It was right after breakfast when I started getting ready to ride to Ndungu Kebbe (the village next to mine where I teach sometimes). I had just taken my bicycle out and closed my door when my 13 year old host brother Moussa entered our compound driving the cow cart. Mind you this is a relatively big cart with two big cows tied into the yolk pulling it.
So my brother comes lumbering in with the cow cart and since its a cow cart he's going really really slow. Due to the slowness of things all the boys in the village are jumping and climbing all over the cart. Its fun, its cool, so yah, everyone was jumping around and having a great time. Except for one kid.... who falls off and gets run over by the cow cart.
Now as this is happening I'm literally standing three feet away. I watched him fall, watched his legs get pinned under the tire, watched the cows stutter for just a split second before powering over the kid and running him over from his feet to his shoulder and then watched him lay there and begin to bawl. Oh by the way his head was spared, it kicked out at the last minute so the tire missed it.
Before I continue I'd just like to clarify that I was standing three feet away but there was nothing I could do. My bicycle was between me and the cart so really the only thing I could do was watch... and what a show it was. Ok, now back to the kid. Miraculously he was fine, a little scraped up and probably bruised but there were no broken bones and no serious injuries that I could see.
It was pretty crazy, I couldn't believe I actually got to witness something like that. Just goes to show that, "fun can be fun until someone gets hurt, and then fun isn't fun anymore!"
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Hiking Guinea
Greetings all, yes it’s me again. I’m back in action with another amazing blog entry for you all to devour. It really has been a long time since I’ve updated my blog and for that I apologize. Hopefully though this post will make up for all the lost time and disappointment you’ve had when getting online and not finding anything new and interesting to read.
Now that I got that out of the way I can start to tell you about my incredible adventure through the wilds of Gambia, Senegal, and Guinea. It all started when my buddy Ted asked if I wanted to go on vacation to Guinea. Naturally I said “yes” and we began organizing the trip. Other volunteers were also invited to go so in the end 7 other volunteers and myself traveled down to Guinea. Our vacation was one week long; we left on October 21st and came home on the 27th.
Monday the 21st finally rolls around, the morning is hot, not a cloud in the sky. We are sitting in the Basse (the staging point for people traveling to Guinea from the Gambia) car park trying to catch a ride down to Douke, Guinea. Yes, Douke is our final destination. There is a man in Douke named Hassan Bah and he owns a small eco-lodge. It’s a very beautiful place nestled up in the Guinean highlands with great hiking, spectacular views, and waterfalls everywhere you look.
But as I was saying, we are sitting in the hot dusty car park up in Basse on the morning of the 21st trying to negotiate for a car that can take us to Douke. Finally at 9am we strike a deal. The second this happens our driver turns into the energizer bunny, he starts running around throwing our bags on the roof rack as fast as possible, herding people to their seats in the car, and just acting like we are in a race against time. We thought maybe it wasn’t really necessary to load up and leave as fast as he wanted us too but to make him happy we humored him.
The car ride down to Douke was also a little cramped. Just think of sardines in a can and then you’ll begin to understand what we had to go through. The car itself is an old Peugeot station wagon. There are the two front seats, a middle seat and a back seat. Normally 9 passangers are crammed into these tiny cars not including the driver, 3 in the back seat, 4 in the middle, and 2 in the front passenger seat!
Since our group totaled 8 people we just bought out that 9th seat hoping that the ride might be a little more comfortable due to the extra room. Personally I really don’t think that missing that one person made much of a difference to our comfort but who knows. All I can say is that it was a tight squeeze! In addition to all this, the road down there was absolutely horrible. It was dirt the whole way, the potholes were the size of small houses (ok maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but they were big!), and we were constantly fording muddy pits of water (luckily not getting stuck in them).
Of course we had heard all the stories of past volunteers who had traveled to Hassan’s before us. So we were expecting the really cramped, long and uncomfortable car ride. I was even expecting break-downs. Guess what, the car didn’t disappoint, we broke down 3 times on our way to Douke. Twice the driver and some other mechanics removed the master cylinder because the car had no brakes and twice they replaced it only to have the breaks go out again after 15 minutes of driving. Mmmm hmmm, that’s right, we didn’t have any breaks the whole time riding down there, even going through the mountain passes. Thank god for down shifting otherwise we would have been in a world of hurt. All this and changing out the back axle at four in the morning was very entertaining. I really have to hand it to our driver, that axle swap was impressive. He had probably done it a million times though because he was carrying the spare axle with him on top with the bags.
So if you aren’t already sick of riding in this car, hold on, because the ride from Basse to Douke took us 33 hours of straight driving! Yup, you heard me right, 33 hours….
Everyone was more than tired when we finally did arrive at Hassan’s lodge but we were so happy to be out of that car it didn’t matter. The next day after sleeping like logs we woke up, ate a light breakfast of tea, honey and bread, and then went hiking. Oh the hiking in the Guinean highlands is amazing, so much different that being in The Gambia where there are only a few small hills. Douke’s elevation is at around 4,000 ft. so we really were in the mountains.
We stayed with Hassan for four full days and during that time were able to complete all the hikes he had to offer. Every day we would go on two hikes, one in the morning after breakfast and the other in the afternoon after lunch. Depending on who you ask they might say these hikes were really strenuous but for me personally they didn’t pose many difficulties. Know what I mean?
As I said before the landscape in Guinea is gorgeous, there are valleys, mountains, waterfalls, and really interesting rock formations all over the place. I had a great time there and am so glad I decided to go. Car ride and all, it was worth it.
