An Incredible Welcome

Before the end of our training, we visited our permanent sites for a few days to meet our families, get a feel for the village and area, and check out our houses. I couldn't be more happy. My village is very small with only 12-13 main compounds (around 150 people). My family is also small by Gambian standards . My compound includes my host father, Ebrima, mother, Fatou, their son's wife, Fatou, and her 5-month old son, Ebrima. Their son, my host brother, is currently in Senegal.

This village has never had a volunteer before so they are very excited. As soon as the Peace Corps Land Cruiser, in which I was riding, came into sight of the village, the children playing in the fields and tending to the cows began running behind the car yelling "Fatou, Fatou." One of my health counterparts (a female teacher in the nearby middle school), that I had met with previously, had told the village about me briefly so they knew my name. As soon as I opened the car door, the children grabbed my hands and brought me to a small gathering where women from the village had begun to bang on plastic bottles and containers with their hands. Everyone started clapping. Different women and children would move to the middle of the circle. They danced fast moving their legs and feet with more rhythm than I will ever have. I moved into the middle of the circle a few times to make a dancing fool of myself, flailing my arms and legs with happiness. After the drumming died down, my host father, Ebrima, presented me with gifts from the village: a chicken, bread, rice, and oil - all for dinner that evening. It was a really incredible welcome.

Bread and Sugar

It is really amazing to be living under a sky rather than a ceiling for most of the day. In training village one morning, Jenna (a fellow trainee) and I asked her host brother what time the naming ceremony in our village was going to be that day. He pointed to the sky and motioned to where the sun would be at around 11:00 am. With little light pollution, the night sky in village is incredible. I have now come to recognize changes in the moon. Never before has the shape of the moon affected my life (besides full moon superstitions), but now it determines whether I need my headlamp when walking in the village at night.

In training village one night after dinner, my host sisters, Fatou and Penda (Image: Fatou and Penda), and Fatou's children, Jenaba and Lamin, and I sat on a woven mat on the long cement step in front of my room. Someone from another village had brought bread (long french loaves) and sold them to Fatou. She bought the loaves and was selling them to people in the village for D5 (D27 = $1). The loaves sat in a long cardboard box on the cement next to us. Fatou asked if I wanted to buy a loaf. I opened the box and felt the thin loaves, which were still warm from their evening baking. I slipped my sandals on and went into my room, headlamp on, in search of D5. Along with the D5 bill, I brought out a small bag of sugar, which you can purchase from a local cornerstore for D6. Back on the mat, I untied the plastic bag and grabbed a loaf of bread from the box. I tore off a piece and dipped it into the sugar. I passed the loaf around to the others on the mat and we all took turns dipping the warm bread into the sugar. It was delicious. Penda asked me to take her back to America when I return in two years. In basic and broken Pulaar accompanied by hand motions, I said that in two years I would pack her in my suitcases and bring her to America to visit. I explained that she would need many jackets and that all I would let her do is eat and sleep, no washing clothes or dishes, no cooking or cleaning, no children. The night was simple and sweet under a blanket of stars.















This is in my training village compound. The hut in the background is used for cooking. There is little ventilation so the smoke from the cooking fires can be overwhelming. The women and girls of the compound spend much time in here; I can only imagine the effects of the smoke on their health. This is one of my host sisters, Jenaba, and my host twin cousins, Sani and Sana. Initially they were wary of me, but eventually I couldn't walk anywhere without them holding my hands.















All of these kids live in my compound. Life here is mainly outside. The kids (if not in school) are always roaming the village playing with any objects they can find to entertain themselves whether it be sticks, tires, pieces of trash, or batteries. Favorite activities are running while pushing tires and setting up a high jump with sticks.



This is my host son (my host sister's son), Yaya, and one of my host sisters, Fatou. Yaya is my absolute favorite.

Naming Ceremony

During our first week in training village, our village hosted a naming ceremony to give us trainees Gambian names. This is done for cultural integration and because Gambians often have a hard time pronouncing many American names. In Gambia when a baby is born, by tradition, the mother and baby remain inside the house for seven days. Villagers bring food and visit during this week. On the seventh day a naming ceremony is held for the child. The name is chosen by the elder village males who gather in the baby's compound, recite prayers led by the imam (village religious leader) and then declare his/her name. The imam then shaves the baby's head. Usually this is followed by a celebration with villagers and family that includes eating fried dough balls (which are delicious) and juice, dancing, giving money to the mother and father, and passing around the newborn.

