Denano Part 1

After spending all day in Kanubeh in the Longest School Committee Meeting Ever where we created a teacher attendance policy among other lengthy processes, I caught a gelly back to HK feeling tired, but happy with the days accomplishments. It was early evening by the time I got home, and I accepted an invitation to attend an engagement party for my friend later that night.


Little did I know, I would never make it to the party (foreshadowing…).

In Keita Kunda it was business as usual, Chinese was away attending a funeral for a few days, and the kids were being rowdy.

Fatou cornered me and asked me if we could call her mom, so we trekked to up the hill. We didn’t reach her mom, and as we returned Fatou said her stomach had been hurting since 11:00 am that day, and she was worried.

I didn’t think too much of it- I figured we could head to the hospital in the morning if it didn’t get any better. I had estimated Fatous due date around late april or early may, so I was a little concerned about false labor, but since Fatou was up and about I didn’t get really worried.

After dinner I put on my nice complet to go to the party, but again Fatou asked me to make a call. This time I called Chinese because something was definitely not right. I told him we were going to the hospital in the morning if she wasn’t better.

By the time I got back from making the call, a neighbor woman had come by. Fatou had to go to the hospital in Basse. Now.

This was turning into a serious deal. We went out to find a car to take her, and picked up the Traditional Birthing Attendant (TBA) on the way.

Around 9:00 we put Fatou in the back of the car (a blue 4 door of unknown make/model) flanked by me and the TBA, the driver and some guy (along for the ride/as a friend for the driver?)

We started off, Basse was 20 k away (12 miles). Fatou was not doing well, and clearly in a lot of pain. She grabbed my shoulder and was moaning and groaning. I was of little use, just taking up space in the car, really. About 3 k down the road we stopped and put a piece of plastic on the back seat to sit on. Apparently this could get messy.

It did quickly. As we continued, the situation escalated quickly. There was pain, and groaning, and then a whoosh, with fluid, and more fluid, and then,

WAH!

OhMiGoshThere’sABabyInTheCar!

So we pulled over.

And Fatou gave birth on the side of the road, 6 k out of HK, at around 9:30 pm.

We got her and the baby situated and continued to Basse, stopping on the way to the hospital to get gas. (We weren’t in much of a haste now.)

The hospital was a terrible, terrible place. To say I was disappointed and appalled would be an understatement. We were hassled at the gate by the watchmen who didn’t want to allow us to drive in. (Hello, we have a woman in the process of giving birth here!)

We pull up to the clinic door and help Fatou walk in.

The nurses at the nursing station give us balnk looks. ‘Saalaam a leekum’

They return a lackluster ‘Maaleekum saalaam’ and that’s it.

I walked up to the window, ‘Hi, my host just gave birth.’ (As if they couldn’t see that.)

Finally they responded with some life and asked if she had birthed the placenta.

(Answer: no.)

The TBA (who was great through this whole process and very capable and kind) brought Fatou to the back to a birthing table (?) covered in dust of course…

One of the nurses (Nurse 1) threw what looked to me like a tarp over the table and essentially told Fatou to hop up. No offer of assistance whatsoever. (Fatou being the amazing woman that she is was able to get up.)

Then, this is probably my favorite part of the Terrible Hospital Experience, the nurses told me to go buy soap and a razor blade from the shop around the corner. We had to buy our own razor blade to cut the umbilical cord. And our own soap for Fatou to wash. From the shop around the corner that also sells bread and cigarettes.

I was furious, but apparently this is standard procedure.

We got all the ‘medical supplies’ and the nurse cut the cord and weighed the baby: 3.1 kg or 6.2 lbs, girl, apgar score 9/10.

And then we left.

We stopped by a street vendor stall and bought a bunch of meat for Fatou (iron replacement and protein) and were back in Hella Kunda by 10:30.

Wait a minute, I've done this before!

I keep doing Work. It’s amazing! The Monday we got back from trek, the URR Forestry Dept. had a QUARTERLY PLANNING MEETING!! (I hate all caps, but this was amazing and I’m so excited about it that I had to emphasize it.)

