Work update

I have started working with WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature aka World Wildlife Fund)-The Gambia office about four months ago. I would not lie, I was thrilled to be working with this well known ‘panda’ organization! Well, at the end it is not the name but the work that kicks me out of bed early in the mornings. I have been helping out with two projects: 1. protected areas management and conservation project, and 2. sustainable fisheries project. Basically I continue the work of the other two volunteers who completed their services. Fortunately another volunteer joined organization after me so we share the tasks of these two projects. The activities of the first one ceased early (in March instead of June) due to funding issues so further steps are to work on proposal(s), in other words to look for money for next project. What do I do under the second one? The name of the project is Baa Nafaa which means benefits of the sea/ocean in Mandinka. The project is funded by USAID through the University of Rhode Island (URI). The project has have executed so many different activities: strengthening/working together TRY women oyster harvesting association, preparing and launching sole fish and oyster fisheries co-management plans, doing different biological, socio economical and other studies on fish, fisheries, coastal communities and climate change. Basically the goal of the project is to establish/strengthen the sustainable management of fisheries and coastal resources. I got involved with the shoreline sanitation survey that we did at oyster harvesting sites. The survey is a step forward towards implementing National Shellfish Sanitation Program in The Gambia. Yes, I have tried oysters for the second time (the first one, raw one, I glaringly swallowed some time ago in Minneapolis). I am learning a lot about the oysters. Do you know that oysters have two sexes and can change sex one or more times in their life time? Fascinating!  Together with my co-worker, Gabis, we visit routinely oyster aquaculture and cockle study sites. We are expanding the cockle study to possibly develop the cockle co-management plan for Kartong community. I work with dedicated and fun group of people and I’ve been compiling the knowledge about fish, fisheries, and coastal and marine environments. Loving the unforeseen turns…

Stuff

Lately I have come across the reads on new wave that is gaining speed in the west - minimalism – the benefits of having less stuff. I have arrived in the Gambia with two suitcases and the shoulder bag and found most of the things I brought useful except for few that are still sitting around my house. I can’t remember missing or lacking anything. Well, except food:).  I have accumulated quite a bit of stuff: furniture, clothes (most of them from PC ‘free pile’), books, dishes and other things. I tried to make my new place feel like home and mindlessly bought stuff that I thought is necessary but which have never found its use. Oh well – more things to give away when I leave.  For comparison I have accumulated in my sixteen months of service probably close to half of the stuff that my family of 9 people have had in their lifetimes (except for furniture). Of course the money play significant role in this, but it is not the point. They live happily without much of it. Pot holder? Well, I can use head-wrap or my wrap-up skirt to hold the hot pot. Need a grater? Poke some holes on the bottom of a milk tin and viola!

Sometimes I look with disbelief to how they do not value stuff. Not long ago the nice big umbrella that was used by all family members during last rainy season I saw laying in the garbage pile – dirty, broken and spotted with white paint. I think there are two aspects of that - to value things and be enslaved by them. In Lithuania I grew up with daily reminders to take care of the things I/we have because we did not have much money to replace them. The same habit is still with me. Stuff is not valued here in the Gambia. We had it and now we don’t – not a big deal. People are so flexible to adapt to live in any conditions. Maybe we will afford to get another one, maybe someone will give us another one or maybe we will live without it. Stuff is stuff here. It still mesmerizes how detached people are from things. Where in US we are used to construct our lives, stuff with things. I am guilty of that too. People define themselves and others by the job they have, the cars and gadgets they own, apartment/house they can afford – reshaped values by long-term stuff overflow, consumerism and smart use of media – more and more buy and consume. Money redefines our relationship with stuff – the more money is in our bank account the more we are in love with things. It does make sense, but are we happier? I do not have internet access at home in my village and I do not wish to have it, because it allows me to spend time with my family, read and etc. instead of getting sucked in vast sea of random (most of the time useless) information. The family and relatives takes the central place here. One of the reasons why people have many children is social security – children are the ones who will take care of their parents at the old age, not government. I would dare to say that in the Gambia there are very few homeless people, because in families everyone is being taken care of. They will take you in, give a shelter and feed you (there is a downside of it too, but I am not going to go in the detail). I know about only one orphanage here.

Two extremes are in front of my eyes: a society overflowing with stuff and degraded relationships and a society with very little but strong human bonding. I am not saying that one is bad and the other is awesome – both have pluses and minuses. Where have I seen more happy faces?  Heard more laughs? Yes, The Gambia. A person does not need much to survive. In the consumeristic society the relationships and self value are redefined.  We try to hold on to things because if we lose them, we think, we lose ourselves. Who am I without any of it? What am I? Unfortunately, I see the changes here as well and I am sure in ten or twenty years the Gambian society will obediently learn the western ways… I hope I am wrong.