Merry Africhristmas!

Merry Africhristmas!! Africhristmas was celebrated on the 21^st of December at Fatty Kunda. I explain to my family a few days before what my christmas’ in America are like and that I wanted to celebrate one with them. They were so excited, my mothers’ declared that it was an official holiday and they were not going to the fields, they worked of course, washing clothes by hand and cooking but there was no field work or cracking of peanuts on africhristmas. We woke up and greeted each other, wishing one another a ‘happy Christmas!’ Bori started dancing because she was excited that she got the day off. They made boiled yams for breakfast, and were sitting around enjoying one another’s company when I brought out a dish of ‘american breakfast.’ I had cooked oatmeal and added local peanut butter and sugar with cut up bananas on top….we all sat down on the mat crowding around this bowl and passed our 3 spoons between 10 people each taking turns, teasing one another about who took the most slices of banana. The bowl was empty in no time. We relaxed for the morning, sitting and talking with visitors who came by the compound, each asked ‘why we were just sitting?’ which started the whole conversation about American Christmas and why we bring a live tree into the house and put lights on it. My American mom had sent me a Christmas ornament to make my Christmas a bit brighter, the Gambian Family was so intrigued by its beauty; they keep asking to see it. We played with the kids and listened to some Gambian radio. For lunch, I surprised my moms’ with 2 packages of spaghetti, a half kilo of onions, yams, and bread. So they made a spaghetti, onion, yam, maggi, and oil sauce which we enjoyed by breaking off little pieces of bread and soaking up the oil and using the bread as a scoop. They were teasing everyone that the meal was so good, because oil was dripping down the length of their elbows- this is a sign of wealth, prosperity, and celebration- but the World Food Program gives my family all of the rice and oil that we consume, so it’s a different type of wealth- international food aid prosperity. Then I brought out my little gifts for them. The kids got a brown bag with some ‘mintis’ in it, they each got to reach into the bag 3 times and pull out a surprise candy- one thing I treasure about Gambian children is their ability to share. Tia, the 3 year old, got a whole bag of biscuits and he went around and shared with each person until the bag was gone- and they do this without being instructed. Each of the women got a black plastic bag with an American necklace, a Gambian bracelet and some soap. Nymandin did a whole dance for her soap and started talking to Isatou, the baby, that she now had soap when she took a bath. Baboo, got a can of condensed milk, attaya, and the monthly contribution of money that I give to my family a few days early, he was so happy that he had to go around the corner to see everything that was in his bag. A new sister, Nyamdin’s oldest child, Kaddy came from the city and she got bracelets, a necklace, and a new t-shirt, she immediately went to take a bucket bath so that she could put it on and show everyone.  A Happy Africhristmas, it was a moment of perfect simplicity, joy, peace, and family. 

Seasons of Smiles

My best friend in village with a cute baby. The leather and rope necklace around his neck is a  spiritual protection jewelry that's called a juju, it protects the child/adult against evil spirits. 

Bintu

Isatou (Mom, she's coming home with me- gosh look at those dimples)

Hibiscus flowers 

Jelli, my wolof neighbor

Brother and Sisters with Baobab fruit 

The Thanksgiving Days

I can't believe this but....Africa got cold. I don't know when it happened exactly, just one day I woke up and the thought "I'm cold," crossed my mind. And when I say cold, I mean that this morning around 7am it was a low of 68 degree. But seriously that feels pretty cold compared to the highs of 105 that were from April to August. It feels so cold that I sleep under a flannel sheet, a doubled up sheet, and an airplane blanket, and I even sleep in a t-shirt and pajama pants. Its the cold were you wake up in the morning and debate getting out of bed to go to the bathroom- and by bathroom I mean hole- but the cement walkway on my feet feels like the linoleum of my bathroom in MERICA-  because its so chilly. I'm not saying that it still doesn't get hot. During the middle of the day, I still sweat, but sometimes there is this nice breeze that cools everything off and the sweat drys. I even wear long sleeved shirts, what is happening to me!! Its a really nice change, the sleep is so much better and I am much more active, getting work done and going for more runs. My families pretty funny though- they crowd around a bon-fire during the evenings and even skip there daily shower saying they are not brave of the cold water. I have to admit that I've also skipped a bucket bath here and there. Think about it, this water is coming from deep in the ground and its freezing, which feels really nice during the hot season, but during the cold season you really are not brave of a cold cold bucket bath. I know some fellow volunteers that have even boiled some of there bucket water to heat it up.... silly kids. 

An update on Thanksgiving, it was a really fun and well messy day. A few volunteers gathered in Ferefenni, a river side town which has through traffic from Senegal so it has some nice convinces like, electricity and a daily market, fruit, and egg sandwiches. A volunteer that lives near the Senegal border, husseled a real live turkey  to bring to our party. So he shows up with this huge turkey tucked into a half of a plastic container, tied in there with some bungie cords. He tells us the story of how he got this turkey, and how its been living at his house for a week, and how it tried to hang itself over his fence. I have to tell the truth here and laugh alot at my slip in reality. We had talked about getting this turkey for thanksgiving meal and for some reason, I don't know where my brain was but I had imagined one of those nice like 15 pounders that you could buy in Stop and Shop all packaged in plastic and ready to go in the oven. So not a live turkey, all breathing and looking at me and having to get it ready for supper. But were hungry volunteers and there is no way we were going to pass up on some turkey which we haven't had in 8+ months. So with some laughing, some shouting, some beating wings, some discussion of feather headdresses, lots of blood, some nausea  and a huge dull knife, because that's how knives come in Gambia, the boys went to work and we then had ourselves a dead turkey. 

