Electricity will be the death of me yet!

I am so terrible at this blogging business! Well I'm going to blame it on the hecticness of my schedule. Work has been crazy insane lately; I feel like I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. There are about a million programs all going on at the same time right now and trying to keep them all straight is just a task in itself. I have been busy organizing my training that is happening on Wednesday; overall the planning went pretty well but I have to say there were definitely a few gliches. Everything seems to have worked itself out now though so I'm just praying that Wednesday comes and goes without any major problems. Because everyone in the office is so busy people have been throwing odds and ends at me to complete. For example, on Thursday on the Programme Officers informed me that she is supposed to be attending an Annual general meeting on Friday for an AIDS Network organization but couldn't attend because she had a presentation to give at a training workshop so that somehow means I got to go and represent CPA. The organiztion is currently in the process of creating and adopting their constitution so everyone was given the constitution to read in advance and make comments on. I did this (the night before because that's when I was told about this) and was expected to go and make comments on behalf of CPA. This could mean one of two things; it could mean that they trust me a great deal to represent them appropriately or that I was the only one available to go and they didn't really care about the meeting so they weren't bothered with who they sent as long as someone attended. I'd like to think it's the first one. I have to say that it was an interesting experience; people spent ages aruging over things that didn't really matter in the least and it went on for ages!! People spent ages arguing about certain things that I thought were obvious and when I explained what i was thinking there were a lot of "ohhh's and hmmmm's and some yes I suppose people do travel don't they?" Overall it was an interesting experience but I'm really glad I didn't have to stay until the end because I had another meeting to attend. It's been a crazy couple of days! On top of all this I've been trying to get the second newsletter for the year out. I've managed to convience them to extend the deadline until tomorrow...it's nearly done but not quite there. In the midst of all this my training workshop was yesterday and it went very well; I think I did quite well for the first time. I'm just really glad it's over but now I have to write the report...god I really hate writing reports...they are the bain of my existence!!

Haven't had time for much relaxing lately so there aren't many stories to share other than other work related but on Sunday I went to the pool to spend a couple of hours relaxing; it was very nice. Hopefully there will be some good relaxing this weekend to make up for the last couple of weeks.

Anyway, I'm going to sign off before the power goes off. I actually wrote this post on Sunday but the power went off while I was in the middle of writing (surprise surprise) so I apologize if some of it doesn't make sense but I wanted to post again so nobody gets worried about me going missing! Hope all is well wherever this may find you!

Until next time,

Welcome to Winter in The Gambia!

Well it's finally November and you can tell winter is coming!! Certainly not the winter I'm used to but definately winter for The Gambia; apparently winter starts near the end of November but it's already starting to cool right down by around 5 or 6 in the evening and I LOVE it!!! It's still hot during the day but not as hot as it used to be so I'm very happy...can you tell?!?!

Life has been moving along; work is picking up a fair bit now, money from the donors finally came in so there is actually work to do! There are so many activities on the go for November and December as well as people traveling outside The Gambia for trainings and workshops; I truly dont' know how everything is going to get accomplish....or accomplished properly I should say but I know that they will manage, they always do. There are going to be a couple of trainings upcountry as well so I'm hoping I will get taken along for the ride. There is one coming up at the end of November and it looks like I'll be spending my Birthday in Bansang (actually it will probably be spent on the road); it will be an interesting way to celebrate turning a quarter of a century!

I'm also very excited because on Friday one of the Programme Officers asked me to implement one of her trainings. Of course I won't actually be running the training but I get to do all the planning and logistics; basically everything from finding and confirming the venue and planning the activities for the day, choosing and inviting the resource persons and so on. I suppose it sounds a little crazy to be excited about such a thing consider it will probably be a lot of work considering everything else that is going on at the same time but this is the first time in 3 months that I'll actually be learning something useful!

