It was amazing to begin my vacation on the island of Santorini, because I have dreamed about visiting Greece for years. After three relative short flights, with long layovers in Casablanca and Rome, I arrived before dawn into the soft cool air of the Mediterranean. I had the first day to myself to explore the island in a little red Fiat, before my friends from Oregon… ....READ MORE | 5 Comments
Tobaski or Eid-al-Adha is a Muslim holiday commemorating Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his own son, Ismail, in the name of Allah. Before Abraham could sacrifice his son, God provided a ram for sacrifice instead. Tobaski coincides with the end of the annual Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca, one of the five pillars of Islam. Eid-al-Adha or Tobaski is the second of two Islamic holidays celebrated worldwide each year. The other… ....READ MORE | 7 Comments
The 2018 rainy season began on June 27 with a massive dust storm followed by torrential rains. There had been occasional light sprinkles since early June, but the photo above reflects the incredible power of the first major storm of the year. Harry took the photo from his village in the Central River Region, where he had a clear view of the approaching storm. The photo below was… ....READ MORE | 2 Comments
Mamud Ndow contacted me through my blog – he wanted to learn about the gardening techniques I have written about. At 31 he is a very enterprising young man, finding ways to make a living promoting agriculture products. He sells fresh juice during the tourist season on the beach in front of the hotels near Kombo. He is also working on starting an umbrella organization, so… ....READ MORE | 6 Comments
I attended a workshop with my counterpart, Jatta, and fourteen other PCVs and counterparts at Massembeh to learn about the orange flesh sweetpotato (OFSP). The white sweetpotato is a common food throughout The Gambia, but doesn’t have as high a nutritional value of the OFSP, so PC has been encouraging the consumption of OFSP for better health. This two day event was a cross-sectorial workshop with PCVs from… ....READ MORE | 2 Comments
I had an incredible time visiting the Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project (CRP) in the River Gambia National Park (RGNP) with Polly, her Gambian host brother Alieu, and Kevin who was visiting from Germany. Kevin lived with Polly’s family as a high school exchange student, and Polly’s two sons were able to be high school exchange students with Kevin’s family in Germany, and the… ....READ MORE | 7 Comments
I participated in an event called Future Trek, facilitated by the Education Sector. There were three groups of PCVs that presented programs at six different Senior Secondary Schools in the North Bank Region (NBR) on the weekend of June 23-24. This was the second year Future Trek targeted schools in the NBR, and next year Future Trek will be held in a different region for two years. The… ....READ MORE
I experienced my first Holy Month of Ramadan – the fasting month. I did not personally fast, but I took the opportunity to learn about the world’s second largest religious group. My host family and counterpart were very receptive to my many questions about the changes I was seeing, and endeavored to explain concepts foreign to me. I will discuss some of the things I saw and learned… ....READ MORE | 2 Comments
I previously wrote about joining the new Peace Corps The Gambia Media Team. During our media training we were divided into three groups, assigned a topic to research, photograph and create a video. Those videos are now published, and this post will tell you more about each teams process, with links to the videos. I have also included a video produced by Harry Dwinell at the 2018 All-Vol conference… ....READ MORE
I took myself on a field trip to My Farm, an educational center for children and farmers started by the Norwegian Charitable Foundation Africa StartUp. Their mission is to improve livelihoods in The Gambia through education in agriculture innovation, environmental protections and entrepreneurism. I was impressed with this beautiful two and half acre farm, located… ....READ MORE | 3 Comments