Before Mali

So I think this will be my last post before the year is out. Tomorrow I am off to Mali. I will be there for two weeks. I am returning on the 22nd. Next, we have Christmas and New Year's and a birthday. I will be very busy with all of this. So I thought that for the people who read this I would talk about completing my first year of service in PC. So when I first arrived to The Gambia I didn't know what to expect; I still don't. I am able to kind of speak my language. The people here are incredible. Some of the kindest human beings out there. I was placed with a great host family. My projects are slowly coming together. I made a lot of good friends here over this year. The PC experience is what I have always been looking for, it feels like one large family. Life is good. I have read lot since being in The Gambia and here are the books I have read:
1. No One Gets Out of Here Alive - Danny Sugarman and Jerry Hopkins
2. All The Strange Hours - Loren Eiesley
3. Blood River - Tim Butcher
4. Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
5. In Dubious Battle - John Steinbech
6. In Patagonia - Bruce Chatwin
7. A Burnt-Out Case - Graham Greene
8. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid - Bill Bryson
9. About a Boy - Nick Hornby
10. The Great Escape - Kati Marton
11. The Wizard of the Nile - Matthew Greene
12. Welcome to Hell - Colin Martin
13. The Road - Cormac McCarthy
14. Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim - David Sedaris
15. Post Office - Charles Bukowski
16. I'm a Stranger Here Myself - Bill Bryson
17. The Zanzibar Chest - Adian Hartley
18. Heart of Darkness - Joesph Conrad
19. A People's History of the United States - Howard Zinn
20. Breakfast of Champions - Kurt Vonnegut
21. Naked - David Sedaris
22. The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran
23. Posioned Wells - Nicholas Shaxson
24. Dubliners - James Joyce
25. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
26. A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time - Mark Haddon
27. Don't Go There - Peter Greenberg
28. A Continent for the Taking - Howard W. French
29. The Back Country - Gary Synder
30. The Motorcycle Diaries - Ernesto 'Che' Guevara
31. Fargo Rock City - Chuck Klosterman
32. The Rum Diary - Hunter S. Thompson
33. Blue Latitudes - Tony Horwitz
34. Sex, Drugs, and Coco Puffs - Chuck Klosterman
35. The Orchard Keeper - Cormac McCarthy
36. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzergearld
37. The Subterreans - Jack Kerouac
38. Gulliver's Travels - Johnathan Swift
39. Ishmael - Daniel Quinn
40. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson
41. The Mystic Masseur - V. S. Naipaul
42. The Night Country - Loren Eiesley
43. The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene
44. Visions of Gerard - Jack Kerouac
45. Blue Clay People - William Powers
46. The Worst Hard Time - Timothy Egan
47. Child of God - Cormac McCarthy
48. No Longer at Ease - Chinua Achebe
49. A Discourse by Three Drunkards on the Government - Nakae Chomin
50. Islam, A Mosaic, Not a Monolith - Vartan Gregorian
51. Maggie Cassidy - Jack Kerouac
52. The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje
53. Sweet Thursday - John Steinbech
54. The First Man - Albert Camus
55. The Beat Motel - Barry Miles
56. The Book of Honor - Ted Gup
57. What We Say Goes - Noam Chomsky
58. First They Killed My Father - Loung Ung
59. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
60. Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl
61. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
62. Shadow of the Sun - Ryszard Kapuscinski
63. A Bend in the River - V. S. Naipaul
64. The Immense Journey - Loren Eiesely
65. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
66. Catch-22 - Joesph Heller
67. The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgav
68. The Memory of Old Jack - Wendell Berry
69. Songs of the Doomed - Hunter S. Thompson
70. A Sand County Almanac - Aldo Leopold
71. Dark Star Safari - Paul Theroux
72. Dream Story - Arthur Schnitzler
73. Captain's Courageous - Rudyard Kipling
74. Round Ireland with a Fridge - Tony Hawks
75. Half the Sky - Nicholas D. Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn
76. White Nights - Fyodor Destoyevsky
77. Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi
78. The Glass Castle - Jeanette Walls
79. The Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
80. The Call of the Wild - Jack London
So yeah, I read a lot of this year. I want to make a New Year's Res. I hope to write more and to write better blogs. Until Next Year! Much Love to All.