Well enough about work, I've spent most of the weekend so far just relaxing; I will probably go to the market tomorrow to check out some fabric...I love being able to pick out fabric and take it to the tailor and make anything I want for a relatively cheap price! Then I'll probably spend the rest of the day lounging by the pool or maybe taking a stroll along the beach. Spent all last weekend at the beach; myself and a few of the VSOs went to Kartong. Kartong is a beach "town"that is just near the Senegalses border, it is approximately 2 hours from where I live by public transit. One of the girls had a couple of tents borrowed from the British High Commission so we set up the tents on the beach and camped out under the stars. Sounds a little cliche but it was beautiful; the beach certainly isn't as beautiful as some I've seen but it was very nice, you could see thousands of stars and the moon was so bright that you could walk around the beach and didn't need a flashlight. Even during the day the beach was totally deserted, it was just the four of us...and the guy who wanted to marry me but that's besides the point. It was a very nice way to spend the weekend; went back to work on Monday a little burnt but very relaxed!

Well I guess that's about it for now....I am currently working on uploading some photos onto facebook; it seems that it is a very slow process but there are a few there and I will try to add some more. Anyway, I hope this note finds everyone well.

Take Care and Until Next Time,

Oops

Wow...I'm really terrible; I didn't realize how long it has been since I'd last written! Well I guess I'll just start with a recent update because I don't even think I could begin to remember all the things that have happened over the last (nearly) month. Things are really just same old same old, I have to admit. Things with work have been picking up some. I guess it was last week now, I went into my bosses office and approached him about starting of some projects because I am bored (and yes I told him I was bored). There is now an Alliance building project that I am slowly working on; hoping to having a meeting with one of the Board members when he returns from Zambia about going forward with determining who CPA's members actually are. My boss also suggested a few other projects that I could start work on; it's nice because they are really interesting projects for the most part and they are things that I can work on at my own pace or put on hiatus if I get busy with other things. The VSO volunteer and I are currently working on creating the last newsletter of the year. The boss was wanting to have it our for the end of November but knowing how slowly things function in this country and considering we have just recently started we didn't think there was anyway that would be possible but it turns out that UNICEF (they fund the newsletter) needs to have a first draft to the printers by the 20th of November otherwise we might not get the funding for it. So it looks like we don't have a choice but to rapidly produce a newsletter in the next 3 weeks. Things are going well so far but I have to admit that I'm not looking forward to the inevitable stresses ahead of chasing people to submit their stuff. Fingers crossed that all goes well!

In other news, I am now doing some volunteer work on the side for an NGO called Education for All (EFA). I am currently trying to find a donor to fund their new strategic plan and once that has been completed I have to write a proposal. I was kind of worried about the proposal writing but I think anything is going to seem easy next to having to find a damn donor. Now I truly understand why people hate the donor community; they certainly don't like to make things easy or even comprehensible for potential grantees. I will stop with this now before I bore you all to death but truly a frustrating endeavor!

Not been doing much other than working lately; so much so that I really can't recall anything that I've done other than strolling the beach and spending time lounging by the pool on a Sunday afternoon...hmm not sure if that's a good sign or not...probably not.

I've been thinking more about traveling, it's becoming that time of year (although you'd never know it if it wasn't for the calender) where people start asking what you're doing for the holidays. I know that CPA doesn't close for any extended length of time but I'm allowed to take a week or two holidays so I'm trying to decide what I want to do with myself. With so many friends in the Eastern and Southern parts of Africa I was hoping to make a trip out there but it turns out that it is extrodinarly expensive to fly within Africa (I guess because most people in Africa can't afford to travel and if they can they generally head outside Africa; it seems that most people who travel within Africa do so only for business purposes). So I am thinking about what I want to do, I might price some flights at different times of the year and see how things go; I really do want to see something other than The Gambia and knowing myself I'll probably regret it if I go home and didn't travel so I might just have to bite the bullet and pay the extortionate prices. Well see what happens.

Well I guess that's about it for now, I will try to be more diligent about writing but I won't make any promises! I hope that all is well with all of you wherever you are in the world!

