Food Security, WAFSP, USAID,

and Peace Corps.

First, Asalaamaliekum.

This has been a long project, especially for walking into the middle of it.  WAFSP stands for West Africa Food Security Program and is in affiliation with USAID which is in affiliation with Peace Corps in that PCV's are the ones on the ground here utilizing tax payer money in as sustainable ways as we can to promote food secure projects and activities.

The volunteer in the town over wrote a grant to help her school have the funds to procure a garden.  There was nothing but a plot of land to begin with.  The grant money rehabilitated the hand pump, procured a chain link fence, provided a garden training, seeds, garden tools, and ally-cropping fruit trees, and of course, appropriate signs showing off USAID and Peace Corps logos- can't forget the publicity part.  

By the time I took over the project (the volunteer had to leave their service early for personal reasons) the grant had been submitted but the money hadn’t yet hit the bank.  My responsibility was making sure the money went where it was supposed to and that a garden got made.  The most difficult part of this project, and probably any project handover, is not knowing the community or the people like I know my own.  It’s easier to work with strangers from your own country because you innately have a better idea of the culture and where people are coming from since you are coming from similar places.  But here, I may never know or fully understand where people are coming from because I did not spend my childhood here.  So the best I can do is get to know my community as best I can and work within that.  And every village is different just like every person is different.  And so the same goes for the large town receiving the garden.

The most disappointing thing was the attitude of the formed garden committee.  We held a training and they continued to ask about logistics which was the polite way of asking where there money was.  Because so much foreign aid has been pumped into this country, it seems to be that people just expect things now and don’t necessarily truly value or care about those things themselves but care that they are being given something.  Charity is one of the five pillars of Islam and so that expectation goes deeper and further than foreign aid.  Nearly $5000 US dollars was pumped into this project to establish a potentially highly productive vegetable garden to promote gardening and healthy eating at the school and in the community.  Instead of being excited about that outcome, which granted does take time and work, they were disappointed that there was no per diem.  After a long discussion I stuck to my guns and refused to offer per diem.  They got a training, and a very nice lunch, and a garden.  The grant doesn’t allow per diem anyway.  I had to try to explain how Peace Corps was different than Unicef and Actionaid and WFP.  We are not an organization that gives money but an organization that builds capacity.  This was rather lost on them.  At any rate they told me that if there was no money there was no motivation to attend any more trainings which was honestly fine by me as the garden is for the students anyway and they don’t need per diem to attend a training.

I told them honestly, in English so I’m not sure how much was heard but I definitely cannot speak Wolof whilst frustrated, that had I known per diem was their motivation from the get go and had I know they wouldn’t show an interest in the actual garden, I wouldn’t have volunteered to help see this project thru taking my time out of my own village away from people that actually care about projects, and not just per diem.

You can’t get too upset though.  A training takes you away from your other duties and you want to see compensation.  I understand that.  Heck if I ever have to come down for a “mandatory” training, as a Vollunteer! I want compensation too which Peace Corps does provide.  But the trainings I attend are not giving me things like a $5000 vegetable garden.  They just give us skills and knowledge to help people better help themselves.  So I feel that they are somehow different.  It’s also an interesting culture difference that here, in order to motivate people to attend trainings or workshop, there needs to be something like money, lunch, juice, or snack while in the states we typically have to pay for the trainings and workshops we attend.  But there often is food and tea at those as well.

It’s just very unfortunate that foreign aid seems to do more harm than good in the sense that it has created an attitude of expectation for things and assistance which practically eliminates the motivation to help oneself.  And I don’t blame them.  The work here is exhausting.  I admittedly cannot do it and nor do I try or feel guilty anymore for not going to the field every day or for asking for help once in a while to fetch water.  Not only is it exhausting work but it’s work that is being done on a very very small calorie diet (maybe 1200-1800 depending on how well off your family is).

But the students and school itself is stepping up in showing interest after some more pep talks.  Since the training they have created 12 beds and have been watering the nursery.  This is a big deal!  They can only benefit from doing the work but let’s be honest, it’s even hard to get people to garden in the states!  

Letters! Mail Run!

