New volunteers - and some reflection!

Well, the new volunteers have arrived looking fresh and keen! They are a mixed group from England, Uganda, Zimbabwe, India and The Philippines. Oh and The Netherlands if you include Jaap and Janneke who arrived a few weeks ago. They are a nice bunch, and all bring a lot of experience and skills with them.

L-R: Rao, Aisha, Juliet, Joe, Munya, Janneke, Jaap, Helen, Martin,
me (holding a fruit plate - a present from our friend Carl the juice man!), 
John (old vol) and Johnson.

The last couple of weeks have been all about showing them around, giving advice and trying to relay all the information that we were given when we first got here. There's nothing like showing someone else how to do something to make you realise how much you have learned, or how far you have come. The things that felt so unusual and unfamiliar when I arrived have become so normal to me now, almost without me realising. I suddenly see that the confidence I have to yell 'Bakau' or 'Traffic Light' in the middle of the street in order to attract a 77 driver is a new found confidence - and one that has built up imperceptibly over the weeks and months of hailing bush taxis. Before you know it I will be hissing at taxi drivers to get them to stop! 

Listening to the language lessons going on as part of ICT takes me back to when we were learning the unfamiliar words, and trying to memorise everything we were taught. Now when I enter the VSO office in the morning I am grilled with 'how are you, how is the morning, did you spend the night in peace' in Wolof or Mandinka as the volunteers practice their greetings, and it makes me realise how much Wolof I use now and how much I have learned since it was me taking those lessons six months ago. 

Watching everyone become familiar with benechin and domoda, rolling fufu in their hands, or drinking wonjo juice takes me back to when we first did all of this stuff. And it was only six months ago, I'm hardly a veteran - and I certainly don't want to sound like I am patronising the new volunteers. It's just that so much seems to have happened in that six months it could almost be six years! 

And yet, at the weekend I realised that because I hadn't actually watched the meat man cut my meat he hadn't cut it up for me, and because I hadn't examined the meat he selected he'd given me mostly bone, and because I cooked the onions in palm oil (in the absence of vegetable oil) my whole dish tasted unlike it should - and I remember that as experienced as I suddenly feel I still have so much to learn about life here in West Africa. Sometimes I feel that I am learning to be an adult all over again, learning how to shop for food, how to cook, and how to use systems that I am still unfamiliar with, as if starting from scratch.

Yesterday I found myself facilitating the Employers Workshop - the first meeting between the new volunteers and their employer/partner organisation. I hadn't expected to even attend, let alone run the session, but there I was. At lunch two of the new volunteers asked me how long it had taken me to prepare for the workshop. I laughed and explained that I'd only learned I was going to it an hour before it started, and that I was making it up as I went along. They were shocked, and said they thought I seemed completely in control and confident - which was nice praise to receive. I can definitely say that it's one of the main things I have learned since I have been here - how to facilitate a workshop for a room full of people without any notice... or perhaps more simply, the art of just winging it!

Deadline met!

Phew! We submitted 25 out of 25 annual partnership review reports on time, meeting our 100% target. It was quite intense work filling in the reporting templates, and Ebou, Abdoulie and I were working crazy hours to get it finished (10+ hour days, evenings and weekends) but we got there in the end and it felt good! 

I really enjoyed the process - I learned a lot about the partners that VSO work with, saw more of the country, and learned more about Gambian culture, picking up a few extra Wollof words and some new Mandinka words along the way! And it has helped me to think about the Monitoring and Evaluation for the office, and what the volunteers need to be collecting to help with next year's reporting. I feel fired up and ready to go, brimming with ideas of how to work over the next few months...

But alas, as soon as I stopped working on the APR my body rallied against me for making it work so hard, and I came straight down with tonsillitis the day after we met the deadline. So - fired up I might be, but convincing the body to work hard might take a few more days yet! 

Thankfully it's pretty easy to self medicate here (with caution of course!). I knew it was tonsillitis - my Achilles heel - and after a few days of waiting it out to see if it was viral and/or would go away by itself I went to the pharmacy to get some antibiotics. While there the pharmacist gave me some painkillers for free, and the next day when I called in (he hadn't given me enough tablets) he gave me some free vitamin C tablets. I am used to the veg man giving me an orange or grapefruit or two, but it's quite unnerving when your pharmacist starts adding little extra pills to your bag, lucky dip style! Who knows what medication I will get for free next time! 

