How are you doing and what's new in New Bedford?
We have 2 weeks left in our training and then it is out to our
villages. I have been to my village for 3 days to get to see what
it is like. It is called Goundaga and it is south of The Gambia
( The Gambia is within Senegal ), it has 301 people with me and it
is very hot. But it is different than El Salvador in that it is setup in the
classical African style. A compound with multiple huts, mine has 9
and it is large so it isn't like everyone is on top of one another. We
are also situated 1 km from The Gambia River and there is supposed
to be hippos in it. Also the village has one boat called a pirogue and
it looks kind of old.
As far as work in the village goes, well, it looks interesting. There
are Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working there. The ones
I know of are World Vision and the Catholic Relief Services. But it
doesn't seem like very much has been done so far. I think I know why,
so that is where I will start to ask questions to figure what's up. This
village already has a school and there are 170 students (it supports
other small villages), of course there isn't much in it. Again, another
thing to work on.
But, the people so far have been really nice and there are a few
characters there so that should be a lot of fun. Seeing as the afternoons
are spent hanging out under the shade structure. It has gotten to about
104 ° ( more like the average ) during the 2 hottest months (right now).
So it is impossible to work in that heat, also unlike the village in El Sal
this village doesn't have irrigation. It is interesting to see the economic
impact that it has. In El Sal the people were poor but they had income
pretty steadily throughout the year. Here it looks like either you have a
good year or your suffering till the next one. Last year was a
semi-drought year and the people are in though shape financially.
What they do plant are peanuts, corn and rice. The trick is to try
and figure out some dry weather crops/gardens/income ... but
irrigation is the way to go. World Vision is working with an irrigation
project up the river a little ways so we'll have to see if we can get
something going.
Well, I guess I have rapped on for a while and I am out of here
... it is Sunday morning and I am going to hangout with the host
family I am living with ... so ...
Adios
Paul
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