Daily Life in Jali

Dear Mom & Dad, Feb 25th, 2007 (arrived March 2nd)

Well, hopefully by now, you’ve received all 52 pages of that last monstrosity. Not entirely sure what came over me, but as you have seen I got a little carried away in my retelling. Who knows, maybe I’ll have to make a book about this experience when I get back- put together from the many pages of letters I think you’re going to receive over the next 2 years.

So, now almost 7 weeks have gone by since I finished training, and it feels like I just got here. I wonder if time will always pass this quickly, or if this is just a function of my recent arrival and attempts at adjusting to Jali. Things continue to go very well, although this does vary considerably from one hour to another. I’m really enjoying my freedom here, I can essentially do whatever I want, but as you know, in my case this involves working- a lot. I’ve got more projects then I know what to do with, and every day it seems I agree to help one more person build a Mud stove or start a dry season garden. Speaking of which, my garden is essentially finished, all I need to do is transplant my nursery when the time comes, and sow the rest of the bed after I return from my visit to Sharon.

My house now is about completed, I still have some shelving to build and some maps to hang, and a desk I want to build, but you won’t even recognize it from the first set of pictures, when you come to visit. I’ve painted it, put up curtains and door-hangings, I’ve constructed a nice little kitchen area, and my backyard is looking really good- Lots of growing going on out there. Just so you know, the packages you sent have been great- the maps were wonderful + beautiful, the yoga book, while cheesy, is actually really good and I practice Yoga every day (I run on the others). The hummus is delicious, and the protein powder makes a nice edition to my oatmeal in the mornings. All the vitamins, toothpaste, and Burtis Bees and batteries you sent were great too. I have yet to receive the package with the battery charger and towel, but I’m assuming that will come next mail run.

We’ll have to discuss your visit somewhere over the next couple months. I’m excited to end 3 months-challenge, so I can start exploring African-Gambia doesn’t have much to offer in terms of sightseeing, or hiking, or really, anything for that matter, we can talk about it over the phone, but if you two want, we can spend a couple days in Gambia, and then travel to another much more interesting piece of Africa. Anyway, that’s a ways from now, so we can discuss it then.
In the meantime, I have to figure out who will water my garden while I’m gone for only 3 days, to visit Sharon. (I’m not supposed to spend the night outside of site- but if they think they can treat me like a child in tat respect, then I’ll just have to sneak around their backs like a child would do). I think of you two a lot, every day, and I can’t help wondering what you are doing, or what you are eating for dinner. Ahh, good food. Can’t wait for my garden to be ready. Tell everyone I said hello, and apologize for my lack of corresponding to anyone other than you, but until I get caught up with my writing to you, I won’t be sending any other letters out-52 pages is plenty I think. Enough chit- chat, time to get back to my long narration…. Actually , I think I’ll run you through a typical day for me in Jali first.

7:15 to 7:30 AM- Wake up to the sounds of donkeys braying, rooster crowing, goats and sheet making whatever God awful noise it is they make and women pounding rice or coos. I’ve tried on occasion to sleep in, but noise or guilt always rouses me before 8 AM. Morning here during the cool season are really pleasant and cool. The sun rises around 7:10 AM and doesn’t truly become “hot” until around 9:30 AM.

7:45 to 9:00 AM- Greet my family and then go for a run/do push-ups and sit-ups or do yoga. If I’m doing yoga, there are usually one curious pair of eyes peeking in wondering what the hell I’m doing. Sometimes Binki, my one armed aunt brings cassava or sweet potato from her garden for a morning snack.

9:00 to 10:00 AM- After the morning exercise I sweep my home and take a bucket bath, loving the cold, refreshing water. Then I listen to BBC on the shortwave and cook breakfast and drink my tea or coffee or “African Bush Tea” made from the leaves of the siisiila naamo ( mosquito grass) with some other goodness thrown in to vary it a bit.

10:00 to 10:30 AM-Water my nursery bed, seed boxes, backyard garden, papaya tree and main garden. After watering I consolidate and empty all my bidongs ( essentially old 5 gallon plastic vegetable oil containers with a lid and a handle) into my bath bucket or drinking water bucket so they are ready to be re-filled.

