Life in The Gambia

OMG, I can’t believe it!!! Internet, electricity, toilet paper, RUNNING WATER – it is too good to be true!!!There is nothing like spending three weeks in Middleofnowhere, The Gambia to really make a person appreciate the simple things in life and I hope I will never take them for granted again.

Until now I have been living and studying with batik artist Buba Drammeh in his “compound”  - a rectangular structure around a center courtyard which the entire extended family shares. Here, there is no electricity for miles and water must be carried in jugs from the single solar-powered water tower in the village. Just the act of survival is difficult in such conditions and one can only imagine what it is like to make batiks with such limited resources.

Most professions in West Africa are a family affair and the art of batik and tie-dye is no exception.  Buba learned his craft from his uncle who learned from his father and so on down the generations. As Buba’s student, I quickly became incorporated into the family and was christened “Bingta Drammeh” to match my new Gambian identity.

Buba, his wife and five children generously made room for me inside their tiny section of the compound which consisted of a room with a table and some chairs, a back room with just enough space for a bed and an exterior bathroom area. Honestly, the entire place was probably smaller then some people’s closets in the Unites States.

 Living in such poverty was a humbling experience to say the least and I feel overwhelmed with pity and admiration for my new family as well as a terrible sense of guilt and disgust for myself and the Western lifestyle waiting for me at home. Without trying to sound pretentious, I can honestly say that this has been a life-changing experience which has given me a newfound motivation to make the world a better place.I will never forget the villagers I left behind and if there is any way I can help their situation someday, I will do everything in my power to do so.

 Most specifically, I am hoping to find a way to complete this unfinished cold storage that has been deserted by a German based NGO. Over 550 villagers (mostly women) labor in the garden daily with the knowledge that  at least 60% of the vegetables they grow will rot under the hot sun. (If you knew how hard these women work and how little they throw away, you would understand what a tragedy this is). This cold storage would allow them to save the fruit of their labor so that they would not only have food year-round but also be able to market the excess as source of income. With this financial stability would come better education, health care and overall quality of life. 

 This "medical center" would finally get the funding it needs to run, and teachers could be paid to in the schools. Somehow, I am determined to find the solar panels and refrigeration units which will get this thing running. Wish me luck!