Another attempt at washing my clothes....you'd think the laughing would stop......nope!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Today I got to sleep in since we didn’t have mass. Father Gabisi was gone to the villages to say mass so we didn’t have to get up for mass. I really enjoy being able to go to mass here, since that was the ONLY thing when I first got here that was the same as it was at home. I mean the liturgy was. Obviously they still say things in Wallof or Mandinka sometimes but for the most part, I was able to rest in the fact that the mass was something that is universal and does not change wherever you are. But this morning I slept in until 9:30….of course I had to set my alarm, since I could sleep all day. J But I got up ate breakfast and tidied up my room. It seems as if you have to sweep and dust every other day because of the dust storms. It’s not very fun, but in the rainy season you never have to dust.

One of the first days, Sr. Bernadette gave me a wrap around to wear as a gift. The colors are so bright and today was the first day that I wore it. The girls were all making comments on how I was able to tie the wrap, but they don’t realize that we have them at home. The only difference is that we don’t wear them every day, we only wear them at the beach or when we’re somewhere warm. I had to laugh.

And again today, I attempted at making another effort at washing my clothes. I can’t say I am any better, but slowly I’m getting the hang of it. The girls still laugh at me but at least instead of just Edwina helping me, two or three other girls got in the bucket and actually told me how to do it. Therese, actually explained it to me, since Edwina insists that I just leave it there for her to do. I think they’re surprised that I want to learn how to do it, so today realizing that, they decided to assist me instead of just sit back and laugh. Which was a nice change. Their technique is so interesting and when they wash it the water sometimes squirts through their hands and goes flying. And I seemed to always be in the way of Edwina’s water. By the end of it my shirt was wet and she even squirted me in the head a few times. I would just look at her and she would just laugh. I think she was doing it on purpose. Today I realized how much I can understand their conversations with one another. I remember the first few days, I would just sit there and say, I don’t understand you. But now I’m starting to catch the accent a little bit more. I’m sure by the end of 6 months I’ll have a slight accent of my own.

I sure hope everyone at home is doing well! I miss everyone so much and I can’t wait to see everyone again. Please continue your prayers,

In Jesus and Mary,

Jen

And uncomfortable cab ride, fish and rice in the afternoon, and an intersting invitation to be someone's friend

Friday, January 23, 2009

Today was really interesting. I woke up thinking that it was Thursday for some reason. And I only realized it when Sr. Cecile said to me that it’s half a day of school since it’s Friday. I thought…oh wow, it’s already Friday! We went off to mass and then on to the school where we had an assembly, Christian teaching with the Christians, and then we played volleyball again. Today was the boys turn to learn. I’m sure that some of them just wanted to go out and play football but we took them to teach them how to play. If they don’t want to play later on, they wont have to. This week, Sr. Catherine took charge and she separated everyone very nicely and I think everyone was involved in something that was productive to an actual activity. She had the older girls (grade 2 and 3) go with August and play football, the younger boys and girls (grade 1) go with Anna and play activities and then the older boys with Armando, Emmanuel and myself to play volleyball. I’m going to say that the boys are definitely better than the girls. Maybe it’s because they’re more active than the girls are, since the girls mostly skip and just play and the boys actually play with a soccer ball. They have very good hand-eye coordination and it was so good to see how fast they caught on. I was able to teach them how to both pass and set and I was actually able to play with them. It seemed like last week with the girls, the ball was flying all over the place but the boys passed and set it right back to me. It was really good to see. Well have to get the girls to get good at it too. I think once they see it all come together they’ll understand a bit better how the game works and then they can see how fun it is. The girls are always asking to play and that’s really good to see. I’m not sure how I’m going to teach them the rules, but I’m hoping to just simplify it for the first little while.

After that, we all piled on the bus and headed home. Sr. Cecile was coming back to the school and we met up with her so the sisters, Saba (she cooks the meals for the kids at school and sometimes works for the sisters at home) and I got off and rode home in the truck. Even though we have to pack into the truck it’s nicer since there isn’t as much screaming. Haha…its so hilarious riding that bus. I’m not sure if you ever get used to it and I don’t know how those kids don’t get claustrophobic. If I was in the back I’m sure I’d have my head out the window gasping for air. But the kids don’t seem to mind it.

