School

The inside of a classroom

This is a small school.  Most schools have several buildings like this one.

This blog is especially for my WWS correspondence class.  You asked what the schools here are like.  They are much different than they are in America.  First of all, most kids in the US speak English at home and at school.  In The Gambia, kids speak one language at home (It might be Mandinka, Jola, Wolof, Fula or another one of the local languages.) and a different language at school (English). When the children start school, they have to start lerning English as well as their other subjects.  Gambian students study many of the same subjects as American students: science, math, English, physical education, art and social studies; but they also study agriculture and Islamic studies. 

There are no school busses here, so most of the kids walk to school.  Some ride bicycles, and in the city some kids ride public transportation.  The schools here do not have windows so that it does not get too hot in their classroom.  Most schools outside of the city do not have electricity, so that means no computers or television or air conditioning. 

Every morning, the students have an assembly where they hear announcements, sing the national anthem of The Gambia and recite a prayer.  After assembly, students go to their classrooms.  They study their lessons until lunchtime.  They learn by copying from the blackboard, reading out loud, reciting parts of their lessons from memory, singing songs, and doing practice work.  At lunch, the students spread out over the school yard to eat.  Students get into groups, and each group gets a bowl of rice with some sauce.  In some schools, there are not enough teachers for all of the classes, so a new group of students comes after lunch and the morning students go home.  Students have many responsibilities at school.  Some students are responsible for sweeping their classrooms, some fetch water for their class, and some water the school garden.

If you have any more questions, let me know.

pictures again

I just thought I would post a couple more pictures before I head back to Salliyaa.  I'll be headed out in a couple of days.

The Western Region volunteers in our asobees (matching outfits)

The view out my backdoor

Some of the teenage girls from my village on the way to a soccer game.  This game was a big deal.  They dressed up and we walked about 5k to get there.

Q & A II

Q: I read somewhere that Gambia is about 90% Muslim. Are religious differences an issue in your village?
A: In my village, not at all.  I am the only non-Muslim resident of Salliyaa.  It took my family a good few weeks to ask whether I was a Muslim or not and even now that they know I am not it does not seem to change things at all.  The kids occasionall ask questions about me not being a Muslim, about Christian prayers, etc and they invite me to pray with them in the mosque every once in a while.  As a white person, it is kind of expected that I am not a Muslim and no one has ever tried to convert me or anything.
The Gambia as a whole is really religiously tolerant.  In many places there are only Muslims, but, as I understand it, in places where there are Muslims and Christians (or any other religious group), people get along well and still seem to see more of their common ground than differences. 

Q: At this point in the learning process, how well can you communicate with your family and other villagers?
A: It amazes me how well it is going.  I can get what I need and just converse with people a little, too.  The village is really, really great at helping me understand what they are talking about.  Just a warning- after this you never want to play charades against me!  Sometimes things get confusing and both parties in a conversation are confused but that doesn't happen all that often.  Between context clues and having an expanding vocabulary I make do pretty well.  I can't have any really in depth conversations but I and my family are pleased with my progress and I'm on my way to language proficiency!

Pictures

This is my house.  It's attached in a row to three others, but most of what you see is mine. Note the great tree behind it.

I don't know why this likes to distort my pictures.  This is me and my host sister Siabitou.

Me helping pound palm nuts.

This is the salt flat.  I've gone down here several times to help the women make salt.  It's pretty hard work. 

Some of the kids in my village.  These three are SUPER cute- Hawa, Ami and Aba.

(L to R) Me, Koko, Casey and Jenna on the beach in Senegambia.  We had just finally found some ice cream so we are very happy!

Q & A

Q: What did you decide on as your project?
A: Ask me this question again in a year and maybe I'll have an answer.  The way projects work here, I'm pretty much placed in an area and it is up to me to work with the community to choose/ design projects that the area needs.  So far, I have done a bit of work on different things so I'll throw a few of my posabilities out there: doing environmental education with the school, working on woodlot project in the area with an NGO and the forestry department, working with the forestry department on education or starting a community forest in the area, working with the ag extensionist in the area on education programming, doing education work in village, convincing people in my village to plant trees, etc....  There are lots of things I could do and its all up to me.  We'll see how this plays out.

Q: Have you had any wildlife encounters?
A: I have gotten to see monkeys.  They live near my house. I've gotten within about 20 yards of them. Other than that, no real encounters with wildlife.  I have encounters with domestic animals frequently.  I have had many close encounters with chickens and I had a cow eat part of the fence of my bathroom.  I woke up at 3 in the morning to the sound of chomping on my fence.  It happens a lot so I didn't respond at first, but it sounded like a lot of fence getting snacked on so I jumped out of bed and ran out to scare off the cow. I didn't notice anything wrong with the fence until the next evening when I went out to take a shower and I was exposed stomach up through part of the fence.  After a couple days that finally got fixed.  It's happened one more time since then, but it was a small enough hole the second time I could fix it myself.