One of the hikes we went on was the “Indiana Jones.” The reason for this was quite obvious when we got to see what we were hiking through. It was really like a jungle, there were vines everywhere, huge rock chasms over 100 feet deep that we hiked through, moss covering everything, and crystal clear streams cutting their way through the limestone formations. The scenery was like nothing I’ve ever seen before; I was almost expecting ferries to come zipping out of the nooks and crannies. Enchanting is the only way to describe this place. The Indiana Jones hike was by far my favorite hike.
Besides the phenomenal hiking there wasn’t too much excitement to be had at Hassan’s. That was exactly what I wanted though. All of our down time consisted of everyone picking a hammock and reading the books they brought. I brought a Star Wars book, The Crystal Star. No I’m not a nerd and yes it was a pretty good book. To quote Yoda, “Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these things.”
In a nutshell, Guinea was really fun and I’d recommend it to anyone. The car ride back was actually really fast comparatively, 27 hours, and very uneventful. We were all exhausted by the time we arrived in Basse. Sleep came quickly to each and every one of us…. We probably all had really sweet dreams too!
Now that I got that out of the way I can start to tell you about my incredible adventure through the wilds of Gambia, Senegal, and Guinea. It all started when my buddy Ted asked if I wanted to go on vacation to Guinea. Naturally I said “yes” and we began organizing the trip. Other volunteers were also invited to go so in the end 7 other volunteers and myself traveled down to Guinea. Our vacation was one week long; we left on October 21st and came home on the 27th.
Monday the 21st finally rolls around, the morning is hot, not a cloud in the sky. We are sitting in the Basse (the staging point for people traveling to Guinea from the Gambia) car park trying to catch a ride down to Douke, Guinea. Yes, Douke is our final destination. There is a man in Douke named Hassan Bah and he owns a small eco-lodge. It’s a very beautiful place nestled up in the Guinean highlands with great hiking, spectacular views, and waterfalls everywhere you look.
But as I was saying, we are sitting in the hot dusty car park up in Basse on the morning of the 21st trying to negotiate for a car that can take us to Douke. Finally at 9am we strike a deal. The second this happens our driver turns into the energizer bunny, he starts running around throwing our bags on the roof rack as fast as possible, herding people to their seats in the car, and just acting like we are in a race against time. We thought maybe it wasn’t really necessary to load up and leave as fast as he wanted us too but to make him happy we humored him.
The car ride down to Douke was also a little cramped. Just think of sardines in a can and then you’ll begin to understand what we had to go through. The car itself is an old Peugeot station wagon. There are the two front seats, a middle seat and a back seat. Normally 9 passangers are crammed into these tiny cars not including the driver, 3 in the back seat, 4 in the middle, and 2 in the front passenger seat!
Since our group totaled 8 people we just bought out that 9th seat hoping that the ride might be a little more comfortable due to the extra room. Personally I really don’t think that missing that one person made much of a difference to our comfort but who knows. All I can say is that it was a tight squeeze! In addition to all this, the road down there was absolutely horrible. It was dirt the whole way, the potholes were the size of small houses (ok maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but they were big!), and we were constantly fording muddy pits of water (luckily not getting stuck in them).
Of course we had heard all the stories of past volunteers who had traveled to Hassan’s before us. So we were expecting the really cramped, long and uncomfortable car ride. I was even expecting break-downs. Guess what, the car didn’t disappoint, we broke down 3 times on our way to Douke. Twice the driver and some other mechanics removed the master cylinder because the car had no brakes and twice they replaced it only to have the breaks go out again after 15 minutes of driving. Mmmm hmmm, that’s right, we didn’t have any breaks the whole time riding down there, even going through the mountain passes. Thank god for down shifting otherwise we would have been in a world of hurt. All this and changing out the back axle at four in the morning was very entertaining. I really have to hand it to our driver, that axle swap was impressive. He had probably done it a million times though because he was carrying the spare axle with him on top with the bags.
So if you aren’t already sick of riding in this car, hold on, because the ride from Basse to Douke took us 33 hours of straight driving! Yup, you heard me right, 33 hours….
Everyone was more than tired when we finally did arrive at Hassan’s lodge but we were so happy to be out of that car it didn’t matter. The next day after sleeping like logs we woke up, ate a light breakfast of tea, honey and bread, and then went hiking. Oh the hiking in the Guinean highlands is amazing, so much different that being in The Gambia where there are only a few small hills. Douke’s elevation is at around 4,000 ft. so we really were in the mountains.
We stayed with Hassan for four full days and during that time were able to complete all the hikes he had to offer. Every day we would go on two hikes, one in the morning after breakfast and the other in the afternoon after lunch. Depending on who you ask they might say these hikes were really strenuous but for me personally they didn’t pose many difficulties. Know what I mean?
As I said before the landscape in Guinea is gorgeous, there are valleys, mountains, waterfalls, and really interesting rock formations all over the place. I had a great time there and am so glad I decided to go. Car ride and all, it was worth it.
One of the hikes we went on was the “Indiana Jones.” The reason for this was quite obvious when we got to see what we were hiking through. It was really like a jungle, there were vines everywhere, huge rock chasms over 100 feet deep that we hiked through, moss covering everything, and crystal clear streams cutting their way through the limestone formations. The scenery was like nothing I’ve ever seen before; I was almost expecting ferries to come zipping out of the nooks and crannies. Enchanting is the only way to describe this place. The Indiana Jones hike was by far my favorite hike.