We got home and everyone was doing their own thing. I wanted to go to the bank and then go and get a few groceries at the super market so I went with Fatoubintou. We had to take a 5 dallasis cab and I’m going to just say this right now. I’d rather walk. Talk about claustrophobic and it’s completely uncomfortable being the only white person in the cab. The Cab was an old beat up van (which they all seem to be, even the yellow and green cars are really beat up) that they pack about 14 people into it plus the driver. I honestly would rather walk. We got dropped off and we had to walk a bit to the bank. I immediately realized (since this was my first time walking in the streets) at how I get stared at. I can see why, since all the tourists stay in the hotel part of the Gambia and hardly ever do you see a white person in the little villages. Everyone knows Sr. Cecile so she doesn’t get looked at funny but everyone stops her to talk. But for me, since I was wearing shorts and t-shirt and had white skin I noticed that I was like an alien to these people. The thing that I do love though, and I’ve gotten this quite a bit while riding in the truck since I’ve been here but while I was walking there were tons of kids running past me yelling, “Toobob! Toobob!” ( a toobob is a white person). All the kids smile and yell it waving as they pass by me. It’s really quite cute.

We got to the bank and realized it was closed until 4 since it was almost 1 and everything closes for a bit in the afternoon for the Muslims to pray. So we walked back and I just kinda hung around the house. We ate lunch (which I’m getting a bit more used to) and it’s always an African style meal. It’s always fish and rice which is always cooked a different way. After than I offered to helps Sr. Odile with her “employment” as they call it (it’s their household chore). Her job this week was the chapel. Because she was going away for the weekend she was almost done but she still had to sweep and mop the floor. So I offered to help her so that she could get ready to leave. I’m not sure If I’ve mentioned what an African broom is, but I’ll explain it again if I have. An African broom is made out of dried palm branches and they take about 100 or 200 of them and stick them together and tie it with a rag at the bottom. To use it you have to actually bend down and sweep, it doesn’t have a long handle where you can just sweep standing up. At first I thought, how is that actually going to sweep all the dust but it does, amazingly enough. I couldn’t believe it. When I went to mop, I had seen Sr. Bernadette do it so I knew what I had to do, but you know how when we mop we have a regular mop with a bucket that has a ringer attacked to it, so that all we have to do is went it and ring the mop out. Well…they only have the mop and bucket part, so they ring it out with their hands. I feel like such a spoiled person when I see what these women have to do. We have such incredible conveniences at home and I’m glad I’m learning how to do things – in a sense- the “hard way”. If anything, I’m going to appreciate certain things when I arrive back at home. I already have a list started….haha. The first one being my education. It’s very obvious as to who has an education around here. There is a new generation of young people who will definitely change the face of this country, but its going to take some time that’s for sure. It’s obvious that those who work in the street selling their goods, do not have a formal education. The people who do have an education have the high paying jobs and work in office buildings like they would in Canada. People who have an education can speak English since that is what is taught in the schools and for the most part those who have not gone to school only speak the native languages. In the 2 weeks I have been here, I have really become grateful for my formal education and around here, I would have more education than most and I have the same as most people in Canada and the US – an undergraduate degree. A lot of young people are starting to get a college education but it’s very expensive and not a lot of people can afford it. But when people have an education they have the opportunity to move and work abroad and then send money back to their families. I’m so grateful for my education.

So after I helped Sr. Odile I took it easy for the rest of the day. And at around 4:30 I went with Sr. Cecile and Sr. Sue to the first communion classes. Sr. Sue and I first went to the bank and then came back and afterwards we wanted to stop and pick up a few groceries. Last week at the first communion classes I met this one girl, Edina. She had come up to me asking if I would be her friend. I think she’s not much older than 12 or 14. And I had no reason to say no, so I said sure! This week after class, she came up to me asking something but I didn’t understand her so I asked her to tell sister so she could translate for me. What she wanted was for me to come to her “compound” where her family lives. I guess I don’t realize what that means to people around here. I think it’s an honor to be invited to someone’s home and I didn’t realize that at the time. So after class we all walked to her home and met her mother and the rest of her siblings. I imagine that this home is something that is for people who are not rich but have enough money to have a nice home. To me, according to standards in Canada it would be very low income housing. More on the poor side, but they are so proud of their home. It was very nice to see. I appreciated their hospitality and when she offered me some water to drink I took it saying thank you but I didn’t want to drink any since I’m not used to the water yet. So I put my lips to it just as a kind gesture. I didn’t want to be rude. We didn’t stay long because someone called Sr. Sue for eggs but it was very nice. Edina wrote me a letter and when I got home I read it. I noticed that she took such time to color the pictures and put stickers on the paper and I she was asking for my friendship. I’m not used to this kind of invite since at home it’s just you become a friend or not and that’s the way it is. I found it to be very forward but I have to remember how different everything is here. She seems like a really nice girl and I’m sure I’ll spend more time with her over the next few months. We got home and said evening prayers and then had supper. Fish and fries were on the menu. It was very good and I even went back for second helpings.