10:30 to 11:00 AM- Pump water and carry it back to my house. Currently, I need 6 bidongs a day for drinking, bathing and watering my garden which means 3 trips to the pump ( I carry one in each hand to balance)- its about 200 yards away, and I can just make it to my doorstep before my fingers give out. Right now, I’m only using a third of my garden’s available space. I’ve planned 1 and a half small beds and have my compost pit for water. I’m waiting to plant the rest until after I visit Sharon. I don’t want my host mothers to have to carry all that water. I’m estimating that I’m going to need to pump and carry between 14 and 16 bidongs a day when my garden reaches full capacity- that’s 70 to 80 gallons of water. I ‘m hoping that my family will help a bit, of course, since they’ll be eating the food too, but who knows. I think, however, that its fairly safe to say I won’t be needing to do any pushups soon.

11:00 to 3:00 PM-I’ll usually do any number of projects during this time, but I try to do my physical work now, as it gets really damn hot around 2:30. On days I go to the bush, I’ll leave around 9AM and come back around 2:30 PM.

3:00 to 3:30 PM –Lunch- almost always rice but sometimes coos ( not cous-cous) with some sort of sauce- peanut sauce, green leaf sauce or onion oil sauce. It tastes really good, but is usually lacking protein.

3:30 to 6:00 PM- Again, usually work on a number of projects: writing, fixing up the house, going for a “stroll” through the village, visiting the school, making a mud stove, etc.

6:30 to 7:00 PM-Water my garden again, and if needed, fetch more water. Sweep house again- it loves to collect dust, and grass seeds fall all the time. Sunset at 7ish.
7:00 to 9:30 PM- Bathe and enjoy the now-cool air, eat a pre-dinner snack-usually a can of sardine ( which have become my protein staple- and they’re delicious) and an orange or grapefruit from Nick’s family’s orchard in Janneh Kunda.

7:30 to 8:00 PM- Hang out with my family on the bantaba, look at the stars, chat, read.

8:30 PM- Dinner, always rice with a sauce.

8:30 to 10:00 PM Hang out with family more, chat, read, etc.

10:00 PM- Go inside my house, write in journal, read, or sleep –usually asleep by 11:00 PM.

Nick and I had decided long before, that we would go to the beach immediately after dropping off our things at the PC transit house. Sharon had arrived that morning, and it was absolutely wonderful to see her again. After laughing quietly to ourselves at the throng of people sprawled out in front of the TV, the three of us set off for the beach. The waves were terrible for bodysurfing, but the water felt absolutely amazing after the long journey. That night we each had a double order of Cassava and beans from a small restaurant around the corner from the PC house and COLD beer. Delicious. Over the next few days the three of us avoided the Stodge (PC transit house)as much as possible. The atmosphere there is rather strange. The TV is on 24 hours a day and the majority of people simply plunk themselves down in front of it and spend the day on one of the couches. I also had the feeling that some of the other volunteers didn’t think we should be there, since we were supposed to be on “3 month challenge.” Anyway, it worked out well. Sharon and I stayed at a friend’s place in Kombo, and Nick stayed at a nice house his Caradian friends were housesitting.

It is definitely one of the strangest Christmases I’ve ever had, and despite all the tacky, but fun, decorations at the Stodge, it did not feel like Christmas whatsoever. That being said, we all had a really great time. A bunch of us AgFo volunteers went out to dinner on Christmas Eve to a tourist bar renowned in Peace Corps circles for their good steaks and cheap beer. The steaks were indeed delicious, and the beer was plentiful and cold, but it was no match for Prime Rib and Yorkshire Pudding. Ahh well, I’ll be eating my fill of that in 2 years or so. Sharon and I had a wonderful time together, played a lot of cards, went for walks on the beach and had a really nice Christmas dinner at our friend’s apartment. The time flew by, and before we knew it, we had to say goodbye again and go back to our sites, on opposite sides of the river.

Seeing Nick’s garden in his backyard really inspired me, so I immediately set to work building my own garden set up. Unfortunately, my backyard is about a quarter the size of Nick’s, so I had to search for other opportunities. Initially, I dug a bed in the small fenced-in garden abutting my house. The soil here is extremely compacted, hard as a rock, and it took a lot of work just to dig the one bed. Because the soil is so hard, and water retention such an important asset to a garden, a technique called “double –digging” is used to improve plants and penetration and the beds water retaining abilities. This involves digging down approximately 12 inches to the bottom of the topsoil, and setting it aside for later use in the compost. Then the topsoil is placed back in the bed, so the soil sits below the surface of the surrounding earth. Unfortunately, due to poor planning on my part, I realized that the bed would receive almost no sunlight, due to its proximity to two mango trees. Unabashed, I decided to use the bed as a nursery from which my ever-expanding hypothetical garden would be launched. Now all I needed was a suitable, fenced-in area in which to put it.

