The Gambia (officially the Republic of The Gambia), commonly known as Gambia, is a country in Western Africa. The Gambia is the smallest country in mainland Africa (yes, it is smaller than Lesotho and Swaziland even though it doesn't look that way on a map), bordered to the north, east, and south by Senegal, and has a small coast on the Atlantic Ocean in the west.
Its borders roughly correspond to the path of the Gambia River, the nation's namesake, which flows through the country's center and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Its size is almost 10,500 km² with an estimated population of 1,700,000.
On 18 February 1965, Gambia was granted independence from the United Kingdom and joined The Commonwealth. Banjul is Gambia's capital, but the largest conurbuation is Serrekunda.
The Gambia shares historical roots with many other west African nations in the slave trade, which was key to the establishment of a colony on the Gambia river, first by the Portuguese and later by the British. Since gaining independence in 1965, The Gambia has enjoyed relative stability, with the exception of a brief period of military rule in 1994.
An agriculturally rich country, its economy is dominated by farming, fishing, and tourism. About a third of the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day.
What time is it in The Gambia?
Mailing Address
Sarah and/or Jacob Cohn, Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) C/O Peace Corps/The Gambia P.O. Box 582 Banjul, The Gambia West Africa AIR MAIL
The most cost-effective way to send packages is to use flat-rate boxes. To discourage prying fingers, it's a good idea to tape the box up really well and use red ink (red ink is taboo here). Other tricks include writing religious material and listing the least valuable contents on the label (food, books, clothes, etc).
Wish List (updated Feb 28, 2011)
Food Dried veggies of any kind Beef jerky Parmesan cheese (the kind with lots of preservatives that comes in a can) Clif bars Chocolate (the darker the better, but we're not picky) Starbucks VIA packets Double-ziplocked baked goods (believe it or not, they generally make it here just fine) Sauce mixes/packets Dry soup mixes Spices/spice mixes
Non-food Insect repellent (any kind) Febreze To-Go (travel size) Pictures of family/friends/home Science/nature/news magazines (National Geographic, Discover, Scientific American, Outside, The Economist, Newsweek, Time, etc)
Sarah graduated from Emory University (in Atlanta) in 2006 with degrees in Biological Anthropology and English. From 2006 to 2009 she worked as a grant writer for CARE (www.care.org), a non-profit humanitarian organization fighting global poverty.
Jacob graduated from Emory in 2008 with a joint degree in Mathematics and Economics. After graduating, he joined Sarah at CARE, working with the policy and advocacy team.
We were recently married and are thrilled to be starting off our lives together as Peace Corps Volunteers.