Wow, I have already been at site for 2 months. That is astounding to me! I have been struggling trying to load my pictures on my blog, so I will try to describe my village, Kuraw. It is set back from the road; you enter it by way of a narrow, dusty path. The north bank of the Upper River Region is a region unlike any other in The Gambia. It is filled with miles and miles of African savannah… pale golden grass with the occasional large, very green tree. So you can see Kuraw from the road. It is a small village by The Gambia’s standards [about 39 compounds, approximately 550 people… make that 555 because of the 5 births that have happened since January!], but it is beautiful. I live on the edge of the village, directly across from a pump that overlooks the savannah, split only by the reddened road. It’s gorgeous. The mosque is only a few steps from my door, as well as the school for the women’s literacy program. On the winding path into Kuraw, there is a large school and immediately adjacent is the nursery school I am working on getting running. Honestly, I need to get pictures up, and stat!
Up behind the mosque there’s a small beaten down path amongst the tall grass that winds right to Kuraw’s stone circles. Again, I must get a picture :o]
I spent the other night in Lizzy’s village [truly my home away from home, her family is absolutely amazing] and had Modou pick me up on his motorbike the next morning. He took the back route [through the bush… what am I talking about, the entire URR is the bush] to Kuraw and stopped at several villages to check on projects he’s been working on. It was really fascinating to see… one Fula village was digging a new well, their goal was 43 meters… they had already reached 27 meters deep and had yet to strike water [just an example of how dry it is during the dry season!]. Crazy.
We rode through Kwonku and I was like, “Modou! My host sister is here!” A few weeks ago Manta’s mother came for a visit and brought Sene, my 2 year old babygirl, back to her village. I have been a bit lost without having her tied to my back, or banging on my door naked at 7am saying, “Isatoooooouuuuuuu!!” I immediately wanted to see her, so we hunted down Tourey Kunda and sure enough, there she was. One of the older girls carried her over to me and she reached her arms out for me and said, “Ma!” [what young children call their mothers… haha]. I literally started tearing up. Modou was standing awkwardly beside me, stammering out a, “Well, welll… shshshshshe recognized you INSTANTLY!”
I talked to her for a bit with her on my lap and then handed her back to her grandmother. We walked through the compound to Modou’s motorbike when I heard women laughing and speaking in rushed Mandinka. Modou burst out laughing, and I immediately said, “What! What are they saying?” He replied, “Sene is crying. She is saying she does not want you to go.”
Oh, for God’s sake, I started crying. Typical. The tears started streaming down my face in the middle of a country where you are not supposed to show emotion. There are 2 cats strapped to the back of Modou’s motorbike in this stupid basket thing and I’m trying to climb onto the back of it and I have snot running out of my nose and I can’t talk because I’m crying. Modou just stood there staring at me, a hot mess trying to get on a motorbike blubbering away, and he says, “Oh, oh oh Isa… Isa?” I’m like, “MODOU GET ON THE BIKE WE’RE GOING.” At this point, 2 of the girls were bringing Sene across the compound and I could see her crying and reaching her arms out for me… I just put my head down and cried into my chest. To make matters worse, I was sweating profusely and my hair was awry [again, typical]. GET ME OUT OF HERE, was all I thought.
So we drove off. I didn’t stop crying until we reached Kuraw, which is a good 45 minutes away. Talk about embarrassing. It’s the first good cry I’ve had since being here, and it had nothing to do with not being home, or missing my family. It had to do with a 2 year old who I have become incredibly attached to in under TWO MONTHS. I am doomed when I leave, doomed!
[Maiyo & my little babe, Senne]
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