First Impressions

I have been in Africa now for just over a week, and I love it already! We flew into Dakar, Senegal early last Tuesday morning, and stayed at Pink Lake, a beautiful resort just outside of the city. Driving into Dakar in the darkness of the early morning hours, I was amazed to see that I was surrounded by buildings and cars, and also in awe by the sheer volume of people everywhere. I had a scare within the first hour, I was in the front passenger seat of our van and had a birds-eye view of the incredibly dangerous driving conditions. Cars passed each other on either side, honking their horns at anyone who was in their way, leaving just inches between vehicles. Incredibly, we didn't see any accidents or fender-benders along the way!

In Senegal, we visited a village and the chief took us for a tour. Unlike most places we had been, the adults in the village asked that we did not give anything to the children, as they felt this would discourage them from finishing school and working hard to be successful on their own. Instead, the children held onto our hands and walked along with us as we used our meager French skills to ask them their names. In Senegal, most people speak French as well as at least one tribal language. Seeing people, even people with very little education, who can speak so many languages, makes me feel that we as Americans are pretty selfish, thinking that or language is the only one that we need to know. It is as if we are saying that our language is the most important, and anyone who needs or wants to communicate must accommodate us rather than vice versa.

After a couple of days in Senegal, we made the trip into the Gambia. If you look on a map, the Gambia is almost completely surrounded by Senegal, except on the side where it borders the Atlantic Ocean. Crossing into the Gambia, we immediately noticed that people were friendlier and not as pushy about asking us to buy things. As an example, in Senegal, while waiting for our visas, our bus was surrounded by people trying to sell us cashews. No matter how many times you said no thank you, they kept trying to convince us to buy cashews. When we drove into the Gambia, people were much more easy-going. The main language in the Gambia is English, so communication is very easy. However, most Gambians know a couple of other languages as well, such as Mandinka, Wolof, or Fula, which are tribal languages. Wolof is the language of commerce, so almost everyone knows it, and we will be taking lessons in it while we are here.

In the Gambia, we live in a very nice house, with four bedrooms and three bathrooms for seven people. Our resident director, Muhammad, lives in smaller quarters behind the house, as do the one male student on the trip and the two young women who work in the house. The house and servant's quarters are all in a compound surrounded by a wall, in a middle class neighborhood outside of Banjul, the capital city of the Gambia. In Africa, anyone with enough money puts a wall around their house to make it into a compound, so that they can keep out unwanted visitors. Having a wall around your compound is a symbol of status and money.

Our house is very nice. It is cool enough inside and closed up well enough that we do not even need to sleep with malaria nets over our beds. There is running water and a fully functional kitchen, electric lighting and ceiling fans. There is also wireless internet access. Internet and electricity often go out unexpectedly here, but when it is working it is rather fast. Probably the most complicated thing is showering. There isn't warm water, so we shower with cold water, and the shower faucets are on a hose as opposed to attached to the wall. It is not quite the luxury as at home, but still much better than hauling water from a well to take a bath!

Muhammad cooks us dinner every night. He is Nigerian and has lived in America, and so cooks us food that is a combination of Nigerian an American food. He is an amazing chef, and it is nice to have a hot, safe meal to come home to at the end of every day! Mealtimes here are different than in America, breakfast is whenever you get up in the morning, but lunch is not usually until at least 2 PM, and dinner is between 7 and 8 PM. Some of the main foods we eat are rice and bread, including a special type of bread known as tapalapa. Tapalapa bread is made into sandwiches at lunch time, and you can buy them for 12 Dalasis, or 50 cents, with eggs, fish, or beans inside, like a sandwich (really delicious, and cheap!). Gambians also eat a lot of fish, chicken, eggs, and ground nuts, or peanuts, which are a huge export here. There are also a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables available.

One thing that is very easy in the Gambia is meeting new people. Gambians are by nature very laid-back and friendly people. When you are walking down the street, everyone tends to wave and say hello, even ask you how you are doing. With each day we are here, we are learning more about how things work, and people are seeing us less as tourists and we are being mistaken more often instead as Peace Corps volunteers or teachers (a huge compliment!). Yesterday, out at the university, we met a woman who was sitting at a fruit stand. She was holding a baby, and she called myself and two other girls over. She asked us to hold the baby and then she even showed us how women here tie the baby with cloth so that they can carry them on their backs. It is definitely strange being in a place where you stand out no matter where you go. There is really no way of knowing why this woman wanted us to hold her baby, but we have heard that some Africans believe that white people are lucky, or have special powers, and that by touching us you can receive the same gifts. This certainly makes sense based on my experiences so far--everywhere you go people want to shake your hand, or even if you are just walking along the road, schoolchildren who are also walking will hold your hands. Regardless, it is refreshing to be in a place where people are so open and welcoming!

The Gambia is a pretty poor country, but when we are talking to locals, and you know, it is obvious that we are not from here, they ask where we are from, how long we will be here, etc., but then they almost always say--Gambia is nice, eh? You like it here! And of course they are right, the people are friendly, the weather is beautiful, and I am learning new things every day. I think this is a lot different from the US, where we often forget about the many wonderful things there are to be proud of in our country, and the many reasons that anyone would be happy to visit.

There is a lot more to write about but I think that is enough for today! Thanks for reading and if you have any questions let me know.