Two very very exciting things in the life of a PCV.  When the truck comes up to your site and you haven't seen an American in who knows how long, and they give you the Peace Corps Times and local Newsletter written by PCVs with important announcements etc., and then that's it... no letter, no care package, no nothing.  It makes you wanna cry a little.  I mean the Worldview Peace Corps magazine and Peace Corps times and newsletter are better than nothin.  But it still hurts.  Even when that white Peace Corps vehicle pulls up just to give you one letter on top of all that, it lifts your spirits so so much!  So I'm sure I will be embarrassed about this post in due time.  But while I'm here I feel like I have to plea, a little bit.  I'm not in the capital much and hope it stays that way as I get super stressed out and find myself to be overwhelmed with the hustle and bustle of city life and copious amounts of American time with fellow PCV's, which is nice but just so very different than village that it can be a difficult adjustment.  Don't get me wrong, it's wonderful to take a break once and again but I enjoy taking my breaks out of site up country where I don't have to spend three hours or so on a wobbly ferry. 

Given that I'm up there more so than not so, and thus only get mail and such every other month:
Dec, Feb, Apr, Jun, Aug, Oct

where I have only nine more months before my COS date!  Time is flying.  Anyway I just feel like I have to say/plea that receiving mail via letters, especially when it's the primary form of communication for me, is so incredibly incredible!  I feel like people think they have nothing to say because I'm living it up in West Africa and they're living it up in the states and that I know the states and thus don't want to hear about it.  This is a very unfortunate misconception.  Being far from home, and missing home, I would like nothing more than to hear about it, including mundane small details like weather, shopping, food, pets, etc.  I'm not even a little bit joking.  I think I can speak for just about anyone serving overseas that it makes our entire day if not week, if not month, to receive love and support from back home. 

I know for a lot of my close friends, we don't really come from a generation of letter writing so much anymore.  But the ones I've received have been so great!  I also know everyone in America is pretty busy all the time.  So I too will try to be a better corresponder!  But anyway, what it comes down to is, please please please keep em coming!  I miss you all so much and love hearing about everything that is going on in your lives.  Really really really! 

On a similar note- my mom's class of I believe sixth graders has sent letters to exchange with probably some grade eight and nine students at the basic cycle school in my community.  We hope to exchange letters and thus culture etc.  If anyone else is a teacher and wants to do a letter exchange with my students in the bush in W. Africa, Bissimmilli! (you are welcome!) I hope to have the themes be mostly about environment to trigger those discussions as well like what wildlife is in Arizona (where my mom teaches) vs. The Gambia, what environmental issues is Arizona facing vs. here, and how are the ecosystems and ecology similar and or different.  Things like this.  I'm really excited about it.  Sorry for the perhaps desperate sounding plea.  I'm going to stock up on stamps and cards today Inshallah to practice what I preach!

Wishing you all the very best.  Thank you for the continued support and interest.  Hope to hear from you soon! Very very best!

Words on Wheels

This project was inspired by the awesome children books my Mom was sending that included things from children atlases to Goodnight Moon to colorful reforestation efforts in Kenya to detailed information about Baobab trees and the insects and animals that benefit from them, including people.

The idea was to put together a box of really good books that kids would be interested in and able to read to encourage reading.  This box would travel on our mail run which occurs every other month (Dec, Feb, Apr, etc) to places where really good books and resources for reading and learning are hard to come by .  Several people try to embark on library projects but in my experience, several of these communities are not quite ready yet to appreciate the value of a library to justify all the time and money that goes into them.  On the other hand, several students, even if it's just one or two, do benefit from those types of project which can have unknown positive ripple effects.

I talked about Words on Wheels with the program director for the Education sector, she was super excited, I wrote a proposal and then essentially handed everything off to the PCVL, Peace Corps Volunteer Leader, for education since he's been focusing on improving literacy and since he lives in the capital with much more access to resources than myself. 

We ran a pilot test this last mail run in October.  Packets of five or so books ranging from early beginner to moderately advanced went around the CRR with feedback papers.  In addition to the books there were study tools like alphabet flashcards and or a small chalkboard to practice handwriting and a note from Ed volunteers with some tips on how best to use books for teaching purposes.  The second idea is that several of us health and environment volunteers care about improving literacy also but aren't going to necessarily go out of our ways to achieve this.  But if a nice little packet of books and resources come to us for a period of two months, between the mail runs, we can do better to focus efforts helping tutor our siblings or others in the community that are interested.  Because it is a small concentration of books, and because they aren't really being used without the supervision of the volunteer, this ensures, Inshallah, a decent life for the book which would not be the case if left to the child alone for even a short period of time.

