It's Ba-a-a-ck

Rainy season in the Gambia definitely is definitely back.  It was slow getting started, but once it got going it has been doing its best to make up for the slow start.  There are some paved roads in The Gambia, but the majority of them are sandy dirt.  Rain can really wreck havoc with them, creating channels and pot holes that make car travel interesting to say the least but sometimes even walking can be difficult.  The pictures I have attached were taken from the corner nearest to my compound. In addition to the water it also shows the way that compounds in the city are configured.  None of the grassy spaces of Mariama Kunda (my training village) but one compound after another with adjoining walls. The other pictures are the other roads from the corner.  As you can see there is water, a lot of water.  Since I came with the education group, they trained us in the summer before the next school year started.  Because of this I will have the privilege of experiencing 3 rainy seasons.  There is one good thing about the rain though.  By the end of October you just get the sun without any cloud cover and it is bloody hot.  The rain at least keeps temperatures to tolerable levels.

The girl below is the daughter of the bitek owner on my corner.  Her name is Bintu and she is rather fascinated with good ol' toubob Rindi.  I included the picture because #1 she is such a cutie but also because you kinda get a long distance glance at my compound in the background. If you look behind her you can see double red doors above her left shoulder which are doors to a garage, the beginning of the compound. Then you see a brownish horizontal streak in the background above the middle of her head.  That streak is a beam above the entrance to the compound. She is leaning on one of the doors to the bitek, behind which is stacked bags of charcoal. These are not briquettes, but charcoal that villagers have made themselves by burying slow burning wood which is a source of income for them. Many city dwellers still cook their food over charcoal the same way they did in Mariama Kunda.

The following picture is not a rainy picture but shows that there is an up side to the rainy season -- The Gambia turns green again.  I was in Region 2 a couple of weeks ago and took a picture from an upstairs window.  Everywhere you looked you saw the green of growing crops, often with women tending to them, bending straight over from the waist (ouch!). If you zoom in you can see a group of them.

Spiders in Tanzania

There were many sights Stone Town  that I might get around to sharing someday.  However the one thing they had that definitely caught my eye was giant spiders (at least in comparison to US spiders).

The first one that I saw was in Stone Town, the oldest settlement on Zanzibar.  We were walking along when I spotted a spider in the middle of his/her web and decided it was photo op time.  The result is below. A person passing by told me to watch out, that it was a black widow.  However I doubt it since I have never heard about them being large.  I have yet to Google images of black widows but I will if I remember.

After shooting this picture I walked about 50 feet further and there was another one just as big hanging out in the middle of another web but I passed up the this opportunity.
Two days later at my hotel, I came across two more big spiders in the same web.  The first picture below is another closeup of one of the spiders.  He was just as evil looking as the one in Stone Town

The next picture is not so close up so that you can see both big spiders, but if you zoom into the picture you can see a much smaller version of the type of spider farther down in the picture.  There were even smaller babies in the web but I did not get them in the picture.  You can also get an idea of the size of these guys by their size in relation to the leaves in the picture.  I am just glad that they did not decide to come and visit me in my hotel room.

The Masai in Tanzania

The Masai are very visible in Tanzania.  They are cattle owners much like the Fulas in The Gambia. But unlike the Fulas, the Masai actually do herd the cattle rather than allow them to be free range.  The Masai also really do wear the brightly colored Masai blankets that you have probably seen in pictures of Africa. As we drove through the countryside you could see them taking their herds of cattle to the water holes, wearing their blankets and holding a long pole used in herding. One day we passed some young men who had recently gone through the manhood rites and stopped for a photo op. The young men are taken away by the elders and are taught the ways of men and are also circumcised. If the young man shows pain or cries out during the circumcision, it brings shame upon his family.  This is also true of the manhood rites in The Gambia. However for the Masai, the newly initiated young men must wear black robes and white face paint for 3 months after they finish their manhood rites. It is an interesting difference when their clothing is usually so colorful.

The second park we went to, Nogorongoro Crater is national conservancy.  No one can hunt the animals but herding is allowed on the within the park.  So in addition to all of the wild animals there were also herds of cattle.  We paid an entrance fee to go into a Masai village and it was an eye opening experience.  First they met us wearing all of their finery and sang and danced. You can see from the background of the pictures that the country is rather harsh. Since they are herders they are plagued by flies.  If you look at the little girl hanging onto her mother in picture,  you can see all of the flies that are crawling on her.

The women create elaborate items from bead work the results of which you can see in the pictures.

