The Final Post (Including Pictures)

I arrived yesterday to JFK at about 5:15pm. As I mentioned in the previous short post, it was like a hug from America to hear the loud, obnoxious New York accent. I intended to catch a flight from JFK to Boston, as my plan was to spend a day or two at the lake in New Hampshire. However, Delta cancelled my flight due to inclement weather (which never came), and my family drove all the way down from New Hampshire to come get me. We drove back last night, arriving here at about 4:00am. I don't know how my family stayed awake, even with taking turns driving. I was happily asleep most of the ride. 

I haven't really experienced any reverse culture shock since I've been back. It is indeed early, but I think I'm already regaining the way of life I'm used to (I wasn't gone that long). It's been a pleasure to smell the pine air of New Hampshire, and jump in the lake (so cold!). It's been refreshing to see forest and mountains again. 

Despite my happiness to be home, I do not wish to quickly forget The Gambia. I met many amazing people with whom I'd like to perpetuate a relationship, and I've learned many lessons about life and how truly blessed I am. 

Anywho, here are some pictures!

Above: A view of Banjul from on top of the arch.

Above: Me and my fellow Crossroaders overlooking Banjul. 

Above: A child from Kunta Kinteh's hometown of Juffreh poses with me for a picture.

Above: Kunta Kinteh Island (Formerly James Island) on the Gambia River.

Above: A Plaque on the island. Notice the excessively long title for the president.

Above: The old fort at Kunta Kinteh Island.

Above: A view of the Gambia River from Kunta Kinteh Island.

Above: A few puff adders. This snake species is considered among the most poisonous on earth.

Above: Me and a chameleon friend.

Above: Me and a ball python.

Above: Mrs. Mbinkey's son, Dadi, shows off some of the things we gave him on our 

last day in The Gambia.

Above: Nurse Mbinkey and I on our last day in the Gambia.

Above: Kebba, Jon, and Dadi pose with the flag.

Above: My good friend Sirdawda shows the camera the boots I left for him. 

Above: The nurses pose for a picture with me and Austin. 

Well, that's it for me. I thank you all for your audience and for the comments I've received both on the blog and via e-mail. Thanks for all of your support and well wishes. I had a blast, and the experience exceeded my expectations in most ways. I can certainly see myself returning in several years to maintain contact with people who I have grown to appreciate and admire. 

God Bless!

Back In the States!

We just got back to the US. It is great to hear American English and consume McDonalds and Starbucks again.

I'll update the blog with a bunch of pictures once I get access to my computer again.

Juffreh and James Island

Yesterday, as part of our travel week plans, we took an all-day excursion to the town of Juffreh. Juffreh is located north of our current Cape Point location, and one must cross the river by ferry as part of the trip. It's a popular tourist destination because it was a major town of the slave trade, and is the hometown of Kunta Kinteh.

We left our hotel at around 7:00am and crammed into a small Hyundai SUV. Our driver/tour guide took us to the ferry terminal in Banjul, where we left the car parked and walked on the ferry. For being built in 2004, the ferry is quite dilapidated. It can only hold a handful of vehicles, and completes a voyage that should take 30 minutes in about two hours. The exterior has an extensive buildup of rust, and the interior is ill-maintained and dirty. Nevertheless, we made it across the river in one piece.

We exited the ferry and were greeted by a safari-style land rover into which we all piled. It had an open back and seating that required one to sit sideways. However, for most of the hour-long ride through the African countryside, we stood up or sat on the railings for a better view and greater sense of exhilaration.

We arrived in Juffreh at around 11:00am, and were greeted by a tour guide from the town who explained the history to us and showed us the small museum, slave ship replica, and artifacts. It was immensely moving to experience firsthand the history of the slave trade and to walk the same ground that hundreds of thousands of slaves had only a few hundred years ago.

We then hopped into a small wooden boat with many leaks and an outboard motor that started once every twenty tries. Our destination was James Island, which was actually recently renamed "Kunta Kinteh Island." This island is located on the Gambian river (which is MASSIVE, by the way) an served as a holding area and military base for whichever country controlled that area at the time. Before being abandoned in some year I forget, it had been under Portuguese, English, French, and Spanish jurisdiction. Due to poor maintenance, much of the original fort had been reclaimed by the river. However, there was certainly enough left to obtain a fairly vivid picture of how the island functioned years ago.

