Market in Banjul (where we got some awesome fabric to have made into traditional clothes)
Mosquito net demo
Bucket bath demo
Pit latrine lesson, complete with graphic drawings. Didn't get a picture of the (clothed) real life demo unfortunately.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
A few more pictures
We're heading off to our training village tomorrow! We probably won't have internet for at least a few weeks and possibly as long as a couple months, so this will be our last post for a while. We'll leave you with a few pictures from pre-service training...
Market in Banjul (where we got some awesome fabric to have made into traditional clothes)
Mosquito net demo
Bucket bath demo
Pit latrine lesson, complete with graphic drawings. Didn't get a picture of the (clothed) real life demo unfortunately.
Market in Banjul (where we got some awesome fabric to have made into traditional clothes)
Mosquito net demo
Bucket bath demo
Pit latrine lesson, complete with graphic drawings. Didn't get a picture of the (clothed) real life demo unfortunately.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Language assignments and cell phone numbers
We finally received our language assignments today and we will be learning Mandinka. There are more Mandinka training villages than any other language, so the Mandinka language group is the largest of the three training groups. All the couples are in our group. The language is spoken throughout the country, so it really doesn't tell us anything about our future site unfortunately. Each trainee is matched up with a Gambian Language and Culture Facilitator (LCF) and no trainer has more than three trainees. Jacob and I were lucky enough to be a group of two, so we will be getting private tutoring! There will be two other trainees (taught by a different trainer) in our training village as well, which is nice. Neither of us had a strong preference among the languages, so we are perfectly happy with Mandinka.
We were hoping to be able to talk computer-to-computer via skype, but the internet in the house we are staying in cuts in and out every few minutes, so that is not a good option. Additionally, we will be leaving for our training village Friday morning, where we will no longer have internet. However, Peace Corps issued both of us cell phones, so we are now reachable on them. It is free for us to receive calls, but the caller will be charged. Each phone company (and plan) will charge different rates, so you'll definitely want to do your research. Additionally, I heard that it is possible to call cell phones using skype for a flat monthly rates, so that might be worth looking into as well. Our cell phone numbers are 011 220 734 03 09 (Jacob) and 011 220 734 0308 (Sarah). That includes country codes, so those numbers are exactly what you will need to dial. The best time to call us is between 6pm and 10pm here (1pm and 5pm EST).
We were hoping to be able to talk computer-to-computer via skype, but the internet in the house we are staying in cuts in and out every few minutes, so that is not a good option. Additionally, we will be leaving for our training village Friday morning, where we will no longer have internet. However, Peace Corps issued both of us cell phones, so we are now reachable on them. It is free for us to receive calls, but the caller will be charged. Each phone company (and plan) will charge different rates, so you'll definitely want to do your research. Additionally, I heard that it is possible to call cell phones using skype for a flat monthly rates, so that might be worth looking into as well. Our cell phone numbers are 011 220 734 03 09 (Jacob) and 011 220 734 0308 (Sarah). That includes country codes, so those numbers are exactly what you will need to dial. The best time to call us is between 6pm and 10pm here (1pm and 5pm EST).
Monday, November 9, 2009
Pictures!
As promised, here are a few pictures I took yesterday:
Our room at the transit house (sleeps eight and has both a fan and AC!)
The rest of these are from the reptile farm:
Me with a ball python
Pythons curl into tight balls when they get scared
The owner of the reptile farm (which is really a catch-and-release educational center). He's British and married a Gambian woman. He gave us his email address and said we could send him pictures of any critters we run across and he would tell us what they are.
Cross between a scorpion and a spider. Yikes!
HUGE centipede. Repulsive.
Bad picture of a chameleon.
Our group at the reptile farm.
Monitor lizard (sp?)
Crocodile.
Hibiscus.
Jacob's parents asked us to talk about the other people in our group. There are 35 of us (the largest group ever for The Gambia I believe), plus one girl who transferred here from Guinea and is doing an abbreviated pre-service training. I said before that we are split about 50/50 Health and Environment, but it's actually more like 2/3 Environment, 1/3 Health. It's a very diverse group, but so far we are all getting along amazingly well. There are two other married couples. We range in age from people right out of college to a retired nutritionist. We have people from all over the country as well. We haven't done a count yet, but I would guess at least 20 states are represented.
