Back on the Grid

It has been quite some time since I submitted a post on here, which goes without saying. Lately I have been having a hard time finding things to write about. At this point in my service, it seems like nothing really comes as a surprise to my anymore. Everything around me just feels normal now, and I have been able to call this place home. However, there have been a few noteworthy moments that I do want to share, some good and some bad.

First off, I will start with some of the good things. I have been able to make considerable progress on some of my projects that I have been working on here. The library at my school has come a long way. The books have been cataloged and neatly shelved according to genre and reading level and will soon be ready for the students. I also collected letters from my 7^th and 8^th grades students here that they wrote to their American pen pals. I will be mailing them out once I return to the Capitol in the coming week. One of my counterparts and I also held a Scout weekend campfire for our Scouts. There we did various activities to promote teamwork, discipline, fitness, and other life skills. They seemed to really enjoy it, as did I. Other exciting things that happened recently were climbing to the top of a cellular tower, eating a bush rat, diving into the Gambia river, watching Gambian wrestling, encountering a warthog, and having one of my photos get chosen to be featured in a publication at my college. (Shown below)

Now for the not so good part. Last month a fire broke out in my village. It was a Sunday night and I had just finished eating dinner and was getting ready to settle in for the night. Then I heard agonizing screams coming from somewhere in my village. When I stepped outside my house I saw flames coming from nearby. I quickly put on my shoes and headed in that direction. When I got there I saw a building was on fire and the villagers were in a frenzy trying to get bowls and buckets of sand and water to try and put the fire out. I jumped in as well trying to collect sand and water to contribute. I also got a chain started with some teenagers and we were able to quickly pass sand up to the people nearest the flames. After about an hour we were able to get the fire under control. I walked back to my compound covered in dirt and feeling exhausted. My host mother gave me a jug of water so I could wash up. That night I had a hard time falling asleep. Even though I was physically exhausted from the ordeal, my mind was flooded with too many unanswered question. I was wondering, how did the fire start? Whose building was that? Was anyone hurt? How much damage was done? The lack of information made it difficult to sleep. The next morning I met up with one of the village elders to try and get some answers. It turned out that it was a shop that caught fire when a gas stove went haywire and took the building. Thankfully, no one lost their lives that night. Also the fire did not spread to anyone’s homes. So that was a rough night, but things have gone back to normal and adequate repairs have been done on the building.

So that is a summary of the last few months. I will make a conscious effort to post on here more regularly. I am a third of the way done with my Peace Corps service, so I should have plenty of new and exciting experiences to share along the way!

I also want to take this moment to thank a few people. I first want to thank everyone who has sent me something, and you know who you are. Your gifts has been a Godsend! Also I would like to thank the students and staff at Saint Stephen School for their participation and continued patience during our pen pal project. The letters from your Gambian pen pals will be sent out soon! Lastly I would like to thank my mother and the students and staff at North Branch Elementary School for their generous book donations. They are a great addition to the school library here, and the teachers and students are very happy to have them. Pictures to come soon! Thank you again everyone and God bless!

Dealing

There have been a lot of ups and downs these last couple weeks in the capital. My group and I had our in-service training, which made for some long days. Yet we worked hard during our training sessions, for we knew that once it was all over we would get to enjoy a nice Christmas break!

Christmas Eve was a lot of fun! The US Ambassador invited all the volunteers to his house for dinner. We also watched A Christmas Story on a large, inflatable screen. That made for a fun night. On Christmas morning we had a large breakfast at the transit house. Some of the volunteers worked hard to prepare it, and they did a wonderful job. We also had a gift exchange game that we played. Later in the afternoon some of us decided to go down to the beach. This I really enjoyed, for I never thought that I would be swimming in the ocean on Christmas day. We ended the day with an open mic night. For this event some of the volunteers prepared certain acts to perform for everyone else. Some played guitar, performed skits, or recited poetry. I decided to tell a story, which everyone seemed to enjoy. All this made for a wonderful Christmas in The Gambia.

Two days later I received bad news. I found out that my grandfather had passed away. This was hard to hear, and the fact that I was thousands of miles away made it all the more difficult. However, I received a tremendous amount of support from the other volunteers. I was really glad that they were around when I heard the news, rather than being alone in my village. There were other circumstances that I was thankful for as well. My grandfather was at his farm and had loved ones around him, he also went peacefully. I miss him, and I do kind of dislike that fact that he will not be there to welcome me home in a couple years. However, I believe he is in Heaven now, and I will get to share everything with him some day. I know he would want me to stay strong and keep on doing what I am doing here. So I will do just that.

Now I will be returning to my village soon, which I am actually really looking forward to. I will be able to get back to my routine and continue with my work. The last couple weeks have been very eventful, in both good and bad ways. It has left me feeling somewhat exhausted, but I do have a renewed focus and determination. The new year is upon us, and I intend to accomplish much throughout it.

Rest in Peace Grandpa, I love you very much!

It's That Time of Year

I find it hard to believe that I have been in The Gambia for over five months now. Time seems to go by so fast here.  Now the holiday season is upon us. I thought it would be difficult at first to be halfway around the world from my family when the holidays came around. However, this is not a new thing for me. When I was in the Marine Corps, there were times when I was not able to go home to see my family for Thanksgiving or Christmas. So being away seems much easier this time around. So here is how I spent some of the recent holidays.

