One Year Down: Burning Questions

June 26^th marked one year in The Gambia for me.  It is a fun time to celebrate with the people in my cohort, look back at the pictures from when we first arrived in country, and think about how far we have already come.  I am now involved with training the incoming Education volunteers and I am getting to experience all of those initial doubts and anxieties along with them.  It is helping me to really appreciate how far I have come and how much more confident and comfortable I feel here in my new home.  It is hard for me to say specifically what has changed in me or my attitudes.  So much of what was new, exciting, uncomfortable, and scary at first has become part of the normal routine.  So, for my first year blog entry, I asked for some help from some of my family and friends.  I wanted a fresh perspective.  I wanted to know what burning questions were out there that I maybe hadn’t addressed or hadn’t thought to mention.  I wanted to look at my home through the eyes of curious outside observers.

Well, you all followed through!  You sent so many amazing and thought-provoking questions.  I loved reading them.  I decided that for brevity, I would only answer a few in this post.  I am considering turning some of the questions into separate blog entries.  There are some that I am definitely planning on responding to once I can dedicate some time to a more thoughtful answer. Thank you all for the questions and the support.  I love you!

Judy: “We heard the Ebola virus is in Western Africa.  Do you know how close it is to where you are?”

I have heard about the virus being somewhat widespread in Guinea Conakry.  In fact, I had been planning a trip to Guinea with some friends in April.  About a week before our trip, the Peace Corps Country Director called to let us know that the border (between Senegal and Guinea) was closed and we would have to cancel our trip.  We had a great time traveling about Eastern Senegal instead.  I’m hoping they get Ebola under control because I would still like to travel to Guinea.  I know that if we were in any danger of the virus here, Peace Corps would have the volunteers evacuated.

Judy: “Do most people sleep outside in the non-rainy months?”

A lot of volunteers do.  We’re not used to the heat!  Most Gambians fall asleep outside on the bamboo or concrete platforms (bantabas).  They stay out here until pretty late at night/early in the morning.  Eventually, though, they do move into their houses.  I don’t know any Gambians that spend the entire night sleeping outside.

Alex: “How far will people in your village travel from the village? How often?”

My father and aunt (both teachers) have gone to the teacher’s college in the capital region.  Other members in my family have traveled to villages up to 100 km away to visit hospitals or family members in other villages.  Because my family is related to families in villages across the border, in Senegal, they often travel there (without a VISA!). They do not travel very often.  Maybe once every three months to once a year.  A lot of people in my village have not traveled more than 50 km.  Women and children are more limited in their travel because the men manage the family finances.

Andrea: “Do people go to the beach?”

Two kinds of people go to the beach in The Gambia.  Tourists and bumsters.  Tourists are mostly European and mostly come during tourist season, November through February, the coolest time of year. Bumsters are Gambians that spend their days working out on the beach in not very much clothing offering their services (whatever they may be) for a price to tourists.  There are, of course, exceptions to this rule and I like to think that I am one of them.  I go to the beach whenever I am in the capital region and the air-conditioned, internetted transit house isn’t sucking me in.

Lianna: “Do you/does anyone wear nail polish?”

I do not.  Except one time, during my grandfather’s funeral (of all times), my cousin painted my toe nails.  Some girls do, if they can afford nail polish.  More often, girls will decorate their fingers and feet with henna.  Most women in my village just make their fingertips orange.  I’ve seen a lot of fancy designs in black henna on women in other villages though.

Foodan (Henna)

Rose: “Do Gambians generate any garbage at all?  And if they do, what do they do with it?”

Yes. Nearly every time they go to the market, Gambians bring back their produce in a plastic bag.  There are bottles, cans, and wrappers of cookies and other Western food/drink items.  Anytime you buy a sandwich on the street, it is wrapped in a piece of newspaper.  Most garbage is thrown in the street when you are traveling or outside of your compound.  Trash within a compound is reused (plastic bags make great diaper liners) or piled up until it is burned. There aren’t any recycling programs that I know of.  There is a program that collects trash in Soma, but they take it outside the town and make a pile of it the cows and goats occasionally graze.

Rose: “What do the kids do all day?”

They are kids!  They hang around the compound until watching mom cook or pound cous gets boring.  They run around the village with other children pushing old tires or playing in the dirt.  They get sent on errands to tell people messages, borrow something from a neighboring compound, or plug a cell phone into the solar charger two compounds over.  They throw rocks at baobab or mango trees trying to get the fruit to drop.  They collect trash.  They play make believe. They chase animals.  They always make it back in time for lunch.

Rhonda: “How do you get around to/in the big cities when you go for training, etc?  Where will you live when you are training this summer?”

To get to the capital region, I first ride my bike to Soma where I store my bike at my friend, Natasha’s compound.  Then, I get on a big green bus which takes 3 to 4 hours to reach Kombo.  Once in Kombo, it is one short taxi ride to either the office or the transit house.  So far, I have been staying at the transit house for training.  On Wednesday, we will move up to the new training site near Soma where the incoming volunteers will spend the rest of the summer in training.  I will spend time at the training site near Soma and in my village as much as possible.

Andrea: “What would you change about your experience?”

I would choose a site that was further removed from the main road and access to amenities.  I love being able to ride into Soma to buy vegetables and use the internet.  I also love my site mates and the support and collaboration.  But I also love being in my village, and I tend to forget how much I love being there.  I am often pulled away by external factors but tend to overlook or forget about all the reasons to just sit and spend time with my family and teachers.  So maybe what I would change is not my proximity to the big town and the road, but instead, I would just try to be more aware and intentional about the choices I make and the activities I partake in while I’m here.

Lianna: “What makes you laugh?”

Interactions with Gambians.  Often with my grandma or mom.  We are learning enough about each other and our senses of humor that we can have good laughs together now.  I make fun of my grandma for being afraid to ride the bus and they make fun of me for my lack of fashion sense and husband.  And commiserating (often sarcastically) with other volunteers.  Sometimes, the best medicine for frustration and disappointment is a good laugh.  I’m so thankful for my site mates and friends.  The most I have laughed though?  Probably reading you letters Lianna.

Alex: “If you had been born into your host family instead of into the Bowman family, what would your life be like right now?”

This is such a great question.  I would not be in my host family compound.  I would’ve gone to school until Grade 9 in my village.  Since I’m a pretty average student, let’s assume I would’ve done what the average female in my village does which is drop out after Grade 9.  I would’ve gotten married soon after that, move out of my family compound, and likely to another village.  From the age of 16 or 17 I would spend my days fetching water, sweeping, cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner, farming, laundering, and trying to produce babies.  I’d probably have one, two, or even three children by now (Allah willing).

All for now, folks.  Keep the questions coming!  I love to answer them (and need more ideas for blog entries!)

Special shout-out goes to Team ExTreme!  Happy 1 Year in The Gambia friends!

I love you Team ExTreme!