Gosh, time is going. Works is busy, the days are full. I am a bit overwhelmed about where to begin, what to share, what's happening. I miss family and friends, I miss being around you guys, I miss being able to process and understand my situation, my days, my interactions...but I guess that doesn't hold true even in the US. I wish I had time and energy to process stuff, so I am going to do a list format... It's been eight months, it feels like it should be longer, the days are long, but the weeks add up...
1. Karamo is making homemade flashlights. Oh this kid is going places. We are supporting his creativity, free thinking and initiative by buying him batteries. It is rare to see a child doing academic or creative work on their own, in their "spare" time. Our neighbor next door whose in grade seven, is making homemade candles. So we gave all our wax build up from candles to him. These kids are just doing this one their own, no book, no guidance....it's wonderful to watch. We also get really excited for them and make a huge deal out of their finished project...their eyes just light up.
2. cold season is gone...it's hot, the sun just fries you!!! Luckily it is still a dry heat, so it is somewhat pleasant to sleep at night. We got a fan...but Kerewan has had not power for the last two weeks. We are switching over to the national grid but of course there are delays. So who knows when everything will be hooked.
3. With this rural electrification project, which is great, but the works cut down so many trees here in Kerewan to fit the lines. Desertification is becoming a big issue here in the north bank, so cutting down huge old trees is no good. Plus, when I walk around town during the day from the school to my ngo and back, I have no shade to escape from the rath of the sun....but people need wood to cook with... so they embraced the free wood.
4. My girl's club at the middle school is going great. We have fun with drama games, voice projection, journal writing. We sing empowerment songs, they wrote a drama! I asked them what problems they and their peers face. They all said early/teenaged pregnancy albeit through rape, early marriage, unprotected sex, with sugar daddies. They came up with a story about two boys harrassing this one girl and then raping her. She was impregnated and did not tell her parents until she was finally showing. The girl, who was really smart and wanted to go to university had to drop out of school. They then thought of ways girls can protect themselves from sexualt assault and rape, how girls can support each other, how education can't be taken for granted. We are rehearsing their play now for the international women's day celebration here in Kerewan on the 22nd March.
These girls open my eyes each week, they are so mature for their age, you know with holding the weight of poverty, of their family, of their work on their shoulders, but yet they have the curiosity of young teenagers wanting to soak up, soak in new things, talk about my sunglasses, laugh at each other, play silly games... it's a neat age. They make me feel special in such the way that they give me the chance to try to relate to them, to listen to them, to joke with them, to be serious with them, to be concerned for them, to fight for them and with them. I want to show them that they are worth so much. They have a right to safety, a right to learn, a right to loving and supporting relationships with their friends, their family. They have a right to choose their partner in life. They have a right to love. That love isn't a mobile or new clothes given to them from the older men that want them for sex. That love is freedom to express your needs, desires, and wants in life. They have a right to their voice. But how do you do this in the context of a traditional and religious culture? How can I show them that they deserve this, not just girls and women in the west?
5. Working with ADWAC is awesome!! I am helping plan the International Women's Day here in Kerewan, slated for 22nd of March The them is Women in Peace Building: Let's End Violence Against Women and Girls. We are going to have women from ADWAC's literacy circles talk about how education and access to information brings peace in the home. Women from the micro-credit groups talk about how financial literacy and independence brings peace to the home. We are also going to bring in an Islamic teacher and talk about the cultural misconception here in The Gambia of what the Koran says about the treatment of women and women's equality. Any way to make problem solving and discussion homegrown. This culture of illiteracy and poverty just perpetuates domestic violence, unequal gender roles, and disempowerment. So we just submitted a proposal in for funding. Hopefully it will work out!
6. My work at the Nursery School is going well. We just had a workshop last week. I taught them how to play learning games, like memory or math games. They loved it, we had a blast. When I came in to observe, both Bruama and Fana used games in their lessons!
6. Baby Alu is walking!! Oh it is just so great to watch him grow! He is so cuddly with me! Everyday I come home at around four or five. I soak in some Alu time before I head the gardens. Whenever I pick him up, he has a mouth full of red dirt and he just slobbers all over me. Oh it makes my day every time.
7. My garden is going ok. My carrots sprouted, cabbage is doing well, and my lettuce is growing. But my tomatoes are dying! I love going to the gardens, it is a great escape from the busy day of work. To just go...go see the women, the girls from my club, the ten year old named Isatou who always helps me water...in fact all the women love to help me. I only have one bed, most have fifteen. They teach me how to weed, how to water the seedlings gently, how to dig, anything! Some tease me that I only have one bed.
I dropped my bucket in the well last week. The wells are really deep now because we are towards the end of the dry season. I was helping Yassin, an 11th grade women, who is beautiful and tall and gracious... she has awesome tomatoes plants. Whenever I pass by them on my way to my bed, I admire their beauty, not one of them has died or grown wilty... just strong and green and plump! Anyways, so Yassin stopped and spent twenty minutes trying to fish out my bucket with a long stick. Of course it drew a crowd, the white women dropped her bucket. But, I embrace my role as an entertainer. I'm really glad that I did drama in high school, it has become so integral to my work, my existence here. Yassin was so gracious about it all, she retrieved my bucket and wouldn't let me continue to help her. Night was looming, the sun falling, and she has six more beds to water. I walked home in the orange dusty light laughing to myself, but upset that my help for Yassin became just another thing she had to deal with. She was probably late to get home to help with dinner and cleaning and fetching water. I walked home knowing that my husband was cooking dinner for us, I had already fetched water in the morning, and that I could just relax.
Sometimes I walk home from the garden feeling energized, maybe after having a good conversation with one of the women or a good laugh or just having been left alone, being nothing new to the women in the garden. But sometimes I walk home with this guilt, this feeling that I can't quite describe yet, that whatever I do is just not enough.... I am still the priviledged white women trying to show that she can do hard labour. But they always remind me that I have only one bed in the garden, that I can't speak the language well, that I have no kids, that I have no reason to be tired while waiting for water at the pump, that going to do "toubab" work gives me no reason to yawn at the end of the day, that I can never walk around town without children or someone yelling my name over and over again.....whatever I do or say is just not enough.... I think its this power play.... they have something over the white women.... they have something to laugh at and taunt.... they have an opportunity to feel powerful.... It makes sense, it just wears on me... But, I have my walk home every evening, when the heat is beginning to subside and I greet old women and young girls who always ask where I came from, I say the gardens and they reply, the gardens?, I nod, they chuckle. I keep on walking soaking in their laughter, embracing the humor and endearment in all of this.
