Snapshots II

Our friend Abdul, and our brother Saikou. Saikou was awarded the position of Deputy Headboy at his school!

The young women in our families other compound. From left to right: Tida, Mamie, Oussman, Awa, Senabu, Fatoumata, and Binta (who's obviously a joker).

Enter: The MOST annoying rooster in the world & our families cassava field.

Yeah, our back yard is nice to look at!

Foreground: the banana "sucker" that I planted. Background: a large ridge of soil containing ginger root.

Nap time!

The road to our home.

Our brothers graduation from 10th grade.

Our brother and his friends, he's the one peeking, third from the right.

Our brother Sam

This lizard fell into our water bucket.

A few snapshots

Fa Suso with a huge (smelly) dried barracuda head. We actually avoided eating this because it was served for dinner and we usually cook our own dinner.

Sunset by the river. Darrin took this picture and then sarcastically said, "This is terrible, I can't believe we have to put up with this crap."

Some of our young friends. Fatoumata Suso is the little one in the red, white and blue shirt. I love her very much because she has the most hilarious facial expressions possible. Awa is the very serious girl in pink beside her...she lives in our compound and while I have been known to tell her stop standing in front of our screen door and staring in at me when I am doing boring things like reading and drinking tea, I really enjoy having her as a little sister.

Also, here is a short list of things Colette misses from the U.S. that she NEVER thought she would miss:
-shopping malls
-Target
- contemporary (Christian) praise music
-mid-priced Mexican chain restaurants
-being a white person amongst a large crowd of other white people (I mean, not always sticking out as glaringly different everywhere I go, even in the dark)

Things Colette does not miss at all, but thought that she would:
-indoor plumbing
-washing machines
-owning a car
-warm showers


A thing Darrin misses that he NEVER thought he would miss:
-people saying "God bless you" after you sneeze




Until next time...

Mama and Kawsu (Colette and Darrin)

Shopping

I
Last week I was talking to my friend and work counterpart, Lamin. He visited the U.S. a year or two ago and he was telling me that he had been really impressed by the big, fancy shopping mall he saw while there. I said I sometimes missed them, but that someone had once pointed out to me that when a culture builds shopping malls that are nicer and larger than most of their mosques or churches, it was a sign that they worshipped money and material things above all else. "So, that's why I have mixed feelings about shopping malls when I'm in the U.S.," I concluded. Lamin said, "Hmmm, true...but they are nice anyway!" I had to agree. Especially when compared to the market in Serekunda.

II
Yesterday my host sister Mamie and I set out from Bwiam for a day of shopping in Serekunda, visiting family and, for me, going to the bank and grocery store in Fajara. It only took us about 2 hours to get to Serekunda's market area, which was rapidly becoming hot and crowded. My mission was to buy a certain type of fancy fabric that is needed for various post-Ramadan celebration outfits. I needed some for myself and Kawsu and I wanted Mamie to help me pick some out. I had about D850 with me, which is normal Gambian life is a pretty large amount of money. So, we went to one shop and they wanted D700 for the fabric we needed. They would not come down, so we left. I was beginning to realize that the two of us shopping together was NOT such a brilliant idea, because rather than Mamie being able to help me bargain, sales people were more apt to assume I was clueless because it looked like I'd brought her there because I couldn't handle bargaining on my own...and it goes without saying they usually assume any toubob has tons of money with them and should spend three times what something is really worth.

We continued walking down the narrow street and a guy in one shop began to call us over. I was practicing my well-honed ignoring skills, but Mamie actually walked over to him. He asked what we were looking for and she told him. Then he got out his phone and called someone, then tried to lure us into his shop, telling me I should sit down with them. I stood on the sidewalk and politely half-ignored him while Mamie talked on my phone with her boyfriend back in Bwiam for a few minutes. Then a woman walked by with some fabric she was selling and we bought what I needed from her for D600, which was maybe not the best price, but doable. Then out of nowhere another woman shows up, telling us that the shopkeeper had called her and that we had to buy something from her because she came all the way over there. She showed us the contents of a large plastic bag, which contained some strange lotions, a kind of fabric that was NOT what we were looking for and one tiny pair of women's shoes. Then the shopkeeper said I should at least pay her for cab fare and I said, "You want me to give you 7 Dalasi?" and laughed at them. Then he said I should pay him for the phone credit he used to call her. I told him I had never asked him to call her and she wasn't even selling what we said we needed...Then he proceeded to tell me that if I came to Africa from America I should bring dollars and that I was stupid to go shopping without enough money.

