Rachel H. is embarking on an exciting adventure in The Gambia. As a volunteer with Volunteer Services Overseas (VSO), she will be working with Teacher Training Teams in Kanifing. By sharing her experiences through her frequent emails, we will learn more about the Gambian culture, language and daily life, plus learn what it's like to volunteer overseas and fulfill a lifelong dream of hers!
Following is a recent email we received from Rachel:
Hello from the Gambia !
 I've been putting off sending out an email update for weeks now, not knowing what to fill you in on. So much has become part of the everyday here, that there is nothing that comes to mind quickly on what to write next. So, I decided to give you a bit of a ‘day in the life of Rachel in the Gambia '. Don't get me wrong, there is no ‘typical' day for me here. It's strange to wake up in the morning and realize that I have no clue what the day will bring. It's actually quite refreshing. In the past, I've gotten used to knowing what to expect each day and learning to plan ahead. Here, I know that ‘planning ahead' means setting up a meeting a day in advance and that no matter how much I plan ahead, the plans I make will change anyways. I've also learned that whatever plans I may have, God is in control and surprises me with changes each day. Here are some moments in one of my ‘typical' days:
- I wake up to the lovely sound of goats, roosters, and kids outside my compound. If I'm lucky, I wake up hearing Amie and Fatou, my little sisters from next door giggling and playing together.
- After a nice cold shower to start my day (unless I've decided on the luxury of boiling a kettle of water to add to the bucket of cold water), I'm ready to face the day.
- I maneuver my motorbike through my tiny gate to be greeted by the smiles and stares of the school kids walking by. As I ride my motorbike through the sand and potholes, dodging cars, bikes, children, and animals, I'm followed by the sounds of ‘Toubab! Toubab!” (foreigner).
- I arrive at my first school. At the time the meeting is supposed to begin, I receive a phone call from my cluster monitor saying that he wants to go pick up his salary and can I come again tomorrow? Not to worry, he hasn't yet contacted the others who need to be at the meeting, so we don't need to let them know it's been postponed.
- I arrive at the next school for a meeting with a training team. On the days I don't time it right (or do time it right, depending on my mood!), I arrive during break and walk through hundreds of kids who continually say (all in one breath), “Toubab! How are you? I'm fine.” I then sit in the head teacher's office for anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour waiting for everyone to turn up.
- The meeting is finally started and on this particular day our task is to come up with a training plan for the remainder of the school year. The training team has many great ideas for training opportunities in their schools. By the end of the meeting, we have developed a training plan and the teachers are ready to start planning for the next workshop.
- I then head off to the regional education office, spending the first 20 minutes there greeting everyone and finding out how their family is, and how their day is going.
- I spend the rest of the afternoon planning meetings, talking with cluster monitors who stop in, trying to fix the printer, typing documents, chatting with colleagues, making phone calls, trying to fix people's computers (somehow I became known as the IT expert….hmmmm….), scanning for viruses on every computer my flash drive touches, and taking a picture of my colleague so she can put it on facebook.
- For a little break, I decide to have a coffee. This is no small feat – it requires first going to the outdoor tap to wash my mug (the mouse droppings all over the cupboard are a clue that it might not be as clean as when I put it there), finding out whose office the kettle is in now, going back out to the tap to get water, going to 3 offices to find sugar, looking for a spoon and realizing I have to go BACK out to the tap to wash it, and then deciding that taking the time to find the milk isn't quite so important.
- On my way home, one of the kids in the street thinks it's funny to kick his soccer ball at me while I'm riding the bike. Thankfully, he is not successful in distracting me from the sand trap that's ahead.
- After leaving my bike at home, I take a gelly (public transportation in the form of a van, where as many people as possible are crammed in) to go check my email at the internet café. On the way we pull over to fix the front door that won't stay closed. It's quickly solved by tying it shut with the seatbelt. :) The rest of the evening consists of meeting other VSO's for dinner or a drink, stopping to talk to my older sister, Haddy, from next door (and trying out the new phrases I've learned in Wolof), saying hello to the guys at the little shop down the street (while practicing my French) and finally relaxing while watching a DVD at home.
Wow, it's amazing how many things happen in a day when I look back at it! I'm very thankful for everything and everyone God places in my path each day. He continues to lead me and assure me that He is in control! |