Now is the time I would like to thank Art and Sally of Brown Farm for educating me on the ways of cleaning and preparing chickens. Honestly, without having worked along side them this meal might have been a complete disaster. (Reference the blog, Farm Oasis to learn more about the farm). Anyways, Daniel, Ryan, and I went to town with some hot water boiled on some coals and a large basin and plucked this turkey from neck to butt of all of its feathers. Next, came the part of cleaning out the inside. And having had the experience at the farm, I sucked up all of my dedication to thanksgiving and my want for some good turkey meat and went elbow deep into that turkey...and get this Sally and Art, I cleaned the whole thing out without breaking anything!! Honestly, I was impressed by how it went, it could have turned out so badly, I could have ripped the bowels or the stomach or something and then we would have had to clean more nastier stuff out of the turkey, but no this turkey cleaning went completely smoothly. Then the turkey meat was cut up and grilled by grill master Peter! For sides we had wonderful fruit salad with oranges, bananas and watermelon, a cabbage veggie salad, garlic cheezy mashed potatoes, grilled butternut squash, creamed canned corn, soo much goood good food! My stomach was full for days! And I will always appreciate meat in a way that I never had before. Its too much work sometimes to butcher and clean meat, and now when I do have meat in my food bowl I am thankful for the cook who took the time to clean the chicken. I will never again look at packages of meat in the grocery store the same way- we are truly spoiled by the ease in which we consume and cook meat. It was a very wonderful thanksgiving, thankful for things I had always taken for granted and although far away from friend and family, I was surrounded by PC family. A thanksgiving I will always remember! 

The Day the Ambassador came to Tenengfara

In late September, the American Ambassador to The Gambia, his wife, and staff arrived at Tenengfara to sit down with the village to discuss a Emergency Relief Grant that they were given in the beginning of May to purchase, rice and coos for food aid and groundnut for seed. The rice and coos were very needed at that time and although it was difficult to walk into village with a lot of US aid money already in hand, because this then sets the thought that I am here to give money, which isn't exactly part of the PC position, the whole village including myself benefited. The groundnut seed was excellent, and the rains successful, so the groundnut crops are doing well for this year. I wasn't able to be in village during the Ambassador's visit but a fellow volunteer (sitemate! shout out) came to help out. Here are some of her photos...

The greetings and a flag that the village made to welcome the Embassy. 

Traditions of Africa

When I got back home, all anyone could talk about was the Ambassador's visit. They were so excited to have the honor to meet him and put on quite the show. They made him a great benechin lunch and traditional Gambian shirts. There was even the appearance of a conquron, a dancing man dressed as a spirit. The Ambassador also told everyone how important it is to educate the children. I arrived home and thought how quite the village seemed; it was because it was quite, all the kids were in school. The enrollment of children in school has sky rocketed and its great to see the kids all occupied during the day.

The Naming Ceremony.

Tenengfara women at the naming ceremony, working and laughing hard. Bori (my mother is in the black shirt), the women with the white scarf is the chief's wife and the head of the women's group, the women in the back is one of my favorite women in village she is constantly teasing me and laughing. 

This past week there was a naming ceremony at a Fula compound. Naming ceremonies take place 7 days after a baby has been born and the purpose it to introduce the child to the community and ...give them a name. I've seen wolof and mandinka ceremonies but the fula one was very different. There was a moment where an aunt sat holding the child under a white cloth while a elder man poured some milk, water, wood-bark substance onto the baby's head and shaved off the hair, at the same time 3 women pounded corn together next to the baby, at the same time the Imam of the village slaughtered a goat into a hole to let the blood drain, and at the same time that another elder lead the gathered people in prayer. It was quite the moment and orchestrated perfectly. After this all happened the mother was brought out to hold the child and had parts of her head shaved, money was then put on top of the white cloth and wishes were announced, a large number of men who attended were served a breakfast of mono, or millet balls in a liquid with sour milk on top, and dried balls of millet or corn with sugar. With traditional Islamic societies the men and women rarely socialize in public. I am, however, the exception, because females from other societies tend to fall into a third category, somewhere between the traditional roles of men and women in this culture. It seems like even the locals don't know where to place me, and I don't try to define it, I just adapt while allowing them to adapt to my differences and try not to offend anyone. I always sit and socialize with the women, rarely doing more than greet the men unless otherwise invited.

This was the first day that the women included me in their gossip circle. I had always sat with them but didn't understand much. I have started to understand more of the conversations and at the naming ceremony, the women were sharing the gossip of the village and asked me what I thought about it. So yes, gossip happens everywhere especially in small African villages where there are no other distractions like TV or books and everyone lives  2 feet away from each other and everything is heard by your neighbors. There is a proverb that goes, "the foot is on the ground, the snake is on the ground." Meaning neighbors must learn to get along with each other because they all share the same ground.

