Domanding Domanding

DOmanding Domanding in Mandinka means “slowly, slowly.”

We have been here in the Gambia for a little over one week now. If I had to chose The first few words that come to mind to describe the experience of being here so far, they would be: HOT!, greetings, food.

• I have been in incredibly hot places, but this is a wet blanket, sauna, humid kind of heat. I don’t think that my hair has dried once since being here. Thankfully it is pretty socially acceptable to be sweaty.

• Gambians have infinite greetings! they are Incredibly warm and social. YOu say hello and then say hello again. then you say how your family is doing at home and where the people of the compound are. Then you reassure them that there is no trouble and wish them peace. then you might get asked all of that all over again!

• Food= the Gambian Love language. My host sister makes the largest, greasiest, most delicious meals and then gets mad at me when i don’t finish all the food in the bowl. this is the land of carbs and greasy meat. every meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner) comes with an entire baguette of fresh bread (yes, like the long skinny kind you can find at Kroger, but better!). Yesterday i didn’t have much of an appetite for breakfast so my sister made me a whole fried fish with eyeballs over rice for lunch. When i didn’t eat that, she got worried and went out to buy me deep fried fish cakes. she tore off pieces and put them up to my mouth to eat. She doesn’t speak any english, but her warmth and concern for me is clear as day. she force feeds me. but I’m thankful.

For our first four nights, we did not spend the night in the same place. due to some logistical issues we were moved into our training villages early. by early, I mean moving in with our host families who speak little to no english with only “Salaamalaikum/Malaykumsalam” in our language toolbox. there are three languages you can learn here in the Peace corps Gambia: Mandinka, Pulaar, and Wolof. these are Three different ethnic groups that volunteers can be placed in. with 13 volunteers in my cohort total: 7 are learning Mandinka, 3 are learning Pulaar and 3 are learning Wolof.

you would think that because my fiance is Mandinka i would be learning fast, but it has been a slow process for me. I need more flash cards! but I know i will learn with time and practice.

pace and time exist differently here. In many ways it has been a blur, while in other ways time stands still. I’ve only been here a week so far, but i would say that among all the major differences between life here in the Gambia and life at home in america that i have witnessed so far, time is the most bizarre difference. Half the time I don’t know what day it is or what time it is. But, socially there is just a rythym that you somehow understand. when to eat, to get up with the rooster crowing, when to rest, when to worry about where to be, etc.

getting water or doing laundry at home would involve walking to the sink or throwing in a load. to get water here you walk some ways to the public tap to walk with a sloshing bucket of water on your head and spend an hour HAND WASHING and hanging your clothes on a line.

this week feels like I’ve been here three months, while also feeling like today was only a few hours.

regardless, Domanding, domanding. Slowly, Slowly.

(The content of this website is mine alone and does not reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or the Gambian Government.)

Departure Day

Yesterday morning was departure day. WAS.

This is all very on-brand for the Peace Corps.

The power went out in our nice downtown Philly hotel the Wednesday night of training. Then we wake up to a canceled flight.

As Group Leader assigned to be in charge of all trainee passports and airline check ins, I woke up kind of anxious for the long, tedious travel day. A 3 hour bus to JFK airport, a 6 hour wait in the airport lobby, a 7 hour overnight flight, a 5 hour wait in the airport lobby, then another 6 hour flight to Dakar, Senegal and a 1 hour flight to Banjul, Gambia.

I was anxious.

Then we found out that our flight was canceled and in a matter of 20mins we went from getting flights for Sunday and having 3 whole days in Philly to relax (and get massages) to then hurrying to grab lunch so we can catch the bus taking us at 2pm out of a different airport that was booked last second.

It was chaos.

A whole day and a half of flying later though, we made it to The Gambia!

(The content of this website is mine alone and does not reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or the Gambian Government.)

Peace Corps in a GROUNDNUT Shell

Joining the Peace Corps has involved a lot.

packing, googling, endless medical clearance stuff ( I should do a dedicated post about that, but I don’t even want to think about it), etc. One thing that joining the peace corps has involved most of all has been explaining what the peace corps is.

WHen you quit your fulltime job with amazing benefits, give up your cute house, let your fiance have your dog, and take the entire summer off, people often ask what the heck I am doing with my life. “I joined the Peace corps!” inevitably gets met with “Cool! what’s that??” So, in all my efforts to explain, here is a brief synopsis of service.