I’ve been finding that I appreciate the opportunity to get on the internet since it’s kind of my only escape from how new everything is here. The only person who understands where I come from is Sr. Cecile – but still she has been here for 41 years, so in some sense she knows more of the Gambia too. So I find that I appreciate being able to get online and talk with my family at night.

The market makes me ill....who would've thought

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Today was a great day. It’s actually one of the first times since I’ve been here that I’ve kinda felt like I belonged here. Don’t get me wrong…I’m far from feeling as if I fit in in Africa but I felt like it was a step in the right direction. I’m going to be honest, this past week and a half has been the most stretching experiencing in my life. Oh, there definitely has been a few experiences in my life over the last few years where I’ve felt the Lord “stretch” me and call me to a greater holiness. As much as those times were hard, this one should definitely be marked on the calendar. I know I had a romanticized version of what I thought it would be like here, but lets be honest…are things ever the way you imagine them to be? And I’m not sure why I thought I could skip that part of the equation. But, thank the Lord for His wonderful mercy and grace. Over the past week I’ve been suffering from a lot of homesickness. It’s been very hard to be away from home and its been hard thinking, “I should be experiencing this with Kim and Heather”, knowing that they would love being here just as much as I would love having them here with me. But I know the Lord has called me here alone for a specific reason.

Today the sisters gave me the day to go with Sr. Sue to go to deliver eggs. I seriously enjoy doing it. My day started out early once again, waking up at 6 am for mass at 7am. After mass, we drove everyone to school and Sr. Bernadette and I went to the Brikama market. I’m not even sure what to say about it. One thing you have to know about Sr. Bernadette is that she’s a skilled market shopper. We got out of the truck and headed toward the Market….fast. I will admit that I can be someone who walks very fast, but that’s not in a crowded room and I find that my Canadian politeness gets me no where in the market. Sr. Bernadette took off weaving in and out of people, not saying a word but just walking…walking….walking…walking and I was wondering when the market was going to end. Its like it just keeps going…around this corner and around that corner. A few times I found myself having to look up and around people to see her so far in front of me because I had stopped to let others pass infront of me. I guess I thought that since I would do that in Canada, people would be polite enough to let me pass afterwards. I’ve come to the understanding that it’s kinda fend for yourself in the market. I soon caught up to her and she was buying peanuts that they grind for you so you can make sauces. Next we went on to buy some fish that was smoked and a few other things. I’ve been to other countries where you have to go to the market but I can’t say that I’ve ever been to something like this. It’s like everyone just “parks” themselves anywhere. It’s so weird it’s actually uncomfortable. At least for me. I prefer going to the grocerie store. Now, Tourist markets…that’s my style. J I enjoy buying crafts and fabrics from places that I travel to. But the “food market”, as I like to call it, is so crowded and I guess I’m not used to having fresh meat out in the open like that. But that is how people around here make their living. When we got back to the truck, I sat down and said, “wow…that was interesting. Are there always that many people?” and Sr. Bernadette laughed and said, “what? There is no one at the market today. You should see it on a feast day.” “What?!” is all I said back. I guess I’ll never get used to the amount of people that are always around. It was very uncomfortable for me.

We got home and ate some breakfast before we started getting ready to leave. Breakfast was the same as usual but we had purchased what they call “pancakes” on our way from the school. Pancakes to us are flat and fried in a frying pan but to them pancakes are what we would call a round fried donut. It’s made out of flour and a bit of salt rolled in a ball and then fried. It’s amazing. J I really enjoy it and it was a nice change from the bread that we’ve been eating.

Before we left the guys (Sarjo and Gil – two of the helpers for the poultry farm) were just finishing up packing the eggs in the truck so I went to help. It’s been my goal since I’ve been here to go and pick eggs with the guys and today I had the opportunity. I’ve never done it before and I really enjoyed myself. I went with Sarjo, and he showed me how to do it. And of course, the first hen I came to was sitting right on her egg and he said…”you just put your hand under there and get it.” Oh yeah….just like that I thought. And of course, the hen pecked at my hand. After that I thought well I know what it feels like now so there’s no need to be worried. So we collected all the eggs from 5 rooms and I really enjoyed myself! I hope I can help out a bit more.