Our host families each chose a name for us before the ceremony. Women and children gathered around the center mat and the male villagers, including the alkalo (village leader) and the imam, sat in front of the mat. When we were called, each trainee kneeled on the mat. The imam declared our full names and then mocked shaving the front of our heads. My name is Fatoumatta Bah and I was named after my younger sister. The women and children started clapping and we had to dance on the mat. The Gambians love our inability to dance.

In one of my anthropology classes senior year, we read about the joking relationships that exist between certain tribes and surnames throughout Africa. These established relationships built on humor and friendship help to decrease tension between these various groups and form partnerships. My surname in training village was Bah. The surname Bah jokes with the surname Jallow. Almost everyday in village I would joke with someone from the Jallow compound telling them that they love to eat or that their head has no water (common jokes). Just today in Kombo outside of the grocery store, I started talking with a Fula woman selling peanuts. Within thirty seconds of meeting her, I joked that she is a professional eater because her surname was Jallow. The joking and laughs form an instant connection between people. It is so neat because I read about these cultural phenomenons only six months ago and now I am performing and involved in them.

Village Life

"Community in Africa still works. The village is arguably the most stable and cohesive unit in West African society. Modern Africans may scoff at their village cousins, who produce a bumper crop of yams one year and give half of them away to relatives and friends instead of reaping the profits. But that's the beauty of Africa, that's the glue in the face of catastrophes like AIDS and ethnic unrest. In the village, noone falls through the cracks" (202).
Sarah Erdman, Nine Hills to Nambonkaha

Nine Hills to Nambonkaha is written by a Peace Corps Volunteer who served in the Ivory Coast. I felt that this description applied accurately to village life I have observed.

I lived in a small training village in the Central River Region with five other trainees and two LCFs (language and cultural facilitators). There were about 8 main compounds (120-140 people).

This is the long open area in the middle of the village with compounds located on each side. The trees (orange and mango) in the middle of this strip serve as gathering spots for villagers. In the late afternoon under the shade of the trees, men often brew attaya (chinese green tea) while women rest on the wooden benches or shell peanuts into large piles on woven mats. My compound was on the right at the end near where the woman in white is walking. In the foreground of the photo there is a small pile of coos (millet) that will eventually be pounded down by women and then prepared for dinner.

Pounding is a constant activity by the women in the village as coos is eaten usually for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In the beginning, I compared it to eating sand, but now I have come to like it more. For breakfast it is served as a porridge with sour milk (milk that sits out for 3-4 days unrefrigerated) and for lunch and dinner it is served dry with some sort of green leaf watery peanut sauce.

Everyday I would wake up and fall asleep to the sounds of pounding in the yard. This photo shows my host sister, Fatou, pounding coos in our compound. Pounding is tiring and I am very bad at it. Entertaining myself and my host sisters, I would always attempt, and this would end quickly in laughter at my lack of strength and technique.


My host family in training village was large with around 20-25 people. This picture is of three of my host sisters, Besso, Fatou, and Penda in front of my door. One of our first cultural assignments was to construct a family tree. This proved to be a very difficult task not only because of my low language level at that time but also because family terms and relations are different than in the US. For example, if you are a female, your sister's children are considered your own. It also seemed that people do not consider family terms often. If you are living in the compound, then you are family and you contribute to the compound through your work. There seems to be a constant influx and movement of family and living situations. Because families are so large, there are normally members living in Kombo or in other regions to go to school. There is the added element of polygamy as well. By the end of training village, which was about a month, I had some grasp on how everyone was related. One aspect of the Gambian culture that I truly appreciate is the constant interactions of different generations because they share the same living space. In my compound, the youngest was a one week old baby and the oldest was around 70.

This is my host brother, Alieu (13), and my host sister, Kumba (8) right outside of our compound. Alieu is in eighth grade and Kumba is in third grade. Note the donkey. The first week in village I was awakened every night by its braying outside my window. Life here is outside, people mainly use their houses to sleep. Not only are people constantly interacting with other people outside, but also with animals (chickens, goats, sheep), which are constantly roaming around.

Happy New Year!

Hello All!

I apologize for the delay in updating. I have not had access to internet the past month and it has taken me a few days to collect my thoughts over all that has happened the past month and a half. As I have mentioned to a few people, much here has now become familiar. The normalcy I feel, though a positive indicator of how much I am loving it, makes it difficult to describe things here. Therefore, I have picked a few poignant moments to share that will hopefully illuminate different aspects of life here and my life here. We only have a few days left of training and then we swear-in as official volunteers on January 8. We move to our permanent sites on January 11. Crazy how fast time moves, especially when the days here are so long.

