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.

Get Excited to Visit Marnie!

For months Pabby has been asking to go visit PCV Marnie (Mahana) at her site in Bantanto.  Every time I come back from being gone or using my mobile, Pabby askes where Mahana is, and if she’s ok and when he’ll see her next.  They are clearly besties. Pabby is only three, but he’s my little buddy and Marnie and I thought it would be a great adventure to bring Pabby to her site for one night. Chinese and Fatou were agreeable, so we set a date.

We packed up and waited by the road for a car.

A man who works for a major road construction company picked us up.  We had a great time talking. He was from the UK and has spent several decades working around the world on construction projects (Hooray multicultural interaction!). Pabby fell asleep in the car for the hour ride.

Bill (the Brit) dropped us in Bantanto and Marnie was there to ecstatically greet us.  We got some juice and headed for the compound.

Soon after arrival things started to go downhill.

Pabby was not overjoyed to see Marnie. Instead, he wanted to go home. Oh brother.  We tried to put him down for a nap, but as soon as we left the hut, he made a beeline for the road.  A small girl came in and was like ‘That boy just left.’

‘What! Where?’

‘Down the road.’

Shoot. ‘Pabby! Come back! Where are you going!?’

Then he started to cry.

Marnie’s host brother tried to play with him and amuse him, but nothing worked. Pabby wanted to go home.  

He finally took a nap, but after he woke up and ate some lunch he started crying again.

Marnie and I decided that this was not fun, so I took him home.  The second I said ‘ok, we’re going home’ Pabby was fine.

I dropped him off at home and went back to Marnies.

We decided that’s the last time we trust a 3 year old. 

WrestleMania 2010

Here’s the story- villages hold tournaments for 3-5 consecutive nights. On the first night all the wrestlers arrive and there’s lots of drumming and wrestling, starting around midnight and it lasts until 3 or 4. It’s neat when you would rather sleep that watch, but whatever.

The second night (the night I attended) started around 6 pm, when it was starting to get dark (hence the low light pics…). We (Chinese and I) walked to Sare Sonkule with the hundreds of other people headed to the festivities. There were many, many teenage girls there to check out the strapping young wrestlers. Carloads, bike loads and donkey cart loads of people streamed passed us, eager to see the entire match.

The wrestling pit/arena/field is a giant dirt field. The wrestlers and drummers stand in the middle, with the various hangers on bustling about. The men do various kicks and jogs and stretches to warm up before a match. The uniform seems to be a variation of spandex (leotard, womens swimming suit, etc.) in the gaudiest pattern possible, (with or without shirt), spandex shorts and a strange skirt/apron thing made from local fabric that is adorned with tassels and puff balls. It ties in the front but is open, so it’s not really a skirt. Most of the men wrestled barefooted.

I didn’t really understand how the rules work, but 2 guys pair up, and wrestle until one wins. I’m not really sure how winning happens. I thought it was when one guy was pinned, but that didn’t really seem to be the case. Anyway, when a guy wins he takes a lap around the arena followed by a group of drummers. (There is constant drumming) He struts and dances and the people cheer as he goes by, and sometimes give him money or chewing gum.

This is repeated until somehow, someone is the ultimate champion for the night.

When it gets too dark to see, two bonfires are lit at either end of the field. It’s sweet to see the wrestlers silhouetted against the fire. (Pictures don’t turn out too well though) The wrestlers travel the country and Senegal going to different events for the two months of the season. As much fun as I had the first night, I decided not to go the second night.

Also: I posted a video on YouTube of the wrestling.

Making a Duck Pond

First of all, let me clear up a confusing issue. I know any ornithologist reading my blog have cringed every time I wrote the word ‘duck.’
It seems that my feathered friends are not ducks. They are geese. (Do geese see God? One may ask.)
According to the Gambia bird book, and other knowledgeable sources, the ducks are really geese. Nevertheless, they are tasty and like water.
Ever since I brought my three duck/geese (Henceforth referred to as ducks, or burro in Mandinka, even though yes, they are geese.) back to Hella Kunda they have been sadly with out a place to ‘take bath.’ I finally bought 2 bags of cement to make a duck pond with, and Chinese and I constructed a very fine pond for the ducks.
From tracing the pattern to actually digging out the pool and laying the concrete, I think it expanded about 3 or 4 inches on all sides from the original shape. It ended up about 1.2 m² and 1 foot deep.
Let me just tell you, that is a big pond when you are filling it bucket by bucket from a pump 3 compounds over.
I contracted an army of small boys, aka the Peace Corps Football team to fill the pond for a 100 dalasi contribution to their fund. (Peace Corps is the name chosen by the boys because I am helping sponsor the team. The boys all contribute 5 dalasis a week, and I match the funds once a month. They’ve been through 1 football so far, and bought another one with the funds they raised. Next they want to buy football jerseys with numbers. I’m trying to help them fundraise for that.) They boys hauled approx. 600 liters of water to fill the pond. It’s actually almost a swimming pool.
And the ducks really like it. Chinese and I also built a fence around it to keep various donkeys and goats from drinking from it. We also wanted to contain the ducks, but they don’t stay w/in the fence.
Right now there are 9 ducks, but I want to eat some soon…