"The Gambia is on it's way to becoming the Silicon Valley of Africa."

That was a quote from a t-shirt I saw in village...

Wow! I've been in country for over three months already. Time flies by so quickly! Things are going SO WELL at my site. I'm loving the area- it's beautiful and the people are very friendly. My main job right now is to meet people and just get myself out there in village, so I usually walk around every day just sitting, chatting, and cracking peanuts with different families. I have cracked more peanuts in the past 3 weeks than you could ever imagine. I actually had to stop one day because my thumb became raw. But I've been making some friends and hanging out with my host family.

My host mother, Faatumatu is 7-8 months pregnant, so she's going to have a baby real soon! I'm SO excited for that- to have a newborn around. But she is still working so hard- women- oh man, they work hard! I taught the little kids in my compound how to make those paper fortune tellers, I thought, what a great idea, we can draw pictures in them and they are made of paper, so if they break, no prob...well, they were a BAD IDEA. I've had hundreds of kids wanting me to make them for them, and when the one's I've made rip, the kids are in tears. Maybe I'll just go back to thumb wrestling, after I regain feeling in my thumb from cracking peanuts that is ;)

The women's garden is going really well thus far! When I first got back to village, I informed the women's group that the funds were in the account and the fencing materials are on their way so we could start clearing the field. The next day, over a hundred women came out and the day after that, 150. We cleared 3.5 hectares of land in 2 days- amazing! I thought it would take weeks! The next week, everyone- men and women came out to build the fence, right now, it is almost finished, and this Thursday, we will complete it. Things always come up though- the fence was supposed to be finished last Thursday, but some babies were born and I think there were some funerals as well. Apparently, the well design that was originally decided upon is unreliable, so right now, we are looking into alternative options. I'm sure that will all work out in time. Domanding domanding- slowly slowly!

This weekend, I went camping on a beach in an area called Kartong. Delicious food, good company, swimming in the ocean, and sleeping in the sand. What else could I possibly ask for?! Life is good. Well, back to village tomorrow morning! I'll continue to write!

Take care!

P.S. I got a few emails/letters asking me if I got my head shaved...they just symbolically pretended to shave our heads at the naming ceremony, but I've been thinking about it! Having my head shaved would probably be nice in the hot season...hmm...Sorry to freak you out Grandma Rudick :)

P.P.S Here is a video from our swear-in ceremony! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3-dVJoAgkQ&feature=related

Pictures from Training village to Swear in!

These pictures go from most to least recent:
Annie and I.

Training staff

Kaiaf Village trainees/ PC family- best group EVER! Lyn, Me, Dave, and Jessi

The new environment volunteers.

My backyard - notice the amazing papayas and tree nursery! Not to mention the african mahogany pull-up bar ;) My new home at my permanent site and a goat.

Naming ceremony in Kaiaf village- my new name is "Habsa". This is a village elder "shaving" my head- traditionally done to a new baby when they are named.

Pounding rice to remove the shell casing.

Some of my host sisters

My Kaiaf host father- Bunja Koli and the ram we slaughtered for Tobaski.

River Gambia- Janjanbureh Island

River Gambia at Janjanbureh Island for our Environment technical field trip.

Alkaalo induction- all the women are wearing the same fabric- called a Sobe.

At the ceremony to induct a new alkaalo- village chief. Dave, Lyn, Scott, and I.

Some of my host siblings and I in training village- Sanne, Merro, and Omar.

A donkey ate my homework!

So I have extended my stay in the Kombo district (city along the coast) by a few days to work out some logistics for a grant that the women's group is receiving in my village. Two of Jali's villagers came in to do some banking and to purchase fencing materials for the 3.5 hectare garden. Hopefully everything will go smoothly and we'll be back upcountry by Tuesday!

So I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite Mandinka words and proverbs:

Yiri kuuto sii mee baa kono nonwonang a te kela noo bamboo ti.
A tree truck in the water will never be a crocodile.

Hooji koto hooji hoojita le bang?
How about our previous, secret arrangement?

Suumoolu lee? - How are the home people?
A be jang dorong - They are there only

Fo naato - Until later...

naamato - crazy person

ninkinanko - dragon - maybe not too useful, but a good icebreaker for the kids, Where is your dragon?

M niinata/ M ninaata - I am beautiful / I forget - It took me a while to learn that I was calling myself beautiful when I forgot someone's name...

fooleesuwo - bicycle or literally rubber horse

luumo- weekly market

silifando - gift from a traveller

kolyatta - difficult or expensive

This time of year, apparently until February, is the "cold season" in the Gam. It is probably about 70 degrees at night and in the early mornings, but if you only saw a picture of the villagers and their attire, you would think we were somewhere in Alaska. Knitted snow caps, blankets, wool sweaters, and even an occasional snow suit can be seen throughout the village. Don't ask me how they got them...

It's official!

Today we sworn in at the ambassador's house as official volunteers- it was very exciting and humbling. All our language and culture teacher's were AMAZING! On Friday, we head off to our PERMANENT SITES! WOW! Thank you SO MUCH to EVERYONE who send me letters and care packages. I can't put into words how grateful I am to have so much love and support from around the world (including Azerbaijan, Brazil, Iraq, and America- WOW!) Andrea, Nana, Rebecca M, Uncle Tom and Aunt Jose (best care package EVER!!), Alyssa, The Kowalskis, The McFeeleys, Chris, Asher, The NY Mullens, Annie, Kelsey, Emily, Katie Martucci, and Otto- 4 letters from the dog and none from my own parents- I'm so lucky to have such a thoughtful little brother ;) I hope my letters have made it your way, though, I'm sure most are still on their way- slowly slowly!