After returning from the island, we ate a much needed lunch at a nearby restaurant and piled back into our Land Rover for the trip back home. At this point, I was terribly sunburned, and sat as much as I could in the shade. What a poor choice to omit sunscreen from my list of things to remember that day.

Upon our return from this fantastic and moving day, we learned that the girls' hotel room had been burglarized. Their belongings were strewn all over the room, and hundreds of US dollars and Gambian Dalasis had been stolen from extremely obscure hiding places. It was very disturbing to know that someone had invaded private space, and even more disturbing to deduce that it must have been someone who works a the hotel or is a friend of a hotel employee. Luckily, nothing of mine was stolen despite having hundreds of Dalasis in plain sight. I doubt the burglars entered my room. We are being extremely vigilant and are disappointed as well. Thieves really are the lowest of the low.

I hope to be able to load some pictures soon once I get access to a computer. Writing these posts on my iPhone doesn't allow me to upload photos from my camera.

Looking forward to being home in a few days. Until we depart, I'll be living large and soaking up as much of Gambia as I can!

Finally Back Online!

My apologies for the long break between posts--after a very intense storm here the internet has been very sporadic in the whole town. But, it's finally back now and I can tell you what I've been up to.

The past week has been a very fun one, and one that has given me even more good memories of this country. In the health clinic, I've spent a lot of time in the wound care ward. I've seen patients with a variety of wounds caused by anything from cooking accidents to falling while using the toilet. Yesterday, I even helped one of the nurses give stitches to two patients, one who was assaulted by her brother (the police brought her in) and one who presented a large laceration on his right shin. Helping the nurse with these stitches reminded me of my own injury prone childhood, where I received stitches quite often.
I also have started to cover the outpatient ward for the nurses, who value midday naps due to the rigor of a midsummer Ramadan. If there is a unique case that I have not seen before, then I ask the nurse what steps to take. However, most of the patients nowadays are small children who present vomiting and fever. We test these kids for malaria and then prescribe medication according to the test results. Luckily, we have not seen too many cases of malaria.

This past Sunday, our group travelled to the Senegambia Beach Hotel to enjoy a nice day at the beach together. I enjoyed a sunburn-free beach excursion, and also enjoyed bodysurfing the large waves. I got out of the water after two Dutch fellows pointed to a large, dark, fast-moving shape in the water no more than five feet from where I was swimming. I do not know if it was a shark, a ray, or a barracuda, but I was not willing to find out. I sprinted out of the ocean.

After the sun set, we went to a pizza restaurant up the road. Having not consumed anything all day except a Guinness and a Fanta, I ordered a family-size pizza for myself. To my surprise (and probably the disgust of everyone else), I finished the entire pizza, along with half of Brenda's fries, a slice of Sam's pizza, and three beers. Luckily, I've been running and lifting every day to offset the potential harm of that day of the "Michael Phelps Diet."

Tomorrow marks our last day of work at the health center, and we are planning an 11:00am farewell party for all of our friends there. It will certainly be a bittersweet moment, as all goodbyes are. But a major positive of this party will be that it signals the beginning of travel week.

For travel week, we are planning to go to the town of Juffreh, where Kunta Kinte was from. This town has a rich, yet infamous, history in the slave trade. It will certainly be a worthwhile excursion to be an eyewitness to a large and important era in American history. We are also planning (if funds allow) a trip to the President's hometown of Kanilai, which boasts one of the most modern infrastructures of any Gambian city, as well as an impressive zoo. In addition, we would like to take a river cruise to see the untamed, untouched, and unbelievable portions of the River Gambia. Throughout travel week, I still plan on running and lifting every day, and buying gifts for family, friends, and myself.

Last, but not least, today is July 31st, which is of course the last obligatory day of "no-shave July." However, I'm strongly considering bringing the beard home with me to the states. If you feel strongly one way or the other, speak now or forever hold your peace.

I'll leave you all with a picture of a wooden lion I had made by a craftsman across the street. The price: $4.

A Blog Post With Pictures!

As I alluded to in my prior blog post, we had an exciting weekend planned. This mainly involved a trip to the Abuko Nature Reserve, a small but dense and diverse plot of land in the middle of the Serrekunda suburb of Abuko. This was a small taste of a real African rainforest, and I was absolutely fascinated by some of the things I saw. I have below a bunch of pictures to post both about our trip to Abuko and about our trip in general. I hope you enjoy them.

