My Number

I now have a cell phone I can usually be reached at here. If you're calling from the US dial:
001-220-783-4921. 220 is The Gambia's international calling code.

People, Language, and Culture

Just in case a few of you are interested.. I'll tell you a little bit about the Wolof language and culture. A large majority of the Wolof people in The Gambia, Senegal, and Mauritania are Muslim. This means they often have multiple wives. The reasons for some of the men having multiple wives include: status, religious reasons, delegation of responsibilities, and the capacity for more children which can yield more labor and productivity in the fields. However, it is becoming a more seldom occurance in the urban areas; along with numerous Wolof traditions and customs. A fusion of ancient African and Islam religions is also very present with marabous that make ju-ju's that have Koran verses written on them. These ju-ju's are believed to offer protection for anything from sickness to bullets. It depends on what the ju-ju is designed to do.

In all of the Gambian tribes, it is extremely rude to not greet someone as you approach them. They usually go through about 10 different greetings per meeting. For many of the volunteers, this can get quite redundant and mundane. Once again, this has been phased out for the most part in the urban areas, but in the villages it can be very important. As far as the language goes.. the 30+ pronoun tenses can get confusing. Mangi, Mangee, Dama, Naa, Laa, Man, Maa, Mane, Dinaa, Damaay, Maay are all different ways of saying I or I am; which should all be used in the correct circumstance. If you hold out a vowel or shorten a vowel too much, you can drastically alter the meaning of the word. You can also add several suffices to one word. One word can be one english sentence. For example: "demoonumawantewati" means "I didn't go with again." Everything after "dem" is a suffix. Anyways.. enough of that.

One more interesting cultural tidbit.. The babies here live without names for usually around a week. After that, if there is enough money, a big naming ceremony is held where many of the villagers come. A sheep or a goat is slaughtered to honor the baby, and a feast follows that with music and dancing. How elaborate the ceremony is depends on the time of year and what the family can afford. They did a make-believe naming ceremony for us in the village. Refer to photo. By the way, my Gambian name is Ahblie or Abdoulie Njie. I quit introducing myself as Evan Roth because here it turns into "Efin Roff." No V's or TH's here. Now many of the volunteers here call me f-in.

Sustainability!

I will now tell you a little more about what I'll be doing. "Self reliance and sustainability" are the buzz words around here. I'm not just here to teach, network, and fix things. What's going to happen after I leave? Well, hopefully not what happened to the high school I'll be at after the last volunteer left. Even though there's supposedly already a computer teacher at the high school, the computer lab hasn't really been running since the last volunteer left 8 months ago (he/she ETed(left early)).

I plan on getting everything up and running as quickly as possible, but I want to make sure my Gambian counterpart understands how I'm doing everything. I will hand over the reigns little by little until they're completely running the show. At least thats what I want to happen. Same thing goes for my other projects. If I get a database or network up and running, and no one understands how to fix, change, or use it after I leave.. it will be disasterous. The goal is to allow them to function without Peace Corps.

Images of Africa

check em out!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52546085@N00/

and some more..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97939559@N00/

I Have Returned

My two month absence on the internet has thankfully come to an end. Training has gone well, but I'm definitely ready for it to end. Right now I'm in the Banjul area. We will be swearing in here as official volunteers on Friday, and then we will be going to our designated sites to begin working. I'll be working/teaching in Basse, which is a city in the northeastern part of the country.

I visited my site a few days ago, and the President happened to be in the area. He was campaigning for the election that's occuring here in a couple weeks. The city was absolutely thriving with life in anticipation for the President's arrival. Trucks were driving around Basse loaded with drummers, xalamers (local guitar), and singers. People were drumming in the streets dancing and clapping.. it was an exciting time to visit my site. At one point I was going to get a bite to eat, and the President's caravan of Hummers started to drive by; shortly after chaos ensued. A rush of hundreds of people bursted past me running and following the President's path. It felt like I was in the middle of running of the bulls. The dust settled eventually and the excitement of the clammoring ground soon became distant down the road; I was in one piece.

One of the nights I was there, some street lights started coming on and people began dancing in the streets because they hadn't seen any streetlights on in Basse for 20 years. It was short lived though. Just a test. Basse is supposed to be getting reliable electricity within the next few weeks. I will have lots of great opportunities for projects when and if that happens. Until then, businesses there will continue using generators for their power needs.

I'll be teaching computers at a high school in Basse, which the President also visited during the morning I left. However, I left before his arrival. Besides teaching, I'll be getting their computer lab in better shape.. and doing a little networking and troubleshooting. Their lab is very nice for Gambian standards. Outside of the school.. I will possibly work on some projects with the Regional Education Office, the Health Office, and the Commissioner's Office. Plenty of room for secondary projects.

The area surrounding Basse is very nice. Lots of trees and palms, and even some hills. I saw several baboons and other monkey species outside 20km or so. Lots of birds. There's apparently even hippos and crocodiles on the river around there, but I haven't gone looking for them yet or anything.

I met my host family while I was there also. They have running water and they will even have solar power soon! Most volunteers in this country don't have that luxury, so I will be fortunate enough to be reminded of that quite often over these next couple years I'm sure. My host family is very nice, and luckily they speak Wolof.. even though the area is dominated by Fulas. I was in a Wolof village for the past couple months learning the language. Actually.. most of the Basse area knows Wolof, but it's just not their primary language. Many of these people grow up learning 3 or 4 languages because it's a big trading center and travel route. It's funny.. you could see 4 people talking to each other.. but one will be speaking Wolof, one Pulaar, one Mandinka, and one Seerer.. but they'll all understand each other. They just want to speak their own language. In some cases.. especially with the Mandinkas and Wolofs.. they just refuse to speak back in the other persons' language even though they know it.

Well, I will have regular internet access from here on out enshallah, so keep your eyes out for more entries. I have tons of photos from the past couple months that I want to share. I'll get them uploaded when I can. I'll have them on facebook and on flickr. I'll post the link eventually. And I'll be getting back to e-mails soon.