The women are also the ones who build the homes.  The next 2 pictures are of a woman hard at work on her new home.  She created a framework of sticks and then is covering it with mud and cow dung.  (probably part of the reason for all the flies)

The picture below is a view from the outside view showing the Masai women hanging around with homes in the background.  They are sitting the way that I have seen women sitting in The Gambia -- with their legs straight out and their bodies at right angles to their legs.  I could do that for about 3 seconds before I would quit and yet they are quite comfortable.

As part of our visit an English speaking Masai man took us into his home.  He is taller than I am but  the houses are all built less than an adult's height so I had to stoop.  He described the home as having 3 rooms and a main area.  One room  was for sticks, one room was for the children to sleep and the other area was for him and his wife to sleep. The main area was for cooking and congregating and had the only window, a round hole about the size of a softball.

 This is the view of the window.  

His sleeping area

The chidren's sleeping area

The kitchen.  The window is distorted in the picture, it is much smaller than that.

Here is another outside view of houses to show what the entrance looks like.  I had to stoop to go in and the entrance was full of flies.

After showing us his house he brought us to his family's part of the "market" which had things for sale that his wife had created. I felt embarrassed because I had left my money in the car so I could not buy anything.

The last stop on our trip was a visit to the school.  The children were peeking out the door awaiting our arrival but when they saw us coming they dashed to their seats and sang a welcoming song.  I don't thing school is actually in session in August, but they were requesting donations for their school.  As you can see from the pictures they definitely need the money. There is plastic sheeting in the ceiling but unfortunately as you can see there is also a big hole in the ceiling. Older children actually go to government boarding school at the government expense.  

What was written on the blackboard. Going to school in Africa makes American classrooms look like palaces.

It is interesting to see how they live.  Most of their net worth is on the hoof and the homes are relatively temporary.  As you can see not much is required to pull up stakes and move if the water holes dry up. Water is a precious resource. There are no wells or cisterns in their village, so washing clothes and bathing is done in the same water holes their cattle use. I often wonder about the accident of birth gives some so much and others so little. Hopefully I will come home with a real appreciation of all that I have.

Amazing vacation

I have wanted to go on a safari for years and years and finally did.  I was afraid that it would not live up to my expectations but it exceeded them. Tanzania is a beautiful country and we saw so many animals. I should have known it would be good when our driver/guide introduced himself as Good Luck, which is his actual name.  It was just the two of us (a woman from the UN and myself)  and Good Luck in our car so we could run back and forth to see everything without disturbing anyone else.  The safari vehicles are good for that  You are not allowed to get out of the car so the whole top of the car lifts up and you can stand and take pictures to your heart's content.

Wildebeasts and zebras were among the first animals that we saw.  We had missed the migration but we had not missed the wildebeasts.

Our first lion encounter turned out to be the most memorable.  I just happened to turn on the video and captured something unexpected.

Apparently during the mating season the lions get up every 15 to 20 minutes to procreate.  I did not capture the female rolling around on her back after their very brief interlude.  The guide told us that the king of beasts is not the king in all areas and the lioness has to roll over on her back to ensure that the sperm gets where it needs to.

We saw many, many elephants and I have some nice elephant pictures but I thought I would post this one to show how close we got to them.  Good luck said that the elephants have really bad vision and that is probably the explanation for this lady's behavior.  She walked right next to the vehicle rather than crossing in front of it.  I was looking down on her when I took this picture.  If I had been sitting rather than standing in the vehicle and rolled the window down I could have touched her.

We saw many baboons and they always came in a parade.  The monkeys and the baboons amazed me with their human like hands.  They could pick up the tiniest things -- just like humans though I think a tad more wild.

The Serengeti was so beautiful especially in the early morning light. The acacia trees are so graceful.

Wart hogs were Good Luck's favorite animal.  He had an "I Love Warthogs" sticker on the window. I have to admit that they were kind of cute in their own ugly way but were very skittish.  I opened the curtains in my hotel room and was face to face with a wart hog.  However by the time I grabbed my camera for a closeup he was dashing away.

Hippos lead the good life.  They have no predators so can be as lazy as they want.  They have no natural way to cool off so during the day they lounge in pools of water, throwing mud on their back with their tails and make grunting noises.  At night when the temperature drops they get out of the pools. Hippos kill more people than any other beast in Africa.  Here you can see just a few of them during the daytime.

We were fortunate in our leopard sightings.  I was having serious camera envy with the leopards since I only had my little digital camera and saw plenty of people with giant lenses on the SLR type cameras. Good Luck said that he normally saw leopards on one out of 5 safaris.  We thought we had seen fiveleopards on our trip but when I put my pictures on my computer, I realized we had actually seen seven. Three of them were in one sitting.  None of the 3 of us realized it while we were watching.  We just focused on the one on the lower branch and never saw the two above it. This is the best picture my little camera could get.

