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.