Life in Statistics

Hardcore facts from the World Food Program and The Government of The Gambia. 

On March 7, 2012, The Government of The Gambia issued a Declaration of State of Public Emergency Resulting from Crop Failures and Soaring Food Prices. The situation has continued to worsen. The World Food Program (WFP) Gambia issued a statement on April 10 that of the 605,000 people living in the districts most affected by crop failure, 428,000 people (of which 18 percent are children under the age of 5 years old) are directly affected by the poor crops and are facing near starvation. In addition to the crop failure, The Gambia faces a long-term shortage of healthy seeds to begin fighting the drastic crop failure experienced in 2011. The ground-nut industry is the main sustaining crop of the agricultural industry, with cashew playing an important role also, but these two agricultural mainstays now face rapid decline in production capabilities for the next five years A thorough analysis carried out by the UN WFP and issued on April 9 reveals that The Gambia needs $20 million to address general food relief, $1.5 million for medication, and $21 million for agriculture and livestock. As of today, a total of $11 million has been pledged. However, immediate needs are not being covered.

Statistics issued in The UN’s World Food Program Daa Nyeeno Report of January 2012:

·        * Overall crop production for the 2011/12 agro-pastoral season is expected to decline by 62% compared to the previous year and by 50% compared to the 5-year average. Compared to the 2010, the production of upland rice and groundnuts is expected to decline by 74% and 64% respectively.

·        * A cereal deficit of at least 214,000 metric tons is expected in The Gambia from March onwards. While wholesale stocks of imported rice are generally on the increase, currently they can cover the gap by 35,000 metric tons leaving a shortage of 179,000 metric tons. On average, farming households will experience an early and protracted lean season with the expectation of finishing own food stocks 3-4 months after the harvest (by February- March), down from the usual 6-7 months (by May-June).

·       *  Population most affected by the current drop in crop production and in need of assistance amounts to at least 520,583 in most affected rural districts. An additional 192,850 people living in the most impoverished urban areas are considered most vulnerable to food insecurity due to low incomes, declining purchasing power, continuous exposure to disaster (primarily floods) and growing economic pressure from rural areas given the bad harvest (interdependency). Food prices recorded their highest levels since the 2008 food price crisis. Compared to 2008 peak levels (December 2008), the nominal price of imported rice is only 1% lower, while the prices of local paddy and coarse grains are respectively 34.5% and 28.9% higher. Although the prices of millet and maize have fallen compared to the previous quarter (-8.2% and -10.3% respectively), and prices of imported rice are stabilizing, cereal prices are generally expected to remain high and to continue to increase in step with decreasing household stocks and growing demand, unless substantial amounts of cereals will be imported.

·         *Malnutrition (stunting) has increased in 2011, affecting 11% of the under-5 children in rural areas (up from 10% in 2010) and is at the highest level since 2006. In certain areas of the country (NBR-East, LRR, CRR), stunting currently stands at nearly 20% and might rise higher throughout the year, in particular in areas most affected by low crop production and decreasing purchasing power.

·       *  Seed insecurity and declining purchasing power at farmer level may adversely affect agricultural production, food security and nutrition in 2012 and 2013. High reliance on agriculture (29% of GDP and 70% of export value in 2009) may put in jeopardy the country’s overall economic growth prospects and balance of payments given the current drop in production levels, while the upcoming cropping season is at risk. 

A little bit of home

Namandyin, one of two  mothers I have here

Aramita and my Photoshoot!!

Isatou, 3 months old. I might not speak Mandinka but I speak baby!!

Lollipops are a form of entertainment!

Rice distribution (more on this later)

Ba and Isatou, sibling love!

5:03pm 105.0 degrees. You don't even want to know how hot it is at the peak of the day

MY HOUSE! Thatched roof, mud walls and all. Compared to local homes its especially nice, it has screen doors and screened windows and a cement finished floor. 

This is 30% tan, 70% dirt. Check out the new jewelry (its from the 'fula' tribe).  

Sihouette

The fields being burned in preparation for the coming rains, Cow just chilling out.

Aramita, my younger sister, adorable!

 The picture above captures the first moment of absolute bliss that I experienced with my family. It was wash day and there was a pile of clothes waiting to be washed, sitting on a mat. These three kids piled into the clothes and were tickling one another. This went on for hours and they still ask me to tickle them.

When Ba gets really happy, he kinda shakes and  his laugh is like a giggling cough. He was so happy here, that I couldn't capture it fast enough

Left to right, some of my siblings, Farfala, Ba, Aramita, Sible (a visitor),  Baramusa, and Comfatty. 

Neighhood small boy, Amadou, played so hard that he fell asleep right were the playing had stopped. 

Senses Enhanced

Weird things start to happen when you begin to lead a different life. I’m not sure if it’s the side effects of Malaria medication or simply that I am beginning to change, but my senses have suddenly become very intense, particularly my sense of smell and taste. I guessing that the very realistic and very odd dreams are due to the medication and the intensification of sense is reality. Let me explain. All ‘cosmetic’ items like shampoo, body lotion, conditioner and sunscreen suddenly smell incredible. They smell something like what they smell like in the U.S. but magnified by at least 50. Usually, I would smell how  ‘great’ lotion smelled right as I was putting it on and within say 20 minutes the smell would diminish, but when I put it on here the smell hangs around all day and eventually becomes intermingled with the smell of sweat(inevitable) but the smell is still around 8 hours later! Incredible, St.Ives you have blown my world. Gosh, I didn’t even buy the good smelling stuff, I have here “Mineral Therapy” it promises to “bring ‘me’ the best of nature with formulas that delight the senses as they leave ‘my’ skin with a soft, fresh feel. We understand that little every day choices we make help to better your life.” I couldn’t agree more. Seriously, I used to laugh at the marketing skills that these companies come up with; they must be getting someone in a third world country to write these things because from this perspective not only are they honest but they are insightful. Odder things have happened.

