Oh, this too? Sure, bring it on.

There are always insect bites and scratches covering my body. Mosquito’s and other bugs enjoy an Ashley snack all the time. I didn’t think much of the small bites on my thumb. I actually thought it was heat rash coming back.
As the week went on the bite became a line.
And the line moved along my thumb to the back of my hand.
Almost like there was a worm in my hand.
ACK!!! That’s gross!
It looked like a Mountain Pine Beetle under my skin. Which is bad.
By the end of the week the worm wiggled to and fro blazing a 4-inch line. Where There Is No Doctor had nothing to say about lines under the skin that itched and progressed.
Brendan’s travel book said I might have a dog or cat hookworm, but no worries, the worm can’t live in people, and would die eventually and fall out of my hand.
You may think I’d be freaking out, that I would be losing it. But when you get to the point where you have a worm in your hand and you’ve just cut your dog’s testicle out with a razorblade and the termites are taking over your house along with the mold, this is just another thing to deal with.
On Tuesday I went to the Med Unit and got formally diagnosed with a hookworm. I have a hookworm killing paste to apply twice a day until the track on my hand is gone.
In the meantime I get to show people my worm. (If you feel sorry for me, send me some lovin' through the mail!)

I hope this isn't the stupidest thing I've ever done

*Warning- This blog post is graphic and contains sensitive information! (But no pictures.) Read at your own risk!
Pondo got fixed last week in Basse.
“But I though there was no vet in Basse.”
Oh, there isn’t.
But there is a man who castrates dogs. He’s done several other PCVs dogs as well. Rachel and I brought our dogs in on a Thursday. We bought our own razor blades (for 50 bututs or about $0.02). Rachel and I were pretty nervous about the whole operation, and gave the dogs Benadryl to sedate them, and Ibuprofen for the pain and bleeding.
Around 5:00 pm Lamin came over with a small boy and a forked stick.
We decided that Pondo would go first. I was really nervous, but because Rachel was freaking out I tried to act calm and volunteered Pondo so Rachel would be sure Zion would be ok.
Out next to the house we turned Pondo onto his back. Lamin used the forked stick to hold Pondo’s neck to the ground. The small boy held his back legs, Alieu had the stick and I held his front legs and body.
Lamin stretched the skin of his testicles taut and made a 1.5 inch incision on the bottom. He quickly pulled out the testicle, cut all connective tissues and tubes, and threw it into the bushes over the fence. Pondo has only one testicle, and we felt around to make sure there wasn’t another one hidden inside him.
As this was going on Pondo wiggled once and tried to escape, but we held him tightly. He cried and whined but didn’t struggle during the actual cutting.
As soon as we let him go he sat up, dazed. He didn’t move immediately, but looked around and inspected his wound. Finally, he got up and started walking around, dripping blood, but otherwise ok.
Zion did not fare so well, and I had to hold him still by almost sitting on him. He yelped and cried and struggled through the whole operation. Pondo was barking furiously at us for hurting another dog. We released Zion and he immediately ran away from us, to Rachel who had been in the house, not watching.
We thanked Lamin and the small boy and he left us with our two sad dogs.
They dripped blood for the next several hours. As soon as a clot formed, Pondo licked it out and started bleeding again. We had to keep them outside so they wouldn’t make a mess. That night Rachel stayed outside and I tried to sleep and check on Pondo every few hours.
Around 11 pm it looked like the bleeding was getting worse, and I decided to apply pressure to the wound.
As I sat there, holding blood soaked bandages on my dog’s wound I laughed at how ridiculous the situation was. This is not something I ever thought I’d be doing in the Peace Corps. The thought never crossed my mind. Yet here I was, filthy, covered in dog blood and dirt, swatting at mosquitos and hopeing my dog wouldn't bleed to death.
This didn’t last too long because Pondo wouldn’t sit still. So I improvised a diaper/bandage with gauze and lots of packing tape. It kept pressure on the wound and Pondo wasn’t bleeding anywhere or licking. He did have some trouble walking! I said to Rachel, “I hope this isn’t the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
We made it through the night with both dogs. I took off the diaper the next day but Pondo continued to bleed for several days.
Over the next 4 days we stayed at the house waiting for the dogs to heal enough to travel back to village. It was nice to be able to keep them out of the dirt and contained in a compound. Pondo spent most of his time sleeping, but took breaks to fight with Zion.
Finally we were able to travel back to Hella Kunda, and Pondo settled back into life with no problems.
He is healing nicely and we expect a full recovery from both dogs.

