Swear-in

Few picts frm swear-in...which took about 10 min to upload...I will post others on Picasa when the Internet is more reasonable. Greetings!

Some facts... and gardening in The Gambia

The Gambia is one of the smallest among the countries in Africa. It also ranks 168 out of 182 countries (UNDP Human Development Index, 2009) being one of the poorest country in the world. Per capita income is estimated to be about USD 556 in 2009. More than 60 percent of rural population and 57 percent of urban population live in poverty. Even though the economic growth was recorded between the years of 2004 and 2009 at approximately 5-6 percent annually larger portion of the population is still very poor.

I learned that PC service in The Gambia is one of the most challenging. However, there have been very few yearly service terminations and more than average service extension for the third year.

The climate of the Gambia is considered semi arid-tropical with a short rainy season from June to October. The start and end of rainy season varies with each year. The effects of climate change are evident. During the rainy season the country changes its face: everything is growing and blooming - green color everywhere. I am still to see this change. The yearly rainfall varies from 500 mm (east) to 900 mm (west). Most of the roads in the country are dirt/sand roads and it becomes very difficult (sometimes impossible) to drive on them. Currently, during the dry season, the vegetation is dry and sparse. Sand and dust is everywhere. I have not seen a drip of water from the sky in any form or shape for three months now. It feels unusual to see same weather each day. 

The main farming occurs during the rainy months. Rice, millet/coos, sorghum and maze are the main crops of the Gambia. However, gardening is done year round. The most common vegetables grown here are: tomatoes, bitter tomatoes (which is really bitter and I am slowly trying to acquire its taste), eggplant, cucumbers, lettuce, bell peppers, sorrel, cabbage, onions and okra. There are some other greens grown that local people use in the sauces, but I do not remember the English name for them. Those are the main vegetables one can find in the local market (depending on the season). The main export product is the groundnut (peanuts) accounting for about 60 percent of all exports and during last decades it has been shrinking. Another opportunity for the country is to grow and export cashews. Cashews are more expensive and could provide the families with larger incomes and help rise from poverty. The cashews were pushed in the Gambia for many years now, but this opportunity has not been grasped by many local people. There are many factors and grounds to reason that, but the main few are lack of education, knowledge, resistance to change and lack of long term planning. We have several Peace Corps volunteers who are actively promoting cashews and helping families in rural areas to establish cashew orchards.

Gardening is mostly done by the women. Some of the women have gardens within the compounds and some - in the community garden space. Sometimes the landowner rents a piece of land for women to garden and then suddenly he/she reclaims the land and women are left with nothing. Interestingly if one plants trees on the piece of land, that land becomes his/her property. Building the fence around the garden is a must, because the animals (goats, sheep, chickens, donkeys, and cows) browse around freely looking for food. Only in rainy season they might be tied down. It is not common to see the animals in the city, next to bank, by the road, crossing the road. We nearly hit few cows and donkeys on our trip through the country. They are dangerous! Back to gardening…I have so much to tell and getting off topic is so easy. Most of the vegetables grown in the garden are sold in the market. You would think that some different vegetables would be grown for personal consumption…That is not a case here – f.e all the garden can be planted with sorrel, salad, and/or tomatoes and nothing else, which is unfortunate. Women work very hard in the gardens. Usually they water the plants in the morning and evening and attend them during the day or after watering. I have gone with my training village family to water the plants several times – watering is hard (a koleyata!J). The water is drawn from the well with a bucket and rope then it is carried to the beds. Again and again… Sometimes the wells go dry and one has to dig another well or share the neighbors, which is further away. Many gardens become abandoned because the wells go dry after some time. Women here take very good care of the gardens - they are their source of income. I am still to explore and see the community gardens in my village.

First days at the village (March 19th entry)

The size of my village is in between the standard village and the city village (sort of suburb) and it can also explained by its location right on the Kombo (city area) border. I was not able to stroll the entire village, but it seems rather large. Most of the compounds have electricity and are more prosperous than the ones in the training village. By prosperous I do not mean two story house with the amenities and nice things, but a family here could afford to have a nice locally made couch with armchairs (even it is worn out and which costs more than my monthly allowance) and maybe small TV (forget about the flat screen). Most of the compounds are surrounded by tall brick walls for privacy.

