Ataya Lessons

I've learned many good skills this past week, both at the hospital and lounging around at the house. First, I will boast of my success bargaining. After paying too much for most of the things I have bought so far (they run largely on a bargained price system), I was determined to improve my haggling skills. I am told that when I bargain, I am too nice. Thus, I focused my intelligence and harnessed my inner jerk. I went to Serrekunda (the biggest city) and successfully bargained a lot of fabric as gifts for family and friends at the market. I took to bargaining with the same tenacity that I bring to football or academia, and it paid off. I got 14 meters of very high quality fabric (of various designs) for a mere 630 Dalasi (about twenty dollars).

At the hospital, my skill set grew as well. I have worked in the outpatient ward the past two days, and learned how to prick fingers to draw blood, and use this blood to run an assay that tests for the P. Falciparum strain of malaria. No patients really enjoy receiving this test as much as I enjoy giving it. There was one six-year old in particular who cried bloody murder when he saw the finger prick emerge from behind my back. After a few minutes of struggle and the help of his father, we forced a finger into position and successfully drew blood. The kid gave the loudest shriek I have ever heard emerge from a human being. All of the nurses laughed, I think. I still can't hear a thing. I held out my fist for the child to "pound" my fist as a gesture of goodwill. He wound up and punched my fist as hard as he could, and instinctively I moved my fist to avoid the blow. His fist wound up meeting the side of the desk with a loud "whap!" and he shrieked again. I fear that this child now hates my guts.

At home, I have learned a skill that I think my father will enjoy tremendously. I can now brew ataya. Ataya is a tea that the Gambians love to make, very strong and very sweet. There is a certain way you must add the ingredients, boil the water, and mix the tea to make a nice froth on top. It is quite difficult to master, but I am getting much better. I look forward to bringing home my ataya pot and brewing some for the folks.

I hope to upload some pictures soon. I've been taking a bunch and hope to share the good ones with you all.

Abarraka (thank you in Mandinka)

-Yusupha (my given Gambian name)