Officially sworn in and heading up country!

Yesterday I was officially sworn in at the US Ambassador's house, and I have a nifty certificate to prove it! Swearing in went really well and consisted of various speeches in both Mandinka and English, a ridiculous amount of food, and us singing a very cheesy Wollof song, and lots of pictures of very proud group of male PCVs showing off their obnoxious but endearing mustaches. Following swearing in we had the rest of the day free so we got in some quality beach time before heading up country.

In just a few days The Gambia is going to experience a wonderful display of the democratic process by voting for the presidential candidate of their choosing. Election day is bound to be interesting so I will try and give an update about it next time I have access to internet. Ramadan will also soon be upon us and will definitely be interesting so I will be sure to update about that too!!!!

I am headed up country for my 3 Month Challenge so look for another post in about three months! Mail will definitely be appreciated when I am alone in village for three months so let me know how life is going in the US!

Jamma rek!

New Home, New Life...

Training is winding down and I am officially finished with all training sessions and activities. Tomorrow morning at 9:00 am I will be sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer at the U.S. Ambassador's house, beachside. Hard to believe that I have already been in The Gambia for two months. When I first arrived, swearing in seemed so far off and almost unattainable. Now I look back and I can't believe where the time has gone and that I am about to head off to my permanent site for my 3 Month Challenge in just two days.

Just to give you all a little idea of my milestones thus far:
1.) I don't cringe or gag when red meat is in the same food bowl as my rice and vegetables.
2.) I have discovered that I have a irrational fear of birds - pigeons, chickens, etc. If it flies and is in close proximity I freak out.
3.) Rats and lizards scurrying through my roof while I try to fall asleep is no cause for alarm.
4.) I can function and not look perpetually confused in a conversation when the highlight of a conversation revolves consists of "you're sitting, yes I am sitting."
5.) Bucket bathing is actually wonderfully refreshing and I take about 3 a day
6.) I happily munch on fish bones and scales and chalk it up to a good source of calcium
7.) I firmly believe that my mosquito net will protect me from any menacing night creature that sneaks into my house
8.) I have killed a snake with a bucket.
9.) 50 dalasi is now considered terribly expensive (the current exchange rate is $1 to 27.50 D)
10.) I can exchange pleasantries in Wollof and understand most of what is being said around me!

I am sure many more milestones will come as the months progress and I get more assimilated into my community and school. As promised I will update everyone as best I can on my future place of residence for the next two years.....

As I said in my early post, the name of my town is Njongon and it is located on the North Bank and is about 30 minutes from the beach. The population of the town is around 2000 and the ethnic makeup is primarily Sereer and Wollof. The community is predominately Muslim but there is also a rather large (for The Gambia) catholic mission in town that runs the basic cycle school (grades 1-9) and the nursery school.

My host family is a Sereer family so in addition to mastering Wollof I am going to try to pick up some Sereer so I can converse with my host father and mother. Sidenote on my host father - he resembles Charles Taylor (the Librarian dictator) and wears a kick ass pair of aviators and a tye-dye scarf at all times - the combination is pure comedy. My host family, like all people in this country, are wonderfully warm and inviting and immediately made me feel at home. They also check up on me and are concerned with how I am doing and if I am eating enough. It's really sweet. My host family consists of my host father, Pa Saine; my host mother Ya Boi; older host sister, Ansel; younger host sister, Yemen; and younger host brother, Ousman. It is a pretty small family by Gambian standards and the majority of children are grown - Yemen and Ousman are grandchildren that have come to Njongon to attend the mission school. Another tidbit about my family that differentiates them from almost everyone in The Gambia is that they are catholic. It should be interesting to discover the interplay between Catholics and Muslims on a micro level in a small town. From what I have seen so far Gambians are amazingly tolerant and peaceful and always go out of their way to avoid confrontation so I can't imagine I will encounter much animosity. Another funny sidenote: in Gambia the code phrase for "alcohol is allowed in my house" is "I live with a Christian family." So needless to say my compound is likely to be a popular stop over for passing through volunteers.

Living in Njongon won't be all fun and games and getting to know the religious minority of The Gambia - it will also consist of a lot of work since I am officially "on-duty" 7 days a week. My official title is Teacher Trainer at IT Consultant at St. Michaels Basic Cycle School. So what this big title means is that I am in working with Gambian counterparts at my school to update and organize the library and train staff and students to properly care for and use computers. The school currently has about 6 computers that are very old but hopefully operable and close to twenty type writers. There is no electricity in Njongon so the computers run off a generator that requires very expensive fuel. From what I understand, it is a constant struggle to pay for the fuel to turn the computers on so that the students and staff can actually work on the computers. Right now I am really interested in researching the feasibility for solar power to replace the generator and want to look into getting a grant from a NGO or cooperation to fund the project. I still have to talk to my headmaster and see if he is on board with the idea and if it is what is best for the school - but I think it could be really cool. So we shall see. If anyone knows anything about solar power, send the info my way!

In addition to the computer lab I am working in the library to get some more updated books, especially science, culturally relevant fiction and easy readers. The library is actually in pretty good condition and the school seems to be using it very effectively. It is always packed with students when there are free periods which is exceptional here since a lot of people don't fully seem to grasp the concept of libraries and their purpose. There is already a Gambian librarian so I don't anticipate that I will to much of my focus will be on the library, but I am excited to help out and improve it a little more.

I will also most likely be working with other volunteers in the area to coordinate and carry out teacher training workshops for the schools in my region. I am not sure what topics we will cover yet as we need to observe and evaluate what the needs and wants of the teachers. And as if all that isn't enough, I may also get involved in the Girl's Club at St. Michaels to do some female empowerment, income generation and life skills education.

