I'm back!!!

After two whole months I am FINALLY able to use a computer again!!! I survived training village, and now I have to pass my language test tomorrow. I'm pretty nervous, but one of my teachers promised to pray for me each day. That's five times a day, so hopefully I'll get some help from above.

I just spent the past two months living in Kaiaf, and let me tell you it was a real experience. Kaiaf is located in Kiang, which is one of the poorest parts of the country, so things weren't always very nice. For the most part some of the people were nice, but a good deal of them were pretty rude. As we left the village on our last day we were still dealing with people calling us names.

All the little things that I thought would be horrible (ie pit latrines, bucket baths, going to the pump, etc.) were really not at all bad. I've really come to enjoy bathing under the stars, and i'm getting a nice set of arms from pumping and carrying water every day. Also, the pit latrine is amazing because it doesn't smell, and squating really seems more natural on the body than sitting down for long periods of time. I've also some how magically begun to loose weight on a diet of rice. I started calling it the survivor diet (after the tv show) because all I eat is rice (breakfast, lunch, AND dinner) and the pounds are just melting away.

Kaiaf wasn't that bad (wink, wink). I am super happy to be done with training village. I wasn't sure how much more I could take of being made fun of on a regular basis. On one of the last days that we were in the training village, Kaiaf recieved a donation from some guy from England. The school recieved a new computer lab, and a big screen tv. They also recieved a generator, which they imediately hooked the tv up to the second day. Instead of conserving the generator, they decided to watch football (soccer) games on tv all night. It was a very nice gester, however it was really not thought out. The guy simply dropped off computers and other items to people that have no idea how to even use them. That's the problem with Africa; they've been given too many handouts. Everyone always wants to give money but it really doesn't help the people too much. I've heard stories of village heads using the equipment dropped off by various organizations for their own personal use and then returning it to school right before the organization returns. The worst part of the whole experience was when the guy set off fire works during 7 o'clock prayer. I was walking to a site mate's compound to get some water when I saw a flash. My first thought was lightning, but it's not yet the rainy season. Then I saw/heard another and I honestly thought that we were being bombed. I finally looked up in the sky and saw the fireworks. Most of the people in the village had never even seen fireworks before, and some people were scared. I walked right past the mosque, and everyone there, as well as people in compounds, were attempting to pray over all the noise. All I could think was how rude!

So I no longer go by the name Katie Clifford; I now go by Fatoumata or Fatou. In training village I had the surname Kolley. In my new village I will have the surname Jammeh. I learned to speak Mandinka in training village, and now I will have to Jola as well. I am moving into a Jola-speaking compound in the Jola part of the village, so I guess that I'll just have to learn. All of the people under about 30 can speak English pretty well. It's not the same English that I speak back home in the United States, but it is a version of English that I can understand. I will be moving to Mandinaba next week. I spent three days there last week (Wed, Thurs, and Fri), and I should be returning permanently on Sat. I will be working with the women's group, as well as the youth group. The term "youth" in the Gambia encompasses people up to the age of about 30 or so, so basically I'm really helping out with a young men's group.

I mostly wanted to post just to let people know that I survived and that I was still in Africa. I have my final test tomorrow, so I have to study/cram Mandinka. I'm pretty nervous about the test, but I've studied a lot of phrases that I can use on the test. I am in Farjara all this week. If everything works out, then I will be swearing in on Friday. I promise to write more later this week, and go into more detail.

I hope that everyone is doing well!!! I'm super happy here, and I can't wait to actually get started working as a PCV.