Okay, not really any need for that diabolical laughter, it’s not really all that “evil scientisty” to upload images to a blog, and it’s not really like I’ve been uploading so many of them that you just simply can’t handle more images, can you? In sum, the maniacal laughter is me just being … a maniac? Something.

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Okay, I’ve got some images here, a small collection of shots over the last couple months. I’ve had to really filter down the number of pictures I’m going to put onto this site, as I’ve taken hundreds of them, but honestly most of them are either repetitive or they just plain suck. However, there are a few that rather capture the experience, the people, and the places in better ways than others, and it’s those types of images I’m going to try to include. Enjoy!

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Nineteen other PC Trainees and I swore in this morning at the US Ambassador’s beachside house in Fajara. Not unexpectedly, he - the Ambassador - has a nice house. We didn’t get a chance to go inside, but the grounds are beautiful, and they stretch down almost to where the beach meets the grasses. His house is on a hill, so standing on the back yard terrace one has a panoramic view of the ocean, interrupted only by thin groupings of tall palm trees. Of course, the grounds are surrounded by a large whitewashed wall, and there are guards and whatnot which is common at places of importance. Anyhow, we arrived this morning and strolled for about an hour, taking advantage of the sun and scenery to take some nice photos. We all then sat under tents in the back yard when it came time for ceremony and listened to various speakers speak on relevant topics. Eventually, the Ambassador issued the oath for us to repeat, and suddenly we weren’t Trainees anymore; we were Volunteers.

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So, as the subject line indicates, I got a chance to see where I’m going to be living over the next couple years.  It’s a house formerly occupied by a VSO guy in Bakau.  He used to work for GTTI, but went home (as is the way it works with VSOs - Volunteer Service Organizations - around the world).  Quiet neighborhood, thinly populated.  About a five minute drive to the PC office, or probably a ten, 15 minute walk.  I have a back yard, and a front one too.  I’ve got a kitchen, with a fridge.  There’s a small store room.  A relatively furnished living room big enough to play frisbee in.  Two bedrooms, and two bathrooms too (although one of them only has a toilet, the other has a shower and a tub).  To cap it off, there’s a hot water heater for the showers… not that I think I’ll ever use it, as it doesn’t get to any point that I would consider cold enough to use artifically heated water, but the fact remains: my house has one.  And, obviously, I have electricity.

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Hey, so I’m back in Kombo now.  Got back here yesterday afternoon after a fun-filled day (bumpy) on the road.  We’re doing site visits this week, so we all get to go to our new homes in The Gambia and check out where we’re going to be working for the next two years.  I’ll be working at GTTI, the Gambian Technical Training Institute - one of the tertiary-education technical schools - teaching computer skills.  I’d love to be able to teach stuff like programming and database design, but I really need to evaluate what the school needs before I start planning anything too in-depth.  There’s a balance I need to find between doing what I want, and doing what they want, all the while trying to maximize the benefit for the people at large.  I’ll also be spending a couple days a week working in the State House in Banjul with the Population Office, working on one of their national projects.  Pretty cool stuff, for real.

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Hey!

I finally found an internet connection (slow, 44 kbps) so I figured this would be a perfect opportunity to update my website. I’ve been out here for a while now, been spending a lot of time in my rural training village (S.S.) in the Lower River Division section of The Gambia, very close to the Senegalese / Casamance border. It’s very peaceful there, although I understand if I go a few kilometers south I’ll get into Senegal, and it won’t be so peaceful.

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So tomorrow morning, we’re going to head upcountry to our training villages. Some of us are heading to Mandinka villages, some to Wolof, and some to Fula villages. I’m going to a Wolof village on the southern Gambia / Senegal border. The idea is that we’ll spend about a week at the village and get a chance to integrate into the village community, and then we’ll spend about a week at a centralized training village where we’ll have seminars and whatnot. Over the next ten weeks, we’ll swap back and forth between the centralized village, and my training village. Incidentally, I’ll be in this village with about five other trainees, and a local PC official to assist in the integration and to provide language classes.

On another note, last night it was really hot and muggy. There wasn’t any breeze either, and getting to sleep was almost impossible. Then at some point late into the night, a thunderstorm rolled through the area and cooled everything off. Then I could sleep. I understand that it’s quite a bit warmer upcountry, and muggier too, so I suppose that this sort of climate is something I’ll need to get used to - Vermont summers have prepared me well!

Anyway, we’re heading up there early tomorrow; it’s about a five hour drive as I understand it. I won’t be updating this site for a while unless I can find an internet cafe somewhere, sooo… we’ll see.

Take care -

Matt

I’ve been in The Gambia now for five days, and there are some definite things I’ve had to get used to. The first is the heat and humidity: It’s pretty well constant. I find myself taking three or four baths a day to keep clean, and to prevent heat rash. Heat rash occurs when sweat clogs pores on your skin, and you develop a rash. Go figure. Cleaning does the job. So everyone cleans all the time - it’s not uncommon for people who live in these climates to bathe three or four times a day. Gambians - and I expect most West Africans - are very clean people. Their clothes, their bodies, everything - clean. It’s a bit of a change from being in America where people can go and be grubs and get away with it. Here, you really can’t, it’s a health issue much, much more here than it is back home.

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Yesterday, in our language class, we learned a bunch of different phrases and terms that would come in useful in the Serekunda market, just around the bend from where I’m staying. Stuff like, “lii nyaata la?” (how much is this?) and “buga naa jenda saabu” (I want to buy soap). It was interesting to go there and see the dramatic differences between markets ( e.g., supermarkets, malls, etc.) back home, and this place.

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So, this is cool… I was talking with Evan (another trainee) earlier tonight while watching the fruit bats swoop and screech around the mango tree, and it appears he’s a Phi! Very slick stuff. He was at North Dakota Alpha when he was in college, joined in ‘02 if I recall correctly. He mentioned that he’d seen my tattoo (my fraternity’s letters) the other day - which is one of the reasons I got that tattoo in the first place, so it’s good! (Always wearing your letters makes it easier for other Phis to recognize you and connect).

Anyway, more cool Bonds.

Peace -

Matt