Besides the phenomenal hiking there wasn’t too much excitement to be had at Hassan’s. That was exactly what I wanted though. All of our down time consisted of everyone picking a hammock and reading the books they brought. I brought a Star Wars book, The Crystal Star. No I’m not a nerd and yes it was a pretty good book. To quote Yoda, “Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these things.”
In a nutshell, Guinea was really fun and I’d recommend it to anyone. The car ride back was actually really fast comparatively, 27 hours, and very uneventful. We were all exhausted by the time we arrived in Basse. Sleep came quickly to each and every one of us…. We probably all had really sweet dreams too!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Ramadan
Well it's that time of the year again, yes, I'm talking about Ramadan. I hope no one is dropping dead from fasting. You can all be assured that I'm doing just fine, I sneak bread and Nutella during the middle of the day. My family doesn't cook during the day so I'm left to fend for myself.
It's interesting because most families will break fast in the evening and then will get up very early in the morning and have breakfast before sunrise. And just for those of you who aren't sure what Ramadan is, it's a Muslim holiday that lasts for about 30 days. You aren't allowed to eat during the day and you can only break fast after the sun sets or before it rises.
In other news, village life is going well. There's always those days where you feel crappy or lose all motivation to do any work but those are few and far between, at least for me. Lately I've been staying busy building beehives, bike trekking around The Gambia visiting volunteers, and organizing a beekeeping workshop for the villages in my area. We are going to be hosting around 40 people for this training, so I hope everything goes well.
Some of you regulars might have noticed that my posting has become less frequent as time passes by. So your probably asking yourself "why is this happening"? Well the truth is, I'm a lazy bum. Writing has never been my thing. So for now I'm going to try and do these little installments whenever it suits me. :)
It's interesting because most families will break fast in the evening and then will get up very early in the morning and have breakfast before sunrise. And just for those of you who aren't sure what Ramadan is, it's a Muslim holiday that lasts for about 30 days. You aren't allowed to eat during the day and you can only break fast after the sun sets or before it rises.
In other news, village life is going well. There's always those days where you feel crappy or lose all motivation to do any work but those are few and far between, at least for me. Lately I've been staying busy building beehives, bike trekking around The Gambia visiting volunteers, and organizing a beekeeping workshop for the villages in my area. We are going to be hosting around 40 people for this training, so I hope everything goes well.
Some of you regulars might have noticed that my posting has become less frequent as time passes by. So your probably asking yourself "why is this happening"? Well the truth is, I'm a lazy bum. Writing has never been my thing. So for now I'm going to try and do these little installments whenever it suits me. :)
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Morocco and Spain
It's 10:58 AM, the clock is counting down. In 13 hours I will be boarding a plane to Morocco. This might possibly be one of the best days I've had so far in Peace Corps. Well maybe not the best day but pretty damn good. I'm not going to lie, this is a much needed vacation that I've needed for a long time now. Village life plus some of the Gambian people can just wear you down to nothing. I haven't blown up at anyone yet but with any luck this trip will help me rejuvenate my will and stamina so that I can continue to deal with the frustrations and problems that bombard me every day of my Peace Corps service.
There's not a whole lot more to say now but you can be sure I'll post once I return to The Gambia...
And I'm back! Sorry for the long wait. It has been about two weeks since the original post but if your reading this for the first time then it probably appears to be seamless. In any event though I had an excellent time in Morocco and Spain. The trip didn't go off without a hitch unfortunately. There were some mishaps along the way which happened actually from the very start. Barcelona is where the problem occurred.
Alex (my buddy who traveled with me) and I didn't feel the affects of this problem until we actually arrived in Marrakech, Morocco which is were our first four nights were spent. You see the problem was our baggage. It never made it from our plane in Barcelona to our connecting flight. As you can imagine this isn't how we wanted to start our trip off but nevertheless its what ultimately happened. What ensued thereafter was us calling Spanair (the carrier who lost our luggage) on multiple occasions, making trips to the Marrakech airport, and probably worst of all, living for four days in stinky smelly clothes that we of course had to keep wearing day in and day out because that's all we had.
That first day we gave Spanair the address of our hotel and they said our baggage would be delivered in the next 24 to 48 hours. After the third day of no luggage we began to become a little anxious about the situation considering Spanair had told us they sent our bags to Morocco but didn't know to what city or even what carrier took them. Laying on our hotel bed Alex and I began to contemplate the possibility of going our whole vacation without any luggage. It would have been possible, luckily we had all our valuables, money and passports on us instead of in our bags so we were ready to go on if that's what it came too. Finally our bags showed up on the "radar" if you will. Turns out they hadn't even left Barcelona yet, it was day three and they were being sent on day four. So on our final attempt we went to the airport again and our good luck came through for us, the bags arrived!
-post unfinished-
There's not a whole lot more to say now but you can be sure I'll post once I return to The Gambia...
And I'm back! Sorry for the long wait. It has been about two weeks since the original post but if your reading this for the first time then it probably appears to be seamless. In any event though I had an excellent time in Morocco and Spain. The trip didn't go off without a hitch unfortunately. There were some mishaps along the way which happened actually from the very start. Barcelona is where the problem occurred.