From the Smiling Coast of Africa,

2 Months and Counting!

Well, once again the last week has been a bit of a blur! I'm not even really sure I recall most of it. I guess I will start by saying that most of my goals from last time were successful...sorta. I managed to get my visa extended until the end of December this time and amazingly enough it required no bribes at all! The second goal of telling Social Welfare that their database is a peice of crap was a little less successful. The man coordinating the whole thing was quite impressed with the thouroughness of the job I did on making "comments"; however, said that most of the documents were copied and pasted right from the original document which meant that they couldn't be changed. The Director of Social Welfare said that it is not possible to change the wording of policies and whatnot. Hmmm, seems like the extensive comments on all 86 pages was a gigantic waste of my time! The Director did say that they would take note of the comments and would present them to the National Assembly the next time the policies and whatnot came up for review. Ya right...like I believe that! The whole document was so incredibly poorly written that I couldn't comprehend the majority of what was being said. I don't know why the policies are so poorly written but apparently the studies (which are also very poorly written) were actually written mostly by British expats so I KNOW that they were not poorly written so now I'm having a bit of a hard time believing that the database was a simple copy paste job. Either way, it's out of my hands now and thank god my name is not attached to it.

Work has been midly amusing as always; I have spent the last couple of days at a training for members of the National Assembly....most of the last two days have been spent in arguments but I think they are arguing just for the sake of it. Really it is just the majority leader that has been instigating all the problems. The training is continuing on until tomorrow but I refused to attend on a Sunday...they are not paying me enough to work 7 days a week!

These training sessions are always interesting but other than that life at CPA is quite dull; I will be starting work on the newsletter that is coming out and there are definately cool projects that I could be working on but other interns in the past have also worked on the same projects and their work has been neatly filed away and not looked at since so I'm not really sure I want to waste my time working on something that I know will also be filed away for "safe keeping". Recently I have been networking with a few people from other organizations; there is an NGO that is education based that is just around the corner from where I live and currently they have no staff so I am meeting with the head of the organization (the one man show) on Monday to discuss options for doing some work for them. He seems to think that he might be able to negotiate with my boss for taking me at EFA on Friday's instead of going to CPA (since Friday is a half day at CPA anyway); I'm not sure my boss is going to go for that but I could always go to EFA on Friday's after CPA or do some contract work on my own time. Afterall, they can't control what I do on my own time and CPA certainly isn't utilizing my ablilities so I'll go elsewhere and get some extra experience. I was also chatting with the Policy and Budget Analyst from one of CPA's partner organizations and he wants me to look in possible Canadian donors for the new strategic plan they are developing so I will also go and visit him sometime this week. It looks like I have a lot of work coming my way in the next couple of months but if it all works out as I hope it should be a great learning experience!

Some of my IPMP friends have now arrived in The Gambia and I have to say that it is very strange to be in West Africa and just run into someone from home on the street or in the internet cafe as it so happens!! It seems that time is just flying by; it's so nice having someone else in the office now as well and we've been hanging out alot since she arrived a couple of weeks ago. It's so nice now to have company other than my own! Well, I guess that's about it for now. Hope that everyone is well and it's always nice to hear from the other sides of the world!

We Shall See How it Goes

Well I have to honestly say that the last week has been a bit of a blur. I don't even recall the first portion of last week so it couldn't have been that exciting but I definately remember it being a busy weekend so I guess I'll start from there.

I went into work on Friday as usual expecting it to be a usual Friday but Musu, one of the program officers, asked me to go with her to partners planning meeting for Act!onAid. Act!onAid is one of CPA's biggest donors and every year they hold a planning meeting with their partner organizations to discuss the activities they have planned for the following fiscal year and to get input on what their partners think; it is also a new opportunity to bring new partners on board. It was pretty interesting to hear about some of the up coming projects but I think it was even more interesting to hear about the budgets. Some were incredibly small; I could believe the ambitions they had for an education budget of 700,000 dalasis (sorry, I don't know how many CDN dollars that is but just divide by 20 if you are interested)! Of course, like everything in The Gambia, the meeting started two and half hours late so obviously it went much later than it was supposed to. The last activity involved thinking of a witty name for the country strategy plan; a bit of a waste of time in my opinion considering it was 4pm on a Friday afternoon in the middle of Ramadan. Regardless, we finally got out of there and proceeded to a symposium given for the International Day for Peace. That was also interesting; most of the speakers understood that their address was to be SHORT but some must have thought they were the only ones presenting because they just continued to ramble on and on, even when the power went out, that did not stop them from talking, they just continued on. I think I finally arrived home that night around 7:30, only six and a half hours later than normal for a Friday. But it did not stop there. Saturday was the Global Peace Games; it is a "football" (so soccer) tournament put on by one of the NGOs here. It started late (do I even need to continue metioning that or is it just assumed by this point?), absolutely no one paid attention to the opening speeches given by the Secretary of State for Sport & Development and UN representative. The games were good though, our team lost but they did quite well considering most of the other teams were semi-professional clubs and I thought they did extrodinarily well considering two of our players played in their sandels while all the other teams were decked out in proper gear. So came the end of Saturday where I didn't arrive home again until about 7pm. Amat came over to visit and we sat outside chatting for a couple of hours because the power was out again (about the fourteenth time that week) and the candles were making the house extremely hot! Sunday was just a day of relaxation...definately needed.