For me, with my books at my site with my kids, the pilot was a huge success.  Even though I had some fantastic books already myself, they were all quite above the reading levels of my host siblings.  These books that came in the Words on Wheels packets brought to us perfect beginning books that my host siblings were not only able read but able to read, but master in the time we spent focusing on them.  This built confidence which may perhaps further increase interest in reading.

In addition to this project, some volunteers are working on creating simple and easy stories in the local language or simply translating already existing stories into the local language to peak interest that way.

As we say here, we're on the work slowly slowly.

HIV/AIDS Bike Trek 2012

26 Nov 12

Peace Corps The Gambia (PCTG) and the National AIDS Secretariat (NAS) hosted our third annual HIV/AIDS bike trek in the Central River Region (CRR) on the South bank hitting up four schools and about 20 classrooms.  Some twenty PCV's across all sectors, environment, education, and health, and 15 or so Gambian counterparts as students, teachers, health workers, NAS employees, and community members, worked together to sensitize some thousand plus students grades 8 and 9 on HIV and AIDS.

The sensitization occurred over a span of two days per class.  Day one covered, as basically as possible, what HIV is, what AIDS is, how the two are different, how the virus can spread through the four body fluids: blood, breast milk, vaginal fluid, and semen, and how you can protect yourself.  That day included a discussion about blood soldiers and how HIV can reduce the number of blood soldiers (white blood cells) until you are susceptible to a number of illnesses by which point you acquire a syndrome.  We then discussed the most common way HIV is transferred, that being through vaginal sex.  Mind you we spoke with the headmaster at the schools, gained all necessary permission, and had Gambian counterparts to help us deliver this message in a predominantly conservative Muslim country.  Following the sex talk we got to do condom demonstrations on coke bottles.  I now have three successful condom demonstrations to add to... something, my resume? The rest of the time was filled with activities emphasizing our points and clarifying how HIV is both spread and NOT spread.  A tricky one for instance is mosquitoes.  When a mosquito bites you, they are not transferring blood they are transferring their saliva (how malaria is spread) and taking our blood to give directly to the baby mosquito as a blood meal.  So you cannot get HIV/AIDS from a mosquito bite.  Similarly, sharing the same food bowl, the same drinking glass, or sleeping in the same bed while NOT exchanging any of the four fluids, etc etc., does not give you HIV, which are some common local misconceptions.  Day 2 addressed how one can speak up and out about HIV and AIDS in their communities.  The subject is typically taboo but sharing accurate knowledge about the disease, how it can spread, and how to be protected is one of the best defenses.  As that saying goes, learning is knowledge and knowledge is power!

Not many people get tested in The Gambia.  There's a lot of fear and cultural stigma around the issue.  The system here for pregnant mothers that go to the clinic is that it's an opt-out test meaning that you get tested by default unless you opt out.  So as I understand it, the only data we have here is from those pregnant mothers that actually make it to the clinic and that don't opt out which isn't very much data points.  So the national average here is 2.4% which is doubled from the last few years.  A smaller pool recent numbers from a small region in the CRR gave 20% positive!  Which is actually rather alarming for the small pool size.  The CRR has the highest rate of HIV which is why the bike treks have been focusing on that region the most. 

Before the trek we had to teach for "practice" in one of our local schools.  A friend helped me do this at my school in my village which has probably never been exposed to HIV or AIDS talks.  My counterpart wasn't able to come but the teachers at the school were amazing and practically took the lesson into their hands and not only led it but led it in the local language so that there was no confusion.  One of the teachers was so passionate about the topic she wants to start to put a drama together to sensitize the rest of my community!  She's the leader of the Peer Health Club at the school and is a most amazing teacher there.

We'll see what we can do.  Below is a brief clip of one of our classes.  This female counterpart only spoke her local language, Mandinka, and was leading the kids in a song about being healthy.  I thought it was pretty awesome and so pulled out my camera. Enjoy, if it loads!