Above: Some hyenas lounging around. These were some big boys.

Above: A monkey (Nameus Unknownus)

 Above: Me and Nurse Jakka's son, Muhammad. I don't

think he very much enjoyed my company.

Above: A fisherman at dusk. My inability to shoot a clear photo actually

turned into a neat result: an impressionist photograph. 

Above: Independence Stadium, the largest stadium in The Gambia. 

Austin and I use the gym facility located inside. 

Above: A pond/swamp at the Abuko Nature Reserve. Our tour 

guide told us that about a dozen crocodiles inhabit this water, although

we didn't see any on our excursion.

Above: Me breaking the law.

Above: One of the most humorous political billboards I have ever seen. If

you cannot zoom in, it says: "From darkness to light with President Jammeh. You

cannot afford to continue hating yourself by not voting for him in 2011."

The Clinic and the Craft Market

This past Friday, I travelled with the mobile clinic to the town of Mandinary, located just North of Lamin, a village that borders Banjulunding. This clinic resembled the same rural and agrarian landscape as the clinic in Jambur, except this clinic hosted about four times as many patients. It was quite hectic, and the fact that there was no water provided for us at this clinic (Ramadan began that day) exacerbated the anxiety that comes with disarray. One of the bright moments, however, was that I was able to administer vaccines via syringe to a handful of babies and toddlers. It was not pleasant to hear them cry once the needle entered their leg or arm, but it was thrilling to give shots. I administered the Penta, pneumonia, and yellow fever vaccinations. The yellow fever vaccination was by far the most difficult to give because it required injection into the deltoid muscle (shoulder muscle), which in young children is quite small and underdeveloped. Plus, the children were much better at moving their arm than their leg during the vaccination. After the clinic finished and the last patients were attended to, we waited three hours for the ambulance to come pick us up. The delay was caused by the president, who requires the road to himself whenever he travels, thus causing traffic nightmares.

Friday evening I did some sprints on the beach along with some ladder agilities. On my final 40-yard sprint (which of course was run in record time), I ripped open a blister on my left big toe. The sand was simply too abrasive for my baby-soft skin. I suppose I will have to run in sneakers on the beach from now on.

Today I slept in and woke up at about 9:30am. After some breakfast and chocolate milk, I went to the craft market with Austin and Michelle. Austin bought an ornate mask that is quite scary and fascinatingly tribal. I set my sights on less expensive wooden things, and picked out perfect gifts for my friends and family. One of the shopkeepers wants to trade something for my old Nike trainers when I leave. I told him he was crazy to want these old pieces of crap, but I'd be happy to trade him for something small.

I took a nice run today back from the stadium, and felt really fast. It's a beautiful route along the coast, and the colorful scenery and ocean air certainly contributed to my willingness to run fast. When I got back I did the p90x ab ripper and hopped in the pool. Does life get any better than this?

I'll leave you all with a picture of a mask I bought myself at the craft market. It's a Monday mask, and I bought it over all the other days of the week because everyone needs some humor on Monday, right?

Three Weeks Remaining

Today marks the point at which we have three weeks remaining in The Gambia. The past month has flown by (as everyone told me it would), and although I am anxious to ultimately return home, I hope that these next three weeks pass by as meaningful and memorable ones.

Yesterday I ventured back to the hospital to resume my volunteer duties there. I sat in the outpatient ward, which is quickly becoming my favorite part of the health center. The nurses there are more than willing to provide me with first-hand experience, and they make the day fun as well. As soon as I arrived, one of the nurses handed me the sheets of paper and said, "you screen today." With her translational aid, I took patient information, documented the symptoms, diagnosed the patient, and wrote prescriptions to treat symptomatically (the medical philosophy of the health center). Of course, I had the nurse looking over my shoulder the entire time if I made an error or needed assistance. Still, this sense of independence was exhilarating and reassuring. It was another great day at the hospital.

This morning, Austin and I did some agility work and sprints on the beach right outside our hotel. There's something nearly effortless about training on the beach. There's no need for motivation because you want to be out there all day long. I plan on running on the beach most mornings here.

We have an eventful weekend planned. Hopefully it all turns into a great story to post on the blog!