Help me to see...

I can't believe that it is November. Really, where did the time go. As a girl who has lived in New England her whole life, this is my first year where the seasons haven't changed. It is still 85 degrees at least during the day and the sun still beats down, although it has started to get cooler at night, which makes it much easier to sleep, there isn't that cool brisk air that fall brings every year. The leaves aren't changing colors, but there is a bounty of watermelons. Eating watermelons during November is a treat especially because it is so hot and the watermelons offer a refreshing break. Thanksgiving is around the corner and a fellow volunteer has located turkey's in his village! So yes, we will be eating turkey!!!

HIV/AIDS bike trek is complete. About 20 PC volunteers taught for 4 days at 4 different schools, educating and interacting with students about the facts of HIV/AIDS and about the strength of speaking out and talking about the disease in their communities. I learned about myself as a teacher and about Gambian school systems and culture. Volunteers came and taught at the Upper basic school closest to my village, my mother and another woman from the town cooked us meals for two days which I will say were absolutely delicious! Although it was a bike trek, I didn't even touch my bike besides to put it in the back of a truck. But it was a much more rare treat to ride in an air-conditioned comfortable vehicle than my bike, which I use every day, so we will leave the trekking till another day.

Myself and a fellow volunteer have been doing some photography work with the World Food Program which has just been put up on their website. So check it out. http://www.wfp.org/node/3464/4113/342772

Now to the deeper stuff....

We have now been at site for 6 months, reaching 1/4 of our service complete. Yesterday, I spent the day in the fields with the ladies piling groundnut and picking up left behind peanuts. Then I smashed peanuts against a metal rod cracking the shell so we could eat them later. I did this for 3 hours. Sometimes the goal is to simply find something, anything to do to pass the time.

I guess the hardest part right now is not feeling as if I have a purpose. What am I here to do? Where is the most need? What will benefit the village the most? What can I give them? I need to find something that I feel passionate about so that my heart is in my own work. This life isn't all great days or the moments where I can't believe how lucky I am to be in Africa, living this life. Many of the days, I wake up thinking about what I can do to simply pass the time, wishing to exhaust myself to the point where I can fall back asleep again. My heart aches for loved one at home, for loved ones in country, for the next moments that I will see them. Then the feelings of guilt come because I am not living for each day, appreciating the things that I have, rather  my mind is far away, wishing for people and places that are to come. But I will never get this time back, once May 2014 rolls around this life will be only a memory, photos, and love in my heart. Its a delicate balance of appreciating and living in the moment while also allowing myself to feel the ache to be with loved ones.

The time element is difficult. There are so many hours during the day where I can play and laugh and appreciate all I have here. But it is all in another language, which I only partly understand, so the language of my heart and mind is playing in my own head. These thoughts run a constant reel like a radio you know is playing in the background and sometimes you hear its news and sometimes its just white noise, but you know it is there, some thoughts are superficial, some philosophical, the majority of them deep. Being surrounded by people all the time but essentially being alone with your own feelings and thoughts is to put it lightly, quite the experience. You question yourself, the person you thought you were, the person you are becoming, because regardless of where I will be next in life, everything that Africa has taught me and continues to teach me will be ingrained  in my understanding. Then there is the fear, I've been in Tenengfara for 6 months, and I have 18 left, these people and this place has already changed and challenged me in 6 months, what will the 18 left bring...will I recognize the person I have become after my service is over? I think its all about letting myself go and being open to whatever this crazy life has to throw at me, but sometimes I just wish for a few days where the peace is constant and the sleep is deep.

Enjoy the Thanksgiving festivities, appreciate the food and drink, an early congratulations to Lauren and Anthony on their wedding, sending the giggles of African children and the excitement of Gambia drums to everyone.

A selfish reminder that Christmas and the next mail run are coming up in the middle of December so now is the time to get those packages and letters into the mail box as they will take awhile to get to me. I really love letters as they let me revisit the people who sent them over and over again, and it only costs $1.06 (I believe).

Birthdays, Ballots, and Bees

Birthday's are not celebrated here in the Gambia, but in an effort to bring some awareness of nurse cards and children's ages/when they should be starting school, I throw each child in my family a small birthday party. The party is mostly my ipod and speakers dancing party all morning and evening, and some great food including popcorn which they love. Ba turned 3. He was so exhausted with the mornings dancing that he fell asleep before dinner, but don't worry, we saved him some popcorn. 

For Ba's birthday, I helped my mom make an american style spaghetti sauce with eggplant, potatoes, and onions. Yes, we cooked it on top of a three stone wood fire. It was pretty delicious!

It's that time every 4 years!! But this time I voted via absentee ballot!! It was brought to my house via peace corps every other month mail run, then i filled it out and brought it to the office in Kombo, which took me 8 hours and almost some tears because of the frustrations of gelle transport. The ballot will return to the US by embassy pouch, which ensures that it gets to the town hall before the 6th of November. A different voting experience to be sure.