The Regional Forestry Head (RFH) is new in Basse, and wants to work on Community Forests and the other forestry directives.  The URR also got about 8 brand new forest scouts out of the forestry school.  These guys are young and excited about being foresters. 

Monday morning the RFH just decided to have a planning meeting. The quarter was already half over, but better late from never.  With the two area heads (Kemo and Sisawo) we reviewed the Community Forest procedures.  Each of the scouts made a plan for their area and presented it to the group.  It was great!

I think this is a great opportunity to guide the URR Forestry department through the implementation of the national forestry plan.  The plan is large and can be complex. It’s very difficult to take sweeping directives and turn them into day-to-day actions.  We’ll be taking the big picture ideas in the quarterly plans, and breaking it down by months and weeks into specific tasks to complete. 

I’m really excited because there is so much potential for the URR Forestry Department to be the best department in The Gambia.

Up Country Trekking

The whole time I’ve been here there’s been a rumor of  a forestry worker in the town 3k from me. 

I finally met that man when Chinese and I sold Fatou’s groundnuts in December.  Kemo Kinteh is the community forester in Bakadaji.  He’s been working in the area for the last three years, but we’ve never crossed paths.

When my schedule cleared up in February I got the opportunity to go on trek with a team from Forestry doing the national forestry assessment. The inventory is a legitimate study, with quantifiable results and gathers useful information about the natural resources and the human interactions of the country. The inventory team is made up of experienced foresters and natural resource specialists, and a driver; 5 men in all, including Kemo.  (and a few other foresters we picked up on the way)

It was a great experience. I got to visit the extreme east end of the country- Fatoto and Wuli district, east of Basse. I had never been there before and we crisscrossed the Gambia (admittedly only 20 k or so wide…) staying in villages every night with different families.

Every village we went to was amazingly kind and generous. They loved that I can speak Mandinka. If I had had this experience a year ago it would have been overwhelming and not very fun, but now that I can speak with people and understand the culture somewhat, it was fun and only a little overwhelming.  I spent two nights in Ceesay Kunda with a 16 year old in a bed, and the mom and 4 kids on the floor. Nene, the 16 year old, braided my hair after we got back from the field.  The forestry guys loved my new style. 

We stayed in a Fula village with electricity that had never had a white person visit.  (Too bad I don’t speak Fula)

During the mornings we headed out to the bush were our pre-determined points. The National Forest Inventory set out survey plots every 9 km across the entire country. Using a GPS receiver we locate the points and conduct a series of surveys, including tree species along a tract and land use and land cover changes.  (Hooray! Science! Quantifiable data! Meaningful results!) We also conducted household surveys within a 1km radius of the plot center.

We spent an entire afternoon trying to figure out if one of the plots was in Senegal or The Gambia. Turns out it was almost entirely in Senegal.

We picked up my friend Julia in Fatoto and she came on trek with us for a few days.

The team completed 5 plots over about 7 days and returned to Basse to complete paperwork and tie up lose ends.   

Which leads into the next story…

BLT's In Basse! What, What!!

For a VSN (Volunteer Support Network) Event I hosted BLT’s in Basse on Feb 13th.

How did I get bacon in a very muslim country you ask!?

Tex and Chief came through for me with 2 packages of precooked delicious bacon.

Tomatoes and salad are locally available. There was even avocado! WOW! What a day.

We met up and ate BLT’s and were happy as clams.

Learning People How To Do Skillz

PCV Travis lives in Sare Sofi, a Fula village about 40 k from me in the CRR. His village people expressed interest in beekeeping, so he asked me to come teach some men how to weave grass hives.

I biked over in the morning and met with his main counterpart. PCV Amber came over to help and provide some moral support.

We had 5 men come for the training and all of them managed to weave a sizable portion of hive by the end of the day.

It was fun to do Work, and my language skills are high enough that I could explain what to do, with only a few clarifications in English with the help of a man translating.

The men were all very motivated to make hives and keep bees. They promised to finish the hives and asked if I would come back to help them hang the hives in the bush.