Someone Turn Off the Sun!!!
Hello everyone!
Returning yet again to civilization, I can give you an update of the Gambian life. Since my last email, the school held our inter-kunda sports competition (track and field day, essentially). As a member of the sports committee, I had the pleasure of sitting through almost daily meetings regarding how to secure funds to hold the inter-kundas, which mostly consisted of three different people making the same points but somehow able to argue with each other--quite a talent--while the rest of us listened and occassionally tried in vain to comment or even change the subject. :-P The committee has held various fund-raising activities like movie nights (there's something other-worldy about sitting outside on a mat in the sand, watching action movies on a small TV screen which has the volume turned to maximum so you can hear it over the hum of the generator used to run it, and then to have a donkey walk in front of the screen or a sheep come up to your mat to try and eat it) and the Mother's Club has given money specifically for the inter-kundas, but then the headmaster "borrowed" over 1000 dalasis for trips to Kombo or Basse and he has yet to return the money, so we were definitely in a financial pickle. Somehow we managed to find the money, yay! The day of the inter-kundas, I woke around 8 because the inter-kundas were scheduled to start at 9. Since I've accustomed myself to "Gambian time" I didn't show up to the field until almost 10, and I was one of three teachers and ten students there who were trying to set up the shade covers and scratch lines in the sand for the track. The events didn't start until noon. The students had been divided into four teams, and most of the students were cheerleaders for the ten or fifteen kids actually competing in all of the events. Mostly it was running track and jumping events, but there were a few fun ones like bucket balance (literally, a 15 liter bucket full of water balanced on the girls' heads with no hands to hold, walking 100m). Unfortunately, the difficult events like distance running and relays didn't happen until after lunch (so, after 3), and over the course of one hour I counted eleven children collapsing from heat exhaustion, so that more often than not the people who won events were the only ones who kept to their feet. Fortunately, we have a great Red Cross Club at the school, GambiaHelp gave us lots of first-aid supplies, and all students in sixth grade or higher learn how to make oral rehydration drinks with water, sugar, and salt. We emphasized to the teachers in charge of the kundas to make sure their kids drank lots of water, but it was the same students competing over and over in events and they became too tired. Plus, the teachers are fanatically competitive when it comes to inter-kundas. The students do it for fun, but the teachers will scream and chase after kids while they compete. Slightly frightening. I was the main scorekeeper during all of the events so I had a 360 view from the middle of the field to see all of this happening. During break, I learned where the procured money went--to feed all the "important people" from Dankunku and surrounding villages who mostly had nothing to do with the school all year. We had the school cooks make chicken domodaa (think hot peanut-butter sauce, really yummy) with cooscoos and noodles, even vegetables like cabbage and eggplant which most people didn't touch so I went around helping clean plates by eating those (you become a total scavenger living here). The children were all told to go home for lunch, though if money hadn't been "borrowed" the sports committee had planned to give each kunda some money to cook for the themselves. I overheard some men who dropped by to see their important friends say that they really just came to the inter-kundas for free lunch, and we gave it to them. There were panketos (think giant donut holes), fish pies, and icees (frozen juice you suck out of a small plastic baggie) for these men to eat and drink during the competitions, even cold soft drinks which were bought in Farafenni and brought back (which requires a boat and gele-gele ride each way), but we couldn't afford to give anything to the kids passing out in the field in front of us. Sometimes the beuracracy here makes me want to scream! Ahhhhhhhhhh! However, all-in-all the day was a lot of fun because I had the chance to watch some of my grade sevens compete. Salifu, my best student, did an amazing job at high and long jump, and four of my "super-chatty girls who sit in the back and don't even take notes while I'm trying to teach" made up the winning 4x400 relay team. My sitemate, Elyse, and Charlie, the VSO for the Niamina districts, came to see the events, too, so we enjoyed chatting amongst ourselves about how we were sitting on metal desks with frayed wiring from the speakers looped all over the place around us. I'm quite impressed with the technical feats the men achieved--they made a microphone out of a pair of headphones connected to a radio. I never would have thought about doing that. The more time you spend here, the more resourceful you become.
