Tobaski (Eid al-Adha) 2015

Yesterday, my family and village celebrated the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha.  Here in the Gambia, we call the holiday Tobaski.  Traditionally, the day is celebrated in the Gambia by praying together in a public space, sacrificing a ram, and then eating (the ram), drinking (attaya), and enjoying the rest of the day.  This was my third Tobaski in the Gambia and my last, so it was an especially memorable day for me.  After two practice runs, I think my expectations for the day we just so that I was able to thoroughly enjoy the day.  Here’s a few video snapshots of a typical feast day in Misera.  I apologize for the poor quality of the picture.

We pray in my village at a field underneath a large tree.  The men pray in the foremost rows and the elderly women pray behind.  Prominent members of the community sit in front.  The men and boys follow in a procession to the prayer grounds singing the shahada, meaning “there is no god but God.”

We listen to some words of wisdom from our village’s imam (Islamic leader) projected to the villagers by a human microphone (this guy with a loud voice repeats everything the imam says).  From what I could understand from this year’s message, we should turn off our cell phones.

Prayers happen.  I love watching the kids at different stages of learning to pray (while pushing thoughts of indoctrination to the back of my mind). My brother Ba Lamin is in the fourth row in a blue outfit.  You can hear that there are a lot of kids in the background that do not have the attention span for prayer yet.

People continue to arrive right up until the end of the prayers.  There is no set time for the prayers to happen and no perfect system for notifying people.  In general, we’re pretty forgiving about late coming and interrupting.

After a while of sitting for what seems like private prayer, the event is over.  Children scatter and adults greet each other and offer prayers for health, wealth, and to see many more feasts in the future.  People clear out pretty quickly, excited, I think, to get to the main event – the slaughter.

***WARNING!***   The next two videos are pretty graphic and involve the slaughtering of rams.  If you’re not fond of murdering animals, blood, or watching things die, I don’t recommend watching the next two videos.

Two of my fathers grip the head and throat of the ram and slice the animals throat.  Holes are dug in the earth for the blood to collect in.  Rams are powerful creatures, especially when their lives are in danger.  It usually takes a few grown men to hold it down.  A prayer is said over the animal before slicing the throat so that the meat we eat is halal. Usually the animal dies pretty quickly, within a minute.  Often there is twitching or running limbs for a bit until enough blood is lost for the animal to die.

In my extended family, there are 8 male heads of compounds living in my village.  So, if it has been a prosperous year, we kill 8 rams and usually a few goats, too.  The meat is shared among all of the families and other families in the village.

Back at the compound, the women spend the day cooking.  My family always cooks pasta with an oniony meat and potato sauce.  In our village, cousins swap compounds on prayer days to help a different family cook.  On prayer days, Haja always comes from my uncle’s compound to cook and eat with us.  Rokey, Adama, and Njibou who usually help with the cooking in our compound are on loan to other families.

While the women prepare the lunch, the men are busy divvying up the meat and grilling their share to snack on during the day.  No part of the ram seems to go to waste. Every organ aside from the skin is consumed.  And the kids suck on, gnaw, and even eat the bones.

Thanks for sharing Tobaski 2015 with the Sallah Family!

Rainy Season is Garden Season

Check out three different rainy season gardens growing in our compound:

Jacy, the Extendee

For those of you who have been keeping track, you’ll have noticed that my 27 month commitment to the US Peace Corps has been fulfilled.  My cohort arrived in June of 2015 and most of us are in the process of readjusting this September.  I didn’t miss the plane; I just made the decision, along with four others in my cohort, to extend.  Dan, Nick, and I will all be staying in the Gambia until the end of January, 2016.  Why you ask?  Here are some of my reasons, in no specific order:

1. A Literacy Coordinator Position

When I was offered the position of Literacy Coordinator, it was suggested that I extend to fulfill the responsibilities of the position.  My duties in this role include: planning Literacy Bike Trek, conducting two Literacy counterpart workshops, coordinating our Words on Wheels program, and organizing/distributing any donations of books to the country.  I’ve been working continuously in this role throughout my service and I have one last literacy counterpart workshop to plan alongside with the new Literacy Coordinator before I hand off my responsibilities.

2. Term 1 and Camp GLOW

As an education volunteer, the summer, when there’s no school, is a slow time.  Most teachers head back to their villages and many students go stay with extended family in other villages or are busy on the farm.  I thought it would be ideal if I could orchestrate the time my service would end so that it would be during a busy, fulfilling time versus a slow one.  I would rather have my end of service sneak up on me while I’m active and engaged than spend a slow, boring summer counting down the days until I leave. I want to end at a high point and have that be the feeling that remains strong in my memory of Peace Corps for the rest of my life.  So, I’m ending my service after Term 1 – definitely the best term, when people are motivated, optimistic, and willing to try new things.  The specific date we chose, January 28, falls at the end of Camp GLOW.  If there is ever a high point in one’s service, it would be Camp GLOW – spending a week doing programming and activities for some of the most motivated and inspiring tenth graders in the country.

3. Host Family

A big reason that I decided to stay is that I’m happy here.  A big reason why I am happy here is because of my relationship with my host family.  These are the people I am closest with in the Gambia.  Like a true family, we don’t always agree and we’ve had our arguments.  But, like a true family, we’re stuck with each other. We love each other, if begrudgingly at times.  I have learned so much beyond language from my family.  Wanting to stay with them seems safe and good and natural.  If it weren’t for my US family and other factors pulling me home to the US, I could easily make the Gambia and Sallah Kunda my home.  But I will be returning and my host family and I talk about that often.  I’m glad that I get to prolong our time together a bit before I leave.

