There are two ways I can travel in
the Gambia: on a local gele-gele (think of a Frankenstein car/van with
Flintstone size holes in the floor board that you would never in a million
years ever imagine could move in a forward motion or for that matter hold 30
people when it should only hold 20) or a Land Cruisers newsiest mobile aka
Peace Corps Vehicle (which may happen once every 5 months). You can ask me another time the hundreds of
ridiculous, scary, crazy and hilarious stories I experience on a gele. This
time I want to tell you about my ‘once in a blue moon’ rides on a Peace Corps
car.
I recently went to Morocco (which
was amazing and beautiful), and although it is a developing country it is leaps
and bounds past this place. Not having
left The Gambia in over a year it was truly an eye opening and at times, a mind
blowing experience. It helped my
girlfriend, Sarah and I remember how different the world is outside of the
smallest country in Africa. Let me see,
how can I help you best understand this?
In the 1930s the Empire State building was completed and in 2013 the tallest
building is isn’t over 8 stories high. The
Gambia is at the bottom of the world’s list of infrastructure. Needless to say, being on a train in morocco,
going a hundred miles an hour was a little bizarre (and at times nauseating,
when we have not gone over 40 miles an hour in a long time).
I forgot how much I loved trains,
shit, I forgot how much I loved a lot of things. It was almost like Sarah and I were two kids
again experiencing things for the first time. We had that feeling of both apprehension and
thrill of what felt like a new experiences. Just imagine you are sitting on a
train and you get a feeling beginning to bubble up and you can literally feel
the electricity of your nerves firing inside of your body as the beautiful
Moroccan landscape wising by at million miles an hour. It is like you are a kid again and every train
ride is a landscape filled cinematic adventure. It was hard to constantly re-live old, but which
now felt like new experiences. But ultimately,
despite the train full of emotions, the trip was fantastic adventure and exactly
what we needed.
After a few weeks in morocco and a
couple of days in Spain, Sarah and I got a heard reality our lives in The
Gambia are not easy. From transportation
to proper nutrition, everything takes 10 times more effort and energy. This realization was an enormous relief. We have been extremely hard on ourselves
trying to adapt and thrive in this new environment. We hardly gave ourselves a break when things
did not go as planned. We beat ourselves up when we did not have the energy to
get a glass of water, forgetting how easy it used to be and only knowing how
hard it is at the present. All we really
need was some prospective and it really changed the color of the situation. Gambia is a third world country but in our
minds up until recently, it was the country that we live and work in. The whole country is fighting that struggle, we
were not the only ones struggling and we neglected to remember. ‘It’s not easy
dey’ (a common English pseudo African phrases).
So all of these thoughts really
came to fruition on that ride I have been trying to tell you about. I was sitting in the back of the Peace Corps
car going 50 miles an hour. Which mean
we are flying past all the other donkey carts, motor cycles and car on the
road. I am sitting there in an a/c with
my own seat and I am watching the world fly by (just like the train). I was amazed at how different everything
looked, I am used to see things at
Gambian pace in a POS but for the first time I was moving faster than the pace
of life – and my eyes were widened. I
felt like I was peering in on this small little African country from a window
standing on the outside while having and intimate understanding of what I saw. That’s when all of these realizations hit me
like a ton of bricks.
This is a beautiful place. The
place is hard as hell. I have been doing
a good job. I can continue doing a good job. I have deep respect for anyone who
even attempted PC. That’s a beautiful smile.
I live in a mud hut. I only eat
rice. Damn its hot outside. Slowly,
Slowly things will get done. Relax. Take a breath. Everything is going to be
alright (to the tune of Bob Marley).
Perspective perspective
perspective. I just try to keep telling
myself that. It really is one power thought
and I just got to keep working on it.
I will leave you with this one last
thing. I have never in my life felt so free to think my own thoughts. It is truly an empowering feeling.
Jama Rek