Another week has come and is in the process of going. Njundu (the National Coordinator) is on a workshop in Kenya this week so the office is quite peaceful. The VSO intern also started work this week so it is nice to have someone to commiserate with. Have done absolutely no work yet this week and there is likely little to come other than proofing and making comments on a document that the Department of Social Welfare is putting together for a Child Protection Database. I had completed my part alredy because the meeting was supposed to be on Monday but they post-poned the meeting and didn't bother to contact us about it so now I have MORE time to make comments! Looking forward to Monday. Well I suppose that is about it for now. People always say "how can life be boring or mundane...you are living in Africa!" but this blog must be proof that life is just about the same wherever you are in the world....just different scenery.

Goals for this week:
- Bribe top immigration officials to extend my visa for "free"

Goals for next week:
- Tell the Department of Social Welfare that their database document is a peice of literary garbage.

What a Month it will be!

So it's only been a week and I'm trying to be more contientous about posting regularly. Sadly enough, I feel like I don't have much to write about at the moment. Work is plugging along slowly but surely; this week in particular is just dragging along. My theory is because the extended breakfast breaks no longer exist to break up the day. Ramadan arrived on Friday; it was supposed to start Thursday but like everything else in The Gambia it also did not manage to start on Thursday, apparently you can't start Ramadan if you can't see the moon and I guess it decided not to make an appearance on Wednesday evening so it started Friday instead. It's been an interesting few days to say the least; I actually fasted on Friday as well. I hadn't really intended to but I arrived at work knowing that I wasn't going to eat until after 1pm when I left the office but as it turned out there was meeting that afternoon that someone had forgotten to tell me about so I ended up being there until 4pm without having had anything to eat or drink so I just decided that I would continue on until that evening. It actually wasn't that bad, I didn't even really get really thirstyuntil around 6pm so all in all it went pretty well. I have not fasted again properly and don't really intend to; I generally fast at work because I usually feel too guilty to go and get food in an office full of tired and hungry people.

Ramadan has definately had an interesting effect on people; people's tempers have been better than I expected but they are all very tired all the time because they were up at 5 am to pray and eat before the sun comes up. As you can imagine, in a society that's already kinda lazy, this leads to futher slacking. Yesterday, one of my co-workers decided to take a nap in the conference room when the National Coordinator left the office fore a training seminar. Then the power went off for awhile and when I went back to her office a while later she had disappeared; her computer was off and her bags were gone. It was about 1pm at this point; the office now closes at 2:30 instead of 4pm because of Ramadan and she couldn't even manage to wait the extra hour! It makes me laugh and cringe all at the same time!

Other than that things are going well; it will be nice when Ramadan is over and Amat and go back to accompanying me to the beach so I don't get harassed. I was bored on Sunday evening so i decided to take a walk to the beach...BIG mistake! In the 40 minutes that I was there, 4 people invited themselves to sit down and chat not understanding "I want to be alone!" and that four doesn't include the one who caught me on my way home!! One guy suggested I give him my number so we can get together sometimes...and this was AFTER I told him I had a husband about six times!! Then I ran into him AGAIN, lucky me, when I was walking back alone the beach to go home and he invited me to his house for dinner. I near strangled the guy..."what didn't you understand the first fourteen times"!!! By the ned of the experience I was so frustrated so I don't think I'll be going back to the beach until after Ramadan...only 25 days to go! But overall things are good; can't believe it's nearly 7 weeks now. In a way it still feels like I've been here forever but in another way I can't believe the end of September is already approaching. It certainly doesn't feel like fall here...but I wish it did...without the winter to follow of course! Anyway, I hope all is well with everyone, wherever you may be.

