bey ci kanam, Gambia!

Has it taken this long to write a farewell post? I think I've been avoiding it and really don't know what to say... but it's time to write before it's too distant. My last weeks in The Gambia were full of wonderful surprises and fond farewells. The day after I announced I was leaving, my colleague Pa Lamin and his wife had a baby girl. I was excited to go to the naming ceremony the next week (babies are named the week after birth), especially since it might be my last ceremony for a long while. As usual, a group of staff members attend important family ceremonies of colleagues and this was no different. We showed up en masse and I was given one of the nice wooden chairs (from the living room, but set out with the rows of plastic chairs, which are the usual). 

I felt pretty honored to sit up front and was glad I might be able to take some pictures and video to remember the day. But just as things started up, Pa Lamin beckoned me to come with him - inside the house where all the women of the family were waiting. They wanted me to carry the baby through the ceremony! This is a job usually reserved for the eldest sister of the husband, but he can select any important female in his life. So, they wrapped my head in a scarf (for the Muslim ceremony) and handed me their week-old daughter. 
 
As you can imagine, I was really worried she might cry, or I'd screw up trying to follow the steps of the ceremony in a language I couldn't understand (his family is Mandinka). But somehow I managed. I carried the baby around the edge of the crowd, past the griots singing, and brought her to the mat where the elders were sitting. There we took off our shoes and I sat, legs straight out, with the baby's mother and Pa's sister. After a bunch of prayers, an elder bent down and shaved her head, as is the custom. Sometimes it is just a symbolic patch, but in his family's tradition it was the whole head -- and she had quite a head of hair! After the head-shaving, the elders deliberated on the name, then asked everyone in the crowd for money before they would announce the name. They called her Zainab Sanneh.

It wasn't until later when Pa Lamin came back to work after a few days off that he announced to the staff that the family had met on the night of the ceremony and decided to give the baby a second name: Heather. He said he still wanted to have someone to call Heather even after I left.  :)  Oh my - made me cry! So, I'm thrilled to have a namesake in The Gambia and got to visit little Zainab Heather Sanneh another time before I left and bestow a few baby gifts...

And that was just the beginning of a heart-wrenching month of leaving my wonderful Gambian staff and adopted family. My neighborhood kids were a little bummed not to have the after-work play place, but they perked up when I started giving away the badminton set, balls, jump ropes and art supplies. In fact, some of the best fun was giving away virtually my entire household. I packed up 10 boxes to ship home (mostly musical instruments and sentimental/valuable stuff) and had a few sales to get rid of the rest. Sold some bigger items to expats, gave all my clothes to a women's skills center starting a resale shop, and had an open house for my Gambian staff to take what they liked for a small contribution to my shipping fund.

Juliana, Pa Lamin, Modou

We had a great staff party the week before I left, combining my farewell and Kineh's retirement. It was full of speeches and kind words - I was surprised that the main comments did not focus around work, per se, but around the effort I'd made to learn the language and culture. It's uncommon for American staff to do so (I was apparently the first to give a farewell speech in a local language), since there's no training or time devoted to this for staff members -- only volunteers. I had written a Wolof speech (below) because I knew I'd cry if I weren't concentrating hard on something... and I really wanted to say goodbye in a culturally appropriate way. I wasn't sure if it would be understood, but apparently so, as people were quoting their favorite lines back to me for the week after! It was really a special gathering. I had a new complet made (as you do for important days) and the staff gifted me a batik and a talking drum (tama). There were lots of left-handed handshakes (the kind you give when you hope to see each other again) and pictures -- and I can't forget the peppery BBQ chicken (a staff favorite).

I spent my last weekend shipping my boxes (quite the effort/expense - don't ask), having a nice afternoon at Fatou's, dinners with Kerrie, and an afternoon with Juliana at the Kachikally Crocodile Pool and Bakau Museum. I probably subjected her to more time in the musical instrument room than she bargained for, but we were out on the path to the crocs before we knew it. Actually, we practically stumbled on them after rounding a bend in the forest path. The pool is a sacred place with over 100 resident crocodiles and said to aid in fertility. People pet the crocodiles, though we were a bit shy on that front. A guide named Sarjo showed us around and took us back to an exiled croc who he didn't tell us was quite aggressive until we were within feet of him! At the end of our loop I finally bent down and touched the back of one, but that was it. Juliana -- always smarter I'd say -- refused.

