Mina hen seeda seeda- - I'm on it, slowly slowly

14/04/2008

My Randomness-
Sorry prior to anyone reading this but my blogs will be full of random stories and will change topic from sentence to sentence. I know its bad…but when you only have internet once-four times a month and you are being charged for it by the minute, it’s tough to get all what you wanna say down. I know I could write notes about things I want to say before I type the stuff out but I’m too lazy.

Ok, so apparently it costs $0.90 to send letter from the US to me; I don’t know if that is only West coast or the entire country, but there you go. Sorry for the extra cost, but it does have to cross a huge body of water. On the letters, write ‘Airmail’ on the front of it…it may be sent via plane, = shipped faster. I’m not really sure. All the packages and letters I’ve received thus far have taken a months time. I get mail currently as soon as it comes in, because I am in training and I’m special. BUT, when I am a Volunteer (after 18/04), I will only get mail once a month. The mail will come in to Banjul- the Gambia’s capital. PC will pick up mail at the post office 3 times a week and store it in the PC office. Then a truck will load up all the mail for all 125-ish volunteers that live all around this country and deliver it. So my address for packages and mail is:

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

No more ‘PCT’ on the address, because I’ll be a Volunteer in a few days, and if you send something now, I’ll be a PCV by the time I get it.

So when you all asked me back home before I left “So, what are you going to do over there?”, my response was “I really have no clue”…and I got some funny looks. I have more of an idea now: There is a Health Clinic in my village that occurs the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month; where mothers with children under five and/or are pregnant can go for to check-up their children’s health- -for free. For me, I can help weighing the babies….and this might seem like I’m not doing much…but clinic days are chaotic and the nurses here can use all the help they can get. Also, my village doesn’t have a garden, so I will inquiry if they want to make one…and I will assist in the building one if they want one. (I speak Pulaar, language of the Fulas…who are known for having cattle, not gardens…so this may not happen). Other activities I’ll be involved with are showing my village how to make soap (either for personal use or to sell to make $) and to make a local mosquito repellent. I also met the Headmaster from the school in my village, and he is very interested in working with me (ie: me teaching a class or two regarding health topics to his students, helping him with his school’s garden, etc). I have counterparts, who are people who I’ll be working with- -Gambians who are motivated and want to change their country…so they’ll have more of an idea of what they want me help them on. The next three months, after I swear-in, are called ‘Three Month Challenge’…because you are officially a Volunteer and you are by yourself at your site/village with no teacher or fellow American to bail you out with your language. SO, my “job” for the next three months (I’ve told myself) is to get my house organized and buy stuff for it and to integrate….learn the language and learn about my village. Sounds easier when I type it out, ha. When negotiating meals with my host family, I wanted them (my host mom/sister(s)) to make me only breakfast and lunch, and for me to make my own dinner (one can only take so much rice and coos on a daily basis.) Plus, lunches here are the main meal, and dinner is basically a snack. And, by me making dinner for myself, I can make “Western type” food (ie: spaghetti). After I swear-in, I get $ to buy supplies and stuff for my house, which will be good because I at least need a bed and a stove.

Few things about the culture/life here:
Somewhat like Mexico, for most items here, you must bargain for the price of the item. Which is fine when you are speaking in English, but attempting to buy an item while speaking the local language from a Gambian who sees you are not a Gambia ( thus = to them you have $) is difficult. I manage…I’ve only had to haggle on a few major items…like getting 6 meters of fabric and THEN going to a tailor to have him make me a Gambian style ‘nice-type dressy’ outfit – or complet.

Greetings are key here….and the greeting change from morning, to afternoon, to evening…and the dialects of the languages differ from region to region. If you mess up on greetings or don’t greet, then you are rude. You basically have to greet everyone you meet while going anywhere (= give yourself enough time to walk to point A to B so you aren’t late for an appointments…which is why I am currently on ‘Gambian time’…= when you say you will be at there certain place at 1…you’ll probably be there at 1:45.) So without offending anyone, I greet when I can and as often as I can. The greetings consist of 3-5 question regarding that time period of day (ei: good morning, how did you sleep), how are the people at home/your village (which the person could ask about each individual in your family), and how is the work. Luckily for me, 80% of the responses to the greetings questions are “Jam Tan” (Peace Only). (Oh sorry, the greetings are the person(s)) ask you are question and you responding, and vice versa). The greetings can take 1 minute to 10 minutes…and, again, luckily for me, not knowing the language…when they ask question that I do not understand, I just default and say “Mi famani” (“ I don’t understand”).

If PC doesn’t transport us from place to place…I have a bike…well…I get a new bike in a month…so I can ride to the nearest city to get supplies and use the internet and maybe have a beer. But if I want to travel more than 45k (because I can ride my bike that far before lunch and have enough time to get home), I have to take public transport. There are two main roads in this country: the North Bank Road and the South Bank Road (guess where they are on the map?). The South road is rancid and horrible…pot holes everywhere…so vehicles go very slow at times to avoid getting a flat, and they drive off-road to avoid the shitty road. The North road is much better; and I hear they are attempting to fix the South one…but we’ll see when that gets finished…and I live near the South bank AND AND AND the actual public transportation is good times. In country, there are basically big vans, that have no power steering and are manuals. The drivers and their apprentices jam pack these vans full of people inside, and load the tops of the vehicles with goods (ie: luggage, rice, goats, and maybe some more people). So, if I want to get one, I must flag one down on the main road, if/once they stop, ask them (in local lang) where they’re going, is there room, how much is the fare to where I’m going….and if I think its too much, have them reduce it…and if I have a big bag that needs to go up top, to haggle with a price for that as well. Overall, good times. The vans are called ‘gele geles’ or ‘geles’ for short…and tend to be hammered vehicles because of the conditions of the roads and drivers not caring for their vehicles well being. You may sounds surprised and scared that I take these type of transportation to get to place to place, but PC thinks its safe, so it’s safe.