Locating such an area turned out to be rather difficult. Jali is littered with the skeletal remains of what once must have been a substantial number of gardens. Old dilapidated fences can be found all over the village, protecting what are now barren patches of land with a few scattered grasses. Unfortunately, all the fences were just that, dilapidated, and couldn’t possibly keep out the roaming herds of hungry sheep and goats. Initally, I thought of fixing up the fence that encircles my family’s “kajkajo” ( essentially a mini field for growing cassava and corn during the rainy season). However, once I began to actually begin the repair process, I quickly realized that it would be 3 months before I had the fence in a condition that would allow me to plant my garden. After a number of discussions with Lamin and Fatoumata , it was decided that Fatoumata and I would fence off one corner of the field that still had a decent outer fence. This meant that we only had to build two sides of the fence. Now, I use “only “ her rather subjectively, because, as you are to find out, it took a LOT of work to make that fence.

Monday Feb. 19th, 2007
So, as you can see, I got a little ambitious once again with my letter writing, and am unable to finish my narration in time for mail run, which comes tomorrow. The fact is, I’ve been INCREDIBLY busy- I know almost every other volunteer will shake their heads in disbelief ( as they already have several times), but I ‘ve gotten a ridiculous number of projects I’m working on. This is not a bad thing, mind you, I find that staying busy makes like much more enjoyable here- it gives me a purpose and a drive. This is not something to be taken lightly, its very easy to get caught up in feeling of hopelessness or be overwhelmed by how much needs to be done here- especially when you are plunked down in a foreign village and are told to find your own work.

I have also decided to abandon the narrative at this point, for several reasons. 1. I’ve been too busy to keep it up. 2. I’ve been writing the daily happenings in my journal.
3. Perhaps, most importantly, now that I’ve somewhat adjusted to village life, and have settled in for the “3 month challenge” pretty much the same things happen every day. I live in a small African village 25 km from the main road, and not a lot goes on out here that would really interest you all enough to keep a narrative going. Instead, I’ll just highlight the more interesting bits, and give you a general overview of what I’ve been up to. Hopefully, this will also take the burden off of Mom’s typing.

Of all the projects I’m working on, the garden is by far the most time-consuming, requiring a minimum of 3 hours of work every day. I got a little carried away--- at the start I wasn’t planning on having such an extensive garden. However, when my host father, Lamin, marked out a rather large area for the garden, I couldn’t resist the thought of all the veggies I would be eating and enthusiastically agreed. The area is about 30 ft. x 25 ft., and as I mentioned earlier, had a fence on 2 sides, so I had to build the other two. It was initially going to be a joint project between Fatoumata and me , but once she realized that I was fully capable of doing the work ( yes the whole stigma that Toubabs cannot do manual labor still persists to this day, even though I’ve shown them many times that I know what I’m doing) it quickly became my project, as Fatoumata busied herself with other work. To be honest, I didn’t mind, it gave me the opportunity to have a project of my own and gave me a little peace and quiet. I would turn the shortwave on the BBC and build fence all day.

Being that Jali doesn’t have anything remotely resembling a hardware store , I had to build the fence from materials in the bush. The first step was to get fence posts. Over the course of 2 days I cut about 60 eight ft. fence posts from “wooro” trees, ( yes, the same on whose leaves make good emergency TP), and carried them back from the bush on my head ( just like the Gambians). I had a very sore neck for a couple days afterward since my neck is not used to carrying all that weight, but I had to try it. It certainly is easier that carrying them in your arms if you have to walk a long way. Trust me, I tried that, first, and my arms gave out after a kilometer. Once I had all my fence posts, I dug the post-holes with a metal rock bar and my hands, and sunk the posts so there was about one foot between each pole. That took another couple days. I headed back into the bush to cart “tomboo “ branches to use for cross pieces. They are very straight, very long, flexible, and very strong and excellent cross bars. In order to tie the cross pieces to the fence posts I needed to make a bunch of rope. Lamin and I went back to the bush and found a number of “farm” shrubs that Gambians use to make rope. We cut the long central branch at the base, stripped off the extra branches and leaves, then split it in two from the top. Once it was split, we were able to pull off the outer bark. Once we had enough long strips of the bark, we tied them in balls and brought them back to soak in water overnight. The next day, Lamin and I tied up the fence- 2 crosspieces on top, 2 on bottom, so that the woo or gap between the 2 crosspieces on top and bottom, through which to run semi thorny branches called “barumbaram” : The barumbaram turned out to be rather difficult to find, and somewhat difficult to carry from the bush, so after several trips, I switched to harvesting mosquito grass-“ suusuula naamo.” It’s made for much easier harvesting and carrying, but because it didn’t have any thorns, I had to use a lot more of it to make an impenetrable barriers. The harvesting and threading of the branches took 2 or 3 days, and there was once more step yet. Lamin informed me that I needed to surround the outside of the fence with “tomborng “ a very thorny, very difficult bush, to prevent goats from damaging the fence. I spent another 2 days, harvesting tomborong and very carefully carrying it back on my head- and not once did I escape harvesting tomborong without some sort of injury. The thorns are both curved and straight and make handling very difficult.