Now it’s time for the food. Because the diet, when we have food, is intensely bland and the consistence akin to the texture of baby food with mashed rice,(unless there is some dirt in it, very common, or fish bones, less common but there is no way around eating them) when I do eat or smell something DELICIOUS it’s like an explosion. Just the act of opening a bag of trail mix from ‘christmas’ packages or walking into a bitik that has bread is almost overpowering in how wonderful it smells. Then the tastes, man, I don’t think I can do it justice. In AMERCAA, you couldn’t get me to choose to eat dried prunes. Now, I dream about dried prunes, dried fruit and food of anytype. It’s a plus that the dried prunes have fun facts on the packaging, “Super Fruit Fact: are a low fat snack that aids in appetite control.” Nothing is better than have your tastes explode while being entertained by English words, thank you for a moment of joy Sunsweet, thank you!

Because I have so much time on my hands, it’s common for me to daydream about what I would be doing if I was in America right now. And I can say that right now if I were to fly back, the very first place I would go would be a restaurant, I don’t care what type as long as there was food available. But that would only be to add a layer of protection because the next stop would be a grocery store. Grocery store, I miss you. 

Food Security

When submitting my Peace Corps application and accepting the offer to come to West Africa, I had images of what I might find when I got here and general ideas of how my life might change.  I know now as I am at the very beginning of service that what my expectations and stereotypes were are nothing of what reality here actually is. Sure, it’s ‘African Hot,’ I sweat like I’ve never sweat before (it’s sort of like living in a sauna) and hope to never sweat like this again, dirt is a general and permanent condition, and eating rice all-day, everyday is not enjoyable or nutritious. Being the only white person within 20K, I am a celebrity, a celebrity without the perks of V.I.P. invitations, great meals, red carpets, or beautiful clothing. My perks come ‘African style,’ when sad all I have to do is find a child; their happiness is contagious and radiating.  There’s something infectious about riding my bike across the African desert and having 50 small boys, dressed in rags, abandon their soccer game, just to run full speed towards me screaming my name, to simply shake my hand. It’s a starting theory that there are so many kids, not just because kids come as Allah wants them to come, but because the kids keep everyone happy. But even the adults seem to live unnoticing of their surroundings, my mom laughs constantly, at almost nothing! She’s starting to wear off on me, I have some hard moments where I would give anything to be in a grocery store or simply spend time with all of you at home, but I also have moments where I couldn’t image myself anywhere but here. Africa’s starting to get to me.

Hearing facts about people without food globally, when I was in America, is very different than actually living it. Here in The Gambia, the rains last year were terrible and the crop production was something like 75% below average (don’t quote me I don’t remember the exact statistic). The seasons are not only defined by weather, they are defined by hunger. In New England, we have spring, summer, fall, and winter. Here there is the wet season, the dry season, but also the hunger season. As the rains are suppose to begin any minute, and already have TWICE!!, we are in full blown hunger season. It’s not unusual for families in my village to miss one or two meals per day. And it’s not only my village, although I live in the Central River Region which is historically the poorest region in The Gambia. When I first started missing meals, I thought it might only be my family but was confused because that’s not the way society works here. If one family has little to eat, other families will help feed them. So, with the help of an English speaker in my village I conducted ‘compound-to-compound’ interviews with each family. I asked basic baseline survey analysis questions, ‘how many people live here?’ ‘how many children go to school?’ ‘what is the source of income?’ ‘do you buy rice by the bag or by the cup?’ ‘how long would a bag of rice last?’ I won’t go into the details, but I will say that it was a rough day. People are hungry and it’s common that they don’t know where their next meal will come from. My village is one of ten in The Gambia to be receiving funds from the U.S. Ambassadors Emergency Relief Fund. The amount of money is something that America doesn’t even blink to spend and is more money than my village has ever seen at one time. The money has been designated to be spent on food security items, among other things. Even with a small village of 33 compounds (200-300 people) the food security is so lacking that at this moment even with 2 bags of rice given to each family, it would only last some families 2.5 weeks.

Hunger is real, it is frightening, and it consumes all thoughts. I have a trunk of food from America (THANK YOU!) and there are times I feel so guilty that I have food that I can’t look at it. It took me about a week before I gave in and had a ‘trunk day’ were I ate until I was so full I just laid on the floor in a combination of being stuffed and being hot! Now I supplement my diet with small things from my trunk. I share small things with my family, I don’t have enough to feed everyone and it wouldn’t be sustainable if I did because then no one would have food. It breaks my heart to hear my younger siblings cry from hunger, to bike to work and have teenage students ask me for food. As a volunteer, it’s my job to be an outlet to exchange knowledge, to present ideas, to identify resources that could be more effectively, and to attempt new things to increase the level of food security and agricultural production. I won’t lie or try to lighten the truth, it’s hard, terrible, depressing, difficult, it physical hurts to be hungry, I think, I cry, I call my family, Evan, I call other volunteers, I cry some more, they support, advise, tell experiences, offer to come visit, we are here for each other at all times.

When I become overwhelmed, I take a moment to center on why I am here, the beauty in the landscape, the beauty in the people. Or I take a moment to attempt to be American, to have a hip-hop dance party with my younger brother who loves Eminem J , to visualize a typical American day, or lay in the heat of the day and read a book. Then comes moments that make me realize that I couldn’t leave now even if I wanted to, I come into the compound and my younger brother, Baba, who is 2, screams with this half-toothed grin, “ISATOO NAATAA” ‘Isatou came.’  Africa is always here.