Q: Have you made friends with the locals?
A: Well, I definitely have people to hang out with and joke around with.  I sit around with the women in my village a lot, but I don't know that I would really qualify anyone as my friends quite yet.  Probably my best Gambian friend is my 13 year old host sister Adja.  She and I go places together (meaning I follow her around) and we joke around and act silly and have races.  As I get better at the language I'm sure I will develop real friendships, but I have learned that you can have a great deal of fun with people you don't really understand.  And I think that, as people, we understand each other more than you would imagine without needing to understand the words being said.  I'm not lonely. I have a whole village to hang out with.

Q: Why did you punch a chicken?
A: I was out with my village cracking peanuts by the road.  That's a normal afternoon activity and the chickens often discover that everyone is there and want some peanuts for themselves.  They often try to sneak up and steal off of someone's pile.  One was sneaking up to my pile and I went to shoo it away with my fist full of peanuts.  Because of my catlike reflexes, I was too fast for the chicken and ended up punching it a little bit before it got out of the way.


Q: Has a donkey been a mode of transportation for you yet?
A: Yes ma'am. No one but small boys ride donkeys, but donkey carts are pretty common.  I've only been on one once.  In training village, I hitched a ride on one on the way to my friend Casey's house.

Q: Have you danced at the discos?
A: Yep.  Supposedly I'm pretty good.  Who knows!

Q: What is the music situation in your village?
A: No one really plays an "insturment" but people will beat on pretty much anything that sounds like a drum.  People sing all of the time and the girls dance a lot.

Q: What's the weather like? (I'm just giving a general response to weather questions here)
A: Right now it is hot and dry.  It's not as hot as I thought it could be, but there is still a good deal of the hot season left, so I still might be impressed.  I am also in the western half of the country, which is a good deal cooler than the eastern portion.  Most days just feel like a hot summer day in the southeast US.  Maybe a little hotter but less humid so it balances out.  I spend a lot of time sweaty and gross, but that is to be expected.  It hasn't rained even a drop since December and even then then, the only rain I saw was just maybe 30 drops in my yard.  I won't see rain until June.  There are 4 seasons here, but there are always 2 seasons happening simultaneously.  Hot, cool, wet and dry.  Right now I am in the hot and dry seasons.  The weather here allows for an almost constant growing season.  Any area that can be watered can be planted with crops in the dry season.  Larger scale agriculture only happens in the wet season because you don't need to worry about watering your crops.  They plant rice, millet and peanuts in Salliyaa.

Q: What do you need?
A: Letters!
Honestly I don't really need anything.
If you want ideas on stuff though:
Granola bars, Cliff bars, etc are always a safe bet.
M&Ms (especially peanut butter)
Pictures
Flavored tuna packs
Beef jerky
Newspaper clippings
Magazines
Memory card with a case for sending back and forth
Suprise me...even if I don't want something you send (which is highly unlikely, I'm sure one of my friends does)

Learning from other people's packages I have compiled a list of things not to send as well- things for my host family (I need to make it very clear to them I am not here to give them stuff- only help), stuffed animals, peanuts (I eat these every day anyway), a christmas tree, etc.

Thanks for all of the questions.  I'm always glad to get questions to answer, so post them as a comment on here or facebook any time.

Q & A

I am planning on doing a Q & A blog while I am in the city this time, but to do this I need questions, so I need your help!  Anything you want to know write as a comment on this blog or send the question to me on facebook.  I'll answer around the 12th. Really any time you have questions feel free to post questions on here.  I'm glad to answer.  Can't wait to get your questions!

A Normal Day

I got a question on facebook about what a normal day for me is like and thought that would be a good blog.

A normal day in village*:
7:30-8... wake up, maybe read some
8:00-9:00... untuck the mosquito net and get out of bed, then get ready for the day
about 9... go out into my compound, take the bowls from my dinner out to the kitchens
after that... help out with something around the compound or just hang out (maybe process some palm fruit, maybe sit around and talk to some kids, maybe sweep my house- just depends)
after that... usually go to another place to hang out for a while or do some work. Could be the school, forestry camp, another compound, agriculture camp, etc.
1:45... if I'm going to go home for lunch I need to be home by now.  We eat lunch between now and 2:30.
after lunch... I hang stay in my house for about an hour taking care of business
3:30-5:00... hang out with people around the village.  Lots of times we crack peanuts.
5:00-7:30... this is a big work time of the day.  I go to the garden every day to water my tomotoes and help out with watering.  Sometimes I do other things like go to the salt flat, go out to gather fire wood, etc.
7:30... take a bath. Take comfort everyone- my family here makes me bathe every day.  It's rediculous!
8:00... either help cook or spend time with my family
9:00... eat dinner
9:30... go out and spend more time with my family
after that... go in my house and read, write letters, get ready for bed, etc.
I'm asleep by midnight.

*All times are extremely approximate