Until next time,

Excuses Excuses

Ok...well I guess I haven't been so diligent about keeping the blog for the past couple of weeks; I really don't even know where the time has gone! I guess things have been pretty busy as of lately; work has finally picked up...well a couple of weeks ago now I guess. I have been busy writing reports, I don't know what the development world would be without all these reports which I am CONVINCED donors don't actually read! It doesn't actually take me that long to compile these reports (for a one day training, I completed the report in two days which apparently has never been done?!?!?) but of course life is never that easy because life in the office is all about democracy (interesting considering the country); everything has to be read by everyone in the office for them to make comments on and as I'm sure you can imagine, people forget about it, promise to take it home and read it and then leave it at the office or simply just let all the other papers pile on top of it and it takes weeks before you get it returned to you to make the adjustments. I find this particularly interesting because there was such stress that the report needed to be written by a certain date because it absolutely HAD to be sent to the donor...that was probably about two weeks ago now and I still haven't seen the necessary revisions. But that is life at CPA. This week I am at another training session in Brikama; this one is for final year students at the Teachers' College and they are being trained on Child Rights, Child Protection, Corporal Punishment and Alternative Methods of Discipline. It started on Monday and will go until Thursday; it has been an interesting session so far. As per all trainings here in The Gambia, we were late to arrive. I kept encouraging them along but all to no avail and we were an hour late; thank goodness one of the facilitators went there directly from her house and as a result was on time. Luckily we arrived only for the power to go out a short while later; it was out of about 3 hours and the room was boiling!!! Lunch was supposed to be from 1:30-2:30 but (Gambian style) it was not ready on time; it was finally ready at 3:45, just 45 minutes before the session was supposed to end for the day but of course, everything here starts late and runs late so we did not end up finishing until 5:30. By the time I got home it was nearly 7 and I was exhausted only to do it all again today. Today really wasn't much different; we were 2 hours late this morning but the power didn't go out today, lunch was on time and we finished a half hour early (only because of the looming thunderstorms I'm sure) so I guess all and all it was a pretty good day. Hopefully the rest of the week will continue just as nicely.

But of course, just because the end of the week comes does not mean that the work is done. On Saturday, the youth group, Voice of the Young, is having their monthly General Meeting. I was given (or rather forced) the task of giving this months presentation. So on the first Saturday of Ramadan I have to give a presentation on Effective Communication skills to a bunch of tired, hungry and thirsty teenagers...should be interesting...I guess I should start preparing at some point....maybe Friday.

Other than that things have been quite relaxed. I had my first Africa dress made last week in anticipation of wearing it on Friday but when I got it back from the tailor the skirt turned out to be about 6 inches too long! So I took it back today and told him he MUST have it ready for Thursday (the tailor is in the same town as the training this week which is quite far from where I live so if it is ready by Thursday the driver will take me to pick it up, otherwise I have to make my own way there and I am refusing to do that)! So fingers crossed that that works out!!

I'm sure there are other stories to tell but I am running out of time and I should probably get back before it starts to get dark and I trip over the sandy road. I have been trying to upload pictures but none of the internet cafes have the proper plug ins; one has told me that they will install them but I'm sure it'll take ages. I tried emailing but then the internet crashed and that didn't work either so I guess it might be a little while but I am working on it I promise!!!

I hope that this note finds you all well...I haven't heard from some of you in awhile...you know who you are but I hope that things are well regardless. Hope to hear from you all soon, it's always nice to get news from home. Anyway, take care and until next time...

From the Smiling Coast of Africa!

