Swarmed by children

After one of the training sessions the presenter and my colleague decided to stay at the school to rest (in the end, we didnt leave school until 7pm!) and wait for the principal to arrange our accomodation at his house. I had no choice but to just go with to the flow, all in Gambian time. The school was quiet, so I decided to utilise my time and work on typing up this blog. Children started to appear and gather around me to look at the computer, the first computer they have scene. I had at least 25 children squashed around me, so I decided to show them some photos of Australia I had on my computer. We exchanged local language and English words for items in the pictures. They were also interested in my camera which was also sitting on my lap, so I took a video of them around me and played this back. If you can imaging me sitting on a chair, surrounded by 25 kids packed in tight tryin to spin my camera around as they all wanted to get their head the screen. I played this back many times to the excitement of the children seing their faces on the screen. The video is hilarious, a sea of smiling faces but when the younger children started crying because they were being squashed i thought it was time to put the gadgets away.

Trek through the Lower River Region

Publish Post

The Trek around the Lower River Region

In my role as Education Advisor, I am working with the Lower River Region Education team to implement the Whole School Development Strategy in selected schools. The WSD strategy is changing the structures, management, organisation and practices within each school. It is a huge inititiative being sponsored and driven by the World Bank and other large organisations (Difid, Besfor).

I have spent the last 5 days on Trek through my region with my Gambian Colleague. We have stayed in small rural communities, which have been extremely hospitable. Principals have organised food and accomodation, often vacating their homes to provide a place for me to sleep.

The first stage of the initiative has been for communities to elect a School Management Committee, the communities have met in large gatherings to elect members. Our role was to observe the Principals/Deputys deliver training to 3 school communities about their role as a committee member, information about WSD and developing their school vision. The training was conducted in Mandinka (one site Mandinka and Fula) and information discussed was written in English. We went to 4 sites and participated, gave feedback and recorded what the community ideas were.

It has been a wonderful trek, meeting teachers, school children, community members and principals. I have spent quiet evenings chatting outside under that stars as there has been no power in the towns visited. I have shared a food bowl for each lunch and dinner. This has consisted of a huge rice bowl with a domoda (peanut gravy, often eaten with goat meat) or fish benechin (dried fish with cabbage due to limited vegetable supply). About 5 people ear together and share the food bowl usually without cutlery. Each breakfast has consisited of sardines, onion and mayanaise to a bagette with really sweet tea, both condensed milk and sugar added.

My thoughts about the project so far are positive, even though it is such a huge project. It had been wonderful seeing the parent community having a say and contribute ideas in their local language. Most parents are illiterate and it has been powerful to hear their thoughts and to indicate what they have to say is important.

Crash and burn

The Motorbike Accident that was bound to happen

I suppose it was only a matter of time really, even though I feel comfortable and enjoy riding a motorbike, I still need a lot more practice on the sandy, dusty, rough, bumpy and stoney roads.

Basically, Jenny and Sovie (other Soma volunteers) and I planned to take an hour and a half journey to have lunch. I was extremely excited, my first weekend in Soma after spending prrevious weekends camping on the beach at Kartong. 20 minutes into the journey, I was trailing the girls and road was dusty. I came over a rise, travelling about 50km/hr and at the last minute saw a piece of metal on the ground. I didnt have time to swerve and hit it. After the impact, Im not exactly sure what happened. I believe I flew into the air ahead of my bike, landed on my head and did a few rolls. Bike followed behind me. I was quite relieved I could stand up and felt I could get back on the bike, still believing I was invincible. With one arm I manged to lift the bike upright and assessed my body and the bike. The front of the bike was a bit bent, indicator light cracked and the top of my helmet was scratched and a small part came off. The girls finally realised I had crashed and came back. I still felt I would be able to ride on but my arm was aching and I couldnt bend or move it, thinking this pain would quickly pass. After sometimeI confronted the fact that my arm was not good, I couldny even get a lift on a bike back home as I couldnt move it.

We arranged a lift back with a friend from Peace Corps and another Peace Corps nurse assessed my arm. I could feel my fingers but could not bend or twist it. I still believed I would be fine and not to worry. As the day progressed no improvement was made and medication was necessary. We arranged for VSO to come out and pick me up in the next morning and head to Banjul hospital, about a 4 hour journey just to make sure my arm wasnt broken.