4. My Big Girl Job

I know I want to go home to teach.  My goal is to find a full-time, elementary teaching job.  I want to start at the beginning of a school year, refreshed and ready to throw myself into a new job and stage of my life.  Ending my service, as I would have, in September, would mean heading right into a teaching job with little time to digest my Peace Corps experience and zero time to travel or become reacquainted with my people in the US. Of course, the alternative would be to not get a job, to wait around or substitute teach an entire year before starting my big girl job, and that’s not appealing to me either.  Extending my time in the Gambia gives me time to continue what I have going on here, and then time to readjust, reacquaint, an d relax before throwing myself into the US education work world which, after a couple years in the Gambia, seems a bit daunting.  I hope I have chosen a path that will ease the transition and set me up for the hard work and rewards I am craving moving into the next chapter of my life.

5. Dan

Dan, as the Communications Specialist, also had the option of extending to do this job.  When Dan began to consider extending, knowing that our time together in the Peace Corps could continue sealed the deal for me.  Our future after leaving the Gambia is still a bit unclear, but for now, we’re together in the Gambia until the end of January.  We plan to travel together after Peace Corps, too, which necessitated ending our service at the same time. My decision was for more time with Dan and more time to figure out us and our post-Peace Corps plans.

A Tribute to Peter D.

My good friend and site mate, Peter D., said his final goodbyes to his host family and village this morning, packed up all of his belongings, and headed to Kombo to complete all of the paperwork that comes with a ‘Close of Service’.  Only about 8km from my own site, I met up with Peter often sharing a drink, ideas, jokes, or collaborating on projects. Peter D. is definitely one to appreciate dumb jokes and goofy, sentimental poetry.  So, here’s an acrostic poem, about some of the things Peter D. does best:

P

 Pedals and Peddles

Right away, we learned that Peter D. has a love for bikes and talent for bike riding.  The most common sighting of Peter D. in the Soma area is him whizzing past on his bicycle, probably dangerously close to various vehicles, donkey carts, and small boys. What we didn’t know from the beginning was Peter D.’s talents as a peddler.  Various people have spotted him at a weekly market selling frozen juice in little baggies.  Not to mention, he part-time manages his family bitik (little shop where you can buy soap, sugar, bread, and cookies.

Peter D. working his bitik

E

 Enlightens

Peter D. never passes up an opportunity to enlighten.  His wisdom and advice are always close at hand, whether sought out by others or not. It seems that Peter D. had an old adage for every situation.  Even the teachers he worked with started telling me things like, Yassin, don’t try to reinvent the wheel! I often went to Peter D. for my Peace Corps news and his take on Peace Corps gossip.  And while it wasn’t always accurate, it was almost always somehow enlightening.

T

 Twists

Peter D. twists in a couple different ways.  First of all, he can twist any situation to mean something that you totally didn’t expect.  Think a conspiracy theorist that turns even the most mundane things, like that sandwich vendor in a pink t-shirt, into some sort of national conspiracy.  Also, with Peter D. there is often a twist.  Just when you think you know what he’s all about, he runs off and comes back with a children’s book to read aloud to everyone at the bar. And finally, as my host-family all seems to agree, the boy can twist.  Peter D. came to a program in my village once and my people have been talking about his dancing ever since.  Like a bird, they say.

E

 Entertains

Though it can’t be said that Peter D. is entertaining to all parties involved in his shenanigans, he has always been entertaining to me.  I’ve heard his corny jokes and puns so many times, that I could jump in with the punch line, if it wasn’t so darn entertaining to hear the groans when Peter D. does instead.  Did I mention that he’s a gossipmonger and conspiracy theorist?  He’s won over Gambians with his slapstick and fart jokes.  An afternoon with Peter D. may be a lot of things, but it is never dull.

He’s got some big melons.

R

 Reflects

This ability came as a surprise to me and was a lifeline during my service.  Peter D. has the ability to invent stuff, try stuff, and come out of left field with stuff, but he also has the unique ability to reflect on stuff.  I’ve spent much of my more serious conversations with Peter D. reflecting on his and my own projects, reflecting on our services, and reflecting on life in general.  Whether or not the conclusions we come to are the same, it is nice to have someone in your life that makes you think and reflect.

D.

 Dares.  Dreams.

Perhaps what I admire most about Peter D. is his daring and his dreaming.  Peter D. was often undaunted by the projects or situations that others of us thought destined to fail. Peter D. is the only volunteer I know to convince his teachers to give up a weekend for a workshop AND accept additional hours of class time during the school week to do so.  Maybe it would have worked for me, but I wouldn’t have dared to try it.  And because he dares, he also can dream big dreams. Peter D. is the guy who lived out of a van for a year, lived with a bunch of liberal nuns in a convent, and traveled to Venezuela solo after his travel partner back out.  Now, Peter D. is headed off into the unknown once again.  He’s travelling overland and WWOOFing along the way to Morocco.  This time, Peter D. is living my own dream but daring to do it alone.

No, it’s not alive, but it’s still scary!

So, to Peter D., I wish you luck, safe and wild travels, and may our paths cross again!