Right now the grade nines are in the middle of their two-week-long tests which will qualify them for senior secondary school. I helped with attendance and keeping time while I was around, along with teaching after-school sessions to help students study for the exams they would have the next day. My grade seven classes were switched to afternoon shift so that the grade nines would have more space for their testing, and all I can say is I hope never to teach an afternoon shift again. It's currently up to 118 degrees in Dkk (I know for sure now that I have a thermometer I snatched from the free pile at the hostel). Students do quite poorly in such heat, and I know my mind wanders while I'm trying to concentrate on what I'm teaching. However, the heat has helped me to slow down while I teach, which prompts the students to ask more questions while I walk around the classroom (the new strategy my mother told me about for minimizing class chatting.If someone is especially chatty I'll just put my hand on their head; it kind of freaks the students out, but it does keep them quieter as I walk back and forth between pockets of chit-chat). I'm teaching them about nutrition and how the circulation, respiratory, and digestive systems work together to unlock the nutrients and energy from food. My favorite lecture was covering which foods have which nutrients. My students asked me to explain what pork tastes like, and they tried to explain hyena meat to me. I want to try some now, and we definitely have them in the area--I can't seem to fall asleep anymore before I hear them calling out in the night. When I make it back to village we'll have review in class with "Hungry Lamin," my pride and joy of teaching aids. By using a rice bag, some velcro I brought from America, poster board, and markers, I've made a human outline with removable body parts for each of the systems we've discussed in class. I've also made food bowls out of poster board with cutouts of various foods with their nutrients labelled on the back. I'll divide my classes into four groups and have competitions to organize balanced meals. I've promised mintees to the winning teams.
In regards to projects, the well projects are at a standstill right now. Lamin Sanyang, the well-digger we've been using, has twice now been in trouble for possession and distribution of marijuana. The sitemate we were supposed to have after Lizzie closed her service has been moved to a different village (so only two people remain in our district and surrounding districts) because she saw Lamin drying pot on the roof when she went to visit the compound for site visit and she told Peace Corps about it, and Lamin has been arrested by the police in Jareng. He's the only well-digger in any of the surrounding areas, so we're stuck. However, I have all the details typed up for our request to turn Dankunku Basic Cycle School into a senior secondary school--as there are none anywhere nearby--so that project is going quite well. We have to be quick about turning all the paperwork in, because Jareng is also requesting a SSS and if they are chosen, we cannot build one for another five years because the Department of State Education (DOSE) won't fund the project. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
Oh, almost forgot: my request for transfer has finally been approved! Yay! I'm not sure when I'll move to Bwiam because I'll be helping with PST all summer and right before school starts I want to go on a trip to Guinea and Sierra Leone (two countries that are supposed to be amazingly beautiful, which is something Gambia isn't) with one or two other PCVs. So we'll see. Also, I've learned that because of my recommendation not to be replaced, the senior staff has decided to pull Peace Corps out of Dankunku for the time being. I feel like I've killed the village, not that it hasn't been dying for years anyway, but I do feel guilty and it's weird to know I have that kind of power. To look at the bright side, though, I'm moving to an area with three schools I could help with, two of them with science labs, plus a hospital where I could volunteer and could take students to for a field trip. The village I'm moving to is a Jolaa community, so I'll be picking up yet another language (Wolof, Mandinka, Jolaa). I feel torn about moving because I know I will miss my fellow teachers, my host family, and especially my students, and I feel guilty about the fact that I'll be leaving behind unfinished projects, but I truly do believe it is the best for my mental and physical wellbeing. Before I came to Kombo, I hadn't had any meat for a month, because there simply wasn't any available, and I had been starting to feel very tired, weak, and dizzy from the deficiency in protein. Not cool.
