Weather the Storm

The last two weeks have been every eventful, both in good and bad ways. Last Friday my group and I did Marathon March, which was a 20 kilometer trek through some of The Gambia’s jungle, rice fields, and mangrove swamps. This was my favorite part of training so far. I have always enjoyed hiking and backpacking back home, so this was right up my alley. There was no set trail that we would walk; we just went right through all the rough terrain. My favorite part was going through the mangrove swamps. Even though I was up to my knees in mud, it was so much fun. I was hoping to be able to do things like this when I found out I was going to be coming to Africa. Many of the other volunteers enjoyed it also.

We returned to our training villages the following day, many of us sore and tired from the march. There was a heavy rainfall that morning that stayed consistent throughout most of the day. Strong winds came through my training village, Madianna. When we arrived we saws signs of damage. Some of the trees had been blown down and there was scattered debris. Some of the houses in the village received significant damage, including the house of my host family. When I got dropped off at my compound, I saw that the roof of my family’s house had slid over the front porch and was inches from the ground. It turned out that the wind blew off the roof covering the back part of the house, and then the roof covering the front fell forward. My family had a small building that was separate from the house that they used as a kitchen, it was completely destroyed. The winds blew the roof of that also and walls collapsed in on themselves. My house was also separate from my host family, but it did not receive any damage, only part of my backyard fence fell, but that took minutes to repair. Thankfully no one was hurt. My three year old brother had a slight bump on the head but he was okay. When the rain stopped some of the other villagers came by to help put the roof back on. They salvaged some of the materials from the roof that fell off the kitchen to put on the house. It was not fixed like my host father would like, but he considered it to be good enough for the time being. He intends to do full repairs on the house once the rainy season is over, which will be in about another month. My family, as well as the other villagers are strong people, and they work very as a community. My family never ceases to amaze me. They seemed more concerned about making sure I had something to eat, rather than fixing their home. It certainly was a tough moment for my host family and me. Many say that strong winds like that only occur once every few years. However, after a few days things seemed to get back to normal.

Within the days following the storm, Madianna celebrated Korite. This marks the end of Ramadan. During Ramadan, Muslims worldwide will undergo 30 days of fasting. The villagers all gathered together on Monday morning for prayer to bring Ramada to a close. Later that day the children would go around the village collecting salibo (charitable donation). It is similar to Halloween, the children will come to the door and I would give them a coin or candy.

I moved out of Madianna yesterday. It was tough having to say good bye to my host family. They have been so wonderful and have looked out for me throughout my training. Even though my language skills have improved significantly since I’ve started, there is still a barrier between me and them. Only my brother and namesake Bubacar can speak English. Even so, I would always have a great time interacting with them. I certainly intend to find my way back to Madianna during my service to see them all again. I am sure by then my Sarahule would be much more fluent. I may not have been able to verbally communicate with them very much now, but in the end that did not matter. My time with my host family has been filled with smiles, and smiles need no translation.

Malaria Scare

This weekend my group and I were supposed to go on a boat trip down the Gambia River. However, many of the volunteers ended up coming down with an illness, thus postponing the trip. This last week we were going through a phase in our training called Model School. Each of us were going to teach lessons in a Gambian school. I was tasked with teaching 5th and 6th grade science. About half way through the week some of the volunteers ended up getting sick and had to miss some of the days. Eventually I also ended up getting sick. On Thursday after I finished teaching my last lesson with my 6th graders I started feeling a chill. From there I started running a fever and it went downhill from there. When I made it back to Madianna, I went straight to sleep and try to ride it out the rest of the day. I was able to break my fever, but it left me feeling weak. The next morning some of the volunteers suggested I should go to the medical unit. At first I thought that I was fine and that the worst was over, but eventually I went just to be safe. I was glad that I had listened to them because the worst was yet to come.

Through out most of Friday I felt alright. I ended up spending the night at the transit house to try and get some more rest. I even woke up Saturday morning feeling pretty good. However, not only an hour into the day my fever started coming back. This time with a vengeance! I started feeling chilly and my temperature began to increase. By noon my temperature had gone up to 104.5 degrees. I was taken immediately to go see the US embassy doctor. He did a physical examination and he ended drawing a blood sample to test for Malaria since I was showing some symptoms. Malaria does not very distinct symptoms, some of them can be found with the common cold. But considering that I am in a Malaria risk country the doctor wanted to have my blood checked. Fortunately the test came back negative and my temperature ended up going back down to normal.

So I would say that I've had a pretty tough weekend, but it did remind me of some important things. I have to take extra steps to keep myself healthy in this environment. There are a lot of things here that I have never faced back home. Normally back home I would just tough out an illness, but here I cannot afford to do that. I hope that this post has not got anyone too worried about me. There is a good medical team that is looking out for me. Now I am feeling fit and ready to continue on!

Eating to Live

I have been asked about the food that I have been eating here in The Gambia. For those of you who thought I was going to be eating bugs, sorry to disappoint, but I have not eaten any bugs, ha ha. First I will tell about lunch. My lunches are usually provided by a Peace Corps cook and they can vary. Sometimes I will get a bowl of rice with chicken, potatoes, cabbage, and other vegetables mixed with a sauce. Other times I could have noodles with beef and vegetables. Lunches made by the Peace Corps cook are delicious and I eat them with my language partner. Breakfast and dinner are provided by my host family. For breakfast I get one of two things, either sombi (rice porridge) or bread and butter. Dinner is usually a bowl or rice with a fish or some other sauce. The taste is not the best, and every now and then I may bite into some sand in my food. Some things took a while for my stomach to get used to. Even so, I would never complain about the food my host family gives me. They don’t have that much food to begin with, and yet they chose to share with me. It was already kind enough that they welcomed me, a foreign stranger, into their home and into their lives. There have been times where I have asked myself; Am I a burden to my host family? Am I just another mouth that they have to worry about feeding? I have young siblings in my host family, as well as a five month old niece. I would worry about whether or not they were getting enough to eat themselves.

Since I arrived in my training village, Madianna. I began to take on a lifestyle of eating to live. The people here have very limited food options that they use to meet their needs. This has been an overwhelming but humbling experience for me so far. Back home I could open the refrigerator or pantry to grab a snack or prepare a meal. Or I could go out and have a meal at a nice restaurant. That was more of a living to eat lifestyle. For the Gambians, sharing what they have is a strong value in their culture. There have even been times where I will be walking around the village and families will invite me into their compound to eat with them. Therefore I know that my host family is happy to share their food with me, and that none of them are going hungry. Even if I may not always like the food, I will never complain and I always say nuwari (thank you). Here I consider every meal to be a blessing.