You know you have adapted to Africa when:

• 
  
  ·         80s feel like 60s
  
  
  ·         Your poop is solid
  
  
  ·         You ask for more rice
  
  
  ·         You agree with the driver a full 20 seater van can definitely fit 5 more people
  
  
  ·         You think something is wrong when you’re not sweating
  
  
  ·         You know all of the radio commercials by heart
  
  
  ·         Carrying things on your head is easier then out in front of you
  
  
  ·         Eating some foods with your hands is much easier than with forks
  
  
  ·         You can tell the difference between the attaya brands (local tea)
  
  
  ·         You have a favorite rooster
  
  
  ·         You prefer a pit latrine over a western toilet
  
  
  ·         You eat sooooo much of the seasonal fruit during season, that you can wait till the next season to eat it again
  
  
  ·         You have named the rodents that moved into your house
  
  
  ·         Stripes goes with plaid (sorry Nicole)
  
  
  ·         Greet callers from American in Gambian English
  
  
  ·         Can’t wait for the full moon because you get to save the batteries on your flashlight
  
  
  ·         Village shorts: worn everyday and they are starting to look like the shorts the village kids wear
  
  
  ·         You can put your feet on anything just as long as you take your shoes off. 

Pilgrims and Indians

Even though Thanksgiving was 3 weeks ago, I still want to speak my thanks.

                But first, I want to tell you about my first ever real Thanksgiving the way the Native Americans intended it:

                Ten friends and I slaughtered a turkey. Someone cut the turkey’s throat while two others held it down (it was one big bird). Another volunteer gutted it and the rest helped clean and cook it. We also made several sides from scratch, including my favorite garlic, cheese mashed potatoes. You could not get any closer to the real deal then that, beyond dressing up like actual Pilgrims and Indians (although we did consider that option).

                The whole ordeal brought a lot of appreciation to my consciousness. We all learned lasting lessons in food preparation- from field to table. The ability to go to the store and buy ready made food in a grocery store has taken on a whole new meaning. Having this experience with 10 friends in a foreign land will forever change the meaning of being thankful on Thanksgiving.

                On Thanksgiving, I like many of us do, we had the round table pre-dinner ‘what we are thankful for’ conversation. Although every year I earnestly thankful, it was not until this year was I able to match that gratitude with experience.

                Not until this year did I really know what good health was until I saw how malaria affects a           village during rainy season.               

                Not until this year did I totally value my own education until I saw kids go to school every day     and sit in a classroom all day with no teacher.           

                Not until this year did I understand the books I read.  I majored in African Studies in college. I     read books about culture, societies, history, and the effects of colonialism but not until I got here did I totally understand what it all meant.

                Life experiences.  Education.  Health. I have been thankful for these things before but now I know what it feels like. I knew the weight of it in my hand. I know what it looks like and I cannot change the channel.

                And of course, I cannot forget all of you at home and all my new family and friends here in Africa. I am thankful every day, while a bit corny, for the love that I have all around the world.

                Speaking of family, my mom is coming to visit in 2 weeks for the holiday season. I am both excited and nervously awaiting her arrival. This is not an easy place and I hope all goes well. She told me when I was selected for the PC that she had once had dreams of joining the PC when she was young. (shhh….. don’t tell her but I am going to try and give her a mini- PC experience). So send her good luck and happy travels her way just like you did for me.

                Until the next time, stay happy and healthy. Go experience the day. 

Photo Blog

I want to post this blogs with as little writing as possible and let the images do the talking. They will tell a story. So enjoy reading and I hope all is well:

I saw a lot of great sunset while I was in the capital for a month

I worked with WFP on a rice distribution project

Back at site I did a lot of reading and playing cards

...and hanging out at my compound

... and sitting in the dark.

Then I got hit in the face by my own shovel...Och!

Thank you so much Wendy_I received your package

PC Where Breads go to Grow

Change of Pace

Hello all, I hope this finds everyone in good health and spirits! I would normally apologize for not blogging in quite a while but I cannot do that this time.  I have recently realized that this is life now and it seems strange to report on my daily life (despite the realization I will continue to blog in spite of it feeling unnatural). Just as you walk to the refrigerator to get water, I go to tap at the center of the village and fill a 20 liter jug. I use that jug to fill a water filter to ensure safe drinking water. I wait an over an hour for the water to filter. Then I add bleach, which is another 30 min of waiting, which kills the viruses and bacteria.  What takes you no more than 5 minutes to do, takes me about 2 hours.  But that is my new normal and seems strange to have to explain everyday task like that within my blog.  I was looking out the window of a taxi while riding two other Peace Corps friends when I came to grips with the reality of my change. I was looking out on a third world African country with half built buildings and dirt roads in its most propionate city.  And I…I was at home.

‘Change,’ will be the topic of this blog today:

How have I changed?

