More Gambia News
Hello everyone!
To keep you updated on my wild African adventure, I have to say not too much has happened. I came back to Kombo in January for some work stuff and went to visit my friend Sara in Bwiam. She showed me the schools she's working with (they actually have science labs, and the senior secondary school has computers!) along with the hospital where she works occasionally. She introduced me to her headmasters and the director of the hospital and they all said they would love for me to come help organize labs or do in-service training for the employees.
So…confession time. I haven't been exactly loving my site. Actually, I've been pretty depressed because other than teaching 7th grade science, I haven't actually been doing science-related stuff. The projects I've worked on, like the library and teacher workshops, are things I feel could be done and would be done better by a teacher-trainer. My village is truly in the middle of absolute nowhere so I'm isolated and feel more lonely than I have ever felt before. I've talked with the head medical officer and with my boss Yamai about switching to Bwiam or possibly Mansakoko area, someplace that is more urban (so I'll actually have network for my cell phone and can talk to my family more than once a month) and that has more volunteers around so I have someone to talk to if I'm frustrated or depressed--rather than hiding in my house reading. And either site would be much closer to Kombo (Bwiam is 3 hours away, Mansakoko 4, rather than my 9-12) Anyway, I need to write a formal request for a transfer, so I'll keep everyone posted.
Part of the depression stems from the malaria prophylactic I've been taking (Mephlaquin, also known as Lariam) so I've switched to Doxycyclin which means I have to take pills every day instead of once a week but in return I no longer have freaky dreams or bouts of insomnia, and even though I've only been on Doxy for a week, I do feel happier in general.
This past weekend was WAIST (West African Invitational Softball Tournament) in Dakar, Senegal. It was a blast! I was on the non-competitive team, and we were absolutely terrible (-76 points in the end because of all the runs scored against us) but none of us cared so we had a great time. Our competitive team made it to quarter-finals before they lost. It was crazy being in Dakar, which is a real city with buildings that are taller than three stories. It sort of reminded me of Chicago, but it was still easy to tell that I was in a third-world country because in front of those tall buildings were wooden stalls selling everything from phone cards to grapes. Ohmigosh! The fruit and vegetables were amazing! The oranges were actually orange, not green like the ones in Gambia, and the bananas were yellow instead of brown. Granted, everything was expensive, but it was fresh and heaven to eat. I kind of struck out with the whole restaurant experience: if you are ever in Dakar, do NOT go to a Chinese restaurant called Hong Kong II, the food was worse than cafeteria food, absolutely no flavor at all. On my last night in Dakar I also suffered food poisoning from a banquet the organization hosted.
I stayed with another volunteer in a real apartment that had consistent power and running water (that was even hot!), and our host was so sweet to us--her maid cooked chicken and baked chocolate chip cookies. She served as a PCV in Nepal during the seventies and told us amazing stories. When she served, her closest sitemate was a four day's walk away, and during training everyone had to learn how to give themselves their own shots because they were just so far away from the medical office. I feel like a total wimp compared to her, griping that it takes me 9-12 hours to get to Kombo and that I don't have good cellular phone service in my village. Ex-pat life is pretty good, though. Our host works as an elementary school teacher at the American School in Dakar, but she lives in a nice apartment and has a maid.
In other news, I have been semi-productive since the last time I wrote. February 9th-12th Dankunku hosted a Scout campfire for schools in the CRD region. Nine schools attended with 200 scouts present, and they all slept at the school. Chaos anyone? I'm surprised that it happened at all because everything was last-minute. One thing I've learned about the people I work with: they are very good at planning things--especially with me pushing them to think things through and organize--but execution of those ideas is a big problem. So, while we had great fundraising ideas to get the 11,000 dalasis we needed to feed the campers, fundraising didn't actually start until the week of the campfire (because I wasn't around saying "we need to do this NOW"--I was in Bwiam). The scout did community service, cleaning up sectors of the town, along with drilling--it was a little intimidating to watch thirteen-year-olds pretending to hold guns--, skits and chants and songs around the campfire, and I organized troop building activities, which were a big hit. I set up puzzles like Spider's Web, Six-Legged Race and Human Knot where the scouts had to work as a group to solve puzzles. It didn't work out exactly as planned because the scoutmasters I put in charge of activities were commanding the kids instead of letting them try the activities themselves, but the kids had fun, which is the most important part. In the mornings I helped with BFT (Body Fitness Test), so at 6:30 myself and a few other scoutmasters would lead the kids on a 2K run, which was more like jog-marching with the kids clapping hands and chanting "Yugel, yugel wii, hoya. Lem lem ma lem lem ma lem lem la hoya." I don't know what that means but it will be forever stuck in my head.