The Tournament

Sorry for the time in between my posts. This is my second attempt tonight at putting this up. The first didn’t go through, which is a bunch of BS!!!!! So I have been very busy lately working on one of the biggest things I have put together in my life! With the help of 3 awesome volunteers in my region (North Bank Region)-(NBR) we are working on an amazing project. We are currently working on a North Bank soccer tournament with positive deviance messages at halftime of all the games. So far we are kicking so much ass with this. The tournament will consist of 13 games in 2 groups with a semi-final and final taking place in the largest city in our region Farafenni. The messages that will be addressed will be HIV/AIDS, Environmental Issues (not selected yet), Food Security, and one topic to be chosen by The Department of Youth Affairs and Sports in the NBR. So far we have built a great relationship with The Youth Affairs people, which recently sent in the budget 2 days before the deadline we requested (not a Gambian norm). As of now we have been running with this for several months without any bumps along the way. The hardest obstacle is still to come…funding! Currently I am in the capital until Friday morning working on this stuff. Right now we want to have this thing ready in 20 days and running by January or February of next year. Also, hopefully before my service is finished we will have a national model up and running with Gambians running the show and Peace Corps stepping back.
Other than that still waiting to work on projects October is ruthlessly hot no rain, insane humidity, and absolutely no cloud cover! So of course everyone just stays inside. I am trying to get my host father to help me the chicken coop, work on my main project that I discussed in the last post, and get a coop built for some duck and future guinea fowls. Also, the PCV before had a dog. The dog was there when I arrived. The dog was recently killed on the road. R.I.P. Ernest I dedicate this post to you. Otherwise, I am happy and doing well, the health is good and so is life. Oh, I and a few others are going to Mali in December for two weeks life is good.

P.S. All these Gambians kept saying that a wonderful Toubab like me needs a Gambian wife. At first I let it go. Well, recently I thought about and meet a girl that can cook…We are getting married soon! I am kidding…or am I?

August Post

So it has been sometime since I have written here. Well, it has been raining and Ramadan is in full swing. My projects are going smoothly and I have been quite productive. I am looking forward to working on my main project as soon as the rains stop and Ramadan is over. The fencing has been purchased and the fence posts cut. Mustapha and I have planted cashew, Mango, and Bean inside the field and soon Gmelina as well. I purchased another 500 Gmelina trees to be added into the field behind all the fence posts. In perhaps 5 years or so they will be used as the fence posts and are great for timber as well as coppiciable. We have also transferred about 100 Siisal plants. Which, brings me to an interesting story about transferring them. Sissal is very similar to the Yucca plant in the states except for the stock growing from the center. (When Siisal germinate a stock grows from the center as well.) These plants are quite large. I am morphed by their size. They are gnarly plants and when the pierce your skin the start to burn and immediately switch to intense itching. It took 5 of us to yanking these guys out of the ground with a rope and a small bar for cutting the root. I was stabbed several times. Most memorable were one through the toenail and one in the nether region. One of my host brothers was shredded when he tried to give one plant a good kick for leverage. He slipped and ended up in the middle of that plant. It was a painful and bloody mess. My family and other villagers laughed because of the damage I was receiving and my foul language after each injury.
I recently saw my first Wild Dog or as the Gambians call them "fox." I have always heard them, but never seen one. When laying down at night you can them in the bush. They sound like a bunch of puppies crying; that's the only way to describe it. Well, I was heading back on the road right before dark recently, when two of them darted across the road. Big-eared and black with long tails and slender bodies. That was cool. I hope to see a Hyena soon as well. Of course I do not want to be alone when I see it.
So I am writing this from Kombo. I am going back to site tomorrow. Today I hope to have a meeting with some government dudes about another project myself and 3 other PCV's are working on I will explain later. Gotta go now peace.