I hope all is well with everyone. You survived the holiday craze! I hope your holidays were filled with much family time, delicious foods and warmth by a fire or bundled under blankets. It is very strange to think of snow right now, but I am envious on the hot afternoons.

This past week we all visited our permanent sites and then traveled back to Kombo, which is where I am now. I traveled with four other trainees from Basse (main urban center in the east of the country) to Kombo by taxi, ferry, and gelly gelly (old vans almost broken by the road conditions stuffed with people). The travel time was about 12 hours and went fairly smoothly, but I was feeling quite nauseous the whole time, possibly from food poisoining. Upon arriving to Kombo, we were all tired. But I rallied to check my email and began reading your notes, messages, and comments. They were incredibly positive and contained so much energy that the long day of travel was instantly forgotten about. Thank you all so much. They are very much appreciated. Jeff, I am so glad to become part of your daily routine. Maybe you can relay all of this to Nelson as he is sitting in your hot tub.

In The Gambia!

Hello All!

Thank you for checking out my blog. I have made it to The Gambia! Let me preface this post by saying it is a bit extensive because much has happened in the past week. Our group of 35 volunteers arrived to the Banjul Airport Thursday morning after 28 hours of travel. We are now stationed in the Kombo area, which is an urban center near the capital of Banjul, and have spent the past days attending intense training classes (language, cultural, safety and security) and going over Peace Corps expectations, goals, and service. And, not to mention, receiving many shots. Everything is very exciting, new, and challenging!

It is very surreal being here in Africa. I have read much about the continent and its various countries in school, but the experience is overpowering and ever potent. These are some initial reactions that have yet to be contextualized: The smells when stepping off of the plane were earthy and damp, but the ground is dry and sandy. The heat is very powerful. We feel not only the warmth in the air, but also from the Gambian people who have been extremely friendly and kind. Like in Vietnam, there are people outside: walking alongside the road, at markets, sitting on stools - talking. The goats mingle searching for food; they belong to someone but it is not clear who. Property rules seem to be very different with fewer set limits and demarcated boundaries.
The women are beautiful in their colorful clothing.

The individuals in the group range from ages 22-60 and there are three married couples. Half of the group is in the Health and Community Development sector, while the other half is in Agricultural and Forestry. We have been staying in the Peace Corps transit house and will be leaving today for our training villages where we will live for two months with a family to become introduced to the culture, learn and refine our educational and technical skills, and practice our designated languages. Due to the various ethnic groups in Gambia, our group has been divided into three different language groups. I will be learning and eventually speaking Pulaar fluently.

Our Gambian language and cultural facilitators have been great so far and will be accompanying us to our training villages. Each volunteer will live in a family compound and there will be 2-3 other volunteers in each of the villages. I am very excited to move to the rural part of the country. At the same time, it is a little nerve-racking imagining being in the village, spending much time with the homestay family and having very little in terms of communication skills. But I am sure many laughs and smiles will be shared over my inability to wash clothes in buckets, draw water from the well, and eat from a communal bowl with only my right hand.

If all goes well during training these next few months, we will swear in as official volunteers on January 8th. From there, we will move to our village sites, which are unknown to us right now, and begin our community assesments and projects, which are also unknown to us.

I will hopefully be able to keep you updated on my adventures in The Gambia fairly frequently as I will have internet access probably once a month. However, I will probably not have access to internet during the two months in our training village so I will write next when I am an official Peace Corps Volunteer!

I would love love to hear from you all if you get the chance. You can send me snail mail or an email at fagudabrown@gmail.com. Keep me posted on everything, even mundane things that you may not seem interesting! I love and miss you all.

Also, I almost forgot, for those of you interested in any bumster updates... (Bumsters are young Gambian men who "service" older European women on vacation in the country. Older European women are their specialty, but they will go after any white women. They are a large part of the sex tourism business in country). The area where we are stationed right now is only a 10 minute walk from the coast so we have been going to the beach daily. The bumsters are out in full force. We have been warned many times by Peace Corps staff (Gambians and Americans) about these young men. As a female, if you go to the beach alone, you will be harassed constantly by them. Though annoying and the situation is sad, they are very very funny to watch because they work out all day long on the beach with their dreadlocks bouncing. This includes air boxing, swimming, jumping jacks, running, squats, tae bo, etc. While at the beach this weekend, one bumster positioned himself only a few feet away from our towels and started doing push-ups, which was then followed by wind sprints.

Can't wait to hear from you all!