I woke up in the morning to a phone call from a man in the village up from mine saying that my host father had died a few hours earlier. I spent the next several hours trying to figure out if people at the house I was at know about it or not. After a couple of stressful hours, I finally had decided that a certain group of women knew what was going on. I packed up my stuff and set out walking with them. We walked at least 3 miles to get to this road where we waited for a little while as more of the family trickled up. Then a big vehicle came and we all rode back to my village, stopping along the way to gather people from a few different villages. (The ride back to my vill was one of the most exciting times so far in my service- honestly one of the most exciting things in my ervice. I was having to try to look more at least a little somber.) We got to Salliyaa and everyone piled out of the vehicle. There were SO many people at my compound. I went around and greeted people, etc. It was great to see a lot of them. A lot of people had some into town to see my host father in the last couple of months while he was sick, so I had met most of the people in for the funeral. Eventually I got to shower and put on a complet (2 piece Gambian dressy outfit- see my swear-in pictures). By the time I got out, the funeral had already started. I actually have no idea what happened most of the time. It was in Arabic and Mandinka and it was an Islamic ceremony. There was a lot of wailing from the women and then the men carried the body to the edge of town for the burial. After that, everything was pretty much over. Since then, there have been lots of people and lots of cooking at my house. I'm hoping there will still be some of my favorite family visitors at the house when I get back tomorrow, but maybe not as many people as were there when I left. There were probably 100 people in my compound when I woke up yesterday morning. That's a little overwhelming. It'll be interesting adjusting to the new family structure and seeing what changes now.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
A Naming and a Funeral
The other day, I went to a naming ceremony in the city. The naming ceremony was in honor of the new baby of one of my host brothers' wives. The party consisted of lots of food and dancing. It was really fun. I got to see some of the family I hadn't seen in a while and talked to them. I got to learn to cook some Gambian soup (ebe) I had never even tasted before. It was good and being able to help cook was nice. That gave me an excuse to hang out with some of the women and get away from the main party for a while. I danced for a while, which is fun for everyone around me. I'm quite a spectacle. It's terrible! I don't mind dancing for a while, and I actually like it if I have someone to dance with. I just get uncomfortable having to freestyle solo dances in the middle of a circle of clapping women. Thankfully I didn't spend too much of my day doing that! Eventually I staked a place out on the floor, grabbed a couch cushion and fell asleep on the floor of the living room of the house.
I woke up in the morning to a phone call from a man in the village up from mine saying that my host father had died a few hours earlier. I spent the next several hours trying to figure out if people at the house I was at know about it or not. After a couple of stressful hours, I finally had decided that a certain group of women knew what was going on. I packed up my stuff and set out walking with them. We walked at least 3 miles to get to this road where we waited for a little while as more of the family trickled up. Then a big vehicle came and we all rode back to my village, stopping along the way to gather people from a few different villages. (The ride back to my vill was one of the most exciting times so far in my service- honestly one of the most exciting things in my ervice. I was having to try to look more at least a little somber.) We got to Salliyaa and everyone piled out of the vehicle. There were SO many people at my compound. I went around and greeted people, etc. It was great to see a lot of them. A lot of people had some into town to see my host father in the last couple of months while he was sick, so I had met most of the people in for the funeral. Eventually I got to shower and put on a complet (2 piece Gambian dressy outfit- see my swear-in pictures). By the time I got out, the funeral had already started. I actually have no idea what happened most of the time. It was in Arabic and Mandinka and it was an Islamic ceremony. There was a lot of wailing from the women and then the men carried the body to the edge of town for the burial. After that, everything was pretty much over. Since then, there have been lots of people and lots of cooking at my house. I'm hoping there will still be some of my favorite family visitors at the house when I get back tomorrow, but maybe not as many people as were there when I left. There were probably 100 people in my compound when I woke up yesterday morning. That's a little overwhelming. It'll be interesting adjusting to the new family structure and seeing what changes now.
I woke up in the morning to a phone call from a man in the village up from mine saying that my host father had died a few hours earlier. I spent the next several hours trying to figure out if people at the house I was at know about it or not. After a couple of stressful hours, I finally had decided that a certain group of women knew what was going on. I packed up my stuff and set out walking with them. We walked at least 3 miles to get to this road where we waited for a little while as more of the family trickled up. Then a big vehicle came and we all rode back to my village, stopping along the way to gather people from a few different villages. (The ride back to my vill was one of the most exciting times so far in my service- honestly one of the most exciting things in my ervice. I was having to try to look more at least a little somber.) We got to Salliyaa and everyone piled out of the vehicle. There were SO many people at my compound. I went around and greeted people, etc. It was great to see a lot of them. A lot of people had some into town to see my host father in the last couple of months while he was sick, so I had met most of the people in for the funeral. Eventually I got to shower and put on a complet (2 piece Gambian dressy outfit- see my swear-in pictures). By the time I got out, the funeral had already started. I actually have no idea what happened most of the time. It was in Arabic and Mandinka and it was an Islamic ceremony. There was a lot of wailing from the women and then the men carried the body to the edge of town for the burial. After that, everything was pretty much over. Since then, there have been lots of people and lots of cooking at my house. I'm hoping there will still be some of my favorite family visitors at the house when I get back tomorrow, but maybe not as many people as were there when I left. There were probably 100 people in my compound when I woke up yesterday morning. That's a little overwhelming. It'll be interesting adjusting to the new family structure and seeing what changes now.
