week 5

HELLO AGAIN!

This week was quite something.

Let me start with Monday evening, after I wrote my last blog. Jan had just arrived in The Gambia, he is leading a lot of projects including the Bendula project, where I am active. I had written a mail about some things that are happening in the project at the moment, for example the fact that not all the children on the list are coming to class, the fact that the home visits are only used to talk with the parents about the kid instead of doing something with the kid and the not very active attitude of one of the teachers. Jan had called both the teachers of the Bendula class, the driver and me to come together and work some things out. In the beginning it was very difficult for us to understand their side of the story and for them it was difficult to understand our side of the story, mainly due to the cultural differences. Luckily though when I came to class the next morning I saw some changes. There were new children present in the class and both the teachers were very active, so I am very happy to see that the project is improving.

On Tuesday after work I went back to my compound to eat lunch. It was the usual, a baked egg with a lot of vegetables and some bread. I have developed the habit of eating bread with ketchup, since I really dislike eggs and vegetables and I need something to get rid of the taste. Anyways, when I was done eating I called Yakuba and Mariama and I started to teach them English again. I really enjoy teaching them, because  they are very  motivated to learn and they pick up everything very quickly. I honestly have no idea what else I did that day….

On Wednesday nothing interesting happened. I went to school again, had lunch at the compound and I was teaching English again. The only thing worth mentioning is about the goat. At the compound we have two pets, one dog and one goat. The dog is named Tiger, but the goat did not have I name yet. I was the only one ever to even consider giving him a name, so I had to privilege to think of one. It took me quite some time to think of a fitting name but I found the perfect name for him: Pim. That’s right, I named the goat after my brother :)

On Thursday I went to school again and again I had lunch at the compound and again I gave an English lesson the Mariama and Yakuba. I can’t remember what I did after that, except eat dinner at 20:00 and going to Senegambia after that. We went to a bar where a reggae band was playing and we were having a really fun time listening to the music and dancing and sometimes even sing along. We came back late that night at 1:00, yes I know, 1 o’clock is not late for a night out, but it is late for a night on a weekday.

I had to get up at 7 again the next morning to go to school for the last time, it was a nice closing day.  In the morning we all made bracelets from loombands and after that we had a small party and the whole class was singing, dancing and making music. In the meantime the two teachers got interviewed by some other teacher, it was about why they thought it was important that disabled children get a chance to go to school and about the stuff they did with the children in class and in home visits. I thought the guy was done after interviewing the two teachers, but no, he wanted to interview me too :). Much fun! (yes, this is meant sarcastically)

At the end of the school day I gave all the kids and teachers a lollypop as a goodbye gift and for each teacher I also had a card with some money. When I was done giving everybody a lollypop, one teacher (the one I really dislike) said to me “ey Anouk, give me another one, I finished my already.” And that was it, I was seriously SO DONE with this man! So I was like “alright then, have fun with your second lollypop.”  What I did next was homemade karma.  I took away his money from the card a put it in the card from the other teacher, because she has earned it and she deserves it so much more than he does. I first gave the not-nice teacher his card, he said a quick thank you and left. On our way home I gave the other teacher her card, her response was much more happy, even though she hadn’t opened it yet. When we got home I went to wash my laundry and a few minutes later the nice teacher came to me and give a really big hug. She was very very happy with the money I gave her and it honestly felt so happy about my decision :).

After I washed my laundry I gave English lesson again and when I was done I went to bed to take a nap. I was so tired from all the work that day and the fact I did not get enough sleep in the night. I did not wake up until 19:00, just before dinner and somehow I felt even more tired than I was before I took my nap. But luckily it was Friday so that means I can sleep as long as I want.

On Saturday morning after breakfast I went to the turntable with Marjolein to buy some anti-flea shampoo for the dog Tiger. We came back later than expected but that was okay because we did not have anything else planned for that day. We washed the dog as soon as we came back from shopping and at first he did not like it at all. We had to tie him down in order for him to stay at the washing place and he was crying like a little baby. But when we started to wash him, he was okay with it. He was very relaxed and I think he even liked it. When we were done we dried him off with a towel and then he ran away. He came back somewhere in the evening and we saw that he was still having itches, so we probably have to wash him again some time. Things were not really going great on Saturday evening, I was feeling very sad because I miss my home very much and on Sunday I was not very happy either.

