I'm back

Hey all, I’ve not been in the mood to communicate much lately, but I might as well write about my trip up-country. It was exactly what I needed, I was able to see friends, see parts of the country that I hadn’t yet seen, and do some thinking on development.
I began by visiting a friend in a Fula village on the north bank of the country, sort of in the middle. Her village is fairly small, and is about 12 K from the main road. Transport only comes through her village twice a week. That means if you’ve got places to be any other time, its either bike it, walk it, or make really good friends with someone with a horse cart(as it happens, not a foolproof method. On the night before I needed to leave, it rained heavily such that the horse cart could not make it through the mud. We walked it). What struck me first was how much more green things were there than where I live. There is less concrete--houses, roads, or fences--, less trash (plastic shopping bags, plastic candy wrappers, plastic water bags, little tiny plastic bags used to contain popsicles, batteries), and just more open space for farming. It was gorgeous. When I noted this to my friend, she just looked at me and replied, “duh, they can’t afford that.” Also, people just seemed more genuine. They were all friendly, but no one asked me for anything. They all just asked where I was staying in the country, and how long I would stay here. It was really refreshing in that respect. Also, no bumsters or wanna-be thugs.
After leaving there, I headed to the very far eastern end of the country, and stayed with two different friends there. I found the same to be true in both of their villages, everything was greener, people were nicer. Yes, things are more remote(we had to walk 15 K to get to the nearest weekly market), but the atmosphere was also just more pleasant. Also, there is so much more biodiversity in their forestry up there. Around me, its all mango, cashew, and oil palm. But up there is a huge variety of plant life, some edible, some not, but it just seems more healthy. My friends reported that the attitude towards development was different as well. Since no tourists go up that way, and very very few development dollars get that far up-country, people know that if they want something done, they will have to do it themselves. There weren’t nearly so many young men just sitting around under trees trying to tell me their name is 50 Cent, they’re too busy fixing fences to protect the crops. On the other hand, the people there are very busy in terms of everyday survival, so sometimes there just isn’t anything in terms of “development” going on, they don’t have time to have a meeting to discuss the health of the community or sending girls to school, and I think sometimes my friends feel bored and isolated.
So that was my brief comparison on development in The Gambia. In my opinion, Western Region of The Gam has had too much of it, and this has killed the incentive of many of it’s citizens. They’ve got more stuff, and expectations for stuff, than they have the education and understanding of what to do with it. But on the other hand, there is always something to do if I need it. I can get fruit and vegetables whenever I want them(even if I have to buy them from a wanna-be gangster named 50 Cent), I can get a car whenever I want it. And my people are here. It felt nice to be home.