I came into this experience feeling confident in who I am and a solid understanding of my character.   I felt as though I had done a lot of self exploration in the past with my pervious traveling.  I was confident of my core values and I had high expectations of only improving over my next 2 years of service. But to my surprise, I have changed and I will continue to change.  It is kind of hard to pin point the change but I can defiantly feel it. The way I see things, feel things and I even do things is different.  I have noticed small things like really appreciating breakfast. The walk to the market every morning to get my supplies allows me to wake up and see the village already hard at work.  After I finish eating and feel somewhat satisfied, I remember that not everyone in my small village gets that feeling (let alone in the rest of the world). I imagine I will not really know the extent of it for a long time to come.  I have also realized bigger things like my perspective on life and death have changed.  Now that I am here, it’s hard to image how I couldn’t change.  Everything is just so raw here – I feel so much closer to actually living as compared to cruising right on through. 

I know, I know… I have just kind of thrown around the word ‘change’ a lot and have not really given strong evidence to support it but it’s really hard to explain when I do not understand it myself.  You will have to trust me until you get the chance to look me in the eye and see for yourself.

As I finally begin to feel at home here in The Gambia, the real work begins.  Over the next 6 months I will take part in a bike trek across The Gambia teaching about HIV/AIDS, start a health school for mother about basic health knowledge and begin implementing a national campaign about weaning foods for children. I am going from nothing to a lot of somethings.

The bike trek is an all Peace Corps activity and has been running effectively for the last 2 years now.  The trek is 5 day biking journey cover about 150 km and visiting 4 different schools.  There will be 2 groups covering 75 km each and 2 schools.  The students will take part in lectures, games and interactive conversations all pertaining to HIV/AIDS.  I am excited to bond with other PCVs and educate young students about what is slowly become a problem in The Gambia – HIV/AIDS.

I am most excited about the health school because if done well, it can be a very sustainable project.  Two previous volunteers have conducted this school in other areas of The Gambia and they had been very successful projects.  The basic idea of the school is to educate mother on better health practices.  The topics that will be covered are reproduction, hygiene, nutrition, environmental sanitation, and disease prevention and management.  The project will be competition with a point awarding system based on showing up to class, participation and practical skill use.  My counterpart and I plan in have an opening and closing ceremony to get the women excited out participating in the school.  My counterpart (aka local host country national health worker) participated in one of the pervious volunteer’s health school and has all the knowledge to do it for the second time around. I am more of a liaison between my counterpart and the village and the grant write.   I am very satisfied play those roles because coming into the Peace Corps I did not want to be a do-er. I wanted to be a facilitator.  If I do all the work it is not sustainable because in 2 years I will leave and take the knowledge with me.  If I’m more of a consultant then someone else does most of the work and I just make suggestions to enhance the process.

It has been 6 months – I have a family, friends and work to be done. I am in a very good place right now, both mentally and physically!

A Card Catalog of Memories

There are two things that I really value: a good story and a memorable moment.  My good friend Ricky and I always say ‘life is an accumulation of stories.’  And along with that we are both always in search of the next best one.  As you read that you might wonder ‘so is that what he is really doing in Africa?’  I would be lying to you if I said No because I am always searching for the next great adventure.  I also know if you ask Ricky the question ‘why did you join the Navy?’ he would answer it the same way – for the next best adventure.  We are both in search of life experiences, maybe by different means but both in the attempt of a better life for others.

The memorable moments are of a more personal nature and can only truly be valued by me (but I will try to help you understand my value in them).  They are snap shots in a bigger story that I can look back on.  The moment is so clear in my mind I can remember the smells, the scenery and what I felt.  If I was a good enough artist, I could paint a picture.  I have a card catalog of moments and when I need them, I can pull them up in my mind.  One of my favorites is at the Sea of Galley in Israel.   Another is on a cloudy night in Puerto Rico on the beach.  A third and fourth are in the swimming pool.   All most every competitive swimmer has that one race that they can remember where they almost felt like they were outside their body swimming their personal best. I am lucky enough to have two and I used to draw from them to swim my best in every race.  There are plenty more but I don’t want to give away all my secrets.

This next story is both a memorable moment and an adventure tied into one.

It is rainy season here in The Gambia and thus far it is proving to be a wet one – raining almost every day.  About a week ago the rain was the hardest I had seen it yet.  It created a stream down the middle of my village.  I see my 9 year old brother burst out of the door in his underwear and run out to the center of the village.  He and a couple of his friends are playing and dancing in the rain.  My first thought is ‘I know how bad the sanitation is in my village’ and ‘that water must be really gross.’  But the storyteller in me was like ‘you can’t miss this!’  I rip off my shirt and throw on my board shorts and  I stormed out into the rain from under the dry cover of my house.  I yell to one of the kids “am nga football?” (Do you have a soccer ball).  As soon the football was kicked out into the rain 10 more kids run out from there compounds.  We played shirts and skins for a good 15 minutes but in an African thunder storm that means boys wearing underwear and boys who are naked. At one point the ball is stolen away from me; I just stand there in the pouring rain, put my head back, feel the rain on my body and revel in the moment (think of Shawsank Redemption when the main character escapes from prison)

And that is how great story and memorable moment is made.   I hope this story helps you remember one of your own.

Happy thought travels

And 

Jamaa Rek