On Sunday I stayed in my bed until 11 and after that I watched a movie. At 3 o’clock we went to Franco’s place to discuss the planning of our new project that was going to start on Monday.  I met two new woman, Cobi and Nicole and they seemed like very nice people and so I was really looking forward to working with them. In the evening I again did not feel very well. I got a text from my friends, who were having a Christmas diner without me, and I felt very lonely. Mariama and Hawa noticed that something was wrong with me and they tried to cheer me up, which was really nice of them. We spent the whole evening playing Rummikub, just like the rest of the week and the other volunteers are starting to get annoyed because they can hardly ever win from me :).

OOOONNNN  Monday I was not going to my project at Franco’s place yet, because I had an appointment with one of the Bendula teachers who was taking me to the home visit children. I am trying to make a plan to improve the home visits, and I came up with two plans. One plan is only helping one boy named Yoshua. He was coming to the Bendula class in the past but then he got sick and since than he is a home visit kid. When I was there, I noticed that he was not sick anymore and therefore he could come to class again. The teacher liked this idea and he promised me to call his parents about it to get their approval and if everything goes well, he will come to class again. This is much nicer for the boy, because he gets to spent at least 2 days a week having fun with other children just like him. The other plan involves me buying 4 footballs for the other home visit children, because the teachers where both using the same excuse of not having anything to play with when they come to home visit. In order for them to be able to play with the children, they will need toys or balls or musical instruments. To buy all of that is a bit much and some children are deaf and will not have any joy with musical instruments, which is why I decided to buy all of them a ball. Hopefully they will not only play with it when the teachers come to home visit, but they will also use it with other family members, so that they also spent more time playing with the disabled kids. So these are the two last things I want to do for the disabled children and when that is done I can really say that I have done my best to help and improve the Bendula project.

Today I am really annoyed with the Gambian culture! This morning when I was at Franco’s place to do my new project, I saw a few kids hitting the dog, which I think is totally not-done but for here it is pretty normal to treat animals like that. Secondly I went to the turntable to eat lunch because for once I did not want to eat eggs and vegetables with bread and ketchup. Instead I had two lovely chocolate croissants. But in the short period before I arrived at the turntable I had experienced:

1.       6 children touching my butt, all at the same time. (yes, very nice.)

2.       A boy telling me he loved me, while I was walking on the street and he was sitting on top of a car that passed by. He had literally seen me for 0.7 seconds.

3.       A taxi driver tried to earn more money. He said I had to pay 50 dalasi, while I know for sure I only had to pay 8, and so when I had let him know that I was not some stupid tourist, he accepted my money and stayed silent for the rest of the ride.

4.       A man grabbed me by my hand and would not let me go unless I gave him my number. Well F you boy, I know taekwondo. His plan failed :)

5.       When I was in the bush taxi, we suddenly stopped because the car in front of us had hit another car. We almost crashed, but luckily the driver went off the road just in time.

6.       When I was in the supermarket, this staff member came up to me and told me he wanted to carry my basket for me. I told him I was a strong woman and that I could carry it myself, but he still grabbed the basket and would not let go of it. He was saying that he saw me a lot of times already (which is true, I come here at least 2 times a week) and that he liked me a  lot and that he wanted to have my number. I told him that I would not give it to him, bla bla bla, and eventually he got called out by his boss to get back to work. Thank god.

7.       When I wanted to go home, I was waiting for the bush taxi to come. This boy passed the street and told me he would help me catch a taxi. He did, which was nice, but then he ruined it by asking if he could come with me to my home so that he could get to know me better because he really liked me. I told him no.

8.       The man sitting next to me in the bush taxi had heard our conversation and told me that he found me very interesting because most tourist would have gladly accepted. I told him I was no regular tourist and we started to have a conversation. He was very friendly but kind of weird. He wanted to pay for my taxi ride but I told him I did not want that, which again he found very interesting. He asked if I smoked or drank, which I don’t, and then he started saying that that was probably the reason why I looked so beautiful. Well, thank you, I guess.

9.       When I wanted to take a taxi back to my compound, Barmadi passed by with his car and he gave me a ride.

Now why do I find it annoying to get all of this attention. First of all, they don’t really like me, they just want my money. Second of all, I hear it at least 3 times every single day. Third of all, some of them even physically touch me, which I really hate. And last of all, they never get the hint. When I say no, they still continue! so annoying…

Anyways, besides all that, I still really like it here and I am very much looking forward to next Monday. Merry Christmas to all of you and I wish you a very happy new year :).