Since being here, Ive started suffering from some major sharing issues. Gambians have a really giving culture, but they also ask for things much more than Americans are taught is polite.
I like your pants... Give them to me.
You have two pairs of socks? You should give me one.
And of course... Toubab! Give me money!
All this asking for stuff has started to make me hoard things. If I buy some cookies, they stay hidden in the house and I try to be quiet when I open the package... Okay, okay, its not that serious, but Im definitely trying to figure out how to balance the scales.
My newest strategy is just to ask Gambians for things I like too. I like your skirt, give it to me. Hasnt worked yet, but Im sure one day it will pay off.
Honestly, that sort of giving-taking culture has its benefits. When you go to visit someone just to chat, you can walk away with a bag full of oranges, like I did today. So I just try to remember that yes, they are asking for more than usual just because Im a toubab, but if I just ask for things back its not only my burden to bear.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
A few unrelated pictures
This is my dad and my brother who was born on the very first day I moved in. My brother always has that kind of pained expression on his face. 
They draw on new born baby's eyebrows... Flattering? Ummm....
Laundry. I don't do this as well as Gambians so I've stopped trying.Work? Yes, I do.
So you might all think that I spend all day every day drinking attaya and fetching water, but I promise that I've actually managed to find work for myself. I haven't been at site too long, so most of these projects are in the very beginnings, but here are some of the things I have been doing:
1. Teaching forestry lessons - This is actually a pretty easy set up for me, and I think a more useful one for the village than if I really did just go teach forestry. Instead, I have been working with the students training to be foresters at the forestry station to make lesson plans, which they then go teach at the middle school and the primary school. I think this is more effective for lots of reasons: the foresters get some practice doing the things foresters in the Gambia are supposed to do, the students are taught by people they can look to as role models, and the forestry students are better in local language than I am. We just did our first lesson about bush fire prevention, and the next one we're planning will be about how to start a tree nursery. Which leads me to...
2. Gambia All-Schools Tree Nursery Competition - This is a country-wide competition that's run jointly by government offices and the Peace Corps. I'm studying up to take over the Regional Coordinator position once the older batch of volunteers goes home. Basically, it's just schools competing to see who can plant the most trees in the most organized, creative, useful ways. Then they can sell what they produce, and win prizes. To get started, I went to the awards ceremony at the first place school in the Western Division. It was quite an event, complete with a Howard Stern-themed tent (oh, the things that somehow make it from America), singing women hijacking the microphone, and some verrrrrry interesting speeches.
3. Tutoring math and science - This is just what it sounds like. I'm working with a young man in my village to do a few hours of classes every weekend to help 9th graders pass their end-of-the-year qualifying exam. This is a bit more challenging than I thought because it's really a struggle to teach fairly complicated science when foundations like reading aren't really there. I could say a lot more about this, but I won't because well, let's keep it neutral.
4. Rehabilitating the womens garden - This is a slow, slow, slow process because it involves money and frankly, projects that involve money usually flop so while I think this is a great idea and should happen, I'm a little wary. There is a large space in my village that has basically been left to fallow for upwards of 10 years because the original (donated) borehole and generator broke. So there's no water there. And no fence really. Those are two major issues in this country. But there have been some offers for help in terms of funding and seeds made, and the village seems behind the project, so I'm proceeding slowly, slowly.
5. Computer help - Okay, I don't really even know computers that well but when people see toubabs they think computer genius. So all the places in my village that have computers (skills center, middle school, nursery school) have called me in to help with things like switching their computers out of swedish, teaching typing, helping them do fancy borders... Luckily these are for the most part things that I can do.
I have lots of other project ideas but for now I'm kind of letting the Gambians steer my direction because I haven't been around long enough to know for sure if my ideas are good, useful, realistic, sustainable...
1. Teaching forestry lessons - This is actually a pretty easy set up for me, and I think a more useful one for the village than if I really did just go teach forestry. Instead, I have been working with the students training to be foresters at the forestry station to make lesson plans, which they then go teach at the middle school and the primary school. I think this is more effective for lots of reasons: the foresters get some practice doing the things foresters in the Gambia are supposed to do, the students are taught by people they can look to as role models, and the forestry students are better in local language than I am. We just did our first lesson about bush fire prevention, and the next one we're planning will be about how to start a tree nursery. Which leads me to...
2. Gambia All-Schools Tree Nursery Competition - This is a country-wide competition that's run jointly by government offices and the Peace Corps. I'm studying up to take over the Regional Coordinator position once the older batch of volunteers goes home. Basically, it's just schools competing to see who can plant the most trees in the most organized, creative, useful ways. Then they can sell what they produce, and win prizes. To get started, I went to the awards ceremony at the first place school in the Western Division. It was quite an event, complete with a Howard Stern-themed tent (oh, the things that somehow make it from America), singing women hijacking the microphone, and some verrrrrry interesting speeches.