Lastly, here's a couple of pictures from the Growth and Competitiveness Project quarterly meeting we held in February.  

The NaWFA team - John and Aloysious (fellow vols)
with Njagga (Director) and Abou (Finance)

Rob, me, Shimoni and Abdoulie - the VSO Programme Manager

Me and Abdoulie kicking off the session before my presentation

Simple friendships

Today on my way back from work, via the market, I walked past a guy who runs a little restaurant. He once gave Helen and I a free meat pie and has been keen for me to go back and sit and chat with him ever since. I always turn him down, giving excuses about how busy I am, how I have to get home to cook dinner, how I am meeting friends etc but today I couldn’t think of a good enough reason not to stop by and talk for a while.

I really didn’t want to stay long, so when he offered me a drink I declined, telling him that I ‘didn’t want to take sugar today’. This is a very African expression that I have heard a lot, and have been storing up to use for a while now. Unfortunately his reply was, ‘fine I will make you a coffee…’ and off he went. Damn – that didn’t quite go to plan!

The next thing I knew I was sitting down with a coffee and a meat pie in front of me. At first things were relatively safe, with some chat about how the day had been, how my work had been, and whether the fact Manchester United and Manchester City football teams indicated that Manchester was really two separate cities. All of a sudden things moved onto rockier ground…

Him: Since the first time I met you I knew you were very kind, and you went straight into my heart.

Me: Oh. Umm. You do know I have a boyfriend though don’t you?

Him: Yes yes that is fine. We can just have a strong friendship.

Me: No I don’t think that that is fair on my boyfriend. I don’t want a strong friendship.  We can only be friends, nothing more.

Him: Ok yes that’s fine. We can have a simple friendship.

Me: But does a simple friendship mean we are just friends?

Him: No it means that anytime that you have some free time away from your boyfriend you can call me and I will take you out, but I will know that it’s not too serious. It’s ok though because I am very discreet and very good at keeping secrets. And also I would never disturb you or call you when you are with your boyfriend, because that might make him angry and cause him to be aggressive towards you.

Me: Oh right. I see. Is that the time, I really must go… [Sharp exit stage left].

Breakfast

Today I deviated from my usual tapalapa with beans and decided to experiment with something else. After greeting my tapalapa lady (who's name I have discovered is Arakii) I asked her what she had today. I was offered accra (fried bean curd) but I know that, so I moved on. I was then offered corned beef (likely to be spam), omelette, or 'siipa siipa'. I could not for the life of me remember what siipa siipa was, so I asked her... but she didn't know the English. She said 'You know.... skin'. I decided to pass on that one, and went for bullet instead! 

Bullet is balls of fish (like fish meatballs) in a sauce with pasta, which is put into tapalapa. Essentially a pasta sandwich - so you can see why I only need to eat twice a day, breakfast and dinner! One of these sets you up for the day quite well! 

When I got to the office I asked Ebou to remind me what siipa siipa is, as I really wanted to believe I hadn't been offered a skin sandwich. Turns out it is shrimps! 

Another catch up post!

I haven’t blogged for a very long time, owing to my work load really. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it won’t be long until things calm down a little. I also think that in some ways the gap between posts reflects how settled I feel – it seems so normal to be here, and as a result it is slightly harder to blog about what is now everyday life. So I have saved up different bits of news for this post, and will give a roundup of how things have been over the last few weeks. 

Socially things have been great! We got away last weekend and went to Kartong for the cultural festival. We stayed at Boboi lodge and had a great time chilling on the beach, body boarding, barbequing fresh fish, and watching the cultural dancing in the village.

Abdou and Dodou

Abdou and Jas - maaan! with Nicola and Graeme 

Body boarding time!

This weekend has been a long weekend in celebration of Gambian independence – yesterday (Monday) was a public holiday to mark the 48^th independence anniversary and today was announced as an extended holiday day at the last minute (of course). Due to the impending deadline of the Annual Partnership Reviews I went in to the office today and did a half day – working until about 2.30 when I felt it was time to get out, hit the beach and join  my friends!

It has also been a time for goodbyes – except this time it’s some of our group (or intake) that are leaving… Jasmine last week and Graeme today – so we’ve been having dinner at Aso Rock so that they can have their fill of tomato stew before they leave. Patrick – one of the volunteers from our September group also left today. He didn’t feel like the project was going anywhere and I think he felt too frustrated to stay. It’s a shame to see a member of the group leave, especially as I think the project is starting to turn around, but he’s happy to be going and that’s what matters most I guess.