Rainy Season and Other Things

Hello all,
Sorry it has taking so long to write. A lot has happened. One being that the nearest city to me Farafenni had an accident. The accident being someone fell asleep at the powerplant and it partially caught on fire. So there is no electricity in Farafenni now, so no Internet.
So the rains have started. They are intense. Lots of wind and lots of rain. Let's see I was stung by the largest Scorpion in the world. It was painful. I was eating dinner one night and it crawled up my leg. (I was wearing long pants so I did not feel it.) And it decided to hide under my arm on my ribs. I moved my arm later and it took a swipe. It sucked. Currently my cashew nursery is village is doing wonderful; all is growing well and looking good. The nursery is home to 1,000 cashew trees. I created some amazing compost and am using it currently with amazing results. On a sad note a good friend of mine in my village died the other day. The first death I had seen since I have come to the country. So this is what happened. His name was Aladghi. He was our village Immom (Religious Leader). Before his death Aladghi and my host father were contacted from some Saudi about the construction of a new Mosque in my village. They discussed everything and agreed to start the work. So Mustapha (my host Father) and Aladghi were prepared for this construction and received all the bricks and concrete and etc. The work started. Everyday Aladghi would comment the work, he offered everyday to help. He seemed so happy to have a new mosque in the village. So recently, the day for the official opening of the mosque. I did not know this at the time, but Aladghi was at a hospital in the capital.
So there are maybe 5,000 people at the mosque for the opening prayer and right after its finished, Mustapha gets a call that Aladghi had died. The next thing I knew all the women in his compound were wailing and everyone was running to his compound. A group of men immediately went to the cemetery and started to dig the hole. All I can say is that it was a crazy. I am tired and going until later.

Time in Site and Time in Town.

Not much to say. I'm sorry for that but, I have been pretty focused on getting my home fixed before the rainy season starts. The rainy season is coming. It will start in about 2 weeks or so. I am really excited. It seems that extreme downpours are on there way. Night thunder and lighting storms and lots of work in the fields. If you were here now you would be witness to everyone working on last minute construction projects and any other issues. My host father Mustapha and I are in the process of constructing a house for some chickens. He and I discussed it and with some help we agreed that the house should hold about 150 chickens. This is really good for him and myself. It's good for him because he will consistently have chicken in his family's food bowl and I mine of course. Also he will make some quick money consistently throughout the year. It's good for me because I now have a way to gauge my work there. I had a uncle in my village ask me the other day "Why are you here?" I didn't really have an answer. To him I was showing zero benefit to his village. I can understand him in a way. I have created nothing visual or viable in the village. I have created many grants and other things he knows nothing about, but the results from those come in time. I cannot remember if I stated this before, but my host family has moved in next to me. This is really cool and enjoyable for me. I am able to see my family much more often and my language has increased expediently. The way it used to be, I lived on one end of the village and my family lived on the other. We saw each other very little; for eating meals and at night. I am also getting a new roof on my hut, which is in bad need of repair. I may also be getting a light in my backyard! It will be hooked up to Mustapha's generator. A light! I am stoked about that. I also started working with another man Modoo in a near by village. He is the brother of one of my teachers and is a nice guy. Our project together will a massive tree planting project for his village, Kerr Saminyado. He is a very hard worker and he is very motivated like Mustapha. I look forward to working with him. Other than that all is good and I am healthy and happy. I want to state something off subject here. I have noticed more and more that people change so fast. Life moves so fast. My friends back home seem to have moved on with their lives. I expected this and am aware of this, but you realize that when you are not there in person it is easy to be forgotten about. You are easily thought of rarely, if ever. My family is different, my family cares about what I am doing and about what is happening to me. They try to stay connected and try to stay involved. I am forever appreciative of this. I think about these things sometimes. I understand that my friends have lives and I don't them want to stop everything their doing to worry about me or talk to me. I just cannot imagine in 2 years what we will have to say to each other? Sorry for sappy statement I just felt I needed to state this. Maybe some will understand and maybe some won't. I am overall just so happy to everyone so happy. It makes me smile to see photos of everyone living life. I always look forward to hearing from them and hearing about their adventures. But, I digress...Oh, one more thing. A guy here and myself have decided to start writing personal letters to independent record companies to receive free things. It has worked really well for him so far so I told him I want to try. It beats sleeping! I will update you on that later. Beynnan Yoon!

