Before and After

Here are some pictures of my 'house' and moving day. Enjoy.

BEFORE

The back yard

the 'bathroom'

the front room

help with painting the back room

Little Fatu wouldn't let go of Eric even when painting

Water damage

MOVING DAY

AFTER

View of the house (from left wall to the pole)

View from front door (my room)

In my bed

Our chest in my room

Our cupboard (in Lori's room)

Lori's room from back door

Our shower

Our Toilet and accessories

Our sink

The back yard

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I hope that you were blessed by the time with family and friends. I have definitely missed being home with family. But God used the day to teach us a lesson. The team had planned to cook for ourselves plus two guests; with each of us bringing something to the table. We were pushed to our limits when we had two American guests come 2 weeks early. And we were reminded that in this culture it is polite to invite anyone who happens to show up while you are eating. So in all we served 15 people when we planned for 7. Denise, Lori and I were exchanging glances of stress and frustration as we added more plates to the table and then had to extend the table again. But we sat and had a great time and after everyone had eaten we had (almost) 12 plates of leftovers! We may not have started with 5 loaves and 2 fish but God definitely multiplied the food. Most people left after the main course and so the 8 Americans had a nice time of singing hymns and enjoying pumpkin pies.

And it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without Black Friday. So Lori and I got up before the sun and joined our friends Mariama Saidy and Cecilia to walk to the river. We watched as they sorted through and picked what they wanted of fish, shrimp and crab from the fishermen who had just come in from a night of fishing. We were introduced to a few new interesting kinds of fish. It was a good alternative to American shopping madness.

Daily Adventures

Life has been everything but boring here in The Gambia. Everything from American visitors & chasing mice to braiding hair & cutting rice.

We have been blessed to have Clair Good from EMM and David Shunkur from Kenya visiting with us and different leaders from the church and community to give direction and encouragement. They also traveled to Guinea Bissau to speak with leaders there as well. Gary & Denise had a visit from their niece and her cousin for a few days. So we have been busy providing hospitality.

Lori and I had a bit of excitement a few nights ago. We walked home to Jargu compound after a long day. All of our neighbors were inside and well on their way to sleep. We were surprised that might be able to slip inside without being asked to sit and chat for a while since that happens on most evenings. But as we walked to our door Lori saw some movement and the light of the flashlight revealed a small pack-rat. Our landlord’s wife heard our concerns and quickly stuck her head out the window and said she would be right out. As she is walking out her door she wraps her sheet around her and grabs a large brick. She then proceeds to chuck the brick at the mouse a bout a dozen times with no success. Meanwhile the rest of the compound is up and wondering what all the commotion is about. When we tell them it was a mouse Mariama Sadie said that they like to eat them because they have good meat. Lori was not impressed. The mouse eventually ran off and we were able to sleep in peace. Although we have run into small large spiders around our house.

Just yesterday as we were sitting around at the local shop with some women from our compound we were invited to go to the rice fields with some women we had not yet met. We decided that it would be a good opportunity to experience life of a true African woman. We walked out to The Bush and through muddy fields until we reached their field. They showed us how to cut the rice and let us try. It was actually quite easy and I had a lot of fun listening to the women chat about life. When we finally returned home we were covered in mud and I don’t think my feet will ever be the same. It was truly a memory I won’t forget.

I also sat for 3 hours and got my hair braided. It was very painful and my Caucasian hair doesn’t want to stay in braids. Maybe next time I’ll try something different.

More photos

Kids in my compound

Kids in the village

Getting my hair braided

Mobiles are still important here.

Bringing the donkeys back from the feilds

Long awaited photos

Here is a glimpse of what I see on a daily basis.

The MEHDA guest house

Our Bedroom


Our bathroom is through the wooden door.
Running water and a functioning toilet!

2 Weeks In

I am still at the guest house at the center; yesterday we went to the house we will be living in to do some cleaning and it was very overwhelming at first. It is two small, empty rooms, a small blocked off backyard and a blocked off "bathroom" or hole in the ground. There was an infestation of ants and a chicken had found its favorite place to lay her eggs- right inside the window, so they were rotting and it smelled awful. It is cement floor with vinyl laid on top. One of the girls from our compound came and decided to help us which was such a blessing. She brought her African broom and got it done in half the time it would have taken us! She even went out back and cleaned up the all the debris that had collected. We washed the walls and got them ready for a paint job and fumigated. We hope to paint this week, we are also getting the local carpenter to make screens for our windows so we don't have any more eggs laid in our room and a cabinet and chest to store some of our things. Then hopefully it will be ready to move in! After seeing the potential I am excited to move and be part of the compound.

So far most of what we've done is language study. We have about 2-3 hours in the morning learning phrases etc and then we go out and practice for a few hours. We just walk all around the village and talk to everyone we see. I'm starting to remember some names but it's really difficult, the names are so different. But now most of them know our names now.

When we went into town last week I had my first experience with a guy who wanted my number so we could be "one love." He was so annoying, and I couldn't get rid of him. I'm not looking forward to that happening often.

Some days it hits me all over again that I am really living in Africa. Things are so different, it's taking a while to get adjusted and settle in. But the people are so friendly and welcoming, they really love that we're here. I love the kids who just follow us around and hold our hands.

Stranger in a Strange Land

(Written Oct 19)

“Welcome to The Gambia, how are you? How is America? What is your name? What is your African name?” This is the series of questions we receive as a greeting often during the first days here in our new home. Lori and I have been living in the MEHDA (Mennonite Education Horticulture Development Associations) center guest house to help ease us into the culture one step at a time. It has been a challenge to acclimate to the humidity here. The temperature ranges in the 80’s but the humidity is enough to make me nauseous when doing much physical work. But it is hard to complain when I look around and see that I am living in a Tropical Paradise with Palm trees and various birds.

We received many smiles and laughs as we drove from the airport back to our village. It was certainly a site to see: a small VW Golf with 3 big suitcases hanging out the back with the trunk tied down, 2 bags stacked by one window, 2 American girls sitting with bags on their laps at the other window, an older American man in the front seat with a large bag on his lap and a Rastafarian Gambian driver. I’m sure Gambia had no idea what they were getting when they asked for us!

As we walk the streets the children yell “Tubob, Tubob” wanting to get the white person’s attention. We learned that the name comes from when the british would pay a tip of two ‘bobs’; so now all white people are known as Tubobs. The whole community is very welcoming and I am excited to start learning the language so I can communicate instead of stare and shrug. We will also choose our African names soon and that will also help with being accepted as part of the village. Each compound is a different “family” that have the same Surname (last name). A few people have tried to claim us as their own and convince us to take their name. We will move to a house in one of the compounds nearby when it is ready for us.