Alex (my buddy who traveled with me) and I didn't feel the affects of this problem until we actually arrived in Marrakech, Morocco which is were our first four nights were spent. You see the problem was our baggage. It never made it from our plane in Barcelona to our connecting flight. As you can imagine this isn't how we wanted to start our trip off but nevertheless its what ultimately happened. What ensued thereafter was us calling Spanair (the carrier who lost our luggage) on multiple occasions, making trips to the Marrakech airport, and probably worst of all, living for four days in stinky smelly clothes that we of course had to keep wearing day in and day out because that's all we had.
That first day we gave Spanair the address of our hotel and they said our baggage would be delivered in the next 24 to 48 hours. After the third day of no luggage we began to become a little anxious about the situation considering Spanair had told us they sent our bags to Morocco but didn't know to what city or even what carrier took them. Laying on our hotel bed Alex and I began to contemplate the possibility of going our whole vacation without any luggage. It would have been possible, luckily we had all our valuables, money and passports on us instead of in our bags so we were ready to go on if that's what it came too. Finally our bags showed up on the "radar" if you will. Turns out they hadn't even left Barcelona yet, it was day three and they were being sent on day four. So on our final attempt we went to the airport again and our good luck came through for us, the bags arrived!
-post unfinished-
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Happy 4th Of July
Happy birthday America.
Hey all, did everyone have a good time on the 4th, hope so? I ended up having a great time. My boss through a party at his place and invited all the volunteers over. I got there a little early to help barbeque the chicken and pork, there is nothing like barbequing on the 4th. It was a potluck so everyone brought a dish. I have to say, the food was excellent. It definitely beats my average meal of rice with one of three sauces that I normally get.
Not a whole lot to say about the party though. Everyone seemed to be having fun. At about 9pm we all went home. Some of the volunteers are musically adept so they met up back at our Peace Corps house and started playing. We had 5 guitar players and 1 harmonica player. We all sat around while they played together, it was really nice. I've always like the sound of acoustic guitar.
I will leave you with a Gambian proverb to ponder; "Slowly slowly you catch the monkeys tail."
Hey all, did everyone have a good time on the 4th, hope so? I ended up having a great time. My boss through a party at his place and invited all the volunteers over. I got there a little early to help barbeque the chicken and pork, there is nothing like barbequing on the 4th. It was a potluck so everyone brought a dish. I have to say, the food was excellent. It definitely beats my average meal of rice with one of three sauces that I normally get.
Not a whole lot to say about the party though. Everyone seemed to be having fun. At about 9pm we all went home. Some of the volunteers are musically adept so they met up back at our Peace Corps house and started playing. We had 5 guitar players and 1 harmonica player. We all sat around while they played together, it was really nice. I've always like the sound of acoustic guitar.
I will leave you with a Gambian proverb to ponder; "Slowly slowly you catch the monkeys tail."
Monday, June 16, 2008
Africa At Its Best
Well I hope some of you where able to read the post before this one. I was just updating you all on the condition of my big toe. It's infected. So I left off by telling everyone how I was taking antibiotics and that everything was going to be OK. Well as it turns my infection continued to get worse, my toe started to swell up along with the joint, adjoining toes and foot. My medicine was supposed to take a few days to kick in so this wasn't worrying me to much. There are a few nurses who are Peace Corps volunteers who were telling me it looked like a staff infection and that it was good I had an appointment with the Peace Corps Medical Officer (PCMO).
Finally the day came when I got to go into see the PCMO. A happy day for me because my foot had been paining me so much I new somehow she would make it all better. Barbara is her name and she didn't heal me instantly but she did drain out the puss from the wound and bumped up my medication to amoxicillin. I think its doing the trick.
Moving on to a different subject, I was in a male auction. The health sector of Peace Corps put together this fundraiser to make money and one of the things they did was auction off many of the male volunteers. They went around and had restaurants donate a dinner for two to the fundraiser and then that was given to the auctionee and the person who bought them.
It was a big hit, they made a party out of the whole thing with food, drinking, a raffle and of course the auction itself. The bidders, mostly women but some men, were getting really into it. There was roughly 35 men who got auctioned off and my turn for the runway came somewhere in the middle. I got to admit I was a little nervous to go out there and strut my stuff. It was all in good fun though and once they started announcing me and talking about my profile there wasn't time to get worried so I just had a good time.
One of my good friends Mai ended up buying me for 525 Dalasi which I thought was a little spendy especially since we only receive 4,000 Dalasi a month for our living allowance. Most of the guys went for somewhere between 400 and 650 Dalasi. The next night we went out to dinner, everything was good and we lived happily ever after.
There is more to come... (people are waiting for the computer)
Finally the day came when I got to go into see the PCMO. A happy day for me because my foot had been paining me so much I new somehow she would make it all better. Barbara is her name and she didn't heal me instantly but she did drain out the puss from the wound and bumped up my medication to amoxicillin. I think its doing the trick.
Moving on to a different subject, I was in a male auction. The health sector of Peace Corps put together this fundraiser to make money and one of the things they did was auction off many of the male volunteers. They went around and had restaurants donate a dinner for two to the fundraiser and then that was given to the auctionee and the person who bought them.
It was a big hit, they made a party out of the whole thing with food, drinking, a raffle and of course the auction itself. The bidders, mostly women but some men, were getting really into it. There was roughly 35 men who got auctioned off and my turn for the runway came somewhere in the middle. I got to admit I was a little nervous to go out there and strut my stuff. It was all in good fun though and once they started announcing me and talking about my profile there wasn't time to get worried so I just had a good time.
