The marathon March is a tradition for Peace Corps the gambia.
it is a 15 mile hike through tall grass, mud, and water led by a local guide with a machete across the plains, rivers and bushes of the lower river region.
This march is completed by each cohort the last week of pre-service training before we are officially sworn in and we move to our permanent sites. I interpret this tradition as symbolizing the strength and endurance needed to traverse the many challenges of a two year service. it is messy and uncomfortable yet beautiful and rewarding.
while i love this and I am really excited to start my two years of service, the last two months here in the gambia have been a marathon march for me.
I fell through the platform area of my pit latrine while taking a bucket bath a week into living with my training village host family. i was naked and pretty badly hurt. I then moved in with a new host family where there was a cockroach infestation. I was healing, battling bugs and surviving 100 degree weather while learning Mandinka, integrating into my training village and completing training at the peace corps training center.
After my accident I ended up experiencing food aversion and lack of appetite. I just couldn’t eat. I would still come when they called me to eat out of the big family bowl where everyone sat on the ground and ate handfuls of rice out of our right hands. but i was not able to eat and would sit there. My host mom would tear off tiny pieces of cassava and chicken and pile them up on my side of the bowl. She never gave up, and after a few weeks I was eventually able to eat.
While this was the most challenging two months for me physically and mentally, it truly has been messy and uncomfortable yet beautiful and rewarding. I have laughed and cooked and danced and sang with wonderful people in my training village. I ended up falling in love with my new host family and cried when I had to leave. I have found strength to persevere through hard moments and i have learned that everything will always be okay.
Life is about the journey, not the destination: and sometimes life is a marathon march.
(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.)