Sr. Sue and I left shortly after packing the truck up and we went out selling eggs. The first place we stopped was Bijilo Hotel where our friend, Morrow works. Morrow is the manager of the hotel ( I think….if not the manager he’s high up there somewhere). I always get a kick out of going there because he considers Sr. Cecile his Canadian wife. He’s a very sincere and honest person and you can tell he enjoys the company of the sisters. He’s a very nice person. When I first met him, because Sr. Sur introduced me as Jennifer, from the same village as Sr. Cecile he’s considered me his younger Canadian wife. It’s really quite hilarious. It was Morrow’s birthday today and we didn’t even know it! But he was glad to receive eggs today, since there is such a shortage for eggs at the moment.

We went around a few other places near Fajara and Bakou and then we headed up to Banjul. We stopped at a friend of Sr. Sue’s to deliver eggs and after she – as a gift- bought me lunch. It was probably my favorite thing I’ve eaten here. It’s a fried piece of dough with fried hamburger and onions and spices. Wow…it was really good and I was trying to figure out what was all used to make it so I can make it when I get back home. It was amazing and a great change from the fish I’ve been eating. I certainly am surprised that I’m eating a lot more fried foods than I thought I would be. I guess I never thought that Africans ate that much fried foods but I being here and seeing what they cook has helped me realize how much oil they actually use when they cook. But it’s really tasty, I can say that much for sure. J

After, Sr. Sue’s friend (did I mention her name is Marie?) took me through the market. The real market this time. This market is the biggest market in the Gambia and wow was it huge. I don’t think they have much for a mall because the market is kind of set up like one except that you don’t have the store names and many vendors have the exact same thing, except not for the same prices. There are little shops that sell sports equipment, and sports apparel, shops that have women’s clothing and men’s clothing, and kitchen supplies, etc. It’s really like a very tightly spaced mall. I’m sure that Marie was glad to hand me back over to Sr. Sue after we were done since my white skin and non African clothing attracted many of the store owners trying to sell their goods to us. Store owners were literally pulling us into their stores saying “,take a look, just step inside and take a look.” Everyone wants a tourist to come and buy something at their store because they can give them an outrageous price since they are not used to how the money works. I didn’t realize that we were going to go to the market so I hadn’t brought much money with me but I wanted to see what the prices were for the next time I came. There was this beautiful carving that one man tried to sell me for 800 Dallasis. That’s like….$40 Canadian?! I guess that’s not bad but I just wanted to see. There were many ladies who were pulling us into their shops and funny enough, by the time we left the market I had 4 different bracelets and necklaces from ladies who gave them to me as a gift just to welcome me to the Gambia. It was really nice. I felt bad for Marie. She was probably wishing she hadn’t brought me since it’s very overwhelming and uncomfortable to be pushed into so many stores. That’s one thing I hate about the market, that as a white person you get targeted and everyone is yelling at you to come into their store. And I cant understand them to save my life, so I don’t know how much anything costs or if it’s even a good price. I usually enjoy markets and I enjoy looking around but I felt bad that Marie had to show me around cause she got hassled too. It was good to see what everyone had though.

We left Banjul just before 4:00pm, just in time to miss rush hour traffic on our way home. I was glad to have had the day with Sr. Sue, since she’s a pretty laid back person and it’s always an enjoyment to just sit in the truck and watch what’s going on around. On our way home she asked me if I wanted to drive. At this point, everything is still very new to me and I’m not yet used to how people drive around here since there aren’t any rules. So I kindly declined her offer and maybe I’ll try it sometime in the near future. I’ve got plenty of time to experience some road rage over the next 6 months, I may as well enjoy the sitting while I can.

We got home in time to help Sr. Cecile in making some tickets for the kids that take the bus. A bit later I was able to talk to my mom and dad for a few minutes. It’s only the second time I’ve been able to talk to them since it’s difficult finding a phone card that will allow you to call Africa, so I haven’t had much time to talk with them over the phone. We’ve been able to email back and forth but it’s just not the same as hearing someone’s voice on the phone. So I appreciated the little time I was able to talk to them.

"why do all of you act like monkeys?!"