My Travelling Times

So I went on a small trek about 2 weeks ago and this is what I experienced. The gelle gelles are slow and everyone's site is very nice. I visited a friend in a village about 60k from me first. This was a great stay her family was very nice and we ate well. I ended up talking in some in Wolof better than I expected. I got a wife and moved on. The next day, I took a gelle to a once bustling town of Jangjangbureh. In its hey day JJ was a huge town (In Gambia Standards.) When river traffic was at all time high in The Gambia JJ was the place to be. Now the town is dying and there isn't much to do there. Our lunch was good. I had a few beers with my friends and went to visit another site. Once I arrived I immediately realized my language was useless. Everyone there spoke Mandinka and in the Gambia many locals who know Mandinka only speak Mandinka. Needless to say I only spoke to my friends while there. My two friends who live there cooked incredible food and I was really comfortable. The next morning we set out for a Taiwanese Co-op. On the way there we were biking and out of nowhere a troop of 200 baboons crossed the road in front of us. We stopped and watched it was one of the coolest things I have seen yet. There was only one issue. We were to close when they crossed and as they got to the other side the baboons started shaking the trees and screaming at us. We bolted. A little later we passed a little girl on the side of the road. As we passed she said "Toubab give me your liberty!" I stopped and laughed. We went on to the co-op. At the co-op was drank and eat our full for 3 days. I came back and went to visit another friend farther south. We had a good time. Back home I went. Back at site my host father and I finished building a new fence in my backyard. It is really nice. I will have some pics soon. My host father also finished constructing his new home. He is moving in tomorrow morning. His house is maybe 50 feet from mine now. I think it should be nice now that my host family will be closer to me. Before they were literally on one side of the village and I on the other. I have come back to Kombo to have my 3 month training. My IST was very helpful and long. Now it is over and I have three days mandatory meeting and I am going back to site again.

What is your Mayonnaise?

Hope everyone is well. I have been pretty busy lately. I am currently in Kombo for some work on my project proposals. One is a project for a community garden in my village Kerr Katim and the other is for the construction a fence for a local Lower Basic School near my village in Minteh Kunda. All is good both of these projects. I will inform everyone later if they are passed by Peace Corps and I get the go ahead. One funny thing happened to me recently that I thought I would share with you all. Minteh Kunda is a village about 2K from me on backcountry dirt road. I walk this road weekly because I have started a garden at the school and I am down there many days of the week to work on it. On one particular day though I was walking home when in the distance I see a boy on horseback coming towards me. This caught me attention because I never see people riding horses often. There is usually a cart attached behind the horse. When, you walk past someone you always greet them so as this kid sowly comes towards me I try a greeting in my local language...No reply ok...I think of another...No reply ok...Another greeting in another language...Nothing and we pass each other. Out of nowhere I hear in very clear english "What is your Mayonnaise?" I turn stunned by this comment. "What?" I say. "What is your Mayonnaise?" He says again. I think of what I like Kraft, Duke's, Helliman's he would know none of these. So I say "My Mayonnaise is Mohammed Baye What is your Mayonnaise?" He stares at me and says "Waaw, Mayonnaise Rek!" (Yes, Mayonnaise Only!)and starts going. I laughed the whole way back to village. I ask one of my sisters about this and she says in english "You know some people try to speak english and they are just stupid." I thought to myself...well put Awa well put.