I don't know how I could possibly sum up the past 10 weeks - I have learned so much and grown emmensly. The Peace Corps has been an amazing experience thus far and I am excited for the challenges to come. Each morning, I begin the day with the sound of the call to prayer over the mosques loudspeaker. I admire people's dedicate to the Muslim religion. It is very peaceful, though, in America, we usually only hear of Islamic radicals- they give Muslims a bad name. There are 5 prayers throughout the day (at sunrise, 2pm, 5pm, dusck, and 1 hr past dusk).

For the past 10 wks, I've been staying in Kaiaf village for my Mandinka language training. We got to experience Tobaski- the biggest Muslim holiday where my host father and brothers killed a ram and we ate it- every piece of it (mmm...intestines and ram brains...). My host father had 2 wives and 11 kids. The kids were so cute and made games out of nothing at all. They played "jump over the stick" and the little girls wrapped up their flip flops in cloth and pretended they were babydolls. I made them a car with my toilet paper cylindars- they seemed to enjoy that!

I left Kaiaf feeling confident to take on my permanent site...a village called Jali about 27km off the south bank road in Gambia's Lower River Region. But then I arrived for a 4 day long site visit and realized I know too little Mandinka to have any sort of productive conversation- but I can greet people really well! "How are the home people?" "They are there only" But I have 2 years to become good at Mandinka! In Jali, I am replacing a volunteer who has done alot of amazing things in the area This is a bit intimidating, but I am very lucky to be going to a place which has had such a great experience w/ Peace Corps; not to mention a ton of mango, pigeon pea, and papaya trees! The women's group from Jali just secured funds to build a community garden which I am really excited to see through. I am also wanting to get into beekeeping, tree grafting, woodlots, and drying mangos- since the mango season produces so many fruits in such a short amount of time. I'm not sure what the 2 years has to come, but bring it on!

Village life has made me appreciate all of life's conveniences for us. Getting water from a well or handpump and carrying it home on my head to bathe, drink, do laundry, and water the garden made me realize how important accessibility to water really is. The women work long hours in the rice fields and then pound the rice by hand to get each grain out of it's shell. It's all in a day's work. Everyday life is challenging, but even though I initially felt sorry, I soon realized that people are happy- they do what they need to do to support themselves and their families and make the most of it in the process. Isn't that what we're all looking to do? Life may be very different here, but love, compassion, generosity, humor, and friendship cross all cultural barriers.

I am about to embark on the "3-month challenge". They encourage us to stay in village for the first 3 months to integrate and get good at language. It will be really hard to have no other english speakers around or an american to relate with, but this is what I came here for- to learn about the Gambia and Gambian people. I will probably not have internet for 3 months, so the only mode of communication will be letters!

Thank you again for all your love and support! Wish me luck in my 3 month challenge!

Off to Kaiaf...

Hello! I just typed something really long about what I have been doing and then earased it...so hope I can remember everything. First of all, I am doing great in The Gambia- safe and healthy- learning so much and trying to take it all in.

We are all leaving for our training villages tomorrow morning, therefore, I will have no internet access until early January so please write if you can :) Also, if you have a cheap calling card or skype, try calling my gambian cell phone #706 0750 from a US phone try 01122070600750 or 0012207060750. If you are going to send anything for the holidays, food items are great like koolaid packets, granola bars, protein anything, and mac and cheese!! Though a letter means more to me than anything else.

We have been learning about the culture intensely. Everyday we have language classes and learn about traditional customs. Today we learned about ceremonies like the naming ceremony which we will all participate in next week when we get Gambian names! There are also circumcision ceremonies for both men and women. Unfortunately, female genital mutilation is still a common practice throughout The Gambia.

Some other things we have learned about was how to eat with out hands from the food bowl, how to use a squat toilet (no prob), and using local brooms and household items. I am really looking forward to arriving in KAIAF- my training village. I will be there with 3 other volunteers but we will be in different compounds. There, we will learn technical, language, and culture skills before being sent to our 2 -year posts!

One of our sessions was on the history of the country which was great to learn about. African history is very deep and goes through many ups and downs. I wish I could write more about it, but if you have time to look it up, please do so. Our teacher was telling us about the economic situation- EVERYTHING is imported...even though peanuts/peanut oil is so plentiful, there is no infrastructure to turn the raw material into sellable goods. Frustrating. I have so much to learn and my mind is racing with all the projects I could work on for 2 years. I'm sure I'll come up with a ton more sitting in my village hut for the next 10 weeks as well.

Anyways, keep in touch, love and miss you all. Write or call if you can.
Happy Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years!

Love,
Maggie

Salaamaaleekum

Hello all! Greetings from Kombo, The Gambia. We have been in country for 5 days now and have started our intensive language and cultural training. We've visited a reptile park, the beach- BEAUTIFUL ps, and done only a little wandering-I'll be looking forward to more of that and chatting with people!
On friday, we all move to training villages- mine is called Kaifa and I will be learning Mandinka. The language is going okay, challenging, but I have great teachers!
Write me if you can, at my address. I'll get back to you- slowly :) Thank you to The Millars- my first letter was from you! Very exciting!
Fo naata- see you later!

Leaving tomorrow!

Hello! As I am finishing up all those last minute things- packing, making phone calls, and downloading everything I can onto my ipod...just wanted to thank EVERYONE for there support and calls the past few weeks! I am so excited to arrive in The Gambia and to live there for 27 months.

Tomorrow, we all meet in Philly (woohoo!) before departing from Newark, NJ on the 5th. I look forward to meeting other like minded individuals and beginning my training as soon as we get to Banjul.

Email or write me whenever you can- I will try to keep in touch as well :)

Love and miss you all already!