Sukai

Well, another week has nearly come and gone! It has actually been quite a busy week; I was kind of dreading going to work on Monday because I figured that it would be another week of me sitting around playing cards, begging people for something to do but it actually turned out to be quite the opposite. When I arrived on Monday there was actually work to do!! And it took me almost all day to complete; I did sit around for the last two hours or so randomly helping staple presentations but by that time it was soooo hot in the office that it was virtually impossible to get much done anyway. Musu, one of the program officers, had a training for Local Government Administrators and Officials that started on Tuesday and finished today so I've been there at the training for the last three days. It was an enlightening experience to say the least!! The training was supposed to start at 9am on Tuesday and having been in The Gambia for 3 weeks now, I should know by now that everyone is always late; but they were 2 hours late!! Most people finally showed up around 11am with people trickling in until about 11:30; I could not believe it! Apparently that is always the way it goes with government officials...they always show up when they are good and ready! The Secretary of State was supposed to be delievering the Key note speech and he arrived at about 9:15 but no one was there so he went back to Banjul and came back when people finally arrived at 11am!

But probably my favorite part of the workshop was people's cellphones...they are constantly ringing and people actually answer them right there in the middle of the workshop!! So not only do people have the audacity to show up 2 hours late but when they do finally arrive they sit on the phone while someone is trying to present!! I have not really experienced any culture shock...i never really do but i have to admit, this style of working is extrememly hard to get used to and is VERY frustrating at times! But i guess something I will get used to with time. Other than that, the workshop was a really great experience; it got me out of the office for 3 days, it gave me something to do, i finally feel like i have a purpose and I ended up getting paid for going; $1500 dalasi!! Now in real money, that works out to be about $65 CND, but in The Gambia is ALOT of money! And I learnt alot; the presenters were all really good so all in all it was a really good experience.

Tomorrow is the Children's Bantaba; the Bantaba is a event that CPA and Voice of the Young organize bi-annually. Voice of the Young is a youth group, with all members under the age of 18, sponsored by CPA; they put on events and do radio broadcastes to create awareness about issues that are facing the children of The Gambia. This Bantaba will include a March down one of the main streets followed by a series of presentations on this years chosen topic; the theme for this Bantaba is "Children and Communities Unite to Fight Child Sex Tourism". It should be a good day, all the major media houses will be there but it will definately be a long day so I should probably wrap up my rambling.

But before I go, I think I should inform you all that I have a new name. People have been telling me that I need a Gambian name; it will differentiate me from the tourists and it keeps me from having to give random people my real name. So today I let Lamin, the president for Voice of the Young, give me a Gambian name; he decided on Sukai. Ahmad (Amat) decided that I should not be given just any family name so he has given me his; so I am now Sukai Dibba. I feel a bit like a have an alter-ego but i like it!

Well that is all for now...from Sukai Dibba

Life in The Gambia

Well, once again things changed from the last time I wrote. I have now moved houses; I live much closer to work now, it is only a 5-10 minute walk so that is definately nice! The new place is nice; only one bedroom but it has a nice sitting room, the kitchen is inside the house and the shower/tub is interesting to say the least! The place needs a little work but now that I know I am not moving again I can finally start to settle in. The compound is very nice, they have a maid who will apparently clean my house on occassion and she does my laundry which is very convienent! But I think my favorite part about the house is how close I am to the beach! It is a little bit of a walk but I always go with Ahmad, my landlords son, so we go through all the back roads which is nice to see because I would never walk them myself for fear of getting lost. The beach is definately my favorite place so far; we have gone twice in the last couple of days and I would probably spend every waking minute there if I could. It is soo beautiful; not like any other beach I have ever seen and if you walk in the opposite direction of the hotels which are further down the beach, it is soo quiet. You might see one or two people walking along but for a long time we were the only ones there; I'm not sure I've ever seen a beach like that before. Definately a good place to go and relax; I got some good pictures yesterday so I will possibly try and post them on facebook soon...but we'll see...no promises.

Things on the work front are not too exciting at the moment; I spend a good portion of my day playing cards on the computer; I'm sure that's not what they intended the computer for but when you won't give me anything else to do, what else can you expect. Apparently I arrived during the slow time of year so there isn't much going on and people have been out of the office alot, especially this week. People occassionly give me things to do when I harass them but it usually doesn't take very long and they are always amazed at how quickly I finish. Let's just say the Gambian work ethic is MUCH slower than in North America; everything must be democratic, 12 people have to approve everything that goes out and if one thing related to a project cannot be completed, all other work seems to stop but I have been told that they are much more efficient than many other NGOs in The Gambia so I guess that is just something I will have to get used to. I also love how everyone just shows up when they please; the work day is supposed to start at 8am and finish around 4, people usually show up around 9ish, something that would NEVER fly in Canada! Apparently there is a VSO volunteer that will be coming at the end of September so it will be nice to have some company around the office and I guess we will be able to start some of the joint projects when she arrives.