All in all I am really excited about the work I have ahead of me and can't wait to get to site and get started with the work at school and getting to know everyone in my community. I have 3 other volunteers in towns that are very close to me so I will definilty have friendly faces around whenever I need some "American time." Next time I have a chance to get to internet I will be sure to try and post some pictures of my town, school and compound so everyone can get an idea of my day to day scenery. I am not sure when I will next have access to internet as I am supposed to stay within a 10 k radius of my site during 3 Month Challenge but I will see if I can swing it. So don't be alarmed if I am MIA for a bit. You can get in touch with my on my cell phone at 220-783-8650 as long as I have network which tends to be a bit shotty.

Check out Evan's blog for some sweet photos from training village in Sare Samba (link on the left)!!!

Jamma rek! (Peace Only!)

50 Cent, Green Tea, and Mesh Tank Tops...

Hello from Gambia!!!! I am finally back from two months in the bush and can have contact with the outside world! Training was great and I learned a lot and got oriented and comfortably with the country and the people and myself in this country but I am glad that it is over. Over the past two months I have learned that the youth of the Gambia are obsessed with 50 Cent, green tea with loads of sugar (called attaya here) that they spend hours brewing and mesh tank tops in various shades. I am serious they just can't get enough of any of them, it's great! I have been asked a hundred times if I personally know 50 Cent and there are rumors that there is actually 50 Cent embellished underwear somewhere in this country. I look for it every time I got to market but have yet to spot it. Hopefully by the end of two years I will have got my hands on some. Aside from my deep cultural immersion, I get sworn in as a volunteer this Friday at the US Ambassador's place and then I am off to my permanent site for the 3 Month Challenge (new PCV's cannot leave a 10K radius of their site - encourages you to bond with your site and all the people). My site is the small town (which is larger than a village here) of Njongon in the North Bank Division. It is right on the road that connects Banjul to Dakar, Senegal so I will need to get used to the sound of cars again. More on my permanent site in the next update, now for glossed over recap of the past two months:

Training and Village:
Training was great and I learned a lot of valuable stuff that I am sure will come in handy in the future but I am glad it is over. I can see what people meant when they said training is the worst part of your PC service. Training in Gambia is community based which means that we live in training villages with host families and then we also travel to a resort type place for sessions every couple of weeks. I was in the tiny, very rural village of Sare Samba. S/S was 7k off the main road and was very isolated. It is in the Lower River Division right on the border of Senegal and the closest major town is Soma. But don't be confused by major town - that just means it has a some sort of commerce.

My host family in village was amazing and I miss them already. The family consisted of a father (Katim), two mothers - both named Xadi and about 20 kids in all ranging from 26-in the womb. About 3 or 4 of the children were under the care of the host family because it was a "middle-class" Gambian family and we actually had solar power and lights at night. I did not have lights in my hut but they did in their house. The father is a marabout which is a hard profession to describe but basically boils down to that he is a holy man of sorts with a blend of Islam and West African animism. Google or Wikepedia marabout to find out more about it. All of my siblings were awesome and the little ones were adorable and I got quite attached to a lot of them so it was sad to say goodbye.

Days in training village were spent learning language for four hours in the morning, food bowl at my teachers house everyday (that's right I can skillfully eat with my hand) and then hanging out under a tree drinking attaya (green tea that is absurdly concentrated with loads of sugar) and chatting and practicing language with people in our village. Evenings consisted of either a yoga session with some fellow trainees and our awesome language teacher, Haddy Sowe, or ultimate Frisbee with the village kids. Needless to say the people of the village loved it when we did yoga and we always had an audience. Village life is slooooooooooooow or 'ndanka ndanka' as we say in Wolof. The first couple of days it was hard to adjust from DC life to Gambian village life but I did adjust and ended up loving my training village immensely.

During training I would be in Sare Samba for a week or two and than at Tendaba (a resort right on the river) for a week or two doing endless days of technical training sessions and model school. The weeks at Tendaba were definitely the toughest because a) the mosquito's are insane and I have bites all over myself b)training sessions get tedious and boring day in and day out c) I can't think of a C. It wasn't really that bad because there was a pool (when it wasn't green) and my fellow PCT's were all together so we amused each other. And their was beer, so that is always good. Funny saying providing by our ever entertaining 3rd term PCV, Steve:

Peace Corps Volunteers that go to Asia come back religious.
Peace Corps Volunteers that go to Latin America come back political.
Peace Corps Volunteers that go to Africa come back alcoholics.

It's a joke but I can definitely see where it comes from, after you've been in the bush with no electric and no contact with the outside world, a cold beer is about the best thing in the world.

During training I also went to a visit a fellow volunteer in Janjanbureh (formerly Georgetown) and had a blast hanging out with her friends and even learned some drumming - definitely a hobby I hope to take up! Janjan is an island in the middle of the Gambia River and is awesome. I hope to visit semi-often even though it is a bit far so I can visit friends on the island and chill out.

The past 4 days I have been visiting my permanent site - Njongon and meeting my host family and the staff of my school, St. Michaels Basic Cycle School. I love my compound and I have two mango trees and one orange tree which both make up for the super tiny size of my house (no lie it is 15 ft wide and 10 ft deep). I will update my blog later in the week since this entry is ridiculously long.

Love you all and miss you like crazy!!!!!!!! I am crazy happy, and love everything about Gambia. I have also been suprisingly healthy and very pleased that my permanent host family does not each much coos. More later! Check out my FlikerPics - they have been updated!

Jamma rek! (Peace Only)