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

I cant believe that I’ve already been here a week and a half. Time is already flying by! How is everything at home? I heard that the weather warmed up a bit this week but that it was supposed to go back down. That really doesn’t surprise me, knowing Saskatchewan weather. The last few days have been very windy here and even though I did spend 4 years in South Dakota (and they’re infamous for their SD wind) I can honestly say this is the worst wind I’ve ever been in. Since there is no grass all the dirt picks up and blows around. It’s horrible because it gets everywhere. Like I explained before, my room gets covered with a layer of dust. I’m almost over this cold, but having spent time in the school yard with the kids where the dust is blowing all over, I’m having trouble not feeling congested since the dust gets in your ears and eyes and nose. Some days it feels like you have a whole layer of dust covering your lungs. I think that’s why the cold has lasted this long.

Today was another day back at it. We woke up early again and went to mass. It’s usually dark until around 7:30 here, so we’re always up before the sun rises. I find it so weird because at home in the summer time the sun rises early and sets late but here it rises and sets at the same time every day. Because it’s warm here, I have a hard time thinking that it should be dark when I get out of bed so some days I almost expect there to be snow on the ground when I walk outside.

It was another normal school day here and I’m starting to get to know the routine of things now. In the school, the students stay in their classrooms but the teachers only teach one or two subjects so they move around instead of picking up and moving a whole classroom. I’ve gotten to know all the teachers names now. There is Anna – who teaches verbal and English, Sang – who is the teacher in the classroom that I am in, he teaches quantitative and grammar. Paul teaches the older classes so I’m not sure what he teaches because I don’t get to teach with him. Emmanuel teaches art and phonics and Armondo teaches integrated studies and math. There is also a French teacher but I don’t remember his name. My favorite to teach with is Armondo. The sisters all say that he was born to be a teacher and I completely agree. He keeps the students attention during class and he has fun with them when they’re learning something new but he knows how to keep them in line. I appreciate that since the class can sometimes get out of hand. Today I had to laugh because, like I said the first grade class that I help in is a bit misbehaved and so Armondo had to give them a lecture. He says, “Why do you all act like monkeys?! Why do you act like animals? Do you know what an animal is?” And they all put up their hands like “oo! Oo! I know I know!” We were both laughing because they obviously were just thinking of the answer instead of thinking that they were all acting like little animals.

After school, the girls from the hostel all wanted to go and do some “exercising” as they call it and they wanted me to go with them. One of the first days I was here Sr. Josaphine and Sr. Bernadette were outside doing some exercises and so I brought out my skipping rope for them to use. After they were done using it they wanted to see me skip so I did and all the girls from the hostel were so intrigued at how I could skip. So they had been asking me to go and run with them. So today a few of us when. Catherine, she’s one of my favorite out of the girls, said “Jennifer we’re going to race. I want to see if you can beat me.” I said, well sure why not. So I got my running shoes, shorts and a t-shirt on and I came out side to see these women – who had gotten ready to run themselves wearing shorts and a tank top with sandals. Sandals?! When they saw my shoes, they all began to marvel at them. I was so surprised to see that all of them were going to wear sandals to run. Everyone at home has shoes to run in, even if they’re not the best quality. I just couldn’t believe it and in some way, I felt bad having my own pair of shoes. So Catherine and I lined up by the side of the house to race and everyone was watching. I was just laughing because I thought, “ I wonder what this is going to be like.” I wasn’t sure who was going to win and all of a sudden there were 2 or 3 girls racing me! After the race was done all of the girls were yelling, “she can run, she can run!” I thought it was so funny. So we all went out across the highway to an old field where there were some boys playing football. The girls all wanted to run around the field a couple times so we did. While we were running it dawned on me that I was really here and that I need to take all of this in. It was around 4:00pm when we left so it was still hot out and when we reached the field I was overcome by what I had always thought the scenery of Africa would look like. Here I was jogging around this football field with these girls staring out at this beautiful open African sky with dry fields around us. When we reached the side of the field where we had started the girls wanted to stop and do some exercises. So I had them do some jumping jacks and push ups and they wanted to see if I could do a cart wheel. Fatoubintou couldn’t do one, so we taught her how to do one. Her clothes were really dirty by the end of it since she couldn’t get the hang of it and always ended up on her back. We all had a good laugh over it all. The girls like to do high jump and long jump so we all took our turns seeing who could jump the highest and the farthest. There was even a few little boys that joined in. We ran back to the house and a few of the other girls wanted to join in on the fun so when we arrived at the house the jumping and running continued.