Projects I'm working on right now include trying to re-start a proposal for a resource center for the school. Rebecca, the PCV before me, wrote a grant proposal through the PC Partnership program, but wasn't able to raise all the money need within the time frame given, so now as far as we know, that money has been taken by Peace Corps Washington and I need to write a new proposal. Another project I'm writing a proposal for is to turn Dankunku into a senior secondary school. The school has already been changed from a lower basic school (grades 1-6) to a basic cycle (1-9) so the school has plenty of building space. The school serves fifteen villages and there are no other senior secondary schools anywhere nearby. So, keep your fingers crossed for that, I have no idea what DOSE (Department Of State Education) will say.
Oh, and don't forget to mark your calendars for International Women's Day, March 8th. I'm trying to organize an assembly to celebrate. I need to ask permission for an assembly from the administration, which I don't think will be a problem, and I also need to talk with the girls' club I hear the school has (but which I've never seen). Activities I am thinking about are skits (because the kids LOVE dramas), translating Maya Angelou into Mandinka, maybe debates about gender issues, and possibly a football (soccer) match between Dankunku girls and the Sambang Upper Basic team.
To go completely off-track now, in the seven months that I've been in country, eleven people have terminated service early. It sounds amazing and at first I didn't believe it when people would say "Sometimes, we go a whole month without someone ETing," but now I see how true it is. Only two people have left from my education group, and everyone at least made it through training. The agroforestry group that came after us (in September) lost three during training, and has lost another three since then, and they haven't even finished their three-month challenge yet. The health group that came before us (in February) has lost three in the last two weeks. On top of that, there are groups COSing (Completion Of Service) and the new health group came in at the beginning of the month. The turn-around for PCVs is just crazy. It feels like I just get to know someone, and then they leave for one reason or another. It's worse than college.
Okay, I'm going to quit rambling now so you can all go about your lives. If you have time, shoot an email or letter my way. I'd love to hear what's going on in everyone's life. Miss you all!
~Hannah :-)
To keep you updated on my wild African adventure, I have to say not too much has happened. I came back to Kombo in January for some work stuff and went to visit my friend Sara in Bwiam. She showed me the schools she's working with (they actually have science labs, and the senior secondary school has computers!) along with the hospital where she works occasionally. She introduced me to her headmasters and the director of the hospital and they all said they would love for me to come help organize labs or do in-service training for the employees.
So…confession time. I haven't been exactly loving my site. Actually, I've been pretty depressed because other than teaching 7th grade science, I haven't actually been doing science-related stuff. The projects I've worked on, like the library and teacher workshops, are things I feel could be done and would be done better by a teacher-trainer. My village is truly in the middle of absolute nowhere so I'm isolated and feel more lonely than I have ever felt before. I've talked with the head medical officer and with my boss Yamai about switching to Bwiam or possibly Mansakoko area, someplace that is more urban (so I'll actually have network for my cell phone and can talk to my family more than once a month) and that has more volunteers around so I have someone to talk to if I'm frustrated or depressed--rather than hiding in my house reading. And either site would be much closer to Kombo (Bwiam is 3 hours away, Mansakoko 4, rather than my 9-12) Anyway, I need to write a formal request for a transfer, so I'll keep everyone posted.
Part of the depression stems from the malaria prophylactic I've been taking (Mephlaquin, also known as Lariam) so I've switched to Doxycyclin which means I have to take pills every day instead of once a week but in return I no longer have freaky dreams or bouts of insomnia, and even though I've only been on Doxy for a week, I do feel happier in general.
This past weekend was WAIST (West African Invitational Softball Tournament) in Dakar, Senegal. It was a blast! I was on the non-competitive team, and we were absolutely terrible (-76 points in the end because of all the runs scored against us) but none of us cared so we had a great time. Our competitive team made it to quarter-finals before they lost. It was crazy being in Dakar, which is a real city with buildings that are taller than three stories. It sort of reminded me of Chicago, but it was still easy to tell that I was in a third-world country because in front of those tall buildings were wooden stalls selling everything from phone cards to grapes. Ohmigosh! The fruit and vegetables were amazing! The oranges were actually orange, not green like the ones in Gambia, and the bananas were yellow instead of brown. Granted, everything was expensive, but it was fresh and heaven to eat. I kind of struck out with the whole restaurant experience: if you are ever in Dakar, do NOT go to a Chinese restaurant called Hong Kong II, the food was worse than cafeteria food, absolutely no flavor at all. On my last night in Dakar I also suffered food poisoning from a banquet the organization hosted.