The fence alone took 8 days to build, and then I had to plan out where to site the beds and compost pits to make the best use of the space. Then I spent another week digging all the beds, and setting aside the dirt to use in compost. I also collected about 4 fifty kilograms rice bags or cow manure that I pounded into powder with a large mortar and pestle, to spread over the beds as fertilizer. I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Now that everything is ready, and all the beds are planted I have the pleasure of working the damn thing- morning and evening. Between the 6 beds, the compost pit, the trees and nursery in my backyard, plus bathing water and drinking water, I need to pump and haul 14 bidongs a day. Bidongs are 5 gallon containers for carrying oil. That’s 70 gallons every day! It’s exhausting, and eats up three hours every day, plus all the maintenance I have to do: building shade structures, fixing the plants from the nursery, and replanting. It’s becoming a little taxing, but when I start eating some of the goodness I’ve planted, it’ll be worth it. Here’s what I have to look forward to: Roma tomatoes, carrots, red onions, lettuce, big-slicing tomatoes, green peppers, sugar snap peas, eggplant, okra, pumpkin, cucumber, green beans, sorrel leaves, maringa leaves ( basically like a ridiculously vitamin, mineral, and protein packed into mini-spinach leaf), melons, fresh beans, basil and garlic. Needless to say, my food bowl is going to be rocking here soon!!

I’m working on a orchard project at the Jali Lower Basic school. The Headmaster and I are setting up a mango orchard, cashew orchard and citrus orchard that will be started from one large tree nursery near the existing garden. This also sets us up nicely for the county-wide tree nursery completion for schools that aims to encourage the growth and care of seedlings that can later be transplanted in the community to try to re-forest the surrounding area, generate income for the schools, and teach the children about the environment. I’m also working with 3 other schools in the surrounding area on their nurseries for the competition. I’m basically supervising the competition for this region. I’ve also started work on a grant to be used for the womens’ garden in Jali. This is currently a semi-fenced-in space that is only used in the rainy season since there’s no access to water. I’m seeking funding to dig 9 wells and re-fence the area so women can garden in the dry season, when many people don’t have work. I’m also looking for funding to fence a proposed fruit orchard nearer the village. This spot already has wells, but needs a fence. So, like I said, busy, but happy.

I’d love to write more but it’s midnight and I’m exhausted. Unfortunately, mail run comes tomorrow, so you’ll have to wait another stinking month to get the next letter. I’ll make the next one more personal- and I’ll tell you all about Sharon’s upcoming visit to Jali- AS MY WIFE! I think I already told you I had to tell everyone she is my wife so I wouldn’t run into trouble having her here- but now it’s becoming this huge event. The arrival of Aliyn’s wife!! It should prove to be VERY interesting…details to come…

Oh, its also starting to heat up too – the afternoon sun is ridiculous now, very, very hot. Time to invest in a solar-powered fan!! I think about you both all the time, and have contemplated calling it quits many times- sometimes it seems like a waste of time being here, but other times I’d rather not be anywhere else. Definitely a roller coaster ride of emotions, luckily mostly on the positive side. “Anger management” is a big issue- its hard sometimes to not let everything get to you- I understand now why parents beat their children here so much. They basically are someone my age with a family of one, two, or three wives, 7 children, no money and no work. They’re pretty damn stressed out. Even I want to kick the kids sometimes ( though I restrain myself). Anyway, LIFE IS GOOD.

Love you both very, very much!!! Can’t wait to have you over here! Get ready for an eye-opener.

ROB


P.S. Tell everyone I say Hi- especially Maggie, Chris, Stacy, Joe and the kids. I will get around to writing them here someday.

P.P.S. – I got a letter postmarked Jan. 10th and one marked Nov. 17 on the same day when I was in Kombo and Sharon just got a package from October 2005!!! A bit unreliable I’d say! Love you!

(Typing credit must be given to Aunt Paula Severe