I was fine all day, in a bit of pain but in good spirits. In the evening, 11 hours later I had a panic attack, which scared the life out of me. I felt hot, tight in the chest and then felt like I couldnt breathe. My body went all tingly, dizzy and i couldnt stand up, convinced that I was going to die from not being able to breathe. I finally overcame this, but it left me shaken. I then felt another attack coming on and manged this one a little better.

With support from VSO, I went to the clinic that evening for a check up and then slept outside at the Peace Corps nurses house, I needed to have fresh air and open space around me.

The next day we travelled to Banjul hospital and after time there having x rays and doctors looking and prodding my arm they declared it wasnt broken, elbow was twisted and arm ligaments damaged. They put my arm in plaster and wrappped it up. I took the plaster off after a week and only used the base for protection.

So my motorbike riding days are over for at least 6 weeks. I am happy to say my arm movement is improving all the time.

"Aja, Aja, Aja, Ajaaaaaaaa" yep kids, thats me...:

My Gambian name -Aja Jawneh

It is customary for all visitors living in the Gambia to be given a Gambian name when moving into a Gambian home for the first time. The Gambian name given is usually connected to the landlord of the compound (compound is a name given to a group of shared houses and yard area, like a group of units or connnected houses). The surname given is the landlord's surname and the first name is often a family members name. Your Gambian name is then your name for your time in The Gambia.

My name is Aja Jawneh, named after the landlord's eldest daughter, Aja is also the name given to women who have made the pilgrimage to Mecca. My colleagues at work refer to me as Aja or Julie, I have given them the choice, likewise principals and teachers in my region. The adults and children around my home and Soma know me as Aja. I hear this being shouted repeatedly or sung by children as I walk past them on my way to the market.

Initially i found it strange to be called Aja and felt I didn't identify to this name that people were calling me. I grappled with being called Aja in the work setting, but I am now used to it and really don t mind, although I still provide both my first names when being introduced to people. It is practice to sign a visitors book on arrival to schools and I write both of my names as I'm still not able to let go of my identity entirely.

MY NEW HOME March 11th

Well here is my home for the next 12 months. It is is a rectangular shared compound with another 5 local teachers and 2 vsos. The house has two rooms, the front room is my living room/kitchen. It has a fridge, two burner gas top, table, 2 chairs . i have bought some beautiful material to use for table cloths and curtains. The back room is my bedroom.. double bed and mosquito net and a chest of draws. This leads to my pit latrine ... this is all my personal space and is enclosed by a grey brick wall. Here take be bucket showers and use the glorious pit latrine.. My house walls are a lovely blue wash and the floor is newly painted cement.. a red/maroon colour. It is nice to finally sort out all my things and have a place to call home. The back yard is a basically a large dirt and sand pit.....there is a porch which is essential because it is sooo hot.. and will only get hotter. Most places in the gambia are in compounds.. basically a group of attached flats.. You may be thinking...a fridge?? I have POWER!! Power was only connected i my town 2 months ago... so i am in luck.... the power is switched for a period of time each week..today it was on for about 4 hours.. but that is fine.. it might stay on long enough so i can have ice... cold drinks.. lights on at at night time..the luxury!!
I do not have running water, this is collected from a pump in the compound. water here is ok to drink.. probably better than adelaide water!! I have 3 plastic 20L jerry cans which I keep full of water. So there you have it... hope the photos/or vidoe whatever loaded.. give you some sense of my new house.
I have been busy getting my house looking like a homely by banging in nails all around.. this allows me to put up curtain wire.. i have used this to attach material for curtains.. photos, motorbike gear, towel.. mozzie net.. im very happy with how it is coming togther so far.