What the heck am I working on? Well, right now the bad-ass bamboo furniture makers in my community are learning how to make bee hives so that we can start an apiary. Its very hard work because they have to walk miles to cut and gather the bamboo and then walk miles back carrying it. (My father as he comes back from the forest) The men had the dimensions and put this hive together all by themselves. With a little alterations it'll be perfect!  I'm so impressed and extremely pleased with how dedicated they are to start beekeeping. Can't wait to start eating and selling lots of honey!!

kicking my butt...

Baby time...

And there are those hard, frustrating, confusing days where..I might go to the market and have every single person call me a toubab, ask me for money, ask for my shirt, my pants, my sandals, my bike, my hair, have a mentally handicapped individual stalking me because they just like to look at white people...It might be so hot that I have heat rash in places you don't ever want heat rash, am sweating from every pore in my body, can't go on a run because the heat rash is too bad, take a bucket bath and start sweating again, hide in my hut from the swarms of mosquito's that like to bit in the same places as the heat rash... Can't keep my phone charged...but then feel so first-world because I'm complaining about the heat, the mosquito's, and the lack of convenient electricity, when I will only be here for 19 more moons and will have so many luxuries where ever I live next, but the people who live here for their entire lives are smiling and laughing at the smallest things. So I come home from the market and the annoyances of this life to see smiling babies and women working harder than I've ever worked, complaining about so little and I am in complete awe of their strength. On days like these Africa kicks my butt..... but there is always tomorrow...maybe tomorrow the heat rash will be better.

Burkina Faso Adventure

House and Cacti in Burkina Faso 

What have I been up too? Well, I completed my volunteer response form, which is this form that all volunteers need to do every six months, and although the software for the program is horrible, and with the internet crashing every few minutes and the power going in and out sporadically, intermingled with the turning off and on of the generator and power surges that come as a result, it was an interesting time but finished. Not much to report because I've been in three month challenge concentrating on culture and language study, and PC doesn't really want us to start large projects because time has shown that projects started too early usually fail. And well, I've been reading lots of books, but you knew that from before.

This past week, my passe of life changed dramatically. I went to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, with 3 other volunteers from Gambia and attended an agriculture conference held by an organization based in Florida. Overall, I'd give it a B+, some really interesting stuff, research, and tools that blew me away, pretty excited about it. Some of the sessions were like infomercials, so there was free wifi in the hotel and I took advantage of that during those times. I was really impressed by Ouagadougou, there are paved streets with sidewalks and for the most part people follow traffic patterns. There were also buildings higher than 3 stories, with incredible architecture. There were bridges that went over roads, never mind bridges that went over water ( the gambian river does not have a bridge that crosses it). The markets were organized in stalls with lots of walking room around them, there were leather products and nice mali mud fabric. In general, people weren't pushy and would bargain with 'toubabs' on prices. I got lots of fabric, one with corn all over them that I'm going to have made into a pair of overalls, I'm going to look pretty silly, and I'm going to love it.  There were restaurants that served really great food, I had my first chicken Cesar salad in over six months and it was a beautiful, beautiful moment. Also, because it was colonized by the French, there are french themes remaining, like they speak french and french patisserie shops. There were some really great volunteers there from other countries, and a good time was had by everyone. Bottom line, Ouagadougou was pretty cool.  I now know that I need to speak some french, but for the moment I'll put that towards the bottom of my to-do list. There were interesting moments in travel, we flew, thank you PC, and one would think that international flights would be on-par standard with what people typically think of as international flights. But no, Africa won't let you forget that your in Africa. A flight from Burkina to Dakar was delayed an hour because a flight from Azerbaijan hadn't landed yet and there were passengers on that flight that were heading to Dakar with us, so we waited for them.  Security personnel, in one of the countries we flew through gave us a hard time about our carry on luggage, suggesting that we check some and carry on each-others luggage, which I reminded him was also against international law, but well it worked out eventually. Flights in general left about 30 minutes late, but in -air meals are now something I consider excellent. We were served meat on the way there and the single portion of meat was larger and more tasty/more tender than anything I have yet to see in my families food bowl. But flying the 25 minute flight from Dakar to Gambia brought a sense of coming home that I haven't felt in a while. It's great to be home.

Family Album

Just a little meet the family moment (while I have internet and time on my hands)...

Mariama

Farfala

Comfatty

Aramita

Ba/Tia

Bamusa

Korite meal, Korite is the 2 day celebration following the end of Ramadan. Its chicken with potatoes, onions, macaroni, and oil, eaten with bread. Absolutely delicious. Looking forward to this meal again next year. 

Isatou, my namesake

For korite, the kids get new outfits and walk around village visiting everyone. 

Pabi is a growing soccer star, my village won the tournament that they played against 6 other villages, home town pride!

Neighborhood best friends 

Bees

Beekeeping in style

Cheers

A fellow volunteer did a summary of his time in numbers, and because I liked it..I’m going to be not creative and borrow the idea.

Time living in Africa: 6 months. Holy mackerel, I really can’t believe it.

Time living at site: 3.5 months.  

Longest period of time staying at site: 30 days…It was a rollercoaster as always but well worth it.