I should have mentioned that I was fasting, which makes me very crabby. So I somewhat lost my cool and told him (in short) that I don't live or work in America right now so I have Dalasi NOT Dollars, that he was stupid to think all Americans are rich, that I had the money to buy what I needed only and that I was going. I spent the next few hours pretending be deaf and somewhat blind as people grabbed me, demanded things from me and tried to give me (and Mamie) really bad prices for anything and everything. I actually think going to that market alone or with Kawsu is BETTER. Now I know...

In contrast, life in Bwiam is nicer! Here is some evidence:

Rain coming in - a view from behind out compound

Sunset at the tributary that's about a 15-minute bike ride away

Food!

I had the opportunity to weigh myself the other day and realized I had lost 20 pounds since coming here! And it's not because I am starving myself or because I've been sick (I haven't been sick at all except for one time during training - and, for the record, I eat and drink pretty much anything that's offered to me). I think it's the general lack of appealing snack foods and alcoholic beverages, more than anything else. I think this is a good thing!

A lot of people warned me before we left the U.S. that women tend to gain weight in places like West Africa because they eat so many carbs here. I have been thinking that those people are the type who ate nothing but salad in the U.S. Because I probably ate far more carbs in the form of drinks, tortilla chips, dessert foods and other things than I do now - and I eat plenty of rice here, I can assure you!

We have discovered some good things to make with our available food resources here. This is a recipe I made up:

Stuffed Peppers - Peace Corps Gambia

Green peppers (if they make a miraculous appearance at the market or you grow them)
Broken rice (from the bittik)
Beans or lentils
Adja (the red one)
Onions
Hot pepper
Shelf-stable cheesefood wedges (have to go to Kombo for these)

Cook rice and beans, mix with sauteed onions and Adja and some hot pepper
half and clean out peppers, stuff with rice mixture
put them in a frying pan with some water in the bottom, put a lid on it and cook until they are wrinkly on the outside and the filling is hot
put cheese wedges on top!

-Maamaa

Ramadan!

     This past week has been our first experience with Ramadan. Kawsu has committed to fasting on Fridays and I tried to fast most days this past week, but cheated a few times. I am noticing a whole different rhythym of life here when people are going without food and water for all 14 daylight hours. About mid-afternoon (or early afternoon, for me!) most people become very tired, rather quiet and, in my case, rather irritable. It's impressive that many continue to do farmwork and other hard labor all day long - especially when the sun is hot!
     When the time comes to break fast (about 7:30 PM) it is very exciting. Not just because you are extremely hungry and thirsty, but also because the foods our family has been making for this small meal are delicious! Instead of the usual rice and fish based fare, we've had things like chicken (hard to find around here unless you slaughter your own), potatoes (also rare to get at the market), pasta and shrimp.
     On a reflective note, I think it's a very good thing that we're having the experience of living in a country that's over 90% Muslim. The Muslim faith is misunderstood by so many people in the U.S. and it will be a valuable thing to address when we're sharing our stories with people stateside. When I have told people here that a small proportion of people in the U.S. are actually very prejudiced about and afraid of Muslims, they were shocked. And I had a very hard time explaining that although Americans are generally well-educated and nice people, some of them are closed minded.
    
Some photos from the past few weeks:

We spotted this taxi while stopped at a police checkpoint near Bwiam - overloaded vehicles are the norm here, but this one goes above and beyond!

Ceesay Mamie (our hen) trying to steal Takaa's food.

WFP food distribution

Dung beetles are HUGE!

The work is here only

So, this week Kawsu (Darrin) and I spent 5 days helping distribute rice and oil rations to farmers in 3 different districts which experienced crop failures and have been deemed food insecure. The World Food Program basically hired local NGOs to staff these distributions, which is great, but the learning curve is a little steep. How hard can it be? I initially thought, not realizing that managing all the data by hand (no electricity or computers in the field) would be insanely time consuming! Not to mention managing large crowds of people, many of whom have the same name (one small village had at least 6 guys with the exact same name - good thing we had ID numbers to compare and the village's alkalo to help sort them out (the alkalo is like the mayor - but here they usually know everyone). Not to mention the rations involved measuring fractions of kilograms of oil (which begs the question: who on earth would choose to measure oil in kilograms?). Both Kawsu and I were applauded for our superior math skills in being able to portion food and also to calculate stock losses at the end of the day. I don't think we have awesome skills though - it's just that we were working with many people who quite possibly hadn't done math since 6th grade or so. Or maybe they were never taught fractions? At any rate, after several 10 to 12 hour days, we were exhausted and glad to be done. The fun will start all over again next month, when more rations are distributed, but our teams will be more seasoned and ready to jump right in, so maybe it will feel less exhausting!