I will end the animals as I began with the king of beasts. They were usually slinking around or sleeping in the brush.  But sometimes we saw them on giant monoliths that are scattered around the Serengeti so no brush to obscure the view of them.  Here was a sleepy guy hanging around on the top of a rock.

         Here is another guy hanging around on top and under a rock.

Saw many more animals, all of the "Big 5", and it was truly amazing.  If any of you are thinking about it, save those pennies, it is worth it.

The craziest part of the entire trip was on the way out.  We left Zanzibar late due to "operational reasons".  We did not make the next flight because they overbooked the plane and there was only one seat left.  Then the next flight was late due to "operational reasons".  We were not too nervous because we were leaving later in the day for our next flight.  However one of the ground crew told us that the "operational reasons" were that the airport was on fire in Nairobi.  Since we were supposed to be flying to that airport in the evening we were a little concerned.  Two days and many dollars later we made an evening flight that was the first flight on which they allowed passengers with connecting flights to go to Nairobi. We had almost paid for tickets with Ethiopian airlines to go home through Ethiopia two days later but luckily they were not able to confirm us yet so no money changed hands. Once we arrived in Nairobi it was crazy.  All of the things they normally did for international arrivals and departures were all done in big tents.  It was the first night for through flights so things were pretty chaotic.  Everyone was trying to get to 5 agents using laptops to get boarding passes and let us say that it was not done with orderly queues.  Elbows were necessary. I also ended up paying $20.00 for a transit visa I did not need because they did not tell me to exit through the side of the tent.  But we did got out on the first flight to Dakar the next morning and made it home only 2 days late. I have been held up on flights for a lot of reasons, but the airport burning down is a new one and I certainly hope it remains a unique event for me.

Below is picture of just a third of the tent.   The heater is because it was cold but I was not complaining knowing I was going back to The Gambia.

 View of some of the tents from the airplane as we were leaving.

Vacation Coming

I leave on vacation soon for Tanzania and Zanzibar.  This is the cooler time of the year there and it is hot here so I am definitely looking forward to that. I will also miss the last half of Ramadan.  I am going on  a safari all through Tanzania and then relaxation on the beautiful beaches in Zanzibar. Unfortunately, due to limited connections it is taking me 3 days to get there and 3 days to get back.

I did buy a new camera yesterday.  I just could not see photographing the animals with an Iphone or Ipad.  I paid too much for it, but it is not like I had time to order one from the US. The manual that came with the camera was bogus, but luckily there was a much better one online that I downloaded. So lions and wildebeasts I am ready for you.

Stay tuned for the adventures of Rindi in East Africa.

Basketball in The Gambia -- What??

As most of you probably know, I am not a big sports fan.  However one of the volunteers from my group, Justin,  is a huge basketball fan who loves coaching basketball.  He actually was able to form a national Gambian team and had a tournament with The Gambia, Mauitania and Senegal.  The Gambian team had only been in existence for 4 days but held their own their own with Mauritania.  Senegal apparently is a perennial powerhouse and cleaned the other two teams clocks.  Justin's nominal title with the team is Technical Director but he is the coach for all intents and purposes.

Justin's main Peace Corps project this year has been a  basketball clinic and tournament for senior secondary students in the Banjul area.  This was held at the stadium complex that houses a big football (soccer for you American types) stadium with a small basketball walled in basketball court and another one enclosed by a chain link fence.  The national team's games were played in the walled in (but not roofed) court. It has a concrete floor and watching them fall to the ground looked painful.  The football stadium is pretty large -- I would estimate about 35000, but I really don't know.   The picture below was taken on the first morning when one team showed up but the others had not come yet.  This was the basketball arena in which the national team played.  I think it gives a view of the importance of basketball in The Gambia.  

I helped Justin with registration on the days that the teams played and it was interesting watching the challenges involved.  Americans are used to things starting on time so it can be frustrating to deal with people who don't have that expectation.  The first day the teams were supposed to arrive by 8:30 am.  One school was there and ready to play on time but  most of the kids arrived at around 10:00.  Justin had a few words about his expecations going forward which helped a lot but things will never start right on time here. The money to finance the tournament was grant money from the Aides and Teen Pregnancy Prevention programs.  So part of each day for the kids was going through training on those subjects.  All of the kids took a pre-test so that their improvement could be measured.  Justin also arranged for free HIV testing to be done at the stadium and at the American Corner, a site sponsored by the American Embassy that has a lot or learning resources,computers and free internet for the kids there. The Gambia's HIV/AIDS rate is low compared to many countries in Africa but is climbing and is much higher than the US. Unfortunately we just found out last week that the United Nations is closing the UNAIDS office here.  I went on a trek with the UNAIDS country officer last week and it was sad. 