One of my good friends Mai ended up buying me for 525 Dalasi which I thought was a little spendy especially since we only receive 4,000 Dalasi a month for our living allowance. Most of the guys went for somewhere between 400 and 650 Dalasi. The next night we went out to dinner, everything was good and we lived happily ever after.
There is more to come... (people are waiting for the computer)
Sunday, June 15, 2008
There Is a First For Everything
Some of you might know the game ultimate frisbee, it's played a lot on college campuses as well as here in The Gambia amongst the volunteers and other NGO employees. It's a really fun game so I like to get out there and play also. There's usually a lot of running involved and normally I wear shoes but last time I forgot my shoes back in village (we play in Kombo) so like many of the other players I just went in bare feet.
To no ones surprise me feet weren't really that tough and about half way through the game were covered in blisters. The blisters didn't hurt to bad so of course I kept playing, making them worse I'm sure. I figured a thorough washing with soap and water would be enough to stave off infection. This worked up until the time when my feet became infected.
It was nothing to serious at first, just a little tenderness, I figured my body could fight it off. Next thing I know my left big toe is starting to throb! Yeah, it didn't feel to good but still I was optimistic I could handle this annoying little infection. Up until this point I had never needed to go into our medical office here and I wanted to keep it that way. Since I had gone so long without help I was starting to pride myself on how healthy and strong my body was.
Nonetheless this infection on the bottom of my big toe started is hurt pretty badly. Its kind of weird though because the skin was relatively clear in the sensitive area under my toe which got me thinking that maybe my blister was deeper under the skin that I'd thought. This happened to be the case, unlucky for me because it was just festering the whole time. So I proceeded to do surgery on my foot with scissors from my Letterman and needles from my sowing kit. After much time and pain from probing and cutting I was able to get in there and puncture the blister/infected area. Quite a bit of puss came out which I thought was a great sign. I'd released the pressure, removed the puss, cleaned and bandaged the wound. To my dismay the healing process didn't begin like I though it would.
This entire ordeal was taking place in my village. Luckily I had work to do in Kombo so I traveled into town the next day after draining the wound. I'm glad I did because the infection actually got worse, go figure. Everything became sore and sensitive again and my toe started to swell up. This was the straw that broke my dreams of curing this thing on my own. That same day I called the Peace Corps Medical Officer, PCMO, and told her the situation. Now I'm taking antibiotics, eurithromyacin. The infection isn't beaten but I think the odds are with me now. I'm going into see my PCMO tomorrow also, maybe she will give me per diem or something.
So that was kind of a long story. I'd like to say that the story is finished, but I'm not going to speak to soon.
To no ones surprise me feet weren't really that tough and about half way through the game were covered in blisters. The blisters didn't hurt to bad so of course I kept playing, making them worse I'm sure. I figured a thorough washing with soap and water would be enough to stave off infection. This worked up until the time when my feet became infected.
It was nothing to serious at first, just a little tenderness, I figured my body could fight it off. Next thing I know my left big toe is starting to throb! Yeah, it didn't feel to good but still I was optimistic I could handle this annoying little infection. Up until this point I had never needed to go into our medical office here and I wanted to keep it that way. Since I had gone so long without help I was starting to pride myself on how healthy and strong my body was.
Nonetheless this infection on the bottom of my big toe started is hurt pretty badly. Its kind of weird though because the skin was relatively clear in the sensitive area under my toe which got me thinking that maybe my blister was deeper under the skin that I'd thought. This happened to be the case, unlucky for me because it was just festering the whole time. So I proceeded to do surgery on my foot with scissors from my Letterman and needles from my sowing kit. After much time and pain from probing and cutting I was able to get in there and puncture the blister/infected area. Quite a bit of puss came out which I thought was a great sign. I'd released the pressure, removed the puss, cleaned and bandaged the wound. To my dismay the healing process didn't begin like I though it would.
This entire ordeal was taking place in my village. Luckily I had work to do in Kombo so I traveled into town the next day after draining the wound. I'm glad I did because the infection actually got worse, go figure. Everything became sore and sensitive again and my toe started to swell up. This was the straw that broke my dreams of curing this thing on my own. That same day I called the Peace Corps Medical Officer, PCMO, and told her the situation. Now I'm taking antibiotics, eurithromyacin. The infection isn't beaten but I think the odds are with me now. I'm going into see my PCMO tomorrow also, maybe she will give me per diem or something.
So that was kind of a long story. I'd like to say that the story is finished, but I'm not going to speak to soon.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Chillin In Kombo
Village life; it can be filled with "sunshine" and then it can be filled with "rainclouds." I really do like my village but sometimes people can just irritate me. I have a few projects that I'm working on with my village. They always look to me when they have questions, which is fine, but I'd love it if they could take initiative and do things on their own. That's what I'm dealing with right now, it is wearing on me more I think because we'll start planting soon and that's when I'll really find out if the projects are going to be successful or not. Right now the community tells me they will be able to help plant, weed, put up fences, etc. but until the time comes I really don't know what to expect. As of now, this is the first project I've ever done with my village.
So as the title says, I'm relaxing in Kombo right now. I had to get away for two reasons, one was what I mentioned above and the second was taxes. Yes you heard me right, taxes. My host father decided not to pay the Alkali (village head) the compound tax in January and now after many attempts to get the money the Alkali is going to the police. That very day I was leaving to come into town my host brother came up to me and explained the situation and asked me if I could pay my rent early so they could pay their taxes.