link to WFP's Gambia page, if anyone is curious:  http://www.wfp.org/countries/the-gambia

Incidentally, one day when Kawsu's food distribution team was travelling to their distribution site in the back of a pick-up truck, the truck ran over a guinea fowl that had wandered into the road. They stopped and picked it up, then gave it to the alkalo's wife when they got to the village and then she cooked it for their lunch! Kawsu was particularly excited, because he is sick of fish, which is what's for lunch 99.9% of the time...


obligatory cute kitten picture



Beach Corps

We have been in Kombo (the more urban area on the coast of the Gambia) for a few days to attend a conference with many of the other volunteers. This trip has had its ups and downs - the Peace Corps transit house was too full and we didn't get offered any alternative place to stay, so we ended up sharing a hotel room with some friends for a few nights. It might not have been the most financially frugal plan, but the place we stayed was right on the beach and pretty reasonable, so it was fun. Swimming in the ocean here is great. The water is so much warmer than Massachusetts!

We are heading back to Bwiam today and can't wait to see our family and our cat.

Me and Mamie at Bwiam's community radio anniversary celebration

Darrin and I at the same event. People here love ausobi (matching fabric for special occasions).

Darrin demonstrating the best way to carry heavy things

Takaa and Darrin hanging out on the porch

Family

 Mamie (one of our sisters who lives at the other compound

)

  and Yusupha

Yusupha (9 months) and his mom Bintou  -  we live with them!

Yusupha cooling off

Takaa, our vicious"africanized" kitten

I just realized that we have been here in West Africa for 3 months now. In many ways it seems like longer!

Our house has been in upheaval this week because our floor was finally finished (with the help of a local mason and some cement from the Peace Corps). This meant we had to take everything out of the house and are now in the process of putting it back in. And then, in the midst of this project, we found ourselves to be the proud new adoptive parents of...a small kitten!

 We were walking home from our family's other compound one evening with our sister Mamie and we all stopped to greet some neighbors.  They were sitting by the street outside their compound with a pretty adult cat (unusual in itself - a lot of people here really dislike cats) and Darrin suddenly asked them (in Mandinka) where the kittens were. I don't know why he asked, but it was meant to be, because they said (in Mandinka) that they were in the house. An old, shirtless man got up from his mat and took us to the door of a small cement building, then told us we should take the three small kittens inside. We explained that we could only take one, so we chose a medium-sized female with grey tiger stripes and a small orange blaze in her head. She has been living in our bathroom when we are not around to supervise her, but has adjusted to using a litter box (really a bidong we cut in half and filled with sand from the road) and has been surviving on powdered milk and some fish from the market (cat food is not something they sell in most stores here, since feeding people is, understandably, the greater priority). We are still trying to come up with a good name for her though...

I will post a picture was soon as I get the chance!

-Maamaa (Colette)

Our new home

Our compound Suso Kunda II - it's very new and pretty nice! Our door is the one on the left.

Kawsu cooking on our gas burner. This is the most expensive thing we own here, except our bikes, which really belong to the Peace Corps, not us, so they don't count. Our family was upset one day because I accidentally left it outside and they said someone would jump over the wall to steal it! Oops.

Maamaa carrying water from the sweet tap inside the compound.

View you can see if you climb up on something and look over our back wall. This picture was taken last night, about 20 minutes before a tremendous (and unexpected) rain storm.

This past Friday we officially went from trainees to volunteers. It has been a whirlwind week of filling out paperwork, shopping for household items (really exhausting when you have to bargain for a decent price on almost anything) and socializing with each other before we head off to our respective villages. At some point today we (along with all our junk!) will return to Bwiam and set up our little house. We should have internet access somewhere in town once we get settled in there, so you should all being hearing from us soon!