The motorbike journey to Soma – March 10th

What an adenture this turned out to be. The plan was to leave at 8am and then arrive by 11am to my house.. I was travelling with the instructor Lamin, we left 2 and half hours later than planned... so i just hung around waiting at the bike garage.. i also needed to carry 20L full jerry can on the back.. i was worried about the extra weight travelling through sand.. but i had no choice.. we crossed 3 ferrries in total. These are old and i needed to run up the ramp with my bike.. wasnt easy... especially when the ferry is packed with people and vehichles. After about 3 hours of travelling, Lamin stopped at a village, I was keen to get to soma.. I wanted to sort out my house..we ended up staying here for 2 hours!! Ahhhh!! Lamin siad the heat would not allow his bike to run sweet...it was over 40 degrees..Finaly we were off again.. arrived at my house at 7pm.. there was no key to get in.. the land lady was found after 30 min and I was then let into my house.. turned on the light but there was no light globes..i also needed to get my bike inside.. ended up crashing it on the porch.. and needed to lift it up.. very heavy.. the day couldnt get much better really... there was stuff all over my house the place.. ..managed to get light bulbs and began sorting out my furniture, unpacked fridge etc. went to bed exhausted... but looking forward to unpacking all my stuff the following day. I have bought so much.. pots, pan, glasses, mugs, sheets, pillows, towels, floor mat, plastic conatainers, food, cans, plates, bowls, cutlery, utencils, plastic shelf, lots of sealed buckets for storing water.. rubbish etc, At last I have a home!!!

Motorbike training March 5th - 9th

A Fillipino girl, Jorgi and I waved a fond farewell to our vso friends as they departed on their way back to Kombo and left the two of us.. the brave (or crazy!) up country volunteers to begin our motorbike training. We moved location to a town callled Bansang, another dry and dusty town. During our training we stayed at the ICT house, a vso house which can be used for all vsos in their up country visits. It has a generator which we learnt how to use for a few hours each evening. The house is away from the main town and has 5 homes surrrounding it. A night watch man greeted us as soon as we put the generator on,, he was about 70 years old, spoke mimimal english and wanted his phone charged.. another man soon appeared at the sound of the generator also wanting his phone charged.. when we turned the generaror off, they reappeared to collect their phones. This occurred each evening, and soon became quite the norm.
Jorgi and I arrived at the motorbike workshop eagerly awaiting to begin our training.. well i was eager.. Jorgi was terrified. Thank goodness I went through training before I arrived here, because they threw us in the deep end. I have a brand new bike, a Yamaha 100, bright red. Off i went on the bike following the instructor, straight onto dirt roads and to our first training location. This was a small rectangular sand pit, about 35m by 15m. Jorgi had only experienced riding a scooter and has never used a clutch or gears before and they expected her to start her first ride in sand... madness.. ahh we are in africa!! As you can imagine she crashed immediately. I did ok in the sand, only through having a bit of confidence and not being scared as I just slide all over the place, I only fell off once, which was pretty good.
We then went to a location, about the size of a soccer field. Jorgi hopped on the back of the instructors bike.. she is not yet able to start it. The field has sand in the centre and a pelethora of stones, rocks, cement, old cans etc around the outside. To reach the field we needed to go over 30cm dirt bridge.as their was a 1m deep ditch surroundig it.. best not to look at the ground whilst going over... just look straight ahead!!! AT the field I just zoomed around happily dodging stones etc... Jorgi basically crashed each time she stopped... not good.
On day 2 I was required to stand up and dodge a collection of cement markers, ride around standing up with one arm outstretched.. i think this exercise was used to show balance and throttle control. I then needed to go to a dirt hill and go up and down this in both sitting and standing positions then stop half way up and do a hill start. I did this about 35 times duriing the day wearing my black motorbike jacket in the heat, over 40 degrees. Lucky i still have a reasonable amount of fitness because it was hard work. I fell off once going up the hill, I gave the bike too much power on hill start.. no drama though. In the meantime, Jorgi is till falling off her bike each time she stops. Her day ended with a badly sprained ankle and bruises all over her legs, the instructor isnt accustomed to drivers with no experience and was impatient with her.. basically his instructon were move... grip... this in turn stressed her out more.
Day 3
The instructor left us to ourselves on the field for an hour. Here I gave gave Jorgi some training about how to stop and how to use the clutch and throttle smoothly during take off. She only fell off once today and is now stopping safely which is a relief.
We then left Jorgi to continue going around the field and the instructor and I went out into the bush for a two hour ride. I was fine but mentally tired after concentrating for so long. The terrain was mixed... stones, sandy, pot holes etc. He made me go through a deep sandy section.. I skidded all over the place. This was unavoidable, but managed not to fall off. Also rode through small mud brick and thatched roof villages. In each village I saw women pounding away on rice to remove the shell, children manoeuvrering donkey on dirt tracks, children collecting water using the village water pump and groups of men sitting under a meeting area called a bantabaa, which is a large shady tree. Rural areas are harsh and families need to make the most of limited resources.