For Halloween my original plan was to watch some scary movies and enjoy some of the candy that was sent from home. However, this plan fell through quickly because I was unable to charge my laptop to watch movies. So I ended up going to a place in the village to watch a football match. After returning to my house, I decided that the next best thing from watching scary movies was to read some scary stories. So I read some short stories by H.P. Lovecraft.

I also spent Thanksgiving Day in my village, which was uneventful to say the least. However, the real celebration was that Saturday in Basse. Some of the other volunteers came and we had our own Thanksgiving feast. We all prepared a dish to contribute. I teamed up with another volunteer and we made fruit salads. We first cut a watermelon in half and cut up the insides into chunks. Then we filled our now made watermelon bowls with oranges, apples, pineapple, bananas, and of course the watermelon chunks. Other prepared dishes included yams, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, dibbled eggs, fried okra, garlic bread, pasta salad, and corn. And for dessert we had no-bake cheesecake and peanut butter and chocolate pie. All of this along with the company of the other volunteers made for a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration!

My birthday also passed recently. Two volunteers from nearby villages rode their bikes in to celebrate it with me. My language partner was one of them and she surprised me with a poster that she made. It said “Happy First Gambian Birthday, Bakary!” and it had some of her artwork on it. The three of us made lunch and visited for a while. We also went to a nearby bitik and got some cold sodas. It was great having them both there for my birthday. I also received a call from my mother and father, wishing me a happy birthday. It was brief, but it felt great to hear from them.

Next up is Christmas, which I have no definite plans for at the moment. I will be in the capital with the group of volunteers that I came to The Gambia with. So I am sure that we will be putting together something spectacular to celebrate.

Not a day goes by where I do not think about my family and friends back home. Yet I cannot really say that I have had any feelings of homesickness. I think a lot of it is because of the other volunteers. In a way we have become our own family. We do things together and we look out for each other. They are wonderful people and it is great to celebrate holidays with them. I cannot wait until our next celebration together.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

A Day In The Life

Some of you might be wondering what a typical day is like for me. So here is what happened yesterday.

0600 – The morning prayers blast from the mosque's megaphones, resonating throughout the entire village. My alarm is not set to go off for another half hour, but I just turn it off. The sound is so loud that it sounds like someone placed a boom box on my front porch. Might as well just get up and around. 

0715 – I just finished a small load of laundry. They should be well dried by the time I come back. Since I have to wash my clothes by hand I tend to wash small loads very frequently. This way I do not have to wash an entire pile. After I am finished I use the water in the tubs to water my banana trees (yes, I have two banana trees in my back yard. How cool is that?!). Then my host father knocks on my door to deliver a loaf of bread so I can make my breakfast. I make myself a peanut butter and banana sandwich.

0815 – I get myself signed in at my school. The students make their way to their respective classrooms. I am sweating from the bike ride here. The school is about one kilometer away from my house. I passed my usual morning traffic of children playing, donkey carts, and women balancing heavy objects on their heads while carrying babies on their backs.

1030 – I have an interesting conversation with another teacher about polygamous marriages.

1145 – I sit with some of the other teachers around the food bowl to have lunch. We have fish with white rice and onion sauce.  I try to not eat too much for I know I will be eating with my family later.

1400 – I make it back to my compound. The children all run over to greet me. I give each one of them a high five and a fist bump. I go inside my house to top off my water filter and bring my clothes in off the line. I sweep the floor also. This is I do constantly, for small things on the floor bring in ants.

1430 – My younger host brother comes to my door to tell me that lunch is ready. I go into my host father's house and join him and my host brothers around the food bowl. Today we are having domoda, which is white rice with groundnut paste. It is one of my favorite Gambian dishes.

1530 – I usually commit time after lunch to do some reading. I never really had much time to read back home, but here I read a lot. I have been at my village for a little over two months and have read eight novels. Right now I am reading Life of Pi.

1600 – I try to exercise regularly. I have found a couple of good running routes around my village. But today I decided to do yoga and stretching.

1730 – I carry the bucket that I filled up at the community pump to my latrine area to get ready for my bucket bath.  This includes bathing by gathering water in a cup and pouring it over my head. I actually kind of like bathing this way.

1900 – Night falls on the village. I turn on my lantern and look around the inside of my house. I am paranoid about having another bat find its way into my house. I have already had to kill one earlier in the week when I could not get it out. 

1930 – I join my host father and brother outside for dinner. Tonight we are having rice and sweet potatoes. My host father takes his leave early to do evening prayers. So I finish eating with my host brother. After dinner I help him with his numbers. He can now successfully write to ten. He also helps me with my Sarahule.

2015 – I take my toothbrush and a water bottle out into my backyard to brush my teeth. I have become very used to doing all my daily hygienics without having running water.

2100 – After reading a little more of Life of Pi, I get myself settled in to bed. I say my prayers and then try to make myself as comfortable as I can on the cheap foam mattress that is my bed. I think about my family and friends back home. I hope all is well with them.