We had interviews today to help Peace Corps narrow down our site options enough to assign us to a language group. They won't assign specific sites for quite a while yet, but it will be huge to know which language we will be learning for the remainder of training, so we are all really looking forward to the announcements (either tonight or tomorrow morning).
A little background on languages here. The Gambia is rather unique in that there have been 3-5 major ethnic groups living together here (mostly peacefully) for a very long time, and often in the same villages. One of the reasons this works is the various ethnic groups have distinct roles in a community, all of which are important, allowing them to co-exist peacefully. Apparently it is quite normal for different compounds within a village to speak different languages. While this seems like it would be incredibly confusing, every Gambian speaks at least two languages, and many speak as many as four or five, so apparently there are enough willing translators on hand that it isn't really a problem.
Peace Corps focuses on the three most common languages and only expects us to become functional in one (although some volunteers do end up learning others), but this context explains why it's important to at least know the basics of the other languages.
More to come tomorrow, with news on our language assignment!
Our room at the transit house (sleeps eight and has both a fan and AC!)
The rest of these are from the reptile farm:
Me with a ball python
Pythons curl into tight balls when they get scared
The owner of the reptile farm (which is really a catch-and-release educational center). He's British and married a Gambian woman. He gave us his email address and said we could send him pictures of any critters we run across and he would tell us what they are.
Cross between a scorpion and a spider. Yikes!
HUGE centipede. Repulsive.
Bad picture of a chameleon.
Our group at the reptile farm.
Monitor lizard (sp?)
Crocodile.
Hibiscus.
Jacob's parents asked us to talk about the other people in our group. There are 35 of us (the largest group ever for The Gambia I believe), plus one girl who transferred here from Guinea and is doing an abbreviated pre-service training. I said before that we are split about 50/50 Health and Environment, but it's actually more like 2/3 Environment, 1/3 Health. It's a very diverse group, but so far we are all getting along amazingly well. There are two other married couples. We range in age from people right out of college to a retired nutritionist. We have people from all over the country as well. We haven't done a count yet, but I would guess at least 20 states are represented.
We had interviews today to help Peace Corps narrow down our site options enough to assign us to a language group. They won't assign specific sites for quite a while yet, but it will be huge to know which language we will be learning for the remainder of training, so we are all really looking forward to the announcements (either tonight or tomorrow morning).
A little background on languages here. The Gambia is rather unique in that there have been 3-5 major ethnic groups living together here (mostly peacefully) for a very long time, and often in the same villages. One of the reasons this works is the various ethnic groups have distinct roles in a community, all of which are important, allowing them to co-exist peacefully. Apparently it is quite normal for different compounds within a village to speak different languages. While this seems like it would be incredibly confusing, every Gambian speaks at least two languages, and many speak as many as four or five, so apparently there are enough willing translators on hand that it isn't really a problem.
Peace Corps focuses on the three most common languages and only expects us to become functional in one (although some volunteers do end up learning others), but this context explains why it's important to at least know the basics of the other languages.
More to come tomorrow, with news on our language assignment!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Field Trip!
There are pictures, but they are on the camera and I don't know where it is so...pictures to be added...
Today was effectively a rest day. No official wake up time, breakfast was left out late, and the Peace Corps trainers planned two "field trips for us." Having not been on a field trip in a while this was a pretty exciting experience.
This morning we went a short walk to the beach. I am definitely not a beach person, but it was a beautiful beach! Warm water, hammocks, pavilions, and some beautiful cliffs. Played some frisbee and swam in the water - good times had by all.
There was one aspect to the beach that we were all expecting, thanks to a skit the night before by our trainers, but did not encounter. No one had a close encounter with a "bumster."
So... let me elaborate, by way of quoting another blog, on what a “bumster” is for those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of a personal encounter.
This afternoon we went to a reptile farm and got a brief tour by a very knowledgeable young Gambian. He talked about many snakes, some geckos, and crocodiles.
Things to note:
Anyways, that's all for now so I hope everyone is enjoying reading our updates and I hope that all is well at home.