Yesterday I visited alkalo (village head) and imam (village religious leader). Any stranger that come to the village to stay for some time should visit the alkalo, introduce himself/herself and bring kola nuts (must!). The alkalo by tradition is the person who started the village (or who’s family started the village). He (usually, I heard only about one woman alkalo) is responsible for land legal matters, any problems/concerns of the people in the village. He can be compared to village mayor. Alkalo is respected and listened upon by all of the people in the village. When alkalo welcomes the new comer, he/she can feel accepted and safe. The imam is the religious leader, whom also one should visit, greet and bring kola nuts. He greeted and welcomed me to the village. One should not look directly to the eyes of the elder, which I have been forgetting most of the time. Even when visiting imam I constantly had to reminded myself to look away not into his eyes.

We also went around the village with my host mom, Sima, and host brother, Sana, to meet and greet their extended family, which is VERY large. I did not even try to remember names and who is who. I hope with time, I will be able to learn their names and relationships.

Do you know...

Article ‘The’ was added to country’s name (The Gambia) to separate it from Zambia. I guess Zambia and Gambia were mixed up a lot.

- Mandinkas (a tribe in The Gambia) cannot pronounce ‘g’ so they say the country’s name ‘Kambia’.

- Country is divided in five regions: Western Region (WR), North Bank, Lower River Region (LLR), Upper River Region (URR), Central River Region (CRR). I live in WR, not too far from the Atlantic ocean.

Day at Work

Today was first day at work, and it started as a usual day. My host mom helped me to get gelli gelli (small bus) to work. It is about 1 km from my place and I will bike there in the future. Work starts at 8 am (officially) but when I got there (note - a bit late) very few people were there. My host dad, who also works at the same place, was surprised that I showed up on time. As much as I would like to sleep-in in the mornings, I promised that I will not abuse the system and (try to) show up to work on time.

My supervisor was getting ready to go to the meeting and asked if I would like to attend it together with him. Of course! So I ended up at the National Interaction Workshop on the West Africa Water Resources Policy facilitated by ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States). It was fascinating to sit at this workshop together with ministers and other important people. Again time is not money in the Gambia. The start of the meeting was scheduled for 8 am and it did not start until about 10:30am and… the facilitators managed to finish it an hour early! During the workshop the discussion evolved around the ways to develop and implement the water resources policy on national level. It was the first meeting on policy making I have ever attended. Compared to the United States, The Gambia and other countries in West Africa have to do a lot of work to manage, effectively use and protect their water resources (note – my opinion). The tools and resources to achieve those goals are so limited here and the biggest setback is funding/money. However, I met many very knowledgeable people who are passionate about their work, people and future of the country. I was also happy to see several women among the guests!

LAST Move! (March 14h entry)

I was hesitant on going to my new place and new family. The transition period from western dormitory lifestyle in Senegambia to the alone village life was going to be about a quarter of an hour. I was far from ready to make this change in such short period of time. So I decided and got okey’ed by Souleiman (the driver) to be dropped off the last after Jen and Mike were left at their places. It was en excellent decision! I got to see their homes and villages, the country and postpone the start of three month challenge. It was challenging again to let go the comforts of western life and settle in the village without the main amenities.   

Prior to swear-in/ departure our group stayed in PC transit house for almost two weeks. We shared the common space of four rooms filled with bunk beds and two bathrooms. The transit house has a running water, electricity and Internet. None of these services are reliable and continuous. The Internet failed when many people tried to reconnect with the world or electricity was interrupted. The water also disappeared several times during the stay. The disappearance of electricity and water does not surprise me anymore – it became a part of the daily life here. The PC transit house is located in so called Senegambia, a tourist area with different types of entertainment offered: hotels, restaurants, night clubs, and a beach. I had several opportunities to jump in the ocean! AmazingJ Nearly every night the sleep was interrupted by the 80-90s songs that were screaming from the bar next door. The louder - the better and the music is played until 3-4 am in the morning. The only choice was to get used to sleeping to this loud lullaby.

Back to where I started…my home. I spent all first day unpacking. It was very satisfying to finally get situated in my place after living from the luggage for three months. I still need to get a shelf for my clothes and few other furniture pieces – the masterpieces of the local carpenter. The already made furniture is not usually sold here and if it is, it is usually used one and/or very expensive. So far I have: an expensive used table which was shipped here from Netherlands, a locally made armchair for reading, a bamboo bed, a mattress and a single burner, some kitchen stuff and gardening tools. It was enough to start the two years here.

My family is very nice and seems very large – my host dad has two wives. The family tree is still to be figured out. I wonder if it ever will be… The language barrier is a big problem and makes it hard to communicate with the family and others in the village. I feel silly when they talk with me and/or about me and I do not understand a thing. I just stare with blank eyes and they stare back at me with questioning eyes: ‘you learned Mandinka for two months. How can’t you understand this?!’ Therefore, the main goal now will be to learn the language so I can hold a conversation with local people.