On our way home we stopped at the Bakau market so I could say goodbye to some of my favorite shopkeepers. When I went to my little instrument vendor, there was a surprisingly small Wolof drum available -- just the size I might consider shipping!  I was sure it would be at least 2000 dalasi, but when I asked, he said I could have it for only 600 (about $20) -- we knew it was a parting gift. So, of course I found something else to buy in the shop (a nice carved mahogany bowl), since I knew he'd taken a loss on the drum. Again, the left-handed shake, and we were off.

full set of Wolof drums

My last couple days in the office were crazy busy, as we had the regional director for Africa visiting, and out of the blue my friend Alex had a 3-day work trip to The Gambia. Alex is the French guy I met wwoofing in New Zealand who now works for a renewable energy firm in Barcelona. They do projects in West Africa, so we had some clue he might one day have a project in The Gambia during my time there, but didn't expect it would fall on my last two days in country! The night before I left, Alex flew in at 1:30am, so I went out to pick him up.... we didn't get home until 3am because they pegged him as a drug runner and searched him, took his passport and WHO card and really hassled him. Luckily, I made my way back through security and assisted -- trying to sound official and confident and using a bit of local language. After a full-body and luggage search in the drug control room, we were taken to a "health room" and told he would need a vaccine (that's not actually required or existent), but was a ploy to extort money. We eventually got out without paying -- I knew all the vaccines needed because of our volunteers, so called the guy on his scam (also having a feel for about how far to push it). So, that was our exciting start to meeting each other on our third continent!  Now he just needs to visit me in Alaska to make it four...

volunteers @Mama's

And finally, my last day. Luckily I was so busy I didn't get choked up until the final departure from the office... I had a little farewell dinner at Mama's, but they were out of domoda, so I didn't get my last favorite Gambian meal. I'll have to come back! On the way back to the office to meet my airport ride I had a nice chat with one of our long-serving volunteers. I was surprised to hear that she and other volunteers thought I had fallen on my sword for them, with my advocacy for a changed approach to the planned merger with Senegal. I was pleased to hear it since when I made my decision to go, I knew I just needed to do what was right for me because chances were a voice who had only been there a year wouldn't have much sway in Washington. But, in fact, it did change their course some and the volunteers recognized it, so hearing that gave me some welcome closure I wasn't aware I needed. My staff all seemed to understand as well, which certainly gave me peace.

Sheriff, Sulayman, Alhagie

So, the trip home! 36 hours: Banjul-Brussels-Copenhagen-Reykjavik-Seattle-Ketchikan-Juneau! Believe it or not, it was the shortest flight time and cheapest ticket! I managed to get a 32-kilo bag on the flight without the 100 euro over-weight fee, thanks to having a friend in the top office (and by that I mean the office up the stairs). Actually, I had offered to upgrade to business class with miles so I could have the larger luggage allowance, but since they didn't have enough meals for biz class, he said he would just waive the fee! That was great -- though I didn't see my bags until 3 days after arriving in Juneau. The mysteries of tagging a bag for 6 connections are, well, still a mystery to Gambian ticketing agents. I was seen off at the airport by Sheriff, Sam, Sulayman and Linda (who waited for an hour+ while I checked in), but it was so rushed in the end, we didn't have time for tears. The rest of the trip was smooth and on time (until the last leg with hairy weather in AK), and I enjoyed the Iceland views and layovers in sleek Scandinavian airports. I highly recommend Icelandair. Ah, but I did almost foul up the trip in the end. When I got to Seattle I hadn't slept a full night in 2+ days (thanks to Alex's middle of the night arrival), and just went on auto-pilot to the Anchorage gate, as I always would when returning to Alaska. Well, as I tried to board the plane to Anchorage, the ticket agent kindly pointed out that I had a ticket to Juneau. I definitely needed someone looking out for me!

Now in Juneau... a new chapter. My friend Virginia kindly put me up for my first 3 days before I moved into my house (rented room) - what a comfort to return to friends who take care of you, get you on your feet and through your jet-lag. Now a week into my job, I'm caught up in the bustle of the capitol and enjoying some winter (even went downhill skiing last weekend). But I do miss my good friends in The Gambia. Happily, I had a skype with Juliana Saturday and we discussed the fine points of the sun's warmth... well, a little Gambian sunshine is sticking with me. I won't ever shake that.

Haddy Sowe, my Wolof tutor

Jerejeenjef ci jaapale bingeen ma jaapale ci weer yi passe.
Budut toon yen duma doon muna égsi fima aga nii tey.
Munuma leena fey, waay yaala mi am seen fey dina leen fey.
Duma leen musa faate!
Buga naa leena gisaat ci lu baña yaaga.
Gambia suma ñaareeli kér la leegi.
Saa yooleen ñowee America, ham leen ne am ngeen palaas Alaska.
Dinaa leen nama bu baax!