I politely declined to pay early for a few reasons. The biggest one was that I pay rent to food and food alone. So if this money ended up going to taxes, who is paying for my food? Secondly, I think that after 5 months my family would of been able to save up the small amount owed to pay the Alkali. It is simple money management that they refused to do which is why I don't feel I should bail them out. I hope I'm not coming off as to cold hearted. It's just that when I see my family spending money on unnecessary things I feel no pity when they can't afford to pay off old debts.
So in the mean time I sit and relax. Cheers.
So as the title says, I'm relaxing in Kombo right now. I had to get away for two reasons, one was what I mentioned above and the second was taxes. Yes you heard me right, taxes. My host father decided not to pay the Alkali (village head) the compound tax in January and now after many attempts to get the money the Alkali is going to the police. That very day I was leaving to come into town my host brother came up to me and explained the situation and asked me if I could pay my rent early so they could pay their taxes.
I politely declined to pay early for a few reasons. The biggest one was that I pay rent to food and food alone. So if this money ended up going to taxes, who is paying for my food? Secondly, I think that after 5 months my family would of been able to save up the small amount owed to pay the Alkali. It is simple money management that they refused to do which is why I don't feel I should bail them out. I hope I'm not coming off as to cold hearted. It's just that when I see my family spending money on unnecessary things I feel no pity when they can't afford to pay off old debts.
So in the mean time I sit and relax. Cheers.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
In Service Training (IST)
Good evening all! Sorry to keep you all waiting, I just looked at the date and it's been almost a month since I last posted. Don't blame me though, I try not to spend to much time in Kombo (the land of electricity and computers) because I already spend a lot of time away from my site and my host family.
It is time though, man, site was wearing on me for a little while there right before I came in. Once I'm away from my friends, the Internet, and good food for a long time I start counting down the days until I get to come into Kombo. I'm a happy camper now since coming into town. Our Agfo group is having our IST right now so everyone is reunited again, at least for a week and then we'll all be back at our sites. I hadn't seen one of my really good friends since training, 4 months ago. We have cell phones though so all communication isn't lost at least.
IST is good though, we are mainly focusing on beekeeping, tree grafting, planting nursery's, talking about what species are good for this and that, and lots of other details such as grant writing and acquiring funds for projects we're are doing.
So far we have gotten through the beekeeping sessions, it's been a lot of fun. We talk about the different hives used, how to harvest the honey, what tools are needed plus a lot more and then all of us are required to go out and harvest a hive with a trainer. If you are allergic to bees you don't have to go. Everyone did really well though, of course most of us got stung but you can't really expect to go beekeeping without dealing with stings and such.
Today we covered tree grafting and I got to say it's complicated. By the end I was starting to understand it better but the theory and then the actual process of grafting one variety of tree onto the other is very difficult and takes a lot of technique and skill to master. This is something I want to bring back and teach in my village. There are many advantages you get from grafting and it really doesn't cost anything except a little bit of know how and time. I don't think I will try to teach the entire village, only select individuals who show me they are motivated and really want to learn.
As far as other news goes I am in the process of planning a vacation. Morocco isn't to far away from The Gambia so with any luck I hope to go there at the end of July or early August with a couple friends. We would have to fly there, I don't have enough time to take an overland trip, although that would probably be a fun way to do it. Besides that I got nothing booked, the only thing I do know is that I want to surf in Morocco and I will be there for around 10-14 days.
My host family is doing well besides my host father who has been sick for the past few months. They keep telling me he has malaria but I want to say it's something else. He hasn't gone to the hospital and the medicine they have for him isn't labeled and I couldn't tell you what it's really for. Most Gambians think that if the medicine comes from the U.S. or Europe it is a cure all so they don't even bother to figure out what it does. They just expect to get better once they take it.
I want to thank everyone who has been sending me letters and care packages, especially Auntie Mo, Aunt Mary, Aunt Karen, and both Grandma Brooks and Grandma Ward. If I forgot anyone I'm sorry but be assured that I appreciate everything that is sent my way!
And with that, so long and farewell!
It is time though, man, site was wearing on me for a little while there right before I came in. Once I'm away from my friends, the Internet, and good food for a long time I start counting down the days until I get to come into Kombo. I'm a happy camper now since coming into town. Our Agfo group is having our IST right now so everyone is reunited again, at least for a week and then we'll all be back at our sites. I hadn't seen one of my really good friends since training, 4 months ago. We have cell phones though so all communication isn't lost at least.
IST is good though, we are mainly focusing on beekeeping, tree grafting, planting nursery's, talking about what species are good for this and that, and lots of other details such as grant writing and acquiring funds for projects we're are doing.
So far we have gotten through the beekeeping sessions, it's been a lot of fun. We talk about the different hives used, how to harvest the honey, what tools are needed plus a lot more and then all of us are required to go out and harvest a hive with a trainer. If you are allergic to bees you don't have to go. Everyone did really well though, of course most of us got stung but you can't really expect to go beekeeping without dealing with stings and such.
Today we covered tree grafting and I got to say it's complicated. By the end I was starting to understand it better but the theory and then the actual process of grafting one variety of tree onto the other is very difficult and takes a lot of technique and skill to master. This is something I want to bring back and teach in my village. There are many advantages you get from grafting and it really doesn't cost anything except a little bit of know how and time. I don't think I will try to teach the entire village, only select individuals who show me they are motivated and really want to learn.