Currently, I Am writing this in the Sonesta Hotel in downtown Philly.

THis is Day #1 of my peace corps journey; the first day of what they call staging. I cried all morning as i said goodbye to my fiance when he dropped me off at the airport.

STaging is a brief, yet intense orientation to the expectations of Peace Corps that will help prepare me to make an impactful and respectful first impression with staff in The Gambia.

October 3rd: Fly Columbus to Philly

October 4th: Staging event

October 5th: Bus Philly to JFK & Fly JFK to Brussels

October 6th: Fly Brussels to Banjul, the Gambia

Now, what is the Peace Corps?

The Peace Corps is a United States volunteer organization. It was created in March 1961 by President John F. Kennedy. The mission of the Peace Corps is to promote world peace and friendship by providing trained volunteers to countries who need them.

Peace Corps Volunteers Serve for two years plus three months of training for an opportunity to INTEGRATE into a host country community.

A Three-Step training approach:

1. Phase one Pre-Service Training (PST1)- The first 8 weeks in Gambia. this is an intense time dedicated to technical skills, language & culture, health, and Safety and security training at the Massembeh training center. During this time I will be living with a host family in the training village learning as much as I can from them while also traveling to stay periodically at the training center.

   Swearing in date is Wednesday November 29th

   on this day the oath of service will be administered and I will become an official peace corps the Gambia volunteer.

2. Phase two In-Service Training (PST2)- The first three months at permanent site after being sworn in. After living with my first host family in the training village, I will be sent to my assigned village or town. THis is called the “community Entry” period. I will improve my language skills, integrate into my community and carry out an assessment of the needs of the worksite.

3. Phase three In-Service Training (PST3)- A three week-long training to receive more technical training specific to my sector and some additional language training.

The Peace Corps provides each Volunteer with a living stipend that enables one to live in a manner similar to the local people of their community covering housing, food, and incidentals. Additionally, Volunteers receive two vacation days per month of service—a total of 48 days over two years. I can use this time to travel to nearby countries, invite family or friends to visit, or take a trip home.

I will return home December 2025!

(The content of this website is mine alone and does not reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or the Gambian Government.)

My journey to the Peace Corps Part 1.

My plan wasn’t always to serve in The Gambia.

Although it wasn’t always the plan, the now plan was way more magical than any plan I could have planned. 

About 5 years ago I remember sitting alone at my gate in an airport and seeing a young woman with a Peace Corps book bag. It must have been a fabric patch that she sewed onto a book bag she already owned, or it was PC issued. It doesn’t really matter but either way it was striking and caught my eye. I had always heard about the Peace Corps, but just like a lot of those around me who are learning about it through my invitation to serve, I didn’t know much about it. Someone recently commented “Peace Corps is still around?? I thought that was just a program in the 70’s!” I digress. 

I love to travel and clung to it as a young woman to learn to traverse my shyness. I’ve always believed that if you can travel alone, eat in a foreign place at a restaurant by yourself and move your body through space from strange place to unfamiliar place, there is truly nothing you cannot do. I cultivated a lot of trust for myself during those years of solo travel. 

I was on one of those last minute, empowering solo trips alone when I saw her march through the airport space with such sureness. She had a presence about her. I immediately searched through my bag for my iPad and searched for “Peace Corps”. I read through the countries and the sectors and learned about its mission and vision. I read about the different projects and work that people did and I felt my heart in my throat. I had been in a career that I loved working with youth and families in a community center, at a city government organization that I really believed in. I had begun my Masters in Public Administration and knew I wanted to continue working in the public sector space. 

My iPad told me that Morocco had the most competitive program for the Youth Development Sector so I decided immediately that I wanted to serve in Morocco. This is where the story gets confusing. 

I’m not sure if anyone remembers, but early in 2020 Covid hit the world. 7,000 Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV’s) were pulled from 60 countries. Understandably, operations halted and countries stopped participating with the United States. The same PC website that I scrolled through daily that listed an interactive map full of countries in 2019, now listed almost none in 2020. 

Most things in the world were uncertain, and it was uncertain what countries would start participating again. I still held tight to serving in Morocco so I planned a trip to Morocco in 2021. In 2022 I visited Tangier, Casablanca, Fez and Marrakech and it was incredible. I decided later that I shouldn’t be married to only serving in Morocco and that I should be more open to serving anywhere. That’s were the “Serve where needed most” application feature was most helpful. More on that soon…