Work wise, as well as being busy, I do feel like I am getting somewhere. We held a quarterly review meeting last week for the project partners, at which I presented the highlights of the quarterly report that I had put together. The presentation went well and I can see how much my presentation skills and confidence in public speaking has increased since I have been here – probably as a result of doing all the partnership review meetings. We did two more reviews last week which takes us up to 20 meetings now – just five more to go! And we also had our three month volunteer review (five months in!) which gave us all chance to present what we have done so far and reflect on our objectives for the remaining time that we have.

And best of all… the mangos are coming! I have loved seeing and smelling the mango trees in flower, and now little tiny mangos are starting to appear. I can’t wait until there are so many that you can just pick them off the tree wherever you are! 

Baby mango

Finally proof that (palm) wine is medicinal!

Domestic day

Today I woke up feeling full of cold and crappy, so I decided to rest up and do some of my work from home. I think I am also physically tired after doing a lot of walking over the past few days…  yesterday I realised I had covered at least 16 miles in four days. In addition, my gas cooker crumbled apart yesterday, and I wanted to wait in so that VSO could bring a replacement round for me.

As well as writing up APR notes I have managed to have a domesticated day, making fresh wonjo juice (high in vitamin c and antioxidants apparently) and then some carrot, cardamom and orange soup. I also went out to the cashew fruit bakery and bought some local honey so that I could drink hot honey and lemon. While I was out I called in at the pharmacy to get some paracetamol and throat sweets. When the pharmacist realised I had a cold he gave me some interesting advice… he told me I should avoid drinking cold water!

Teeny tiny butternut squash!

Dried wonjo flowers, jar of soaked flowers ready
for the next batch, and a jug of wonjo juice

Carrot, cardamom and orange soup
(including the tiny butternut squash!) 

Later on I met Nicola, and then a whole group of people who were saying goodbye to another outgoing volunteer, Alex. After some drinks and masses of peanuts at Buba’s place, Nicola Helen and I walked up to Aso Rock to meet John, Jaz and Graeme for dinner. A nice day and evening despite feeling pretty ropey.

Oh and I also found the time to take a pic of my new handbag! 

My new purchase

Three day weekend

The new Gambian working week started on Friday 1 February - a policy decision that made it on to the BBC news! The new working hours have had a mixed reaction. My personal response is 'amazing... a three day weekend is the stuff dreams are made of' but perhaps my more professional response is along the lines of 'erm... what's this going to do for the economy and how will it affect the people of The Gambia?'. 

Time will tell how this all works out, but in the meantime having Friday off was a huge relief as I was shattered after being on trek! I relaxed through the day and caught up with myself, which left Saturday and Sunday free for maximum weekend enjoyment! On Saturday Nicola, Helen and I went to Caramel for coffees and cake, which felt like a very indulgent treat. 

After that we went to Senegambia craft market - Helen had put in a bumper order for leather bags with a well known and very popular leather worker on the market. Unfortunately, he passed away the other week, and so we went to offer our condolences and find out whether Helen's stuff had been completed. While there I fell instantly in love with a leather bag which I purchased on the spot - apart from material this is the first thing I have really bought myself while I have been here, and I felt very frivolous - but am really pleased with the bag. Photos to follow! 

We managed to extract ourselves from the market (harder than you would think when people are physically leading you into their shops by the hand) and walked through Senegambia to the beach. We walked all the way back down to Leybato, with slightly less hassle than last time - although we were all in really happy moods so perhaps we just dealt with it better! No sign of Skinny Boy, Hot and Spicy, or Freaky - three of the many people we met on our last walk. 

We all hadn't seen each other for a week, and so the whole day was spent deep in conversation - it was lovely! 

On Sunday we were supposed to go to a leaving BBQ for Bea, Ed and Alex. Unfortunately Helen's key broke in her lock and she had to wait in all day for the carpenter to come. It felt mean to leave her as a prisoner in her own home, so we waited in with her and made sandwiches, raided through the belongings that Bea and Ed are leaving here, and downloaded music and films from each other. We also played with Alieu and Rohay - the two children from her compound - who had put on their best clothes to join us (I think they thought we were having a party like we did at Christmas and they did not want to miss out!)

All in all it was a lovely, relaxed and settled weekend - one where I felt completely at home. As we near the five month mark it's amazing to reflect back on how relaxed and happy I feel here.