A Possible Project

I have been feeling better lately and am over what may have been ailing me. Well, I think my host father Mustapha and I have come up with a large scale project. I am going to be creating with the help of my village and other surrounding villages a community garden. This project will consist of a well fenced in garden made with qulaity materials and hopefully, hopefully a well. There are some problems though. Funding this project is very expensive in Gambian terms and the community has to help with the cost. I am not sure at this moment how that will work. I have realized that there are a lot of unforseen factors that will have to be overcome. But, only one can try. I want to look into a few smaller projects first. I am not sure what that will consist of yet, but I am sure I will find something. Well, other than this I am doing well and staying busy. I miss you all and will update when something comes up.

Lizard Salad

Hello to all,

I have discovered a nice little internet cafe here in Farafenni, that should work fine for this. I hope all is well back i the USA. I am doing pretty well right now, I am currently suffering from some sort of stomach aliment. I have been pretty sick the last day or two, but overall everything is good. Some updates on everything, I was pickpocketed at my local market. The two involved in the heist set it up pretty well. A friend and myself were purchasing things in the market, when we got to a point where there was tight fit with everyone crowding one of the booths. I waited for it to break up a bit and went forward upon doing so I am shoved pretty hard by a man in front of me. I apologize to this man, but while he pushed me he knocked over a man behind me and in turn that man came to apologize to me. There was a moment of confusion and just like that my wallet was gone during the apologizes the asshole that pushed me some got my wallet out my pocket, while the other guy that was behind me apologized to me and had my attention. I went to the police the officer was very helpful and deeply ashamed that this happened to me. This same day something else happened. It was getting late at the market and I had about 15k to go to get back to my site. All the gelle gelle's were gone and I could not find a donkey or horse cart to ride back on. Until I found one man in my village that said he knew someone kind of heading that way. Now might I add that I am slowly learning an unwritten language and mistakes can and will be made. I am was sure we agreed on what it would cost and where we were going...Or so I thought. Everything started out fine at first we were on the road we supposed be on I recognized my surroundings and it all seemed good. Then, all of the sudden the horse cart buckles and the seven of us quickly get off. The man forgot tighten the wheel to the axle when replaced the tire earlier that day. At this point is starting to get a little dark and we are in the middle of the Gambian bush "hyena country." We get the tire sort fixed and we split up and 3 of us go to my site and the others get on another horse cart. The 3 of wobble into a village I am not familiar with people talking in a language I do not speak. I was not concerned yet, but when I wasn't even near my village yet and that we were not in my country anymore I grew weary. "I am tired...we stay here for the night." I immediately objected this and stated that I wanted to go to my site. As if things could not get anymore uncomfortable the villagers approach me requesting money, a bike, a broom. I was quite confused and worried. The man that was driving the horse cart decides that he wants me to have dinner with his family and that I should stay the night. Once again, I object and ask to go to my site. Finally, the brother of the guy with the horse cart says he will take me home. So I made it back right at dark after having my wallet stolen, leaving my country, and being completely beat. To top of all of these things that night while I explained the to my host family I completely didn't notice the Panticha "Awning" and walked right into it, fell on my butt and received a pretty nice cut on my head. My father felt so bad that he wanted to make me a nice breakfast. My host father informed me the next morning that one of my host mothers was going to bush for some bush meat. I was excited to see what she would bring back. Later, we seat down for breakfast and I see a plate of Lettuce! I was pumped! Then, I see a cauldron with lizard legs sticking out. I was stunned and I decided to try some I wouldn't turn it down it was a gift. So montar lizard tastes like chicken. I ate a lot. And here I am in Farrafenni with an upset stomach and a story or two to tell. Thats all that has really been happening lately. I will hopefully have pictures up the next time I post.