It's been kind of a slow week; it's been raining alot and the power keeps going out which is why I haven't been bothering with the internet. But it's sunny today so hopefully that is a sign of good things to come! Well I guess that's about it for me.

From the Smiling Coast of Africa,

Salaam Alaykum

Well I guess it has been a couple of days since I have last written...the last few days have been crazy to say the least! Well I guess I will start by saying that I am moving yet again! My landlord is being quite ridiculous in wanting 6 months rent up front; at first I thought maybe that was normal because I had just arrived so I had no idea! After speaking with my boss (who wasn't too sure about the arrangement) and some friends that I have met through last year's intern, I have decided that I will not pay him all that money up front and he is totally unwilling to negotiate so I am moving out. It is somewhat unfortunate because I really like the place and it is very spacious but it did take them nearly a week to fix the plumbing in my bathroom and it STILL doesn't even work properly. But the good news is that I have a new place to live!! I found it today through a friend of a friend. It is still a very nice place; fully furnished with only one bedroom but a nice big sitting room and quite a large kitchen. The landlord will put a tv in if I want it and it has an internet hook up; unfortunately I didn't bring my laptop with me but still nice to know it's there. The landlord is very friendly and is very flexible so I feel very good about the arrangment we have come to.

The family in my compound also have a son who is probably about my age and he is very nice and his English is excellent so he is going to teach me Wolof. I really want to learn some of the language and the people at the office have been teaching me some but it will be nice to learn more.

As for friends, I was finally able to meet up with one of the girls, Louise, who worked for CPA last year. I met up with her and one of her friends Charlie, who lives upcountry but is down visiting for the month, on Friday for drinks which was definately needed after my banking meltdown (so irritating I will rant about it later). It was really nice to get out an meet some people, especially after the frustrations of the week. On Saturday Louise took me around so I could get a mobile phone and showed me one of the big markets. In the afternoon I had to attend a meeting at CPA; what I thought would be a bit of a slow day ended up being quite a busy and exhausting day! Today I've been helping Louise move houses, I checked out the place I am now moving into and then Louise, Charlie and I spent the day at Safari Gardens; it is a guesthouse that has a restaurant and pool and Louise has made friends with the people who work there so they let us hang out and use the pool. Now I am at the internet cafe watching the rain come down. So I'd say all and all it was a pretty good weekend but back to work tomorrow; hopefully there will be more going on this week and not just me sitting around the office twidiling my thumbs hoping that someone will soon find something for me to do!

So now, quickly with the rant about the banks. The banking systems in communist countries are better run than those here in The Gambia. You cannot go to a bank teller here with your debt card nor your visa card and get money. You can ONLY get money from international cards through the ATMs; the only bank I have seen that has ATMs is Standard Charter which I'm sure you all know. However, at Standard Charter, the ATMs are constantly down; they are either without money or their international system is down. So you cannot get money from the teller and the ATMs are down; how are tourists, let alone expats who live here supposed to get money...especially if you need a large sum (like I did)?!?! So one of the girls at the office suggested that I open a bank account with one of the banks here and have money transfered from my account at home. I thought, great! So she took me to the bank and they tell me that I cannot open that type of account if I do not know anyone else who has that type of account at that specific bank...WHAT KIND OF RULE IS THAT?!?!?! So anyway, the girl I was with had a different kind of account so I was able to open that account...finally! So that afternoon I call my bank and they refuse to transfer the money without a written note from me....LIKE I HAVE TIME TO WRITE YOU A NOTE FROM THE MIDDLE OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA!!! So...then I called my mommy and she wired me money from my account. So the problem has been resloved but I have never had such difficulties with banking anywhere in the world and here, people just tell you it can't be done but no one actually provides you with any possible solutions...bloody ridiculous!! Anyway, all is well and that is the end of my rant and my story for this week. Now I go to pack.