~Hannah
Returning yet again to civilization, I can give you an update of the Gambian life. Since my last email, the school held our inter-kunda sports competition (track and field day, essentially). As a member of the sports committee, I had the pleasure of sitting through almost daily meetings regarding how to secure funds to hold the inter-kundas, which mostly consisted of three different people making the same points but somehow able to argue with each other--quite a talent--while the rest of us listened and occassionally tried in vain to comment or even change the subject. :-P The committee has held various fund-raising activities like movie nights (there's something other-worldy about sitting outside on a mat in the sand, watching action movies on a small TV screen which has the volume turned to maximum so you can hear it over the hum of the generator used to run it, and then to have a donkey walk in front of the screen or a sheep come up to your mat to try and eat it) and the Mother's Club has given money specifically for the inter-kundas, but then the headmaster "borrowed" over 1000 dalasis for trips to Kombo or Basse and he has yet to return the money, so we were definitely in a financial pickle. Somehow we managed to find the money, yay! The day of the inter-kundas, I woke around 8 because the inter-kundas were scheduled to start at 9. Since I've accustomed myself to "Gambian time" I didn't show up to the field until almost 10, and I was one of three teachers and ten students there who were trying to set up the shade covers and scratch lines in the sand for the track. The events didn't start until noon. The students had been divided into four teams, and most of the students were cheerleaders for the ten or fifteen kids actually competing in all of the events. Mostly it was running track and jumping events, but there were a few fun ones like bucket balance (literally, a 15 liter bucket full of water balanced on the girls' heads with no hands to hold, walking 100m). Unfortunately, the difficult events like distance running and relays didn't happen until after lunch (so, after 3), and over the course of one hour I counted eleven children collapsing from heat exhaustion, so that more often than not the people who won events were the only ones who kept to their feet. Fortunately, we have a great Red Cross Club at the school, GambiaHelp gave us lots of first-aid supplies, and all students in sixth grade or higher learn how to make oral rehydration drinks with water, sugar, and salt. We emphasized to the teachers in charge of the kundas to make sure their kids drank lots of water, but it was the same students competing over and over in events and they became too tired. Plus, the teachers are fanatically competitive when it comes to inter-kundas. The students do it for fun, but the teachers will scream and chase after kids while they compete. Slightly frightening. I was the main scorekeeper during all of the events so I had a 360 view from the middle of the field to see all of this happening. During break, I learned where the procured money went--to feed all the "important people" from Dankunku and surrounding villages who mostly had nothing to do with the school all year. We had the school cooks make chicken domodaa (think hot peanut-butter sauce, really yummy) with cooscoos and noodles, even vegetables like cabbage and eggplant which most people didn't touch so I went around helping clean plates by eating those (you become a total scavenger living here). The children were all told to go home for lunch, though if money hadn't been "borrowed" the sports committee had planned to give each kunda some money to cook for the themselves. I overheard some men who dropped by to see their important friends say that they really just came to the inter-kundas for free lunch, and we gave it to them. There were panketos (think giant donut holes), fish pies, and icees (frozen juice you suck out of a small plastic baggie) for these men to eat and drink during the competitions, even cold soft drinks which were bought in Farafenni and brought back (which requires a boat and gele-gele ride each way), but we couldn't afford to give anything to the kids passing out in the field in front of us. Sometimes the beuracracy here makes me want to scream! Ahhhhhhhhhh! However, all-in-all the day was a lot of fun because I had the chance to watch some of my grade sevens compete. Salifu, my best student, did an amazing job at high and long jump, and four of my "super-chatty girls who sit in the back and don't even take notes while I'm trying to teach" made up the winning 4x400 relay team. My sitemate, Elyse, and Charlie, the VSO for the Niamina districts, came to see the events, too, so we enjoyed chatting amongst ourselves about how we were sitting on metal desks with frayed wiring from the speakers looped all over the place around us. I'm quite impressed with the technical feats the men achieved--they made a microphone out of a pair of headphones connected to a radio. I never would have thought about doing that. The more time you spend here, the more resourceful you become.