So this is how it's gonna be huh?

After I got home from Kombo my house was moldy from being closed up all week and raining. While preparing to bleach the heck out of my roof and walls I tapped the wall with my knuckle and put a hole in the wall.
Uh oh. This is not good.

Inside the small hole is a termite nest. The termites came pouring out, and I ran out to find reinforcements.
Jamboye came in and looked at my wall. “I will go get mud to make mortar and we will fill the hole.” Ok. Thanks, but we have to get them out first.
Jamboye came back with a small mound of dirt and crushed shells to make the mud cement. Then he started to excavate the wall to remove the termites.
He just kept removing and I watched in horror as more and more of my wall became dirt on my floor, filled with thousands of termites and their nest!
We filled three buckets with wall and termite.
Jamboye decided the nest was cleared out enough (we didn’t find the queen though) and moved on to the other spot on my wall that I had removed a termite brain from in the morning.
He cleared out another 3 foot section of wall, termites and nest.
The mud from earlier was clearly not enough to fix these holes, and until it got too dark to see Jamboye worked to fill in my wall with bricks and mud cement.
He finished the next morning, and left my house a muddy mess!
We haven’t done anything about the termites since then. I’m pretty sure they are in most parts of my back wall and the roof, but until rainy season is over we can’t do much work on the house.

Also, after every rain the mold grows so thick in some places it looks like snow- until it turns black.
My fences in the backyard blew over while I was gone, and have been destroyed by termites.
The roof leaks when it rains really hard. Good thing rainy season is pretty much over.
It’s been a month… that’s for sure!

Ramadan

The holy month of Ramadan started on Friday, August 21st at sundown. Until the next new moon Muslims will be fasting during the day. We get up every morning at 5 am and eat a quiet breakfast of beans, bread, leftover rice and tea. Breakfast stops when the morning prayer starts. Then everyone goes back to bed for three or four more hours.
The rest of the day passes pretty slowly. People are supposed to continue work as usual, but by 2:00 everyone is pretty tired. Not eating or drinking puts a strain on people. So the afternoon is usually spent napping, chatting and generally not moving. I’ve been reading a lot of books in my hut.
Every day or two the rains come, and I sit with Pondo and watch the rain fall. (My poor beans grew but got beat down by the heavy rain we had!)
Around 5:00pm the cooking starts. Delicious smells waft through the air, and I notice how hungry and thirsty I am.
Finally, at 7:20 it is time to break the fast! After the sundown prayer we break fast with tea, beans, rice, churro, and water.
Everyone will have another meal around 9:00, but I’m full for the rest of the day.
After dinner people stay up late and snack until 1 or 2 am! They’ll be up at 5:00 the next morning to start the again.

My Latest Project

I’d been having a really hard time being back in The Gambia after going to America in July. To make matters worse, all my friends seemed to be having a rough time too, and tensions were high.
All I wished for were the simple days of Gunnison or the fire crew, and Oreo Thursday. From my early days as a mascot through my time at the Sheriffs Dept. I’ve always wanted to make those around me happy. At Nederland and CSU it was the fans, and then my crews at work, not to mention all my friends, classmates and mentors!
That’s a lot harder to do here! Most of my contact with my friends is through text message, not face to face, or even on the phone.
My difficulties coupled with those of my friends and colleagues got me to thinking about what I can do here and now about it, with the resources I have.
I used to bring in Oreos every Thursday, to boost morale and share a delicious snack with my crew at the end of a hard week of work (Forester Friday!). My crew loved it so much that Oreo Thursday turned into Swiss Cake Roll Thursday, Ice Cream Thursday, and once, Guinness Thursday! Everyone chipped in and it made Thursdays a day to look forward to.
I continued the tradition with my new crew in Boulder the next summer. They loved it too, and joined in with muffins and other delicious snax! And it helped make our crew into a family, that shared and cared (awwww) about each other. They would brag to other crews about Oreo Thursday.
Which brings me to The Gambia… I can’t do Oreo Thursday. Everyone is spread out across the country, and Oreos are expensive! But I want to work to create that positive attitude and weekly uplift. So I came up with Oreo Thursday, Gambia Style. Every week I send out an inspirational, funny or uplifting quote to Peace Corps Volunteers as a reminder that they are appreciated and to keep up the good work.
So far the response has been favorable, and I’m excited to have found an outlet that I can support my new crew through! I think trying to find something to encourage Volunteers helps me as much as it could help them.
If you come across any hilarious, inspirational or just good quotes please e-mail them to me! You never know what will make a person’s day or week!