Fula scars

Hey all!
So here's a new adventure!

Near the beginning of my service I posted an article about women, and the many things they do for beauty. One of those things is decorative scarring at the outside corners of the eyes, or just below the eyes on the apples of the cheeks. The fula tribe does this most, but women from other tribes do it too. PCVs in The Gambia have taken to getting the scars as well, as a memento of their service here, body adornment, and general proof of being a baddass.
Well, the time has come for me to get my scars. Luckily, my friend Lisa came along to cheer me on, and to take pictures. Enjoy!






So here's how the day went. We traveled from Lisa's site in Soma, to Wassu, to the home of a woman named Fatou Ceesay. She has been the lady to go to for PCVs getting scars. After greeting for awhile, we went into her house, and got down to business. We washed our feet (where we were both to be scarred), and then she very gently sliced with a (brand new, straight from the package, i bought it myself) razor. The wound barely bled, and only stung a little. She then rubbed it with charred peanut powder. We then bandaged it, and were instructed not to remove the bandage or get it wet for three days.
I was worried about what my neighbors would think. Would they be flattered that I found one of their traditions so beautiful that I chose to permanently alter my body with it? Would they find it to be a bit of a farce because I didn't put it on my face? It turns out they seemed flattered, and when I explained that it would be difficult to get a job with black scars on my face, they understood. The universal response has been to ask why I didn't get them on my breasts. Some have even whipped them out to show me. No good answer for that, ladies. Maybe next time.

Hey all,

Still here only.

The PSA project with my students has ended pretty well. I'm really proud of them. I might have bitten off a little more than I could chew, but overall, i think it will work. We recorded four scripts (one each on HIV, the importance of breastfeeding, malnutrition, and malaria). Then, the goal was to record each script in English, and the three major local languages. Eeek, that turned out to be 16 recordings! That, plus all the editing, etc, that goes into it turned out to be a bit much for the kids' schedules (and i'm going cross-eyed from looking at sound squiggles on my computer), but we got them all recorded in English, all in Mandinka, and a few in each Pulaar and Wolof. We've added music and sound effects, and the next step is for me to duplicate the recordings, and distribute them to my PC pals around the country, and they will bring it to their local radio stations. Go Peer Health!

Hey all,

i came in with the intention of updating on my radio PSA project with my students. its going well, but there is something else on my mind.

Ok. So. I am a member of our Volunteer Advisory Committee (VAC). The committee's job is to communicate with admin on behalf of volunteers, and vice versa. We give feedback on policy, hold admin responsible to follow through with things they say they will do, keep tabs on our transit house and other things that affect PCVs.

The recent frustration is the new administration. We received a new country director last November, and I know part of the reason he was sent was to get our program back in line with PC Washington regulations (little did i know, we were way out there in terms of policy, and enforcing policy). Our last CD, while he was happy to drop whatever he was doing in order to sit and talk with a PCV about anything, he didn't follow policies very closely, and didn't punish people who broke them. So, it has been a difficult set of changes. They have written numerous policies, and consequences for breaking them. Difficult as it is, I know this is all well and good. The problem is, our new CD isn't as interested in having personal relationships with PCVs as the old one was. He doesn't seem to think its his job. Come with a concern, and he will direct you elsewhere. Moreover, he doesn't seek/value PCV input when it is appropriate to seek it. I know that in terms of some policies, its all Washington's doing, and we have little room for input. But others, such as the direction of our program in development, its appropriate and necessary to seek PCV input on these decisions. We are the ones actually working on the ground. Most of us have been here longer than him, and better know the culture and history of development in the country.
Recently our CD decided that his new focus for our program is to push grant-writing. He has organized a series of new trainings and committees, etc. Hmm. Well, if someone is going to write a grant, I would want them to do it well, and so trainings seem like a good step. My concern is that PUSHING grant-writing might make people think that getting money for things ought to be our focus. It's not. It's absolutely %100 ok to be a PCV and never bring any money to a project. Money is not a solution to the problem, and TOO MUCH development money has harmed Gambia in many ways by shaping bad habits. Not enough money is not the problem. There is plenty of money in this country, just backward priorities. People can find money to spend over $40 for a single outfit, or over $500 for a party, but can't seem to find the money to send their kids to school. Here, as in other places in the developing world, people have really capitalized on what foreigners will pay for and what they will not. Foreigners like to pay for hospitals, ARVs, schools and school fees, roads, and food relief. Foreigners will not pay for big parties, fancy clothes, or mobile phones. So people spend their own money on the fun stuff, then knock on our door for the rest. It only exacerbates the problem if we're just another group of people throwing money around. If our CD spent some time living outside the capital he would know that. If we tell him our opinions, he simply replies "duly noted" and continues what he was doing.

The money thing is a big frustration. I know that some amount of money is necessary for development efforts. I just liked that we were different from other organizations in that we focused on skill-building. Money gets in the way of that because people still get stuff, and don't have to change any of their habits or learn new skills. When that money runs out, more will come. it always does. Why learn new skills when you can get paid to just stay the same? And the fact that my opinion (and those of my peers) is not valued by someone whose job it is to support me is a real pisser.

thats my rant for the day. duly noted.

The F word

*Yes, this article contains profanity. You can handle it.


Here’s something I’ve been meaning to write about. The F word. You know, the four letter one. It fits into almost any part of speech and is pretty universally offensive. Well, thanks to movies and rap music coming in from the West, the F word is fairly prevalent in conversation here. However, something has been lost in translation, and the word doesn’t carry as much weight. I did a double take the first time I heard a grown man tell his toddler son to “F*ck off” when he really just meant “go away and stop trying to climb my legs.” One can even hear old ladies reprimand others by yelling “F*cking ass!” out of bus windows. A PC employee replied, when I had asked what he was still doing at the office at 7 pm on a Friday, “Oh, I’m nearly done here and then soon I will f*ck off.”

Well. Fine. I’m not so much a prude, and can accept that people don’t quite mean what I hear when they use that word. But its one of the strongest words in my arsenal, and what can I do when I really really need to tell someone where to go? When I need the word to mean what I mean by it and all its force to be unleashed on someone who has thoroughly pushed my buttons? When my dander is up, what can I say when I really really need to make myself clear? One of the most offensive words in my vocabulary has been rendered pretty meaningless…and this can be frustrating.

PC did teach us insults as part of our language training. This happened to varying degrees depending on which trainer a person had. Some trainers went all out. Ours sheepishly taught us phrases such as “you are very lazy” and “you are so foolish.” Those don’t quite cut it. To learn the real deal, I had to go to the streets. Nonetheless, I just cannot bring myself to yell, in Mandinka, “I will cut your father’s penis to pieces!” or “Your mother’s clitoris is red!” even if it would get the job done. Even just yelling “your penis!” or “your asshole!”, while it sounds very silly coming out of my mouth, is enough to bring people to blows here. I just can’t do it.