Back to Site

As of the 8th of this month I became a peace corps volunteer. Tomorrow I will be leaving for my site for my official start of my service. I am really looking forward to learning more Wollof and bettering myself as a person. I have grown so much already I feel. I have made great friends so far and experienced so much in a few months. I am so content about everything happening in my life right now. But, enough of that stuff. I tried to get my pictures up, but I failed to do so because the internet service here is not so hot so I apologize for that. I will try at a later point to do such. It will be difficult from now on to get in touch via email and internet, because of where I will be it will be close to impossible. The closest big town is Farafenni. The city has an internet cafe, but it is never open and electricity is not sufficient in town. I have a new cell phone number for my site we will see if I have service there now. Nothing big has happened lately so I kinda don't have much to say. I will try to keep in touch on this blog every month or two. Otherwise, you can call me at my new number.

My Site.

Happy New Year Everyone,
My site for the next two years is called Kerr Katim. The last three days I was at my site visit. My father is a very cool guy. He is the Alkali of my village or the "mayor." He already has some projects going and has some great ideas for future projects in the village and surrounding area. My family in Kerr Katim consists of my father and my two mothers and maybe 30 kids ranging from all ages. Kerr Katim is located about 30k from Kerewan and 40k from Farafenni. Kerr Katim is a 2k walk from Minteh Kunda, which is located on North Bank road. I do not mean to confuse anyone with these geographic directions. Kerr Katim is a very small village of about 15 to 19 compounds a population of maybe 100 people. My house is at the back of the village separate from my fathers compound. From my backyard one only has to walk maybe 20 feet and you are in Senegal. My house consisted of a one room cement walled-grass thatched roof hut. I have a pit latrine in the backyard and plenty of eucalyptus trees surrounding my hut it is beautiful. My father is also a baker so I get free bread every morning. My food bowl has increased ten fold from my training village. My first lunch at my site consisted of DUCK!!!!! I was stoked and I am getting new fencing around my house and a new roof. Life is too good. I am really content with everything that happening in my life right now and have been thinking lately about how lucky I am to be able to have this opportunity to do this. Right now, I am back in Kombo or the capital region. I will be here for 2 weeks for the last of my training and swear-in and then off to my site for my two years. Too everyone I am going to have to get a new cell phone for my site because Africell does not have service at my site. When I find out what carrier I will use I will let you all know. Well that's all for now.
Bi Ci Kanam.

To Catch Everyone Up.

Hello Everyone,
Sorry it has taken so long to update my blog. Today is the first time I have had a chance to use the internet. So I will catch everyone up. So I just finished my time in training village. I was in Saare Samba for 2 months and I learned a decent amount of my language Wolof. My family was very nice and helpful. My family in my training village consisted of My father Keeba and his two wives Xojde and Mariama and their children. The first day in village I was certainly the most nervous I may have ever been. I could not speak any Wolof...except for my greetings. It was very interesting to say the least. My family was very good to me while I was there. While in training village I had a little brother that I feel you should know about. This boy is maybe 6 or so. He is an odd kid. Some of the things he did include the killing of baby birds and other small animals. Eating his own excrement, groping female trainees, as well as being quite the fighter. That made my time very odd and started quite a lot of jokes among we trainnees and volunteers. My meals during my time consisted of millet, rice, peanuts, and fish all quite bland, but piping hot. I started little phrases in my village randomly such as Baax Haile Dye! or "Watch Out Poop" and Fii Fii Fii:Fale Fale Fale or "here here here:There There There." Everywhere I went in village the air filled with childrens voices repeating these phrases. I enjoyed it at first...only at first. I did not realize at the time that it would not only annoy me, but every other trainee in our village. Overall, Saare Samba was an amazing experience in full. Every night I would lay down with my family outside on a tarp and drink Ataaya and stare at the stars. During my 2 months I was offered a wife and I was kicked out of my friends compound out of confusion. It was the most stressful time and the best time yet. I am going to add some pictures of my time so far. Hopefully they work. Next..............My Site!