Also, I'd like to share a quote from the toilet brush & holder set our friend Keith purchased yesterday at a store down the street (we agree with him that your pit latrine can never be too clean): (picture this in a beautiful script beside a big flower) "plastics companion you are living every a day"

Thank you China, for sending your weirdest and most cheaply made products to Africa.

Also, happy belated Mother's Day to all!

Celebrating after our swearing-in ceremony (picture thanks to the lovely Sarah Stever)

The Last Few Golden Weeks of Training

Hanging out with the kids in our training village compound.

The goal of this post is to let you all know that we are still alive! We survived our first experience with being sick here (everyone in our language class feel victim to the same unpleasant gastrointestinal illness), but we are feeling just fine now. We have just left our first Gambian host family and returned to Fajara to prepare for a visit to our permanent sites. Being in the crowded transit house is not that great, but there is electricity here in the big city and, thus, the store down the street has plastic bags of vanilla yogurt to suck on. Also, sometimes there is working internet! We will post again when the internet is faster.

Fo silaa kotenke (until the next road)!
-Maamaa and Kawsu/ Colette and Darrin

Hello Banjul!

We (18 trainees and various Peace Corps volunteers and staff) began the drive from Thies, Senegal to Banjul, The Gambia on Wednesday morning at 6 AM (I don't know how this miracle of punctuality occured- It was actually 5:57 when we left). Our embarassingly large convoy consisted of 2 buses, a trucks full of baggage and a Land Cruiser. We all arrived in Banjul at around 5pm. The trip was OK (except for fellow trainees who felt ill the whole day) and we even had enough CFA left (Senegalese currency) to buy a few snacks along the way and share them amongst ourselves. Including some excellent egg sandwiches with hot pepper sauce.

Many people in our group will agree, that although we really miss the trainees from Senegal who we've lived and learned with for the past month and a half, we are really excited to be in The Gambia! It is excellent so far - the beach is very nice, the Banjul transit house is deluxe (there's a fridge and a shower!), there are about 7 bookcases filled with books for volunteers and most signs here are in English as opposed to French. This last point is significant considering that we spent the previous month guessing what things said along the street (and what people said). Community members here keep greeting us in English and we find ourselves surprised and confused, like it's all a dream.

Last evening we were invited by a Peace Corps employee to a cultural event with drumming and dancing. Here are a couple of photos from the event:


Mystical Dancers




Samantha and Colette with dancers

Tomorrow morning we head to our training village to stay with host families and continue practicing the Mandinka language. We'll only be with them for about 2 weeks, but hopefully we can learn a lot and enjoy our time there. Everyone keeps emphasizing that training villages are different here than what we experienced in Senegal  - they are smaller, more rural and do not have electricity. They also involve having our own pit latrine, whereas in Senegal it was very much the norm for Peace Corps trainees to share one pit latrine and one bathing area with upwards of at least 25 people. We also get our own bicycles to visit other trainees when we have free time. We are going to feel very spoiled in this respect!



Until next time...

~ Colette & Darrin  (Maamaa & Kawsu) ~



The road through our eventual home of Bwiam



Got our permanent site assignment today and will be headed to The Gambia for more training at 6 AM tomorrow! Our permanent site is in the southwestern part of the country, the village of Bwiam:

We are here only.

We left Mbour yesterday morning and are back at the Peace Corps Training Center in Thies with mixed emotions. On one hand, it was very sad to say goodbye to our Senegalese host family, whom we were just beginning to feel very close to. On the other hand, we Gambian volunteers are excited to move to the Gambia next week and begin the second phase of our training.

Not long after arriving back at the center we did our first language proficiency interviews in Mandinka. I am both exited about how much we have learned in the past month and intimidated by the amount of things we don't know. However, Darrin and I were both able to greet the interviewer somewhat extensively and answer personal questions that she asked, which is far more than we could do before our time in Mbour.

For those readers who are not familiar with the greetings and common expressions used in many West African languages (Mandinka included), I will translate some of my favorites:
"I hope there is no trouble."/"There is no trouble."
"Are you at peace?"/"Peace only."
"How is your family?"/"They are there."
"How is your mother?"/"She is there."
"How are your children?"/"They are all there."
"How is the work?"/"The work is there only."  OR "I am on it, slowly slowly."
"How is the morning?"/"The morning is here only."
"You are sitting."/"Yes, I am sitting."

Mbour family!

