Harvest time in Jali.

Modeling my Halloween costume for the kids! Hilarious!

Ousman being cute.

Roasting marshmallows! The kids LOVED them!

My namesake, Habie Kuyateh, the women's group president, Daranding (Iya for short) Drammeh, and Halimatou taking a break from harvesting rice.

Fatoumata didn't take a break all day despite working in the hot sun for 8 hours. I told her my skin was not as strong as hers, I'm beat after 5!

Harvesting rice.

Ousman and I

Lisa came to visit for the weekend- drinking juice and making collages.

Thanks for the care package! The kids pretend they're cars.

Relaxing with the family after a long day in the rice field.

Buba and Alaigie after going to the pump to get bath water.

My halloween costume, thank goodness I found a life-sized picture of Bill Clinton's head!

Boat Cruise on the coast.

Halloween boat trip, swimming in the ocean.

Sept: Fasting, Lobster Skewers, and Brake-less Busses in Dakar

As my host family waited for the moon to appear on the eve of August 21st, the Islamic holiday to mark the month of fasting, I nervously remembered that I told them that I would try fasting with them for the first week. This entails: waking up at 5am to eat porridge and drink tea...going back to sleep until 9am, doing low-energy labor until 3pm, avoiding grumpy, tired, hungry, dehydrated people until 7:25pm, and then eating more porridge tea and possibly bread. Welcome to Ramadan.

The only thing that kept me sane during this time was knowing that I was going on vacation to Ghana half way through Ramadan! We were held up a bit in Senegal waiting for our visa's to process, but we made the most of it, wandering around the HUGE city of Dakar (population about that of Gambia!) We ate Lebanese, Ethiopian, the Chinese food and gave eachother "trip names". We were now Pierre (James), Juanita (Tavi), RJ (Alex), Trinket (Annie), and Ezmerelda (Maggie).

Landing in Accra, Ghana was so exciting- despite the terrible jet-lag (that's for you mom...) we headed right to the beach- of course! The water was COLD and refreshing, I forgot what cold felt like! RJ and I went immediately into the water; diving through waves and body surfing; it was picturesque. Then we started noticing lots of trash floating in the water, RJ found a diaper. But we had the whole beach to ourselves- heavenly. Afterwards, we are informed that no one swims in that water because it is full of raw sewage. We lucked out: no E. Coli or unidentified skin infections.

Ghana is just at a different "development" level than The Gambia. There were overpasses, sidewalks, recycling bins, tourism, and locally made products like chocolate and liquid soap (I was just very impressed by the soap...) The street food was out of this world: fried plaintains, yogurt, donuts, eggs, beans, oh man. Thinking about it now makes me miss "Red-Red"-plaintains with beans and a little bit of oil. Oh yes, and they had various meats on skewers- beef, octopus, lobster, sausage. We went from protein deficient to protein overload in the matter of two days.

From Accra, we visited Hohoe- SO SO SO beautiful- we walked to Wli Falls and swam under the tallest waterfall in Ghana. The mist off the falls combined with the wind pierced our skin. It was a crazy feeling. We also hiked up the tallest free-standing mountain in Ghana, Mount Afadjato, - which was a harder one-hour hike than most of us thought it would be! We met some Ghana Peace Corps Volunteers and drank dark beer in Hohoe for a few days before heading northwest to Kumasi- one of the largest markets in West Africa. We bought pretty batik/tie-dyed fabric and beads! We went on a day-trip from Kumasi to Lake Bosomtwi, a sacred lake in Asante country. It was serene, quiet, and peaceful- perfect after a few days dodging traffic through the market.