I stayed with another volunteer in a real apartment that had consistent power and running water (that was even hot!), and our host was so sweet to us--her maid cooked chicken and baked chocolate chip cookies. She served as a PCV in Nepal during the seventies and told us amazing stories. When she served, her closest sitemate was a four day's walk away, and during training everyone had to learn how to give themselves their own shots because they were just so far away from the medical office. I feel like a total wimp compared to her, griping that it takes me 9-12 hours to get to Kombo and that I don't have good cellular phone service in my village. Ex-pat life is pretty good, though. Our host works as an elementary school teacher at the American School in Dakar, but she lives in a nice apartment and has a maid.
In other news, I have been semi-productive since the last time I wrote. February 9th-12th Dankunku hosted a Scout campfire for schools in the CRD region. Nine schools attended with 200 scouts present, and they all slept at the school. Chaos anyone? I'm surprised that it happened at all because everything was last-minute. One thing I've learned about the people I work with: they are very good at planning things--especially with me pushing them to think things through and organize--but execution of those ideas is a big problem. So, while we had great fundraising ideas to get the 11,000 dalasis we needed to feed the campers, fundraising didn't actually start until the week of the campfire (because I wasn't around saying "we need to do this NOW"--I was in Bwiam). The scout did community service, cleaning up sectors of the town, along with drilling--it was a little intimidating to watch thirteen-year-olds pretending to hold guns--, skits and chants and songs around the campfire, and I organized troop building activities, which were a big hit. I set up puzzles like Spider's Web, Six-Legged Race and Human Knot where the scouts had to work as a group to solve puzzles. It didn't work out exactly as planned because the scoutmasters I put in charge of activities were commanding the kids instead of letting them try the activities themselves, but the kids had fun, which is the most important part. In the mornings I helped with BFT (Body Fitness Test), so at 6:30 myself and a few other scoutmasters would lead the kids on a 2K run, which was more like jog-marching with the kids clapping hands and chanting "Yugel, yugel wii, hoya. Lem lem ma lem lem ma lem lem la hoya." I don't know what that means but it will be forever stuck in my head.
Projects I'm working on right now include trying to re-start a proposal for a resource center for the school. Rebecca, the PCV before me, wrote a grant proposal through the PC Partnership program, but wasn't able to raise all the money need within the time frame given, so now as far as we know, that money has been taken by Peace Corps Washington and I need to write a new proposal. Another project I'm writing a proposal for is to turn Dankunku into a senior secondary school. The school has already been changed from a lower basic school (grades 1-6) to a basic cycle (1-9) so the school has plenty of building space. The school serves fifteen villages and there are no other senior secondary schools anywhere nearby. So, keep your fingers crossed for that, I have no idea what DOSE (Department Of State Education) will say.
Oh, and don't forget to mark your calendars for International Women's Day, March 8th. I'm trying to organize an assembly to celebrate. I need to ask permission for an assembly from the administration, which I don't think will be a problem, and I also need to talk with the girls' club I hear the school has (but which I've never seen). Activities I am thinking about are skits (because the kids LOVE dramas), translating Maya Angelou into Mandinka, maybe debates about gender issues, and possibly a football (soccer) match between Dankunku girls and the Sambang Upper Basic team.
To go completely off-track now, in the seven months that I've been in country, eleven people have terminated service early. It sounds amazing and at first I didn't believe it when people would say "Sometimes, we go a whole month without someone ETing," but now I see how true it is. Only two people have left from my education group, and everyone at least made it through training. The agroforestry group that came after us (in September) lost three during training, and has lost another three since then, and they haven't even finished their three-month challenge yet. The health group that came before us (in February) has lost three in the last two weeks. On top of that, there are groups COSing (Completion Of Service) and the new health group came in at the beginning of the month. The turn-around for PCVs is just crazy. It feels like I just get to know someone, and then they leave for one reason or another. It's worse than college.
Okay, I'm going to quit rambling now so you can all go about your lives. If you have time, shoot an email or letter my way. I'd love to hear what's going on in everyone's life. Miss you all!
~Hannah :-)
posted by Hannah | 2:58 AM
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