Field Trip!

I recently had the opportunity to explore at little more of the Gambia! The Gambia College, School of Public Health took the group of 3^rd year students on a research trip to Bwiam. Bwian is about 2 hours upcountry (East) of Brikama. This field trip was an opportunity for the students to take the concepts they have been learning in class and implement them in the field. I got to spearhead the project and designed a water and sanitation survey for the students to use for this service learning project.

First, let’s talk about getting there. Traveling outside of Brikama was a huge step for me and would be laughed at by many of the other PCVs in the Gambia. I typically only travel between my house in Youndum and the College (located just outside Brikama proper). So I rarely even go into Brikama. Despite the small size of this country, the poor road system makes any travel outside the major populated areas difficult. So, it’s not like driving from Davenport to Iowa City where you can drive 70 miles per hour and have no stops. That being said, the road from Brikama to Bwiam was a good stretch of road. The vehicle is another matter. Not that it was a bad vehicle, more the number of people we crammed in to it. I believe the bus was meant to hold about 36 people. We had 38 students. And 6 faculty. So, we ended up having students sitting on other student’s laps. Students also ended up standing next to the door, surely a safety violation of some sort. And one poor student had to sit on the engine. That gives hot seat a new meaning! Well, we eventually arrived in Bwiam, safe and sound, although I’m sure a few people were lucky to be able to feel their extremities.

 Our lodging for the weekend was a small campus belonging to the Gambia College, School of Nursing. There was a dormitory building with a “girl’s side” and a “boy’s side”. A set of classrooms and a kitchen. Mattresses were handed out, and we proceeded to our rooms. Turns out there weren’t enough rooms on the “boys side” and all the faculty (5 males and 1 female) had to take rooms on the “girl’s side”. I am putting these in quotes because none of the doors locked, the male faculty stayed on the girls side, and I frequently found several of the boys going back and forth between the boys side and girls side (something that made the camp counselor in me cringe), so that definition of girls vs. side didn’t really mean anything. But the students were on their best behavior and I really didn’t have to worry about any ‘field trip babies’ developing from the trip!

Sleep ended up being something to be just out of reach during this trip. As soon as we arrived, speakers were set up and loud music was pulsing through the campus. In fact, I’d be surprised if anyone within a 5 mile radius slept before 3 am on Friday and Saturday night. Considering we had to be up bright and early the next day to start our data collection...let’s just say it was a rough morning for me. By Sunday night, I was exhausted but that didn't mean I got any more sleep. I may have to enforce strict time limits on the loud music on the next field trip!

The data collection went really well. We drove out to some very small villages near the Senegalese border. Most of the villages had fewer than 15 households. They were lucky to have one water pump and a single latrine. I know that it is hard for many American’s to picture, but one village, maybe about 50 people, all sharing the same facility. And by facility, I mean hole in the ground. One village was lucky enough to have an improved pit latrine which meant that they had a nice porcelain insert in the floor and four walls. The other villages I visited mostly had cloth or sheet metal privacy screens around a cement slab. Not the most conducive to doing your business. The student’s took the data collection seriously and I look forward to seeing what the data analysis shows regarding the water and sanitation in that area.  

Busy as a Bee

Sorry for the delay in updating! It’s been a busy few weeks, and I am just now getting caught up with lectures and marking homework assignments. I was briefly back in the United States for a wedding, although I really spent most of my time in airports or on airplanes. It was amazing to celebrate with Katleen and Jimmy! I also got to catch up with my Peace Corps friend Derek and meet many new people who I have heard so much about over the years from Kat, so it was a wonderful, if exhausting trip! I was lucky enough to experience one of the few cold spells that the Southern United States occasionally gets. Which I was completely unprepared for since I did not bring any clothes with me to Africa that are appropriate for weather below 70 degrees. It made me all the more happy to return the sun and warmth of the Gambia!

Now I am back to preparing lectures, delivering lectures, marking homework, grading exams, and preparing more lectures. I am also starting to design the next field trip research proposal (for the second year students) and working on a road traffic injury study with one of my colleagues here. So when people ask what I do during my free time, my answer is what free time! I am going to start trying to carve out some time on the weekends to visit some of the closer places and some of my colleague’s home villages. A few of my students have volunteered to take me on day trips to various places, so that should be fun! I’ll try to do better with the updates!

On a side note, as a follow up to the earlier letter to the small rodent in my kitchen. He did not take my advice. The war escalated. I ended up putting out glue traps and was unfortunate enough to actually catch something. As it turns out, I can put out traps, but I cannot remove an occupied trap. I went to enter the kitchen and heard a noise near the refrigerator. Now, I tend to be a little jumpy at night, ever since that first encounter with a rodent. My own pony tail scared the bejesus out of me a few nights ago when a strand of hair unexpectedly blew in my face. So when I looked over to see a long tail coming from behind the refrigerator and saw the glue trap was now occupied, my natural reaction was to run back into the house and slam the door. I may have squealed. I know, not the most logical of reactions. It was not as if the rat would free itself from the trap and chase me, but logic was nowhere to be seen that evening. I tried to go back into the kitchen to assess the situation, but I heard it move and ran away again. So, onto plan B. Plan B was to stay away from the back courtyard until the occupant of the glue trap died. However long that was going to take. I would figure out later how to dispose of the body. The downside to plan B was that I have to go by the kitchen to get to the bathroom and the fact that the kitchen was now off-limits. So no food, drink, or bathroom until that rat expired. Seemed like a good plan at the time, but like I said, logic was long gone at this point. But then the rat started to cry. And that made me sad. I tried to block it out with loud music. I tried earplugs. I couldn't handle it. So I went next door and asked the neighbors for help. I am sure my neighbors think I am ridiculous. They followed me back to my house, laughing. I pointed them towards the kitchen and went and hid in my bedroom. Turns out I’m scared of rodents. Since the incident in the kitchen, I haven’t had any more visitors. But I put out another glue trap, just to be safe. With the knowledge that even if I do catch something, it won’t really help since I can’t actually do anything about it.