Today was effectively a rest day. No official wake up time, breakfast was left out late, and the Peace Corps trainers planned two "field trips for us." Having not been on a field trip in a while this was a pretty exciting experience.
This morning we went a short walk to the beach. I am definitely not a beach person, but it was a beautiful beach! Warm water, hammocks, pavilions, and some beautiful cliffs. Played some frisbee and swam in the water - good times had by all.
There was one aspect to the beach that we were all expecting, thanks to a skit the night before by our trainers, but did not encounter. No one had a close encounter with a "bumster."
So... let me elaborate, by way of quoting another blog, on what a “bumster” is for those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of a personal encounter.
In the face of widespread tourism from the West, particularly as a result of the high amount of exploitative sex tourism perpetrated by Westerners in the country, young men from across the country flock to the beaches to appeal to the tourists. They loiter on the beaches with Rastafarian hair and mesh tank tops, doing push-ups and touting such lovely phrases as “it’s nice to be nice.” Yes, this is a stereotype, but it gives you an idea of what they look like. Many of them come to the coast to be a bumster because of the lack of opportunities in their own villages or elsewhere in the country. They see it is an opportunity to get support, maybe even to get out of Africa.No one had that experience today, but I am glad I know a bit more about it.
So they jog back and forth on the beaches, essentially fishing for a woman that will support them. Sometimes it involves sex, sometimes it just is walking around with them through town and showing them around. You’ll often see these young men with older white men, too, just escorting them around town as a local with local knowledge.
This afternoon we went to a reptile farm and got a brief tour by a very knowledgeable young Gambian. He talked about many snakes, some geckos, and crocodiles.
Things to note:
- There are many snakes in Africa.
- Some of them are poisonous
- Thankfully snakes are scared of people
- Thus if we don't bother them, they won't bother us
- Apparently, crocodiles in West Africa are very different than crocodiles in East Africa (this is a recent discovery) and West African crocodiles are much more docile and don't really bother people.
- There is an insect that is sort of a cross between a scorpion and a spider - weird!!!
Anyways, that's all for now so I hope everyone is enjoying reading our updates and I hope that all is well at home.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Pre-Service Training
Salaam alaikum! We have started our introduction to language training yesterday and that is the first phrase we learned - it is an Arabic greeting meaning "peace be with you." Unlike all the other greetings, it can be used with anyone at any time of the day and used throughout The Gambia. The appropriate response is "malaikum salaam," which means "peace be with you too." Each of the three main languages spoken here (Mandinka, Wolof, and Pulaar) have their own individual set of greetings that we are expected to know, so we started with them right away. Even though we're only learning greetings, it's pretty challenging to keep the three languages straight, but we're working on it. Early next week we will find out which of the three languages is spoken in our site, and we will be focusing on only that language for the rest of training. We are definitely looking forward to that!
In addition to starting language training, over the past two days we met with our Assistant Peace Corps Country Director, had personal health interviews, got the first of a series of rabies shots, had a training sessions on safety and security, had a training session of basic bike maintenance (unnecessary for us, but helpful for many people...and yes, we will be getting bikes!), got an overview of the technical training we will be receiving, met all the Peace Corps staff, and got a tour of the Peace Corps office. Our class is made up about 50/50 of two types of volunteers: (1) Health and Community Development and (2) Environment and Natural Resource Management. We found out that Peace Corps - The Gambia is launching a five year cross-sectoral food security program with our class. Food security is an area of interest for both of us, so we look forward to hearing more about that later. One thing we do know is that as our first "trainee directed activity," everyone in both groups will be planting a home garden in their training village, which will be handed off to community members once we go out to our sites. Should be both educational and fun!
