As I said Kairaba is the main drag through Toubob land, aka Fajara. This gives you a little idea of what the good roads are like. There is one lane in each direction but as you can see there is nothing resembling curbs and sidewalks. When I walk to the Peace Corps office, I walk on the side of the road as you can see people doing in the picture. This can be a dicey proposition here because pedestrians definitely do not have the right of way here. If one of the taxis wants to pick up or let off passengers they just zoom into the roadside and you had better move out of their way. I regularly curse them but not in a voice that they can hear.
The pictures below are of the Peace Corps contingent in the parade. We did not have that many people but we had a good banner. The woman on the right hand side of the picture with glasses is Lindsay Roe. She is a third year volunteer who spent the last year at the UN. Unfortunately for me, she will be going back to the US in March. She is smart as a whip and a tough act to follow.
I included another picture below to show you the PCV who is a vet who retired after a career as a zoo vet in Philadelphia and did a stint as a PCV in Samoa before doing another in The Gambia. She is the grey haired woman in the middle of the second row. Unfortunately she went back to the US last Saturday. I also wanted to call attention to the woman in front of the banner with the camera around her neck. She is in charge of visibility (aka PR) for the WFP at the UN. You can't quite tell it from the picture but she is a real fashionista. She is tall to begin with and wears a variety of towering heels in the office. She is always perfectly accessorized and wears a variety of Gambian and US fashion. I am a little jealous since I have never had the knack for fashion. She is applying to a masters program in Windsor, Ontario so we may not have her around for much longer. As you probably may have figured out her family does have money.
I included another picture below to show you the PCV who is a vet who retired after a career as a zoo vet in Philadelphia and did a stint as a PCV in Samoa before doing another in The Gambia. She is the grey haired woman in the middle of the second row. Unfortunately she went back to the US last Saturday. I also wanted to call attention to the woman in front of the banner with the camera around her neck. She is in charge of visibility (aka PR) for the WFP at the UN. You can't quite tell it from the picture but she is a real fashionista. She is tall to begin with and wears a variety of towering heels in the office. She is always perfectly accessorized and wears a variety of Gambian and US fashion. I am a little jealous since I have never had the knack for fashion. She is applying to a masters program in Windsor, Ontario so we may not have her around for much longer. As you probably may have figured out her family does have money.
The woman behind the banner in the black skirt and black tennis shoes with white laces is a UN volunteer from the US. She was born and raised in the US but her family is from the Gambia. She lived in the Gambia for a couple of years when she was younger so she speaks fluent Wolof. She gave me a ride to work one day and pointed out the various ocean front homes that her uncle owns for his various wives. Needless to say her uncle is wealthy. She and I worked at a urban food distribution one day (probably need to write about that one) and it was fun to watch her in action. I am jealous of her language abilities but not jealous enough to work hard to attain the same skills.
Our parade march down the road about a mile to a local soccer stadium. At one point there was road work so we took up the entire road. I loved being the one to make the taxis move rather than vice versa. At the stadium there was a little speechifying and then we sat down to wait for the speaker and food that never arrived. Catering is not the most dependable thing here.
The final picture is one that the visibility woman took of all the UN volunteers who made the march. I think this is the only picture I have with my cast on. I had been wearing my white sling which is actually covering most of the cast in the picture. The cast itself was wrapped with an ace bandage since the doctor made the cast in two pieces and then wrapped gauze over the wet plaster to keep it together. It made it easy to remove the cast but the gauze was a dirt magnet so I usually kept the ace bandage over it. Once the picture was taken a UN driver came and whisked us back to work.
Our parade march down the road about a mile to a local soccer stadium. At one point there was road work so we took up the entire road. I loved being the one to make the taxis move rather than vice versa. At the stadium there was a little speechifying and then we sat down to wait for the speaker and food that never arrived. Catering is not the most dependable thing here.
The final picture is one that the visibility woman took of all the UN volunteers who made the march. I think this is the only picture I have with my cast on. I had been wearing my white sling which is actually covering most of the cast in the picture. The cast itself was wrapped with an ace bandage since the doctor made the cast in two pieces and then wrapped gauze over the wet plaster to keep it together. It made it easy to remove the cast but the gauze was a dirt magnet so I usually kept the ace bandage over it. Once the picture was taken a UN driver came and whisked us back to work.
Rindi,
ReplyDeleteLove reading your posts. As I read your stories, I cannot but admire you more than I ever did. You are a brave woman and a true inspiration. Keep up the great work and I hope to talk to you soon.