Books read: 21 (will publish list later)

                Longest book: Anna Karenina  by Leo Tolstoy

                Shortest book: The Secret life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Times crossing the ferry (not on PC transport): 3 times

                Longest ferry: 1:28 hour

                Shortest ferry: 30 minutes. (this is not the norm- I get extremely lucky)

Birthday Parties thrown with Family: 4

Number of times I cooked popcorn for my family: 3

Number of letters written: 26

Dance Parties: probably around 50

Rain Dance parties: 1 (a perfect day) everyone needs to let themselves go, at least once, and dance, uninhibited in the rain. Please please.

Ramadan days fasted: 24 of 30

Times I wanted to die in frustration on a gelle gelle: a lot, but in the positive there have been some gelle trips that did go smoothly.

In America..

Number of weddings missed in America: 1 (Congratulations Sierra and Peter)

Number of births missed: 1

Number of engagements: 1

Number of times I missed the SAC loves: countless

In Gambia:

Number of weddings I attended: 2

Number of births/ naming ceremonies: 4

IST (in-service training) has just finished.  The most valuable part was the counterpart workshop where my counterpart from site, Musa, traveled to Kombo and trained along-side the volunteers for two days. For one of those days, the environment volunteers went to BeeCause. A beekeeping organization that is very active and effective here in The Gambia. It was inspiring to see the combined excitement of volunteers and counterparts as we learned the techniques behind beekeeping together.  We put on head to toe suits with mesh faces, rubber gloves, and boots, and headed to the hives to get some hands on work with African bees. As it is rainy season, the bees are pretty docile and no one was stung but my hear t was racing a little bit as the first hive was opened and swarms of bees started bouncing off of everyone’s mesh covered faces. My suit was orange and white stripped and I looked like an escaped convict, the pictures are fantastic but not on my camera, so they will come later. Later we learned how to process wax and honey.  I am looking forward to heading back to site to begin an apiary with the men of my village; they are interested in making hives out of bamboo, because it’s natural and plentiful to the area. I’m excited that they are excited, and that it will be tapping into an income generating venture that has not yet been explored. Good Things are happening here in The Gambia.

I am so happy to see everyone from my group again. Africa has been good to everyone, it has challenged us, pushed us, lifted us up, taught us, and spit us back out together in Kombo (the land of food and drink) where we can feel how much each of us has changed. But I also miss the bush. The people grow on you, they have become my people, they aren’t just my host family anymore, and they feel like family. We laugh and argue like family, they tease me for my oddities and I do the same back to them.  I don’t know when this happened but it did and that’s the beauty behind these people, they give to you unconditionally. 

Hangry, Lion King, and Malaria

Ramadan has ended, all 30 days of it were a roller coaster of emotions, frustrations, and discoveries. I drank water the whole time but fasted 24 days out of 30. I learned some and appreciated food at the end of the day much more. Now that its over and we are back to the rice bowls, I miss the break fast meals very much. I also have never been that excited to see a moon before, as the fasting ends with the sight of the moon on the 30th or 29th day. The two days following the sighting of the moon are days of great celebration, called Korite, where we eat and drink all day long. Boys and girls receive presents from their parents such as shoes or new clothing. Women braid their hair in special ways and henna their feet. Men put on their best kaftans and head to the mosques for a special day of prayer. Everyone walks around village in their best clothes and shoes, greeting neighbors and celebrating the end to Ramadan. All in all, it was here only, and now that its over, I'm glad there won't be another Ramadan till next year. (People, including myself, get a little (h)angry, but hey who doesn't when they are hungry.)

Gambia has gone green. Its like the place exploded. That scene in the 'Lion King' where the rains come and turn the land from depressing dryness and death to a place of happiness where all the lions are roaring and prancing around in playfulness. Well, that's pretty accurate as to what has happened. Rains have come, heavily, the fields are growing tall and the paths are being encroached by weeds. Animals that once roamed around wild in search of any food they could find are now being staked and left to eat the weeds that they can reach. The people have become much more active, going out into the fields to weed or playing with their children more. Bugs...are more frequent. Also, infections are highly likely as there are pools of water sitting around everywhere. I wash my feet with anti-bacterial soap every chance I get. Mosquitoes have taken up residence in the pools of water and after twilight its like a battle field, human v. mosquitoes. 

Which brings me to the topic of Malaria. We, PCVs, have malaria prophylaxis that we are given by the US government, although there is some contention behind the different drugs. If you care to know about this argument, send me a message. We also have on hand anti-malaria drugs and malaria rapid test that if taken during the onset of symptoms can greatly reduce the disease. We have mosquito nets and I sleep under mine nightly, tucked in tight to prevent both malaria and those stupid cockroaches living in my backyard from joining me in my bed. We also have DEET bug spray and although I use 100% DEET concentration I still get bitten. These little suckers don't mess around. The malaria mosquitoes come out during dusk and hang around till dawn, so I've taken to going into my room earlier in the evening. Part of a PCV work is to bring attention to the methods of prevention, such as bed nets which are given to each mother when she brings her child to the clinic for their check-ups. Progress takes awhile, however, and bed-nets are commonly used as screens over garden nurseries to protect against bugs or sold. 