Miscellaneous other stuff about experience thus far: It was very hot and humid yesterday, but today was quite a bit more pleasant. The current volunteers tell us that we can expect this sort of weather for the next several months. Peace Corps has been giving us a mix of American and Gambian food, being careful to make sure we are eating a balanced diet (as well as offering vegetarian options). The Gambian dishes we have had are basically what we expected: rice with peanut sauce and meat. The meat is tougher here than at home, but not too bad. Peace Corps is clearly easing us into the food both in terms of our palates and our health, as no one has gotten sick yet. We expect this will change once we go out to our training villages late next week, which is when things will start getting real :-)
Goodbye for now,
Sarah
P.S. We have wireless internet in the "transit house" where we are currently staying (also known as "the stodge" for unknown reasons) so I'm taking advantage of it while we can. No promises once we go out to our training village. If you have any questions you're curious about, post them in the comments and we will try to answer them in our next post.
In addition to starting language training, over the past two days we met with our Assistant Peace Corps Country Director, had personal health interviews, got the first of a series of rabies shots, had a training sessions on safety and security, had a training session of basic bike maintenance (unnecessary for us, but helpful for many people...and yes, we will be getting bikes!), got an overview of the technical training we will be receiving, met all the Peace Corps staff, and got a tour of the Peace Corps office. Our class is made up about 50/50 of two types of volunteers: (1) Health and Community Development and (2) Environment and Natural Resource Management. We found out that Peace Corps - The Gambia is launching a five year cross-sectoral food security program with our class. Food security is an area of interest for both of us, so we look forward to hearing more about that later. One thing we do know is that as our first "trainee directed activity," everyone in both groups will be planting a home garden in their training village, which will be handed off to community members once we go out to our sites. Should be both educational and fun!
Miscellaneous other stuff about experience thus far: It was very hot and humid yesterday, but today was quite a bit more pleasant. The current volunteers tell us that we can expect this sort of weather for the next several months. Peace Corps has been giving us a mix of American and Gambian food, being careful to make sure we are eating a balanced diet (as well as offering vegetarian options). The Gambian dishes we have had are basically what we expected: rice with peanut sauce and meat. The meat is tougher here than at home, but not too bad. Peace Corps is clearly easing us into the food both in terms of our palates and our health, as no one has gotten sick yet. We expect this will change once we go out to our training villages late next week, which is when things will start getting real :-)
Goodbye for now,
Sarah
P.S. We have wireless internet in the "transit house" where we are currently staying (also known as "the stodge" for unknown reasons) so I'm taking advantage of it while we can. No promises once we go out to our training village. If you have any questions you're curious about, post them in the comments and we will try to answer them in our next post.
Friday, November 6, 2009
We made it!
I don't have the time right now to write up something lengthy but I wanted to let everyone know that we made it here safe and sound. It took us almost 29 hours from when we left the hotel in Philadelphia until we made it to the Peace Corps house where we will be staying for the next week. All is well, we made it, and we are busy so its all good....
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Staging
Greetings from Philly! I only have a few minutes on the computer at the hotel, but I just wanted to write a quick post to let everyone know that we are safely in Philly and staging went well today (basically just a lot of paperwork and an introduction to Peace Corps). There are 35 people in our group and everyone is quite outgoing and friendly. There are several people who were originally in our Mauritania group. Talk about coming full circle!
Tomorrow we have to be up bright and early to get our Yellow Fever shots, then we will be off to the airport. Our flight takes off at 6:35pm and we have a couple hour layover in Brussels. From Brussels, we will be flying through Dakar then on to Banjul (but not deplaning in Dakar as we previously thought). We should be arriving in Banjul around 6:30pm on Thursday. So assuming all goes as planned, our next post will be from The Gambia! I will leave you with a few pictures from our departure...
Loaded up outside the Cohns' house
Tomorrow we have to be up bright and early to get our Yellow Fever shots, then we will be off to the airport. Our flight takes off at 6:35pm and we have a couple hour layover in Brussels. From Brussels, we will be flying through Dakar then on to Banjul (but not deplaning in Dakar as we previously thought). We should be arriving in Banjul around 6:30pm on Thursday. So assuming all goes as planned, our next post will be from The Gambia! I will leave you with a few pictures from our departure...
Before starting to pack (~10pm last night)
Casualties of the last cut to get down to 80 lbs apiece (~2am this morning)
All packed up
Loaded up outside the Cohns' house
I will post our final packing list later on when I get the chance. Tomorrow will be an extremely long day, so I'm off to bed...goodbye for now!
~Sarah
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