3. Tutoring math and science - This is just what it sounds like. I'm working with a young man in my village to do a few hours of classes every weekend to help 9th graders pass their end-of-the-year qualifying exam. This is a bit more challenging than I thought because it's really a struggle to teach fairly complicated science when foundations like reading aren't really there. I could say a lot more about this, but I won't because well, let's keep it neutral.
4. Rehabilitating the womens garden - This is a slow, slow, slow process because it involves money and frankly, projects that involve money usually flop so while I think this is a great idea and should happen, I'm a little wary. There is a large space in my village that has basically been left to fallow for upwards of 10 years because the original (donated) borehole and generator broke. So there's no water there. And no fence really. Those are two major issues in this country. But there have been some offers for help in terms of funding and seeds made, and the village seems behind the project, so I'm proceeding slowly, slowly.
5. Computer help - Okay, I don't really even know computers that well but when people see toubabs they think computer genius. So all the places in my village that have computers (skills center, middle school, nursery school) have called me in to help with things like switching their computers out of swedish, teaching typing, helping them do fancy borders... Luckily these are for the most part things that I can do.
I have lots of other project ideas but for now I'm kind of letting the Gambians steer my direction because I haven't been around long enough to know for sure if my ideas are good, useful, realistic, sustainable...
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Make Your Own Attaya
Okay, I've gotten some flack for not defining terms, so what follows is a recipe for the national drink of Gambia, attaya:
Ingredients: Water, loose Gunpowder green tea leaves, sugar (lots), maybe some extras like mint, nescafe, etc. if you've got them around
Put charcoal or coals from the fire in a metal stand with a handle and swing it around until it gets really hot. Then, pour three shot glasses of water into a very very small kettle. Add a bunch of tea leaves and let it sit until it boils. Once it boils, add 1-2 shot glasses full of sugar. Sit back and wait until it boils again.
Now is where practice makes perfect. Pour the tea from the kettle into a shot glass from as high up as possible to start creating a foam. Alternate filling one shot glass and then pouring it (also from very high up) into the other shot glass, filling both and pouring them into the kettle, and any variation on the theme. Now is also when you add any extra goodies to the recipe. All this pouring from a great distance goes on for at least 10 minutes, until a good foam head forms in the glasses. Then, it's back into the kettle and back onto the coals to heat up again.
Take a moment here to rinse off the outside of your glasses and your serving plate. Once the attaya is hot again you can fill both cups. Make sure to serve in order of seniority. When it's your turn, make sure to slurp and drink as quickly as possible so that the next person can get some too.
Ingredients: Water, loose Gunpowder green tea leaves, sugar (lots), maybe some extras like mint, nescafe, etc. if you've got them around
Put charcoal or coals from the fire in a metal stand with a handle and swing it around until it gets really hot. Then, pour three shot glasses of water into a very very small kettle. Add a bunch of tea leaves and let it sit until it boils. Once it boils, add 1-2 shot glasses full of sugar. Sit back and wait until it boils again.
Now is where practice makes perfect. Pour the tea from the kettle into a shot glass from as high up as possible to start creating a foam. Alternate filling one shot glass and then pouring it (also from very high up) into the other shot glass, filling both and pouring them into the kettle, and any variation on the theme. Now is also when you add any extra goodies to the recipe. All this pouring from a great distance goes on for at least 10 minutes, until a good foam head forms in the glasses. Then, it's back into the kettle and back onto the coals to heat up again.
Take a moment here to rinse off the outside of your glasses and your serving plate. Once the attaya is hot again you can fill both cups. Make sure to serve in order of seniority. When it's your turn, make sure to slurp and drink as quickly as possible so that the next person can get some too.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Back to Site
Hey all,
Just wanted to tell you I'm heading back to site the day after tomorrow, so expect another long gap in communication.
I'm now officially a Peace Corps Volunteer! Don't forget to write PCV instead of PCT on anythign you send to me starting... well, probably three weeks ago but oh well. We were sworn in at the US Ambassador's house. He used to work for Peace Corps, as did his wife. Now he lives in an amazing beach front house with a swimming pool...
And I went bee keeping last night! We put on big suits and went out in the dark. African bees are a little harder to work with than American/European bees since they haven't been bred to be docile. We smoked them to get them kind of dopey, and then opened up the hives and looked at the honey. My group didn't end up finding any good honey to harvest in the two hives we looked at, but the other group did. It was probably the best thing I have ever eaten in my life.
Looking at the hives was really interesting. We were able to see where fresh and capped honey was, where the brood cells were, and the difference between drones and worker bees. We also saw some comb moths that were infecting one of the hives and the cells where new queen bees were laid. The whole time you could hear the bees buzzing around your ears and bumping into your head piece. When they landed on my gloves I could feel them vibrating. We watched one sting Andy's glove, which was interesting to see.
The main problem with African bees, and why they are deemed "killer," is that when one stings, it releases a pharamone that attracts other bees to sting also. So when you're beekeeping and you get stung, you have to either get the heck out or cover yourself in enough smoke to mask the pharamone. I didn't get stung in the bee suit, but once we took it off and were eating honey I got stung twice. I'm still standing.