Update on my neighbor, the boy who wasn't doing well, was after a spike in his fever, taken by horse cart at 4am to the nearest health center, 6K away and I've been told that he is coming home today. His father has been walking the 12k round trip every morning and evening to see his son and wife. 

These are my cucumber plants in my backyard. They are doing extremely well and have grown over the fence in such a short amount of time. Compared to the cucumbers we had at Brown Farm, these are incredible. I didn't know if I could grow vegetables in Africa, but you can! 

Uncensored 1st Birthday in Africa

Last week, I had a birthday and decided to record step by step my day because, it was something to pass the time, it was entertaining, and it might be fun for everyone else to see what a basically typical day here consists of, enjoy.

Woke up around 6:30am, managed to sleep through the mosque call to 5am prayer, but not the wolof neighbors pounding maize or the chickens crowing. Thought: whelp, lets’ make this a good day. Here to turning a year older!

Used pit latrine, the cement wasn’t burning my bare-feet as the sun wasn’t yet high enough to crest over my fence.

Extra bonus, a bit of diarrhea, completely the norm, have to resign myself to the fact that diarrhea is going to be a common state, but fear not in honor of my special day I saved myself a bit of toilet paper as a present to myself! This really is going to be a great day, and i'm being completely serious.

Fired up the gas burner, a serious luxury!!, made a cup of tea with ….HONEY! and some milk powder for extra protein.  On the breakfast menu for today, a packet of maple and brown sugar oatmeal, threw in some raisins, almonds, and more milk powder.  Great breakfast! Thank you care package senders!!

Turned on the IPOD, which was charged via solar panel the day before, and had myself a little Jack Johnson dance party- nothing better than starting the day off on the right foot.

Had a birthday gift, even wrapped in this beautiful birthday bag and tissue paper that smelled like America, yes, I smelled the tissue paper. You would too, it smelled so good. Presents were incredible, thank you.

Opened door at 7:30am

Greeted the family, literally, “good morning, did you sleep in peace, is peace here,” and my personal favorite, “I hope that you slept like a baby!”

Walked to neighboring compound to see a 5 year old who has what my family says is malaria, he still has a fever.

Walk to bitik, where I buy 50D worth of things for birthday celebrations with the family. 50D is equivalent to approximately $2 USD. The people in the bitik were making such a huge deal about me spending 50D. I understand that this is more than their daily or perhaps even weekly wage but it always makes me uncomfortable to even spend 5D that I hardly purchase anything in village, always choosing instead to buy in a neighboring village or town, but word always spreads back to my family how much I’ve spent.  Feel: ready to see some people corps people.

Bring sick child a ORS (oral rehydration solution) to help with dehydration (this is a mixture of salt and sugar that helps the body better absorb liquids.) He drinks it without protest because I’ve added a bitik juice packet which is about 90% sugar.

Help mom with breakfast rice porridge and sour milk. Literally, the milk has gone bad, no refrigeration in the hometown. Eat 2 spoonfuls as a result; hope I don’t get more diarrhea.

Bring out IPOD and dance party with younger siblings.

Explain American traditions of birthday parties (birthdays are not celebrated here and no one knows their actual age, except when I make a big deal of birthdays, the sisters and brothers have brought me their nurse cards and asked me when their birthdays are and how old they are.) Today is also Bamusa’s birthday and tomorrow is Farfala’s. We’re going to have some great times these next 2 days.

Learn some Mandinka words with family, go over words from yesterday. Oh mandinka!

Brother Pabi, threatens 2.5 year old Ba with a good sound beating. Crying ensues, I in turn threaten the 16 year old (I can only do this inside compound, to family members), Pabi runs away to the village.

11am, africell tower turns on, receive texts, wooohooo PC friends!!

Talk to PC friend, very happy! Discuss plans for upcoming swear in party at ocean. Feel like I’m in college 

again, thank gosh!

12am, go to pump to get and carry water back to the hut for my daily water needs. Horse in path, have to walk through corn field, find horse owner…ask him to move horse.

Visit a neighbor’s garden, her peppers are almost ready. Very excited to know I will be eating peppers soon!

Sweep room with a stick broom that works surprisingly very well.

Wash TOMS (cheers Meg) shoes with bleach and water, leather is molding, wet season gets to everything.

Hang out bedding, wouldn’t want a moldy bed.

Child with fever is brought to my compound, take fever…its very high, feel helpless and unsure of what to do. Father has gone on a vacation and not left his family any money. Mother is not going to make the decision to bring him to the hospital without the head of the household there. Feel frustrated with culture and my own lack of power, in a world that is so difficult.

Talk to PC friend, laugh a lot. Phone battery dies, and its about to rain which means that at the earliest I can charge my phone is tomorrow because the only source of power in village is one compound which has solar, and well without any sun the solar doesn't work. Goodbye world. 

Counterpart shows up, discuss birthdays in America, American culture (fraternities and sororities because he’s wearing a fraternity T-Shirt), language training, figure out a proverb that family wants me to remember. Learn  “towelo de dindin santo,” meaning ‘the clouds are hanging up.’ This cracks me up and I have a little laughing fit, mandinka is hilarious.