Distinction

For this post, I wanted to touch on two significant cultural differences that I have learned about Gambian cultural to that of what I'm familiar with in America. There are many differences of course, but these are the two that stood out to me the most.

As I had mentioned in an earlier post, time is not an issue with the people here. They go about their days their own way without being in any rush. I found this to be an interesting and low stress lifestyle, but it goes much deeper than that. Many Gambians are not even concerned about their age, because they don't even know how old they actually are. This is common among those that are born in villages. If you were to ask them when they were born, they would tell that they were born during a particular season and not know the date. So needless to say, many Gambians do not celebrate birthdays. They just go on living their lives without worrying about the number of years they've accumulated.

I have also found marriage proposals here to be interesting. Marriage proposals are done with kola nuts. Kola nuts are what Gambians use for a variety of customary greetings and ceremonies. For marriage proposals, if a man wants to marry a woman. He will present a kola nut to the woman's parents and then go back and tell his own parents. Then his parents will go talk to the woman's parents, and if they decide that they can be married then the woman's parents will give a kola nut to the man's parents. I found this to be a very interesting custom. What I found most interesting about this is that sometimes this can occur without the woman's knowledge, and she will discover that her parents have chosen a husband for her.

I continue to learn intriguing things about the people here. Somethings may be overwhelming at first, but I keep an open-mind about them. I have been living in Baja Kunda for a little over a month now, and the people are getting to know me better. The children in my host family walk with me whenever I venture out into the village and show me around. So things are going great, and I look forward to see what else I can learn from the people here.

Off The Grid

I have been living in my new village for a little over two weeks now. So far I am adjusting well, but I am still getting used to things. My new host family is absolutely wonderful! They really do what they can to make sure that my needs are met. They also are very patient with my limited language skills. No one in my host family speaks English, so I have been trying to improve my Sarahule. Even if my progress is slow, they have no problem with helping me learn. One of the main challenges I am facing is being separated from other volunteers. I am placed further into the country than most of them. So I have been finding ways to stay busy and keep feelings of isolation and boredom at bay. I have mostly been doing a lot of reading, but I do try to venture out into my village and talk to people. My village is actually quite big; it’s bigger than my hometown. So far I have not seen all of it, but I am sure I will before too long. I will be living here for the next two years, so I should make myself at home.

I have been able to see some interesting wildlife as well. Every time I walk into my yard I almost always see some kind of lizard. Lizards and toads seem to be everywhere. There are also many brightly colored birds that I have seen. Of course there are some animals that I need to keep at a distance. There are hyenas in the bush areas outside of my village. So far I have not seen any, but some of the villagers had told me that they are more active at night. Also last week when I was riding my bike, this warthog the size of a cow ran across the road. I remember seeing programs on TV about boar hunting in parts of America. However, the warthog I saw was much larger than anything I have seen on TV. So I need to keep a sharp eye when I venture out into the African wilderness. Of course I cannot be too off guard when I am indoors either. Even as I was typing this blog I saw a brown recluse spider climbing on the wall.

My school also started up last week. I have established a good rapport with the teachers and look forward to working with them. It looks like I will be focusing my efforts to helping with early literacy. I also will be starting a project to improve the school library. More details of my work will come as school goes on.

Overall things are going great! It will take some time until I am fully integrated at my village, but I will remain flexible and keep an open mind. Every now and then, the fact that I am living in Africa feels unreal to me. When I look at a map of the world, I look at where my family and other loved ones are and then look at where I am on the other side of the world. It can be tough at times, but this is an exciting challenge for me. And I look forward to see how things unfold in my village and at my school.

Just Getting Started

The last two months in The Gambia have been enlightening. I have been faced with many challenges, but I have also yielded many rewards. Now the training is officially over. My group and I had our swearing in ceremony on Friday at the US Ambassador’s residence. There we took the oath to discharge our duties as Peace Corps volunteers. We also listened to a few guest speakers and even gave our own speeches. During training, the group was divided into different groups to learn one of four languages, either Wolof, Pulaar, Mandinka, or Sarahule. Two from each group gave a speech, one to speak in the language and one to translate. My language partner gave the speech in Sarahule, and I gave the English translation. After the ceremony we all went down to the beach and had a nice swim.

Now the adventure really begins! I will be moving to my new village, Baja Kunda, tomorrow. The school I will be working in will start back up soon. I am excited to meet the teachers and students, and to see about any potential projects I can do. I am also excited to get to the village and get settled in. It will be difficult at first, because I will be entirely on my own. When I was living in Madianna, there were eight other volunteers that also lived there. However, I will be the only volunteer living in Baja Kunda. Therefore, I will have to find ways to deals with boredom and isolation. Once I establish a routine then things will run smoothly. It helps that I have a great host family there. They were very helpful when I did my site visit a month ago. So overall I am excited to take this next step in my Peace Corps service.

On a separate note, I have been asked about my mailing address here. If anyone is interested in sending me anything my address is as follows:

Joshua Guerrero, PCV
C/O Peace Corps/ The Gambia
P.O. Box 582
Banjul, The Gambia
West Africa