I bid you farewell for now, from the Smiling Coast of Africa!

Really hoping this works!!

Well, I am now in The Gambia; I arrived on Thursday after quite a journey. I spent a great deal of time waiting around in airports and when I arrived in Dakar, Senegal to catch another flight to Banjul, they had lost my luggage. So needless to say I arrived in Banjul, very tired and without all my stuff but the organization did remember to send someone to pick me up so that was a bonus!

Most of the people I'm working with were away on a training session up in the North when I arrived so Awa was in charge of taking care of me and she did a really good job! She took me everywhere with her on Thursday and Friday; we got the housing catastrophe sorted out. I now have a place to live; I live in a compound, my apartment is very nice, I have a kitchen, a sitting room, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms! More space than I will ever need but it was cheaper than the other places we saw, it is in an excellent location and quite safe.

As for the city itself, it is interesting to say the least. I don't even know how to begin to describe it. It is very dirty, most of the main roads are paved but anything off the side of the road is red dirt with enormous potholes! The side roads are mostly all dirt and when it rains that is an experience in itself!! Here, when it rains it RAINS and the roads change from once "driveable" roads to small lakes in the middle of the city. When I arrived I was wondering how the taxis managed until i realized that they simply just drive through the rivers...it is something that you cannot imagine until you are able to see it for yourself but I will do my best to try and get some good pictures.

There is no public transport here, only taxis but not taxis like we would imagine. They are sort of like buses; you must stand on the correct side of the road in order to go in the direction you want to go in...they will pile in several people all going to the same location and the taxis don't take you to your exact location. Generally you must transfer several times if the place you are going is not on the street where you caught the taxi. I am starting to get the hand of it now but I have to admit the first couple of days were astoundingly confusing! But I am now happy to report that I can get from my house to West Vill (the central main town closest to me) and to the office. I know that does not sound like much but trust me...especially since none of the streets have names. Well they have names but they are not actually labeled anywhere so getting around is a bit more difficult than it should be because if you forget the landmark you are homeless for the night!

Most of the people here are very friendly, the kids either find me terribly amusing or they are petrified of me. There are very few other white people living in this town so it is not often they see white people, especially off the main roads. I sometimes hope that they will get used to seeing me come and go so they will stop with the constant yelling, "tubab"! Tubab means white person...something I have lost count of hearing in only the five days I have been here.

The weather is extremely hot; it's actually the humidity that's worse than anything else. There is no air-conditioning anywhere you go but thankfully my house has fans so that helps a great deal. I'm just hoping that I will soon start to adjust! Not much to report on for work; today was just my first day so I will write more when there is more to tell.

Well, this has been quite lengthy already so I should probably stop; I apologize for spelling errors...this keyboard is terrible and the internet at this particular cafe is quite slow. I appreciate all the emails; please keep them coming, it's always nice to hear from people from home. I will respond to all emails but it may take me a few days as I don't have internet at work as I thought I would.

I hope this updated finds you all well...where ever you are in the world!

Only the Beginning

In 12 days I am moving to the Gambia (and yes, it is called THE gambia); it is a tiny country in West Africa and it sits on the Atlantic Ocean. I am living in an urban city called Bakau; it's fairly small but I have the pleasure of living on the Atlantic Coast for nearly 7 months. I will be working for the Child Protection Alliance (CPA) as the Programmes Assistant; CPA focuses their work on protecting children from child abuse, from the sexual exploitation of children and from child traffiking. People most often ask me if it's safe; the Gambia is an extrodinary safe country and I can promise you all that there is no war and no foreseeable outbreaks of war in the Gambia, nor in any of the surrounding countries.

My goal is to update this blog as regularly as the internet will allow so you all will know what I am up to and how things are going without me inundating your inboxes on a regular basis. I do hope you will all keep in touch; it's always nice to hear from friends, makes me feel like I haven't completely fallen off the planet and into my own little world. I promise that I will respond to all emails but just as a warning, it may take a few days to get a response; please send all emails to ladyrexworthy@hotmail.com.

And the rest is for your enjoyment...

D-Day

One month till D-Day.