Eat lunch, rice and peanut sauce! Before lunch Nymandin had asked me what my mother in America would cook for me if I was home, I told her probably BBQ and a cake which won’t happen here but I know that she’s trying to make me happy and just that makes me happy. Side note: we haven’t had peanut sauce in 4 weeks, so I really appreciate the gesture.

Give Baboo a can of condensed milk and 2 packages of biskits, that I bought earlier at the bitik.

Race neighbor’s daughter back and forth along the foot path, bare-footed and laughing, for no reason other than its fun.

The Rains have come, headed to the hut for some reading. Current book, Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, highly recommended!

Boiled some water, luxury again, made tea with sugar and milk powder. Sidenote: used underwear as pot holders, not because I don’t have the money to buy potholders in Kombo, it’s just that underwear works fine so why buy pot holders…

The temperature has dropped 5 degrees, ah! I love the rain!

4pm, yell out my door to Aramita, and begin playing with her, Baboo worried that ran was coming through my thatched roof, he comes out of his room and asks ‘if the rain is touching me,’ I reply that ‘it wasn’t touching me. That Aramita and I are only playing.’ He laughs.

5:30pm, rain stops and I head to the common room to chill with the family. They brew the condensed milk over charcoal, adding sugar. Oh, how Gambian’s love their sugar. We each get a 2oz glass of the milk with the vanilla biskits to dunk into it. It’s really good! They teach me the language, sometimes it’s frustrating, I’m a perfectionist but I’m also lazy so them always correcting me is hard to handle but something that I need to learn how to endure.  Welcome all the personal growth that happens in the PC.

Drink more milk sugary goodness, father of the sick child has finally come home, thanks me for helping. I thank him for coming home. Tell him that he should take his child to the clinic, I really hope this kid doesn’t have malaria, he feels cooler and his parents are giving him cool baths and putting on cold compresses.

Lay around with my family until 8ish when its dinner time, leftover lunch is on the menu. Make a bowl of popcorn as a birthday celebration to share with the entire family. They love popcorn as it’s a celebration food in Kombo and not many people in the ‘bush’ have eaten it but they have heard about it.

9pm, family begins a dance party and everyone including Ba dances. Lots of laughter and lots of love.

10pm, head to the hut and close the door. Reflect on the day and how wonderful it’s been, all the ups and the downs, all the love and all the fear.

Watch 2 episodes of Entourage because I got to a place via bicycle to charge my computer as a birthday present to myself. Pass out

Although this day was about as opposite as one can get from all of my previous, post-21st birthday's, I had a wonderful day and felt really comfortable with myself and my family. Even though, I would have given anything to be home for the day celebrating in the big bad woo or manch with friends, I wouldn't have traded the simple and direct affection that I felt from people this side of the ocean, I will, however, take you all up on your offers of good times saved for when I get back. Miss you all. 

 p.s. Isatou has really enjoyed the boxes that have come from America. They store her clothes and are a perfect sized seat for her to strengthen those tummy muscles! 

Bush Days

A fellow volunteer paid a visit to my site the past two days. We adventured into the bush (to put it lightly). This adventure deserves to be shared in its most perfect description, but right now I am simply too exhausted and and still processing all of the moments to compose it in the proper way. Also, as Mom and several others have mentioned, my English skilled are beginning to become dreadful, not only the spelling (thanks for the spell check mom), which has always been terrible but I'm beginning to become fluent in Gambian English, which is hilarious but not necessarily a good thing. So I will take the time to perfect the story, and in the meantime...

"Teach your Children"

You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good-bye
Teach your children well
Their father's hell
Will slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picks
The one you'll know by.
Don't you ever ask them why
If they told you, you would cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you.

And you, of tender years
Can't know the fears
That your elders grew by
And so please help them with your youth
They seek the truth
Before they can die.

(Can you hear and do you care
And can't you see we must be free
To teach our children what you believe in
Make a world that we can believe in.)

Teach your parents well
Their children's hell
Will slowly go by
and feed them on your dreams
The one they picks
The one you'll know by.
Don't you ever ask them why
If they told you, you would cry
So just look at them and sigh
And know they love you. -- Nash

20 moons

Day 10 of Ramadan, and still going strong. I took day 9 off and ate lunch, I needed a day to re-group. It's much easier when its cloudy, rather than sunny. So usually I write blogs during the week as things come up that I've like to share, but this week I've been busy with field work and responding to many letters that I didn't get the chance. But there are many great letters going out in the next mail run. Here are a few of the highlights,

Last night after breaking fast, I was sitting around with the family chatting and they were talking about other volunteers who had lived in the area...they mentioned their names as Senabou, Aunti, Rohey... I found it very similar to how celebrities are discussed by first name...Beyonce, Rihanna. That being said, my name is Isatou Fatty, yes Fatty, and everyone greets here using the last name, it symbolizes a recognition to all your family members and honoring them. Yes, I walk around village and have everyone call me Fatty. Just taking it in stride, most days I don't even notice because I'm in the world of Mandinka, where fatty doesn't mean fat, not in the world of English. Who else can say they were called Fatty for 2 years and were ok with it. haha oh africa. The conversation moved to my service and how I will be here for 2 years. They were saying that they want me to stay for 4, a thing they say every time I say 2, its part of the culture. They asked how many months I had left, and I responded with 20-21 months. As the months are based on the lunar schedule, and they are particularly focused on the moon because of Ramadan, they said 'that's only 20 moons.' This makes me so happy and sad at the same time. Sure I have moments were I just need to get out of village, as everything becomes overwhelming and tiring. And many many moments where I daydream about life in America and returning home to spend time with my friends and family. But when its said as 20 moons, it somehow doesn't seem that long before its time to move on to the next adventure. Right now, I am just trying to appreciate that I am here, and be here completely without my mind being too far away. 