The sisters were wanting pancakes so they thought that I would like to make them and since Sr. Catherine was on supper duty for the week, we did it together. Well, she had never made American pancakes before, so she watched and I made them. It was really funny because they thought it was something so special and I thought “oh wow…this is the easiest thing to make.” We usually only made pancakes at home when there was nothing else to make. Everyone seemed to enjoy them. And I enjoyed them too since it was the only thing I had eaten for the past week and a half that reminded me of home.

We had been talking tonight about how Sr. Odile was going to buy a few more volleyballs because we needed to have a few since we have so many girls and boys that want to play. The amazing thing is that I got online to check my email and I had an email from my friends Wendy and Josh saying how they read about how we only had one ball for 100 girls and they wanted to help. So Josh is going to buy us 6 more balls and a pump to use! When I told Sr. Odile, she was so excited, as was I. Thank you Lord for his generosity! The kids really need it! So Thank you Josh!

I hope all is well! Please continue to pray!

In Jesus and Mary,

Jen

Bounce...Bounce....Bouce....goes the 6 sisters in the white veils....and that other white woman

January 20, 1009

I know I haven’t written in a few days and I honestly feel bad if I don’t catch up with what the entire day’s activities were. And…it’s kind of good for me to remember it all and write it down. Thank you to all of you who have written me emails! I absolutely love getting emails. You know…mail is always good too. J I’m not sure if everyone got my Address yet and I know I said I would put it up here so…here it is:

Jennifer Bourdon

P.O. Box 2657

Serrekunda

The Gambia

West Africa

Phone number:

Cell number: 011-220-799-8453 (you can get a hold of me anytime)

I know that it looks a little weird since there is no zip or postal code, but it’s a real address and it should get to me. I asked Sr. Odile today if that address would work and she said yes. And I know it’s probably really expensive to call but I thought I would just put it down just in case anyone would happen to need it.

One other thing that I’ve really been thinking of and keep forgetting to mention. I know before I left there were a lot of people asking what they could help with, what they could donate, etc. And you know, being here now realizing what there is a need for (obviously this is just my own list of what I’ve seen being in school and whatnot). One thing I’ve noticed is that the kids really need good pencils, the small note books (since they’re only up to grade 3), individual pencil sharpeners, and good erasers. It seems as if there are never enough of any of these things and its kind of nice to have a good supply for each class. Another thing I’ve noticed is that the kids –being kids and loving to play outside with anything that looks like a ball- need sports equipment. If you read one of my previous posts you read that I took the girls to play volleyball and I had 100 girls and 1 ball. That really is not an exaggeration. 1 ball = 100 girls. And the boys want to play too. If there is anything I can suggest it would be that the kids need volleyballs, soccer balls, and skipping ropes. They don’t seem to play anything else since there is no grass to play on. But really anything would help. These are obviously just suggestions since people were asking. I’ll update the list if need be. Thank you to all of those of you who have sent stuff already. And again, I could never thank the people who supported me in getting here. It has definitely been hard this past week with everything being so new but I’m anxious to see how the Lord is going to work and I’m grateful for being here. I really am, so THANK YOU so much.

