Even Longer Time No Post

Despite my best intentions, it seems I’m not doing very well at keeping this blog going. My apologies to anyone who is reading it. I am, however, doing alright at keeping the flickr site updated, so check that out if you want to know what we’ve been up to when I haven’t written.

Right, so here goes a little summary of what I’ve been up to as well as some comments on life here. I’ll start with some earth-shattering news: I got a proper job! Back in February I was offered a short-term (6 months) VSO placement as a research consultant. I accepted the post and as of the first of March I have been undertaking the work. The research topic concerns the role and contributions of unqualified teachers in The Gambian education system. Some of the key questions are: Who is promoting policies encouraging the hiring of unqualified teachers? What contributions do unqualified teachers make to education here? What are the most important factors stopping the hiring of fully qualified teachers?

The placement has started with background research – mainly reading – and planning. It has been interesting, but there is only so much worthwhile stuff to read and very little Gambia-specific documentation. Also, since the final report will be based on our primary research findings (from focus group and individual interviews), background reading is more or less just for my own good - to provide context. The research schedule has been delayed slightly due to the government having reservations about the research topic. I think it is quite possible that it’s due to a misunderstanding (miscommunication on our part), so I hope that our revised topic will be approved soon. In the meantime, it’s more reading and planning for me! This is really a fab professional opportunity for me.

What else? Well, because my new job will require me to be in Kombo (the more developed area) quite a bit, VSO has provided me with accommodation here. It is perfect – a little cottage-style place with running water (not hot water, but still!!), a toilet and 24 hour power! It’s in a secure compound with another volunteer and his family along with a Gambian family. The best part? It is very close to the beach! The worst part? It is very far from Paul.

The new job means that I need to wrap up the other small projects I was working on as those are now taking up my free time which I really must protect if I’m to stay sane here. So, I’m going back to Kerewan today (having been in Kombo for work for the last two weeks) for a reading week. I’m hoping to work on the toy for the hospital in the evenings. The toy is a 1 metre cube made from locally-available materials by local craftsman. It was commissioned by my friend and fellow volunteer, Emily Walton, who works in the pediatric ward at the main hospital in the country. She wanted me to make a toy that would be difficult for anyone to steal from the hospital. We’ve come up with a cool activity centre-style design with a lockable toy chest in the middle. I’ve been having it made for about two months now. The delays can (I think) primarily be put down to communication difficulties (I can only speak English and some Mandinka and the carpenter – the main tradesman on the project – only really speaks Woolof and French, so I can only give him small, easy-to-mime instructions. He is great and really a capable carpenter and usually understands the instructions and gets it right at the first attempt, but the fact that the whole project has to be done through tiny little bite-sized instructions means that I’m continuously going and coming from his shop to check out the work and give new instructions and it slows things down. Anyhow, I think we are finally at the painting stage for the whole toy – first a white base coat and then Emma’s going to paint some lovely, colourful designs on it.

When I told some of the women I’ve been working with that I’d have to scale back classes because I got a job, their reaction was to ask how Paul would cope and to tell me that they would find him another (additional) wife. Both the eldest and the youngest of this class of educated women said this to me – independently of each other. This was, of course, quite shocking for me. With me, though said in seriousness, I knew they were joking. But it made me realize that that is probably what would happen if I were a Gambian Muslim; either his family or the community would find him another wife. I dread to think how many women’s lives and careers this has stifled – which makes the fact that their fellow women would suggest it all the more surprising. Own worst enemies?

The microenterprise class has been going pretty well – with a reasonable success yesterday when the women made their first sale to a corporate buyer we introduced them to last week. Nathan (a Peace Corps Volunteer in our village) and I have been talking with the buyer/distributor for a while now and have not been sure whether it would work out, but I received a triumphant text from him this morning saying that the sale was a success – the buyer paid a higher price than they would get at the market and the women’s associated overheads were quite low as the buyer traveled to them. I reckon he will continue with the class, but I’ll probably only go on occasion. It is his class, anyway, and he was kind to let me get involved.

Unfortunately, our interactions with the other women’s group have been less successful. We are not certain, but we suspect they are hoping for a handout and we are really not interested in that. We’ve been trying to help them help themselves. The last time we tried to meet with them we both went to some effort to turn up (Paul left a meeting early and traveled 1.5 hours by motorbike) for the meeting and literally none of the women came (the previous meeting had about 40 in attendance). We waited for 1 hour and then left. Apparently they had a naming ceremony to attend. I was not impressed – they easily could have told us they weren’t coming. We expect to have a final meeting with them before too long, but Paul and I have not both been available to meet with them for several weeks.

I’m still taking lots of pictures – usually in spurts. Most recently, Paul and I spent a lovely morning at Bijilo National Park where we expected to see birds but actually saw loads of monkeys. It was incredible! I took lots and lots of photos and am hoping that at least some of them turn out alright. The little green monkeys were quite brave and playful, so I had some good opportunities to capture them.

The IT classes I was running are still taking place, but only very occasionally. The women are cool with this. They finished the MS Excel unit I created for them and passed their tests with flying colours. We’ve now moved on to the internet. From my observations, it seems like many people here equate ‘internet’ with Facebook and email and don’t much appreciate its other functions. So, when they said they wanted to learn ‘email’, I thought it would be the perfect chance to teach them about the ‘internet’ instead. We’ll get to email eventually, but we started with search engines. It was such a rewarding experience to introduce these adults to the concept of a search engine. They searched for ‘Kerewan’ and got some news articles relevant to Kerewan that had made Gambian national news. They loved it. They’ve made BBC Africa the home page which is great but means that the first ten minutes of the lesson is usually spent waiting for them while they scroll through the site gathering information on current events.

I’m also winding up work on a cookbook for volunteers here, hoping to get it printed by the end of the month. It’s part guidebook to local foods (nuts, fruits, vegetables, fish) and part recipe book. If you know any good, easy, stove top recipes (especially ones requiring aubergine/eggplant, onion, cabbage, potato, eggs, rice, pasta, tomato), please send them my way asap - I’ll credit you in the book!

Work with the funding body I’ve been involved with has virtually come to a stand-still which has been disappointing to put it nicely. Programme Office staff (who are needed in order to make any decisions at meetings) have been too busy to attend meetings, meaning we haven’t been able to do anything for approximately 5 months. I plan to take some steps this week to move things along, so watch this space, I suppose.

While I’m trying to wrap up most of these projects (apart from my work with the funding body), I’m only just starting to serve as a member of the Regional Disaster Planning Committee for Region 3. I’m very excited about this opportunity and think I should be able to balance it with my VSO workload without too much trouble.

As for other news, I’m still missing family and friends (and the familiar) quite a bit, but I suppose that’s old news by now. I think we’re actually settling in alright, but it’s not happening without challenges! I was at my wit’s end with the culture here the other day. The major annoyances have persisted – namely impoliteness (by UK/US standards) and other similar irritations; discrimination; and hassling. Thankfully, though, most days we’re able to find the humour in these things and the culture has plenty of redeeming qualities – generosity, hospitality, patience, and good humour to name a few. I suppose the biggest frustration / disappointment since being here has been discovering that a career in development might not be what I want after all. I’m starting to look at careers in relief and humanitarian work. I know I’m going to eventually need to wear one of these hats I’ve been trying on, but I don’t want to give up this dream just yet!