loose ends. We havent even begun to really pack, although we both have our stacks of things we plan on bringing. Ruco is a planner, and for that I am thankful. Otherwise, we would both be in BIG trouble and running around like crazy two days before we leave. We love you all, and are excited to share our stories and adventures with you while we are in The Gambia. And for all of you...please blog often so we can keep up with what you are up to!