Us girls and some girl who was getting her hair braided by my sister

Caoussou and Caoussou

Our room in Mbour

Tubabadou

Hello Friends! We have spent the last 6 days with our training site host family in Mbour, Senegal. We are trying to learn Mandinka as fast as we can, because they don't speak English and we speak no French. I can now converse in a very primitive fashion on several topics including: if one slept in peace, if the people of one's compound are there, how the work is, if someone is sitting/standing/lying down, if rice and fish is delicious, hair braiding and extensions, chickens and goats, and breastfeeding.

Our family name is Maria, though in Senegal this means only our host father and siblings have this name (not the wives and various extended family members in the compound). Host families are apparently very excited to name their Peace Corps trainees after members of the family, so Darrin is Caoussou after our youngest host brother and I am Maamaa after the oldest host sister. Our host mom is very nice and patient with our language learning and our brothers and sisters help us with our homework everyday. It's a very relaxed atmosphere and they keep us very well fed. We have a tap in the yard and electric lights in the compound, as well as a pit latrine and bathing area (for bucket baths) which we share with everyone.  In case everyone is wondering, the Peace Corps gave us each one roll of toilet paper to take with us to our sites, but I actually  forgot I had it and am pleased to report that with a good bar of soap on hand everything is just fine. Our host family also has a TV, but nearly everything is in French or Wolof.

All the streets in our neighborhood are deep sand, with the occasional horse or donkey cart or car careening through. Walking from our family's compound to our language teacher's compound involves compulsively greeting everyone we see in various languages while avoiding the crowds of children screaming "Tubob!"

On Sunday Darrin and I walked to the beach with our host brothers Omar and Paapaa and went for a swim. We also walked through the market, which was intimidating because it was very crowded.

I am sorry to admit I still have no understanding of the money here in Senegal and that without speaking French or Wolof it is generally impossible for me to understand how much they are asking me for. I am kind of excited to go to the Gambia, where more people speak English.

-Colette (Maamaa)

We arrived!

We arrived in Dakar, Senegal Tuesday morning, came to the Peace Corps training center in Thies (pronounced "Ches") (I didn't know) directly and have been here since. The weather is warm and lovely, the bats are impressively large and awesome and the food here at the training center is excellent - I think we are being spoiled. The other Senegal and Gambia trainees are all really nice and smart and interesting. Basically, we have been busy going to training sessions and socializing rampantly.

Today we went on a walk in the market with one of the seasoned Senegal Peace Corps volunteers. It was a bit scary for me, because I no idea what anyone was saying (I now know almost as much Wolof as I know French, which is to say next to nothing). It is really humbling to not know the language, the local currency or how to get anywhere.  Also I was scared of being run down by the traffic, which consists of dilapidated automobiles, a few really nice automobiles, many carts drawn by skinny horses and some motorbikes/scooters. I am trying to have faith that I will learn a lot and become more comfortable someday. In the meantime, I plan to only venture out in a group that includes at least one decent French speaker.

We begin learning our languages and living with a host family in a few days. I am really nervous for that, but also excited. I think Darrin and I will be learning Mandinka, which is very common in the Gambia (we will go there permanently after another 4 weeks or so). We'll find out for sure in the next few days.

I didn't take this picture, but it shows a street in Thies, so I am including it. Someday I will take pictures and figure out how to upload them...

Almost there!

In six days we will be leaving for Washington D.C., where we will do paperwork and learn some stuff (and probably get some injections), then fly to Senegal the next day to begin our three-month training period. Right now we are just trying to tie up loose ends here in Preston (mainly we have to clean up the mess we made redoing several of the bedrooms in Darrin's parents' house). We also hope to finish our packing in the next day or two. We pretty much have everything we plan to bring, but there is the inevitable anxiety about having too much stuff and then, alternately, being anxious that we have too little.

Here are a few pictoral highlight from our travels since November 1st:

Darrin at the breakwater in Provincetown, MA while visiting my dad and hometown

Darrin and I hang out with Johanna in Brewster, MA. 

Darrin and Jessie (his sister) enjoying the amazing fall weather in Ohio

Darrin and our niece during our NewYears Eve hat-making festivities in Wisconsin. Molly is eating a suspiciously gummy candy cane from the Christmas tree decorations box that turned out to be older than she is.

We occupy our other niece Josephine with a flask of whiskey. Worst babysitters ever!  (It's actually empty)

-Colette