Mom and Baby. She's coming home to america with me, sorry i'm not sorry.

Field work in The Gambia, hardest work I've ever done

Typical Ba, everyone carries everything on their heads, except for babies...which are on their backs. 

Thank you Aunt Pam for the coloring pencils, the kids and I love them !  They helped to put these drawing into an envelope to send to some lucky people in America. They are very excited. 

Breaking the Fast

June 23, 2012

Day 3 of Ramadan has begun and I’ve had the most physical activity I’ve had in 3 days. I biked to the office to check in on the internet. I can say that fasting while sitting around and not doing much of anything besides carrying water, reading books, writing letters, and studying Mandinka is difficult but not impossible. We shall see how I am feeling around 7pm tonight, after this activity. I wrote before of what the morning meal is like, the rest of the day after around 2pm slows down considerably. After the work in the fields, everyone heads home to lie around or sleep. Baboo heads back to the fields around 5, which I think is incredible slash insane that he has that much strength. Around 5 the mom’s begin to cook the breaking fast meal. Any meal here takes about 2 hours to cook because it is on a wood fire, there is lots of preparation and effort that goes into pounding the sauce spices, the sauce is cooked separately from the rice or millet. So yes, 2 hours of cooking for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, 6 hours a day of cooking is quite a lot of time. The breaking fast meal is really enjoyable. Those who are fasting sit outside on a mat and watch the sun set waiting for the call of the mosque to symbolize the end of that days fasting. The fast is broken with hot tea with milk and sugar and locally baked bread called talapa. Next course is an oil sauce with anything from chicken eggs to onions and pasta, the bread is used to dip into the bowl and absorb the oil. Finally, there is the ‘dinner’ which is the normal rice or coos with sauce. Last night we had…..drum roll….. chicken! The second time in 2 months that we had meat in the bowl, the first being the day I came. I usually contribute something to the meal, the first night I gave juice and ‘minty’s’ because that’s considered traditional. Last night, I made popcorn which they loved. The kids have an especially great time and look forward to Ramadan because they aren’t fasting and they get to eat all the benefits of fasting at the end of the day.

I will say that there is a power of reflection in fasting; it does something not only for the body but for the mind. I’m not exactly sure what that is because its only day 3 but I’ll let you know when I figure it out. Also, it is less difficult to fast intentionally than it is to not eat because the food is not available. Man, this whole experience is incredible. 

Also, this NewYorkTimes article is interesting: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/21/world/middleeast/this-years-ramadan-arrives-with-a-set-of-challenges.html?_r=1

The season of Ramadan

July 21, 2012

Ramadan began today. The family members who are fasting are Nymandin, Bori, Baboo, Pabi, and myself. We ate a breakfast of millet porriage, called monoo, at 5am, before the first daily call to prayer at approximately 5:15am. The prayer times change according to the lunar movement. I have decided that I will be fasting, the general reason being that I am living in a Muslim community and am part of a new family, I came here to share cultures, among other things, and I am sharing this fasting with them. There are more detailed reasons behind my choice but this is a blog and I don’t care to share every intimate detail of my life.  Please understand that I am doing this safely and supplementing the diet I get here with items from care packages to ensure that I am the getting proper nutrient, thank you care package senders!! Also, I am drinking water during the day, it is too hot here not to drink, I am still adapting to the environment. After breakfast we all went back to bed. Currently, its 9:30am and my 16 year old brother, Pabi, is headed to work the fields with the donkey. My mother Nymandin is washing the dished and has already been to the pump carrying water. My other mother, Bori, is asleep in bed. My father, Baboo, is out weeding the groundnut field. To the outsider it would appear as if this was normal everyday life, one would not know that these people won’t be eating or drinking again until the sun sets tonight.

Side note:

I awoke to the normal sounds of coos pounding, chickens crowing, and children playing, and although I’ve heard it many times before the sound of a bike horn. This morning the bike horn reminded me of something very similar in the US. Let me explain, this bike horn carries with it a bicycle and a man from Brikama Ba, some 25K away. He bikes here every morning to sell fish.  What struck me this morning was that I was very excited to hear his horn because this means there is a possibility that there will be fish in the food bowl tonight. My excitement over this is much like the excitement a child would have over the ice cream truck driving around their cul-de-sac. Its funny that today of all days this struck me, partially because its Ramadan and also that Evan is on vacation in the OBX which is the only time during the year that I do buy ice cream from an ice cream truck. Apparently, what my mother’s say is slowly coming true, I am because a Gambian woman.