Right now the grade nines are in the middle of their two-week-long tests which will qualify them for senior secondary school. I helped with attendance and keeping time while I was around, along with teaching after-school sessions to help students study for the exams they would have the next day. My grade seven classes were switched to afternoon shift so that the grade nines would have more space for their testing, and all I can say is I hope never to teach an afternoon shift again. It's currently up to 118 degrees in Dkk (I know for sure now that I have a thermometer I snatched from the free pile at the hostel). Students do quite poorly in such heat, and I know my mind wanders while I'm trying to concentrate on what I'm teaching. However, the heat has helped me to slow down while I teach, which prompts the students to ask more questions while I walk around the classroom (the new strategy my mother told me about for minimizing class chatting.If someone is especially chatty I'll just put my hand on their head; it kind of freaks the students out, but it does keep them quieter as I walk back and forth between pockets of chit-chat). I'm teaching them about nutrition and how the circulation, respiratory, and digestive systems work together to unlock the nutrients and energy from food. My favorite lecture was covering which foods have which nutrients. My students asked me to explain what pork tastes like, and they tried to explain hyena meat to me. I want to try some now, and we definitely have them in the area--I can't seem to fall asleep anymore before I hear them calling out in the night. When I make it back to village we'll have review in class with "Hungry Lamin," my pride and joy of teaching aids. By using a rice bag, some velcro I brought from America, poster board, and markers, I've made a human outline with removable body parts for each of the systems we've discussed in class. I've also made food bowls out of poster board with cutouts of various foods with their nutrients labelled on the back. I'll divide my classes into four groups and have competitions to organize balanced meals. I've promised mintees to the winning teams.
In regards to projects, the well projects are at a standstill right now. Lamin Sanyang, the well-digger we've been using, has twice now been in trouble for possession and distribution of marijuana. The sitemate we were supposed to have after Lizzie closed her service has been moved to a different village (so only two people remain in our district and surrounding districts) because she saw Lamin drying pot on the roof when she went to visit the compound for site visit and she told Peace Corps about it, and Lamin has been arrested by the police in Jareng. He's the only well-digger in any of the surrounding areas, so we're stuck. However, I have all the details typed up for our request to turn Dankunku Basic Cycle School into a senior secondary school--as there are none anywhere nearby--so that project is going quite well. We have to be quick about turning all the paperwork in, because Jareng is also requesting a SSS and if they are chosen, we cannot build one for another five years because the Department of State Education (DOSE) won't fund the project. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
Oh, almost forgot: my request for transfer has finally been approved! Yay! I'm not sure when I'll move to Bwiam because I'll be helping with PST all summer and right before school starts I want to go on a trip to Guinea and Sierra Leone (two countries that are supposed to be amazingly beautiful, which is something Gambia isn't) with one or two other PCVs. So we'll see. Also, I've learned that because of my recommendation not to be replaced, the senior staff has decided to pull Peace Corps out of Dankunku for the time being. I feel like I've killed the village, not that it hasn't been dying for years anyway, but I do feel guilty and it's weird to know I have that kind of power. To look at the bright side, though, I'm moving to an area with three schools I could help with, two of them with science labs, plus a hospital where I could volunteer and could take students to for a field trip. The village I'm moving to is a Jolaa community, so I'll be picking up yet another language (Wolof, Mandinka, Jolaa). I feel torn about moving because I know I will miss my fellow teachers, my host family, and especially my students, and I feel guilty about the fact that I'll be leaving behind unfinished projects, but I truly do believe it is the best for my mental and physical wellbeing. Before I came to Kombo, I hadn't had any meat for a month, because there simply wasn't any available, and I had been starting to feel very tired, weak, and dizzy from the deficiency in protein. Not cool.
~Hannah
posted by Hannah | 4:02 PM
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