From Kumasi, we headed south to the beach and stayed in Heaven. Well, if heaven was on earth, it might be in Butre beach. Beautiful, CLEAN, refreshing, quiet beach away from everything. About every ten minutes, one of us would say something like, "can you believe we are just sitting here on this amazing beach?!" or "I'm transferring my Peace Corps site to this hammock..." It was hard to leave Butre Beach, but we did get to Cape Coast for a day- thank you Uncle Sam and Mama Vic for letting us stay at your beautiful home for our last night in Ghana! When I go back to Ghana, I would love to spend more time in Cape Coast, home to the large slave house, which was a sombering experience. The town was rustic and energetic and since it's right on the beach, seafood galore!

Gambia could learn alot from Ghana's first president Kwame Nkrumah. In 1960, he made education and healthcare a priority and free for everyone. That has given them such a strong framework to success now. Obama recently visited Ghana, his first trip to Africa as president, which Ghanains were very proud of. There were just as many American flags and pictures of Obama as were Ghanain flags and pictures of their current president Mills. I felt particularly proud to be American while in Ghana.

We ALL forgot our cameras except for the wonderful Pierre and Juanita, so check out their blog at http://peacefultravelsoftaviandjames.blogspot.com for more details on our trip and to see some pictures!

The past few months...

Tijan, my agriculture counterpart and a farmer as we intercrop cashews in the weeds and peanuts.

Marathon March- since I live in the Kiang region, I got to go with the new trainees on a 14 mile/23 km hike through mangroves, rice fields, and some of the few hills in the Gambia. This was just at the beginning.

The new Education Volunteers on a boat trip along the River Gambia.

Ousman coming in my house. He hasn't peed in my house in months!

Binki and the kids as we fill in the stagnant water in front of our compound.

I just love this picture, too bad my foot is in there...

Naming Ceremony in Kuli Kunda village. The village elder just gave Ousmalia his name.

Stuck in the mud. This looks alot more promising than previous stuck in the mud experiences I've had thus far...

My friend Jessi and I at Obama-Rama open mic on 4th of July.

Women dancing in the rain in the garden.

The UNDP people came to check out the women's garden they had funded. Dancing and singing in the POURING rain!

Ousman and Halimatou.

Heading to the rice fields.

Women plowing the group rice field.

Running race around the mosque.

The kids who hang around my compound all day.

Impromptu garden meeting around the well.

Daranding Drammeh, weeding in the women's garden. It's amazing how GREEN it got after months of dust....

Ousman in my hat. He's so cute!

Coming back home, Halimatou on my back and Ousman in the background.

Mmm...coos with leaf sauce...Bon Appetit

Jarra Sameteh - my counterpart's daughter playing in the dirt

Just a glimpse...

Beach at Brufut- What a GREAT 4th of July!

Tesito - building a dike around the women's rice fields

Well construction in the women's garden.

I just got a new camera, so will be able to take more pictures for next month!

Happy Independence Day!

Hope you are all enjoying the summer festivities; BBQs, fireworks, lightning bugs, watermelon, and being around friends and family! We had a party of our own this afternoon with American food and a baby pool at our boss' home. It was so nice to still get to celebrate the 4th despite being an ocean away!

The past few days, we've had an All-Volunteer conference where we were able to share project ideas, new PC administration rules, and talk about our experiences thus far as PC volunteers in the Gambia.

One initiative that we, as a whole, are working on is a Malaria Bed-Net Campaign. While I was living in the city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, I remember being frustrated at mosquito net distribution efforts because (a) they distributed them in the city, where people have more access to resources and disposible income, (b) they would distribute them with no education, and (c) donors thought that if everyone had a mosquito net, malaria wouldn't exist. This was very frustrating.

Now, I am living in a rural area of West Africa where people cannot afford bednets, they can't even buy them within a 5 hour radius. Although people are aware of malaria and the risks involved to some extent, more education is definetly needed. Medical services are scarce in rural areas and local medicines can only go so far in prevention and treatment of Malaria.