As far as other news goes I am in the process of planning a vacation. Morocco isn't to far away from The Gambia so with any luck I hope to go there at the end of July or early August with a couple friends. We would have to fly there, I don't have enough time to take an overland trip, although that would probably be a fun way to do it. Besides that I got nothing booked, the only thing I do know is that I want to surf in Morocco and I will be there for around 10-14 days.
My host family is doing well besides my host father who has been sick for the past few months. They keep telling me he has malaria but I want to say it's something else. He hasn't gone to the hospital and the medicine they have for him isn't labeled and I couldn't tell you what it's really for. Most Gambians think that if the medicine comes from the U.S. or Europe it is a cure all so they don't even bother to figure out what it does. They just expect to get better once they take it.
I want to thank everyone who has been sending me letters and care packages, especially Auntie Mo, Aunt Mary, Aunt Karen, and both Grandma Brooks and Grandma Ward. If I forgot anyone I'm sorry but be assured that I appreciate everything that is sent my way!
And with that, so long and farewell!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
St. Patty's Day
For St. Patrick's day I decided to take a little trip up country to my friends place in YBK. Quite a few volunteers from my group were posted there and since I hadn't seen them in a while I had a good excuse to go. Alicia, who lives at YBK was hosting St. Patty's day for all of us. In total there was about 15 people from our group that came and I must say it was a blast.
Since I didn't want to leave my site for to long I only went up to YBK for 3 days. For those that are unsure, that really means I traveled two days and got to sit down and have some beer for only one. It was a short trip but definitely worth the time spent getting there.
The first evening everyone was dead tired from traveling but we hung out none the less. Later that night a dead half of a bush pig (the stomach, back and both hams) was brought to us from the Hunter Alicia had hired. The pig wasn't skinned, eviscerated, or butchered and being so tired with full darkness fast approaching we decided to wait and do the grisly job in the morning.
Sunrise came early the next morning and none of us were really in the mood to butcher a pig but it had to be done so we got started. Alicia had gone to school and taken classes on butchering animals so she was kind of our expert during the whole experience. Her, Bjorn and myself were the ones who partook in the slaughter. I was a little apprehensive at first just because I'd never done anything like it before but really I had a good time taking out the entrails, the skin and then finally the meat. For some reason I felt more manly afterwards, it was great.
Before Alicia, a volunteer named Frank lived in YBK and he had built a big stove/barbecue in the back yard so once we had that thing burning nice and hot we threw both hams on. They were huge so we couldn't fit the rest of the meat on at that time. Little did we know, the rest of the pork wasn't faring so well without ice or refrigeration to sit in while it waited to be cooked. After a few hours the hams were finished and I have to say they looked absolutely delicious but they weren't really anything to special, you could even say there was something a little fishy, if you will, tasting about them. We had paid for the pig though, so whether is tasted good or not I was going to eat it, and I did. Dad taught me well, clean your plate, even if it means the possibility of getting food poisoning. Grandma Ward would be proud I think.
Meanwhile, back at the barbecue we had the rest of the meat cooking, it was in smaller pieces than the hams so they cooked much faster. All our efforts at cooking some delicious pork went to waste though, apparently since it had sat out much longer unrefrigerated it all went bad. Just imagine eating pork that has the consistency of feta cheese with a really funky taste, it was a little disturbing. Besides just a little nibble to try out the meat none of us ate any of the remaining pork.
St. Patrick's day was a success though, everyone had a really good time and I even brought some wine that I brewed and was sipping on that. The recipe wasn't to complicated, 100% grape juice, two spoons of sugar and some yeast. After 12 days of fermenting I had my Gambian Merlot. The next day came too soon and after half a day of riding in the gelegele and an hour hike back to my village I was home again.
Where does the time go? Don't ask me, I've been in The Gambia for 6 months now and it feels like I just got here yesterday.
Since I didn't want to leave my site for to long I only went up to YBK for 3 days. For those that are unsure, that really means I traveled two days and got to sit down and have some beer for only one. It was a short trip but definitely worth the time spent getting there.
The first evening everyone was dead tired from traveling but we hung out none the less. Later that night a dead half of a bush pig (the stomach, back and both hams) was brought to us from the Hunter Alicia had hired. The pig wasn't skinned, eviscerated, or butchered and being so tired with full darkness fast approaching we decided to wait and do the grisly job in the morning.
Sunrise came early the next morning and none of us were really in the mood to butcher a pig but it had to be done so we got started. Alicia had gone to school and taken classes on butchering animals so she was kind of our expert during the whole experience. Her, Bjorn and myself were the ones who partook in the slaughter. I was a little apprehensive at first just because I'd never done anything like it before but really I had a good time taking out the entrails, the skin and then finally the meat. For some reason I felt more manly afterwards, it was great.
Before Alicia, a volunteer named Frank lived in YBK and he had built a big stove/barbecue in the back yard so once we had that thing burning nice and hot we threw both hams on. They were huge so we couldn't fit the rest of the meat on at that time. Little did we know, the rest of the pork wasn't faring so well without ice or refrigeration to sit in while it waited to be cooked. After a few hours the hams were finished and I have to say they looked absolutely delicious but they weren't really anything to special, you could even say there was something a little fishy, if you will, tasting about them. We had paid for the pig though, so whether is tasted good or not I was going to eat it, and I did. Dad taught me well, clean your plate, even if it means the possibility of getting food poisoning. Grandma Ward would be proud I think.
