set setal

This morning I'm sitting at home, observing "set setal," the day set aside once a month for cleaning your home and surrounding area. (I think it literally translates as "clean" and "clean around.") Lovely concept, in theory, but it's also a nationwide curfew from 9am to 1pm on the fourth Saturday of the month where businesses are forced to close and no one is allowed on the streets. No, today's not the last Saturday, but in March set setal was canceled late Friday night, then rescheduled for last week, then canceled again. If you're interested in local opinions on set setal, check out some commentary from November in our Foroyaa (Freedom) newspaper.

Sitting at home is rarely where I find myself, though. Besides winding up on the evening news (yes, the dancing white girl is now stock footage, see last week's post), this week I went to a naming ceremony after work at my colleague's family compound in Brikama (above). This is a picture of the beautiful mother (daughter of my colleague), and the social evening in the compound with the baby being passed around. She was only a few weeks old, but was made up with darkened eyebrows, some eyeshadow and light lipstick. It was easy to get lost looking at her and imaging her and her life and future as a Gambian woman.

Family compounds are the norm both in the village and the city. High walls surround a complex of cement block or mud structures grouped around an open-air central meeting area. Peace Corps volunteers live with families in their compound, usually in a structure (1 or 2-room home) of their own.

On Thursday I went on a trek to visit our training villages (language and cultural immersion program during first weeks of volunteer training), schools, and training sites as well as three volunteer sites in the field. Though all were reachable in a day, it gave me a good taste of the volunteers' daily lives and routine.

We visited an education volunteer, environment volunteer and health volunteer (our three sectors in The Gambia post). Though each site and volunteer was different, they each shared the same humble attitude about the work they were accomplishing. Though it felt small to them, it was clear they were changing lives.


"Fanta's Book Club" is a good example. With adult literacy under 40%, it was amazing to see the school library alive with students reading and writing book reports, competing for certificates, typing and printing out their finished reports in the school's solar-powered computer lab, and proudly posting them on the wall, complete with detailed illustrations.

Fanta's Book Club

Here's a quick video to show a typical school-ground. This particular school is the place where volunteers get their technical training prior to going to their permanent site.

Well, now it's evening and I've come back to finish up this blog entry and get it posted! Just returned from a successful trip to Serrekunda market with friend, Fatou. She helped me navigate the fabric stalls and took me to her tailor. It's time to move beyond the 4 outfits in my suitcase and accept that my air shipment is indefinitely delayed.

Just one last note and photo from the evening in Brikama. By the end of the night I had a 5-yr-old boy who was just enamored with me for some reason (not just my blinding whiteness, cuz there were a few of us) and wanted to hold both my hands forever... we were all smiles since I don't have many words in Mandinka yet (his language), only Wolof, but what a charmer he was. :)

 Jama rek

(peace only)