Back to the tournament.-- part of Justin's motivation has been to light a fire for basketball in The Gambia, and in addition to boys, he had a girl's bracket for his tournament.  He managed to get girl's teams for all of the schools except one. The level of play for both boys and girls was enthusiastic.  They made some good moves on the court but the shooting left a lot to be desired.  But these are not schools with high school gyms so there are not a lot of places to practice. Justin's goal is to field a junior national team, but I think he will find that a little more difficult than forming the national team. Speaking of the national team, they acted as instructors and they were the highlight for Justin.  They were always on time and worked really well with the kids.  They even had a group of cheerleaders for the finals.   The pictures below are of a cheerleader practice.  I got a kick out of the practice because the boys had come up with the routines and were teaching them to the girls.  In the background you can get a little better view of the football stadium.  As you can tell football is a little more important here.

However, the big finals fell a little flat.  One of the girl's teams just failed to show up.  We waited an hour and a half for them and finally gave up since the boys' game was scheduled to start. Naturally the girls team that had showed up wanted the trophy.  I think it broke Justin's heart to give it to them for just showing up but he caved.  Then, just as the game was ready to start, it started raining. Luckily it was just a short shower and the pavement was so hot that it only took 5 minutes to dry so the game did get started and a championship was won.  I haven't begun to detail all of the other issues that came up but I will say Justin was very happy to see it over and done with.  He had many lessons learned (or learnt as they say in Great Britain) and will do it again next year.

The pictures I have here are my only pictures of the whole event because I managed to lose my camera last week on my trek.  I can't even go back to the places where I might have left it. I had not downloaded the remaining bball pix from my camera so let your imaginations create the rest.  I might start using my Iphone as a camera or buy a new one, but pictures will continue.

I am about to go to an Indenpendence Day celebration at the Ambassadors residence.  He is throwing the party for both Embassy and Peace Corps staff. I guess it is too late to wish you all a happy 4th but I imagine it was more exciting in the US than it was in The Gambia.

Sights around Bakau

You may remember that I mentioned the crocodile pond in recent pust.  Well here is the warning picture that was posted next to the pond.  I guess it doesn't need any words other than BEWARE  -- it speaks a universal language.

I thought you might be interested in observing the Gambian president's full title in a billboard celebrating the 48th anniversary of Gambian independence.  His full name including the title is (ahem) His Excellency Sheikh Professor Dr. Aih Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh. Whenever they write about him in the newspaper his bull title is always included at least once in the article.

I have already posted a couple of pictures of Sukai, the daughter of the compound owner, but I thought her latest hairdo merited another  inclusion.  The Gambian women spend a lot of time and money on their hair.  Most of the hairdos start with braiding extensions into their own hair and many women wear wigs.  But Sukai went above and beyond with this hairdo.  The front part of her hair was braided into an elaborate pattern.  Then she had a large bun of braided hair using both black and dark blonde braids, and  waist length dark blonde and black braids were trailing from the bun. It was all rather awe inspiring.  I would hate to say how long it must have taken her to get it done.

Football(soccer to those of you who are out of step with the rest of the world) is huge in Africa. I live about a 10 minute walk from the national stadium which is pretty big. They love their own team but  also follow European football very closely.  Shops with a satellite dish will post the matches that they will show and will get good crowds in attendance.   Some of the satellite dishes here will have 700+ channels available so they have their choice of many games.

AIDS reduction and education is a big thing all over Africa.  The Gambia has a relatively low level of infection compared to some countries in Africa but it is going up.  There is a lot of educational material in the country and while they still recommend abstinence they also provide condoms.  This was brought home when I walked into the ladies bathroom off the UN conference room.  Since I follow the abstinence route, I resisted the urge to take any.

In a recent post I said I was trying to get a post of a truckload of people. Well, I was finally able to get a somewhat decent example.  We were driving in traffic and I saw a truckload of people ahead.  Since we were also moving I had time to get my camera out and take a picture.  Since it was taken from behind and they went a different direction before we could pull alongside, I could not get the full effect but I think you get the idea.

Hope the Portland summer is starting.  We have had a couple of good rains here but I don't think you can really say that the rainy season has started here.  I have to be unselfish and hope that it does get started.  The farmers here really depend on the rainy season for their main crops and when it is a bad rainy season people go hungry.