Meanwhile, back at the barbecue we had the rest of the meat cooking, it was in smaller pieces than the hams so they cooked much faster. All our efforts at cooking some delicious pork went to waste though, apparently since it had sat out much longer unrefrigerated it all went bad. Just imagine eating pork that has the consistency of feta cheese with a really funky taste, it was a little disturbing. Besides just a little nibble to try out the meat none of us ate any of the remaining pork.
St. Patrick's day was a success though, everyone had a really good time and I even brought some wine that I brewed and was sipping on that. The recipe wasn't to complicated, 100% grape juice, two spoons of sugar and some yeast. After 12 days of fermenting I had my Gambian Merlot. The next day came too soon and after half a day of riding in the gelegele and an hour hike back to my village I was home again.
Where does the time go? Don't ask me, I've been in The Gambia for 6 months now and it feels like I just got here yesterday.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
I'm Back!!!!!
Hello everyone, its been a while. The last time I posted was Christmas, I wish I could of gotten on here sooner but we're in our three month challenge so were supposed to stay in our village as much as possible. Village life has been good though, I'm staying busy like i always tell everyone. So far I've built a total of 8 mud stoves and have another on the way.
Oh man Christmas was so great, thanks again to those who sent packages, Grandma Ward, Auntie Mo, Grandma Brooks, Mom and Dad, and Jackie (that book is hilarious). It was a belated Christmas but very merry, I had so many boxes and and letters from everyone. Food was the most common thing sent it was also eaten very very quickly ha ha, yeah i was living high off the hog for about a week and then it all came to a screeching halt.
OK i gotta go get some food but this is a work in progress, so stay tuned.
Well its been a few weeks but I'm finally back. Sorry about the delay for those of you who check my blog every day (I know there's a lot of you.!) it must of been quiet a suspenseful wait. Village life is still good, same old thing though. I'm glad to be into town and leave all that behind for a few days.
The biggest thing/event that went down in the past two weeks was the West African International Softball Tournament (WAIST). It was held in Dakar, Senegal and as you might have guessed I went along and played in the tournament. It was a blast, so much fun, I'm for sure going again next year. There were a few who didn't play in the tournament, they just came along to see Dakar which is a real awesome city. I liked Dakar so much more than Banjul and the Kombo area of The Gambia. The main reason for that is, Dakar is a real city, a booming metropolis with so much to do, i recommend it to anyone traveling West Africa.
So Peace Corps the Gambia put together two teams, one in the social league and another in the competitive league. I played on the competitive team, ha ha, oh man that was an experience. Our team was athletic, we knew how to play but hadn't really practiced much or actually at all for that matter. The first time any of us played together was at our first game in the WAIST tournament. This turned out to be our biggest downfall considering we played against well practiced, well disciplined, very very competitive, non-coed teams (our team was coed). So as you can imagine, we didn't fare to well. An especially tough game was against the high school varsity team who also play club ball year around, at least that's what their coach was telling me. Yes, we lost every one of our games, four all together.
I was happy that the mercy rule didn't apply to the competitive league because all our games would of ended well before the seven inning limit if it had. After the first game we new we were outmatched but all of us still had fun and we actually had some really good plays. One was a double play that I was a part of, that guy shouldn't of been so ambitious. Instead of winning games we won "plays." Speaking of plays, I also pulled a Bill Buckner while playing first base. Not one of my high points but at least that was the extent of my errors during the four games.
Oh man Christmas was so great, thanks again to those who sent packages, Grandma Ward, Auntie Mo, Grandma Brooks, Mom and Dad, and Jackie (that book is hilarious). It was a belated Christmas but very merry, I had so many boxes and and letters from everyone. Food was the most common thing sent it was also eaten very very quickly ha ha, yeah i was living high off the hog for about a week and then it all came to a screeching halt.
OK i gotta go get some food but this is a work in progress, so stay tuned.
Well its been a few weeks but I'm finally back. Sorry about the delay for those of you who check my blog every day (I know there's a lot of you.!) it must of been quiet a suspenseful wait. Village life is still good, same old thing though. I'm glad to be into town and leave all that behind for a few days.
The biggest thing/event that went down in the past two weeks was the West African International Softball Tournament (WAIST). It was held in Dakar, Senegal and as you might have guessed I went along and played in the tournament. It was a blast, so much fun, I'm for sure going again next year. There were a few who didn't play in the tournament, they just came along to see Dakar which is a real awesome city. I liked Dakar so much more than Banjul and the Kombo area of The Gambia. The main reason for that is, Dakar is a real city, a booming metropolis with so much to do, i recommend it to anyone traveling West Africa.
So Peace Corps the Gambia put together two teams, one in the social league and another in the competitive league. I played on the competitive team, ha ha, oh man that was an experience. Our team was athletic, we knew how to play but hadn't really practiced much or actually at all for that matter. The first time any of us played together was at our first game in the WAIST tournament. This turned out to be our biggest downfall considering we played against well practiced, well disciplined, very very competitive, non-coed teams (our team was coed). So as you can imagine, we didn't fare to well. An especially tough game was against the high school varsity team who also play club ball year around, at least that's what their coach was telling me. Yes, we lost every one of our games, four all together.
I was happy that the mercy rule didn't apply to the competitive league because all our games would of ended well before the seven inning limit if it had. After the first game we new we were outmatched but all of us still had fun and we actually had some really good plays. One was a double play that I was a part of, that guy shouldn't of been so ambitious. Instead of winning games we won "plays." Speaking of plays, I also pulled a Bill Buckner while playing first base. Not one of my high points but at least that was the extent of my errors during the four games.
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