Sally, Sute and the Scorpion
Once upon a time, right after the rains in The Gambia had begun....
Dinner had just gotten done cooking and I came into my house with my 2 bowls. The rice didn't have a red sauce, so I was going to eat with my hand. I walked to my back door, which latches at the top and in the middle. I reached up to undo the top latch without looking first. I glaced up to find a 6" scorpion inches from my hand. I leapt across the house and crouched in my plastic lawn chair keeping an eye on the scorpion and trying to formulate a plan. I had never seen a scorpion before this point and had never seen one killed or shooed out of a house, so I had no idea what to do. During my long staring session with the scorpion, Dad called, so he got to experience some of this excitement firsthand. At some point during the call, the scorpion dropped from the wall down to the floor. That thing was so scary looking. After the phonecall was over, I was ready to take care of the situation, so I went out to find someone to help me. I decided my host brother Sute was the perfect candidate. He speaks enough english that I thought I could freak out a little and speak english about what I needed and this would still get taken care of.
I went into Sute's room and told him I had a scorpion in my house and I didn't know what to do. He asked me what color it was.
"Black"
"Ooh- those are dangerous"
"Do scorpions come in other colors? What colors are the most dangerous?"
"All of them are black" (Come to find out later, there are white ones that are even worse than the kind I had in my house)
Sute came into my house and grabbed my broom and held the scorpion down. He cut off the tail with his shoe and kind of smushed the scorpion. The scorpion grabbed the broom and then Sute launched the scorpion over my bathroom fence. Sute is such a hero!
I thought my ordeal was over here. I finally ate my dinner, hung out with the family for a minute and went to bed. In the morning I got up, walked out and took my bowl out to my family. On the way I noticed that someone had hung the scorpion on the clothesline. Yikes! I handed my bowl to one of my mothers, turned around and ran smack into the scorpion with my face. That was not even the only time that day that this happened. Ugh! Thankfully me running into it repeatedly prompted it to be taken down and thrown out of the compound.
Thankfully that has been my only scorpion encounter thus far and now I feel equipped to handle an encounter if one does happen in the future. Big thanks to Sute- he's such a hero.
Dinner had just gotten done cooking and I came into my house with my 2 bowls. The rice didn't have a red sauce, so I was going to eat with my hand. I walked to my back door, which latches at the top and in the middle. I reached up to undo the top latch without looking first. I glaced up to find a 6" scorpion inches from my hand. I leapt across the house and crouched in my plastic lawn chair keeping an eye on the scorpion and trying to formulate a plan. I had never seen a scorpion before this point and had never seen one killed or shooed out of a house, so I had no idea what to do. During my long staring session with the scorpion, Dad called, so he got to experience some of this excitement firsthand. At some point during the call, the scorpion dropped from the wall down to the floor. That thing was so scary looking. After the phonecall was over, I was ready to take care of the situation, so I went out to find someone to help me. I decided my host brother Sute was the perfect candidate. He speaks enough english that I thought I could freak out a little and speak english about what I needed and this would still get taken care of.
I went into Sute's room and told him I had a scorpion in my house and I didn't know what to do. He asked me what color it was.
"Black"
"Ooh- those are dangerous"
"Do scorpions come in other colors? What colors are the most dangerous?"
"All of them are black" (Come to find out later, there are white ones that are even worse than the kind I had in my house)
Sute came into my house and grabbed my broom and held the scorpion down. He cut off the tail with his shoe and kind of smushed the scorpion. The scorpion grabbed the broom and then Sute launched the scorpion over my bathroom fence. Sute is such a hero!
I thought my ordeal was over here. I finally ate my dinner, hung out with the family for a minute and went to bed. In the morning I got up, walked out and took my bowl out to my family. On the way I noticed that someone had hung the scorpion on the clothesline. Yikes! I handed my bowl to one of my mothers, turned around and ran smack into the scorpion with my face. That was not even the only time that day that this happened. Ugh! Thankfully me running into it repeatedly prompted it to be taken down and thrown out of the compound.
Thankfully that has been my only scorpion encounter thus far and now I feel equipped to handle an encounter if one does happen in the future. Big thanks to Sute- he's such a hero.
This is the scorpion hanging on the clothesline in the morning. If you look closely, you can even see that he's hairy! He used to have a tail too.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Welcome to the Rainy Season
The rainy season has finally come to The Gambia. It's been raining every 3-5 days since the rains started the first week of june. It has been so exciting to have rain! There hadn't been even a drop of rain here since November, so I was so glad to see some RAIN. I don't know when I'll get tired of it but I think it'll be a while.
The rain changes everything. The air is humid now all of the time, so I'm sweating all of the time. The whole country is getting green. There's grass coming up everywhere. The area around my village is starting to look like a tropical rainforest, except for the farms, which are getting planted right now. There are also a ton of new bugs coming out of hiding. So far, most of the rains have come at night. The rain is so loud on my metal roof! When it rains during the day, everything shuts down. The kids don't go to school and most people just go back to bed. The first day that it rained during the morning, I was supposed to go to the school and I didn't know that no one leaves the house, so I headed to the school. Since I was going, my host father decided to make two of the boys go too. The boys and I sloshed our way across the rice field between the house and the school. One of them even fell in and got pretty muddy. When we got to the school, there were a few kids, one teacher, and a lot of goats there. Needless to say, nothing got accomplished that day. I just hung out with some of the little girls. It was fun, but next time I'll sleep in!
some of the green
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