Some of the family, pt 1

 Kii Chendou Ceesay mooy suma baay la fii, this person is Chendou Ceesay, he is the one that is my host father here.  My host dad is one of my most favorite Gambian males I have met here.  He has really taken the host father thing to heart.  One night I had arrived into town too late to catch a horse cart back to village and was without my bicycle, I called my host father and explained my situation and told him I would walk.  It's a bit of a hike and the sun was setting.  He was not pleased- he left his affairs early to come grab me by horse cart so that I wouldn't have to walk alone in the dark.  I had fortunately found some nice neighbors to accompany me but that wasn't good enough for baay.  He grows most of the food his family eats excluding rice.  He is the Imam or prayer leader of the village and will go out of his way to do just about anything I need for safety comfort and happiness.  He doesn't speak a lick of English, that I know of, but I'm learning his language slow slow.

This is the other baay.  Only my host mom calls Malick or Yura baay meaning father.  I think because he's the youngest son he gets that honorary name.  Malick is around 8 years old.  He's in grade three at the school and thanks to this Words On Wheels project (see future post) he has built confidence and continues to show interest in reading!  As a mildly dyslexic reader myself, I see apparent signs in him.  The word "is" for instance always comes out as si like sigh.  But we try to practice which helps.  Besides being a pretty darned good beginner reader, Malick is an excellent football or soccer to you Americans, player.  He's also one of the most amazing baby sitters I've ever seen!

Maddi Ceesay.  Maddi is the baby in the family at about a year old, at my best guess.  He can walk and is just trying to start some words.  He is the son of Ndey (below) who is the daughter of one of my fathers sisters, I think!  Family relationships are explained differently here.  I still need to sit down with them sometime to try to map it all out.  She's related to my father somehow though I believe.  Maddi is adorable and I'm pretty much in-love with the kid.  I think he likes me too as anytime I come back after an extended stay, he'll come to me to be picked up and won't want his mom for at least a few minutes.  But she definitely wins in that he's much more in-love with her, which is how it should be =)

Here is mother and son.  Ndey loves it when I shake my lappijuice or butt and loves to talk about how big it is and encourages me to talk about and or shake it as often as possible.  Gotta love the Wolofs!

Fana Ceesay.  Fana is one of my sisters, Ndey is also considered a sister since she's the daughter of my fathers sister, but she's not an immediate sister.  What is that in the states anymore, cousin?  Anyway Fana is a sister sister, maybe in her early twenties.  She has gone up to grade ten and therefore can speak very good English which is very helpful.  Ndey and Fana are the main cooks for the compound and both produce delicious food!

Maram or Jugal is the youngest sister and also excellent babysitter!  She's probably around eleven or twelve.  Several people, if not every person, has two names to help identify them as the same ten or so names get used over and over again, especially at the village level.  If you ever come to visit, depending on your name, it's sometimes easier to give a Gambian name.  Some comon fanafana wolof names include (fanafana meaning bush wolof):

For girls:

Fana

Kumba

Mariama

Awa

Rohe

Hoja

Yasin

Dado

and boys:

Malick

Omar

Mustafa

Musa

Abduli

Ebrima

Alhaji

Saikou

Maddi

Here is me and my host mother Dado Mbye.  Her and her family are from Senegal only ten km from our village.  I have yet to go there but hope to soon as every time I see any of her relatives from there I'm asked to come.  My host mom has also taken her role to heart and goes out of her way and above and beyond to make sure I'm healthy well and working hard, but not too hard.  One of our biggest points of disagreement is over me hauling my own water or doing my own laundry.  She seems to take some offense that I won't let them always help me but I argue that they have so much work and that I live here and need to get my own water and do my own laundry but they think it's too much for me.  Sometimes I give in ;-)

And lastly for this post, but certainly not the entire family (my host mom and dad have ten children themselves!) is my best friend in village, Peace Corps community representative, and host sister (cousin) Hoja Ceesay.  She has gone up to grade nine in school and so can also speak very fine English which makes forming a more solid friendship much easier!  She truly feels like a friend here which is such a gift to have.  She will help me with any confusion or anything and be upset with me when I don't eat at an invited meal from her cook fire.  She has also spent time with me in my hut running around and screaming and killing rats!

That's all the photos I really have for now.  More to come!  I thought sharing the current people in my life would be helpful for those back home trying to picture what it's like.  These people truly are my family here, my support, my friends, and will inevitably be the reasons why it will be so damn hard to say goodbye.  I already don't know how I'll face it!