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.