Sunday morning I woke up at 6:00am to get ready for the day ahead. I didn’t really know what to expect (just as it has been for most of the experience already) but I did know that Sr. Cecile, Sr. Sue and I were going to go out to the villages to distribute communion. Because there are so many small communities and many families don’t have the luxury of owning a car, many people cannot get into a surrounding town for mass. So since the sisters have been here they have been going out into the communities near Brikama and to have lay services. We dropped Sr. Sue off in Kimbojeh - a community just outside of Brikama and we went on to the next community – Faraba Banta. It’s quite neat because we pulled up off of this back road (now when I say “back road” think of the worst gravel or sand road you’ve ever been on. Now….multiply it by 200…and now you have the road that we drove on. I guess since they get such heavy rains, it washes out the roads and makes HUGE pot holes. Some days I feel like I’m on my own little safari trip sitting in the back of the little Nissan truck the sisters have. Bounce…Bounce….Bounce. It’s s good thing that we sometimes have to cram into it like sardines because then we at least stay put and aren’t bouncing everywhere. It’s quite hilarious seeing 6 sisters wearing their white veils and me sitting in the middle in the back. I’m sure people look at us like we’re crazy.) So we pull up to this little church that has a statue of St. Patrick in front of it. Sr. said that they must have decorated for Christmas since they had arches from the gate to the church made out of tall twisted palm tree branches. I’ve never seen anything like it but it must have been beautiful around Christmas. There were only about 10 people standing in front of the church waiting for us, so we went in and as the celebration started more and more people came in until the church was almost full. They have a lay service (a lay service happens when there is no priest available. The sisters are fortunate enough to be able to distribute communion and they do the Sunday readings.) When we left there was a woman who ran home to get to Papayas to give to us. As we’re pulling away she hands them to me through the truck window saying something in Mandinka, which sister translated “this is to welcome you to the Gambia.” These people are beyond welcoming. We picked Sr. Sue up and headed back into Brikama for mass. Sr. Cecile and Sr. Sue take the first communion kids for Sunday School and so I went into the church (since we were late) and sat in the back with Sr. Catherine. The mass was absolutely beautiful! One thing I absolutely love about the Catholic Church is that it is the same everywhere, obviously with a different twist (meaning that when you’re in Africa, they play African worship music but the liturgy stays the same.) It was so wonderful to be a part of and I’m excited to see it all up close more and more. Everyone wears their BEST dress or suit to mass and being here I’ve realized how beautiful these people dress. I can’t even explain it because it’s hard to portray what it looks like, hopefully I can get a few pictures of it up on here. But the women buy this beautiful colorful material and made a skirt and matching top and then they wear the traditional head tie to match as well. It’s all SO colorful. I was wearing a colorful sun dress that I had bought back home and I felt so underdressed and plain. I guess that’s just what I’m used to in Canada, but here I find my clothing looks so plain. The one thing I find strange in mass is when going to receive our Lord’s precious body people just randomly get up and go. They don’t just file out like we do at home, people just get up whenever they want and go. The first time I saw this I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to go or if it was just certain people getting up or what. It was quite confusing, but now I know. When they play music, it’s all African drums and singing. Again…I’m not sure I could ever explain what it is like but it’s so beautiful. Definitely makes me feel like I’m in Africa. Both of the priests that I have had to opportunity to see celebrate mass have been very good. I appreciate the honesty of the African people and when the priest gets up to say his homily he doesn’t spare any opportunity to tell people the truth. I think we need many more priests like that back home….well in fact we don’t only need more priests like that, we need more followers like that. I find for myself, I realize that by being convicted by the truth – you either face the truth head on, or turn away from it. And from being around these people more and more I realize how their “forward” attitude has really convicted me in my own faith. If I can’t even face the truth in my own heart, how can I face the truth in my own surroundings?

After mass we went back home to change before we went out to Makasutu – a hotel that has wildlife and it has an African theme to it. Oh…I forgot, the Billington’s (the couple from England) attended mass with us and came to all of the days activities. The owners from Makasutu buy eggs from the sisters so they said that whenever we wanted a tour and dinner we could come to visit. So seeing that the Billington’s were there they thought it would be a good opportunity to visit. I went along too since I hadn’t been there yet, either. We had to drive out of Brikama and take this old dirt road – just as bad as the one we drove on in the morning. It was about a 20 minute drive and we were all crammed in the truck. When we got there, we parked and when we walked into the area where the restaurant was, I realized that it was on the Gambian river. You walk in and the restaurant is all open with tents that have huge furniture that look like it would be fit for a king. It’s all dark wood with a teal color for the cushions with white curtains that were flowing in the wind. I’ve only seen something like it in magazines. They had a pool right in the middle and when you walked a little bit farther there was a dock with benches to sit and look over the river. When we reached the dock you could see, just off to our left, house boats! The sun was shining and I just kept thinking, “wow, this is so beautiful.” Just off of the dock you walk through a bunch of trees to what looks like little houses with verandas on the top. We were able to go in and take a look and what we realized was that they were the hotel rooms! I guess for a night you would pay 8,000 dallasis. But I can see why….it’s so beautiful! You walk in and everything is covered with that same dark wood, teal and white and red decorations. It definitely had an African feel to it. There was a huge bed that had a beautiful mosquito net covering it, an outdoor shower and a spiral staircase that lead to the top of the room where you could go out of the veranda to sit and relax in the sun. One strange thing was that as we were walking, Helen (Mrs. Billington) bumped into a friend of hers that she hadn’t seen for a while! They were staying there. What a small world! That two people from the same town in England, who hadn’t seen each other for a long time would bump into each other in small little Gambia?! We all had a good laugh over it. After touring the hotel we sat under a tent and had dinner. It was all so beautiful and I couldn’t believe that I was actually sitting in Africa under a tent having dinner. I think it was then that it actually hit me that I was here. We drank Baobob juice – which is juice made out of the fruit off of the boabob tree. You know when you look at a desolate African desert scene and see what looks like a dry African tree? That’s the Boabob tree. It has a huge trunk and is such a tall tree. The juice was very tasty.