I'm not a big fan of fundraising and asking people for money, but supporting bed net distribution and sensitization is something that you can help with from home. Against Malaria is working with current and past PCVs in The Gambia to, hopefully, bring a whole container of low-cost, insecticide treated nets here for distribution. We will be helping with education and sensitization along with the distribution of nets. Also, a generous donor has agreed to match our donations dollar for dollar. Each net costs less than $5, so with the match, $5 can buy 2 nets. Epidemiological studies have suggested that for every 20 bednets used 1 life is saved.

You can donate at http://www.AgainstMalaria.com/maggierudick . Thanks for your help!

The Beekeeper, The Fisherman, and the PCV

After a long day of Tesito, I walked back to the tree where I rested my bike. I was exhausted, it was the heat of the afternoon, and the only things on my mind were taking a bucket bath and wondering what mystery sauce would be on my rice for lunch. As I was about to take off, I saw Janga, the village beekeeper, and Amadou, one of the fishermen. They were also helping at tesito.

Janga had a flat tire. Frustrating. I decided to stop go over and help him and Amadou fix it. Amadou is really good at fixing things, I had a bike patch kit, and Janga had a pump. Between the three of us, we fixed the flat tire fairly quickly. Without each of us, Janga would have had to walk his bike home. I had to chuckle; things always just seem to work out perfectly, don't they?

We all begin down the path from the rice fields to the village. Maybe a kilometer into the trek, Amadou's chain breaks. Again, the three of us stop and are able to fix it together. We laugh again, and back on the path.

About half way through the 8 km bike ride, I was ahead of Amadou and Janga (mostly because my bicycle has breaks and pedals, unlike most of the men's bikes in my village) and must have hit one too many rocks, and POW...flat tire... Are you kidding me?! I'm hungry, thirsty, dirty, and tired...thankfully, I knew Amadou and Janga were shortly behind me. Amadou makes some sort of comment how the three of us together is just bad luck. I felt very differently. They were able to help me, and we all made it back to village for lunch- 1 hour, a chain link, and 2 bike patches later.

Yeah, I suppose it looks like bad luck- all 3 of us with bike problems; what are the chances of that? But really, I think we had the best luck of all. We were all able to help each other. Without myself, Amadou, and Janga, we would have all been stuck and had to walk home.

You never know when you're going to be in a bind and chances are, there will be someone to help you out. Let's keep this thing going...There are so many things we can do in the states which might inconvenience us SLIGHTLY, but can make someones day- stop and help someone fix their flat tire, help your neighbors carry in their groceries, invite an elderly neighbor over for dinner. The possibilities are endless!

Tesito

Thank you to EVERYONE who has sent me care packages and letters. I really can't thank you all enough for your love and support. Happy 4th of July- I'm sad not to get to see FIREWORKS, but we had a BBQ this afternoon. Have fun at the community day canoe races in Perkasie :)

After In-Service Training, I returned to site extremely motivated and ready to get dirty working! That week, everyone asked me if I was going to Tesito. I had no idea what tesito was, except that it involved work in the rice fields. So I hopped on my bike on tesito day and rode 8km to the rice fields. I learned that tesito means everyone coming together to work for a common cause. Hundreds of men and women, young and old were busy shoveling dirt into bowls and building a dike with the dirt. It's a looong, tedious process; but a dike kilometers long was built! It's amazing how much work can be accomplished when everyone works together. Many hands makes light work.

The dike construction in my village got me thinking about how this kind of approach could be used in America as well. (No, I'm not a socialist...) If there was a park that needed to be cleaned, or a road that needed repair, what if everyone from that area just cleaned it, fixed it, and been done with it. What if we all planted two trees a year? When everyone can commit to a cause, the work is easy! Now, the women have expanded their rice fields and are planting 120 hectares of rice! With food security being such a big concern in The Gambia, people are trying more than ever to promote OPERATION: FEED YOURSELF. This country has the land to produce enough food to not have to rely on imports, if resources are used correctly!

The community garden is READY and the women are outplanting their vegetable seedlings this weekend! Can't wait to get some pictures to show you all- I know alot of people have been asking about this! The rice and garden initiatives will surely help food security in Jali!