Gambian Update
After two months without email and living in the middle of nowhere in a hut with a grass roof, I have finally made it back to the big city of Banjul, Kombo area. Internet is delicious! So, they had me learn Wolof, then decided to put me in a Mandinka community for my permanent site, so now I have to learn that language, too. I swear in this Friday, so I'll be a real-life PC Volunteer! I start teaching math and science on Monday at Dankunku Basic Cycle School, getting 8th and 9th graders ready for the grade 9 exams so that hopefully they can qualify for senior secondary school. I've seen copies of that exam--it's bullshit the stuff they want these kids to understand. Grrrrr to The Gambian government. Presidential elections are next Friday, the 22nd, so hopefully no rioting will happen and we won't be evacuated. Keep your fingers crossed. There's also a civil war going on in Southern Senegal, but that's not close to where I'm at in the CRD (Central River Division, in the big town of Dankunku, which is about 10K from everything--it's like the twilight zone, lots of people in one area, then nothing), but I do have a couple people in my training class who can hear the bombing going on from their villages.
Once I get back to site, it's 3-month challenge time where we're not supposed to leave so we can really get to know our community and what it needs. No internet for Hannah for a looooooong time.
Craziest thing I've done thus far--I ate iguana.
Most frequesnt mode of travel--donkey cart.
Languages I can greet people in--Wollof, Mandinka, Pulaar (a little bit)
Old Gambian Name--Soxna Njie (Wollof, "Soxna" means wife)
New Gambian Name--Sona Barrow (Mandinka version of Soxna, Barrow is the last name of my new family)
Number of Wives in my Compound--2
Number of People Living in my Compound--12
Animals Living in my Compound--3 donkeys, a cat, a dog named Simba (which is Kiswahili for "lion"), chickens
Freakiest Thing that's Happened to me--I had a fassom jeet ("fake scorpion") in my shoe, which was packed inside my zipped-up bag. Fast little suckers, they're a type of thin spider with thin claws that do kind of look like a scorpion. I chased it around my hut in Saresamba for a good five minutes before I finally was able to smash it with the very shoe it crawled out of.
Longest Distance Walking--27K, for our marathon march at Tendaba
Number of Love Letters Thus Far--1
My compound is great! I love my host family--they're the sweetest people ever. My host father said to just pay what I could for rent each month and that I am part of the family. I have two rooms (which makes me so very, very happy), a big backyard where I can plan a vegetable garden and which already has a papaya tree and a hot pepper plant, and my compound has a bunch of mango trees and is located close to the punp. I'm not far from the school, my compound is at the edge of town and very quiet, and is also next to the health clinic where I can help out at in the afternoon is I want. There is also a forestry station, but apparently the workers don't do anything there.
Once I get back to site, it's 3-month challenge time where we're not supposed to leave so we can really get to know our community and what it needs. No internet for Hannah for a looooooong time.
Craziest thing I've done thus far--I ate iguana.
Most frequesnt mode of travel--donkey cart.
Languages I can greet people in--Wollof, Mandinka, Pulaar (a little bit)
Old Gambian Name--Soxna Njie (Wollof, "Soxna" means wife)
New Gambian Name--Sona Barrow (Mandinka version of Soxna, Barrow is the last name of my new family)
Number of Wives in my Compound--2
Number of People Living in my Compound--12
Animals Living in my Compound--3 donkeys, a cat, a dog named Simba (which is Kiswahili for "lion"), chickens
Freakiest Thing that's Happened to me--I had a fassom jeet ("fake scorpion") in my shoe, which was packed inside my zipped-up bag. Fast little suckers, they're a type of thin spider with thin claws that do kind of look like a scorpion. I chased it around my hut in Saresamba for a good five minutes before I finally was able to smash it with the very shoe it crawled out of.
Longest Distance Walking--27K, for our marathon march at Tendaba
Number of Love Letters Thus Far--1
My compound is great! I love my host family--they're the sweetest people ever. My host father said to just pay what I could for rent each month and that I am part of the family. I have two rooms (which makes me so very, very happy), a big backyard where I can plan a vegetable garden and which already has a papaya tree and a hot pepper plant, and my compound has a bunch of mango trees and is located close to the punp. I'm not far from the school, my compound is at the edge of town and very quiet, and is also next to the health clinic where I can help out at in the afternoon is I want. There is also a forestry station, but apparently the workers don't do anything there.
posted by Hannah | 3:31 PM
1 Comments:
Hannah! We love you and are SO incredibly proud of what you are doing and what you have accomplished! You are an amazing woman! :) Keep up the great work, Hon, and remember that no one ever said you HAD to be like everybody else when you "grew up." Grad school, marriage, things like that...Sweetie, that's the EASY stuff. You chose to challenge yourself, to set an example for others, and to spend some time figuring out WHO YOU REALLY ARE! You ROCK!!! You should be so proud of yourself (we are!)!!! Remember, Lovely Hannah: "The bravest are those who have the clearest vision of what lies before them, glory and danger alike, and yet, nonwithstanding, go out and meet it."
We love you!
Jillian & Ryan (and Jugi and Moki)
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