My break in the big city (relatively speaking) has been nice, but I'm excited to go back and try to get used to my real life. Please keep up the snail mail, since it's been really nice to get your letters and packages. Lots of people have asked what might be good to send in a package, so here are just a few suggestions:
Dried fruit, magazines, anything just-add-water (soup mix, boiling bags, pasta, powdered sauce mix), any kind of bar (Lara, Cliff, Luna, Chewy, etc.), nuts, granola, juice powder, books, any kind of yummy snack you can think of that won't rot in the mail... Just nice notes from home are also really, really, really nice.
Fo wati do (Until next time).
Just wanted to tell you I'm heading back to site the day after tomorrow, so expect another long gap in communication.
I'm now officially a Peace Corps Volunteer! Don't forget to write PCV instead of PCT on anythign you send to me starting... well, probably three weeks ago but oh well. We were sworn in at the US Ambassador's house. He used to work for Peace Corps, as did his wife. Now he lives in an amazing beach front house with a swimming pool...
And I went bee keeping last night! We put on big suits and went out in the dark. African bees are a little harder to work with than American/European bees since they haven't been bred to be docile. We smoked them to get them kind of dopey, and then opened up the hives and looked at the honey. My group didn't end up finding any good honey to harvest in the two hives we looked at, but the other group did. It was probably the best thing I have ever eaten in my life.
Looking at the hives was really interesting. We were able to see where fresh and capped honey was, where the brood cells were, and the difference between drones and worker bees. We also saw some comb moths that were infecting one of the hives and the cells where new queen bees were laid. The whole time you could hear the bees buzzing around your ears and bumping into your head piece. When they landed on my gloves I could feel them vibrating. We watched one sting Andy's glove, which was interesting to see.
The main problem with African bees, and why they are deemed "killer," is that when one stings, it releases a pharamone that attracts other bees to sting also. So when you're beekeeping and you get stung, you have to either get the heck out or cover yourself in enough smoke to mask the pharamone. I didn't get stung in the bee suit, but once we took it off and were eating honey I got stung twice. I'm still standing.
My break in the big city (relatively speaking) has been nice, but I'm excited to go back and try to get used to my real life. Please keep up the snail mail, since it's been really nice to get your letters and packages. Lots of people have asked what might be good to send in a package, so here are just a few suggestions:
Dried fruit, magazines, anything just-add-water (soup mix, boiling bags, pasta, powdered sauce mix), any kind of bar (Lara, Cliff, Luna, Chewy, etc.), nuts, granola, juice powder, books, any kind of yummy snack you can think of that won't rot in the mail... Just nice notes from home are also really, really, really nice.
Fo wati do (Until next time).
Monday, January 12, 2009
Picture Post
Typical breakfast: Rice Porridge
Food bowls
Marathon March
My henna-ed hand
My namesake's mom and siblings
Me and my namesake
The beach in Fajara Friday, January 9, 2009
The Konkuran
There is a circumcision camp going on in Wurokang right now. As a girl, I don’t get to see much of anything, but there are certainly some noticeable changes in the village. The first day of the camp all the women in the village wore pants and danced. Scott went to the bush to see the boys and he said they were sitting under a mango tree nursing their wounds. He thought some were girls before they were wearing headscarves. He gave them cookies and they said a prayer. At night you can hear drums and see a bonfire going in the bush.
But the really noticeable change in the village is the entrance of the konkuran. Today, as I was walking back from Kwinella with Scott we saw a parade of drumming, clapping boys coming toward us. One of them was dressed all in straw and wielding machetes. Scott turns to me and says “Seriously, you might want to run.” And I do, along with all the other women outside their compounds. This is a serious run, not a little jog. People want to get home. When I got back to my compound the women were standing at the gate peeking out, but soon Kombe hustled us all into the women’s house and locked the door. When Fatou went outside into the backyard, she got yelled at. This is serious business. If the konkuran catches a woman, people say he will beat you unless you give him money. But in practice you never really know what to expect, and it’s not worth messing with.
The konkuran came through the village several other times, and even if it was dark or the middle of dinner, all activity stopped to go inside and lock the door.
But the really noticeable change in the village is the entrance of the konkuran. Today, as I was walking back from Kwinella with Scott we saw a parade of drumming, clapping boys coming toward us. One of them was dressed all in straw and wielding machetes. Scott turns to me and says “Seriously, you might want to run.” And I do, along with all the other women outside their compounds. This is a serious run, not a little jog. People want to get home. When I got back to my compound the women were standing at the gate peeking out, but soon Kombe hustled us all into the women’s house and locked the door. When Fatou went outside into the backyard, she got yelled at. This is serious business. If the konkuran catches a woman, people say he will beat you unless you give him money. But in practice you never really know what to expect, and it’s not worth messing with.
The konkuran came through the village several other times, and even if it was dark or the middle of dinner, all activity stopped to go inside and lock the door.
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