After we left, we went back to the house for a few minutes and I played volleyball with the girls. Well…I taught them how to pass. We only had a few minutes so we didn’t get to so much but I really think that when we actually get the opportunity to play they will like it. We loaded back up into the truck and heading to Abuko – a wildlife trail. I’m not sure why, but I never even thought of snakes until we got there and the tour guide said something about it. I immediately froze and Sr. Sue saw my reaction. She began to laugh hysterically because she’s afraid of snakes and she recognized that I was too. I think I spent the entire tour looking at my feet. We got to see monkeys jumping from tree to tree above us and they would even come up close to us. It’s so funny because the monkeys think that when they turn their backs to us that they automatically become “invisible”. So we would see them come right up to us on a tree branch and then turn their backs and every once in a while turn they’re head to see if we’re looking at them. It was so cute. We saw lots of monkeys and tons of birds. The thing that intrigued me the most were the trees. They’re so huge and so many different kinds in the forest. We came to a pond that had crocodiles in it and we actually saw one looking for something to eat. At the end of the tour we came to a fenced in area where they had laughing hyenas. We didn’t get to hear them laugh but we did get to see them. Wow…they look just like they portray them in cartoons in the movies. It was so cool! I’ve seen little ones before but not at all like these. They’re like HUGE dogs! Apparently they were supposed to have had lions but the one they had died because the snakes attacked them. I just though…”oh my…” I know that St. Patrick has been watching over me because I haven’t seen one yet. And, the entire time we were on the trail I didn’t see any! Praise God…I guess they’re supposed to be hanging from the trees and all, but Sr. Sue didn’t tell me that until we were long gone and at home. I almost had a heart attack when she told me that. Thank the Lord I didn’t see one. The Billington’s are wanting to go back because we didn’t get to see the whole trail since it was too late, but heck no…I’m not going. Especially now that I know there’s pythons that are supposed to be hanging from the trees. Eecctthh….

We took the Billington’s back to Shalom and I sat in the back of the truck and relaxed for the 45 minute drive back. It must have looked funny to Sr. Sue- who was driving- because every 5 minutes I sunk down into the seat a little bit more. I was So tired! I think at one point I was lying on the back seat taking a bit of a nap. We were all so tired when we got home, and even when I woke up the next morning my first thought was that I wished I could’ve slept all day. But we were up early for mass and then the first day of school for me. And boy was it interesting. I realized that my first grade class was…..well I’ll put it politely….very misbehaved. Haha. Thank you Lord. J I know the Lord is teaching me a lot of patience through this. What the sisters have me doing is helping the kids who are a bit slower with their learning. There are about 12 in the class and I’m not sure of any of their names, but there are these 2 little boys who sit right in the front row together and they are absolutely adorable. They’re supposedly 5 and 6 years old but they look like they’re three because they’re so small. If anything, they really make me smile when I walk into class. Today I was trying to teach them what a “fence” was. It was in one of the sentences and they were having a hard time with the pronunciation and how to spell it and what it really was. But one of the smaller little boys – when asked what a fence was- said, “it’s a big thing that you make with cement. You pour the cement, and then you make it really tall…etc.” and on and on he went. I had to just push my lips together to try not to smile because he was SO cute when he was saying it. And…in some way he was right because their “fences” around here are brick walls to keep out the animals, so he was kinda right. But it was absolutely adorable. I’m excited to work with these kids and I’m sure I’m going to learn a lot from them, even if it’s patience. Who knows…they’ll probably teach me more than the adults because just as the kids are learning from square one, so am I.

I have to admit that I came home yesterday with the wonder in my mind of why I had really come here. I know that the evil one was really working because when I came home I felt like I had no purpose in being here. “what was I really going to do to make a difference here? I’m too different and no one will care about what I have to offer here.” I guess these are a few things that went through my mind and even though it seems easy to just say, “well, I know I’m here for a reason,” I was pretty close to jumping back on a plane and coming home. That’s obviously me being very honest and I’m sorry if it’s too honest. It’s taken a lot to get used to this culture and I’m still having a very difficult time. I only expect that I will be used to it when I’m almost ready to come home….and then I suppose I’ll miss it. We definitely become accustomed to what we are familiar with and it’s hard to detach ourselves from what can become comfortable in our lives. That’s what I think I was dealing with and I’m realizing that it’s ok to do something different, and it’s ok feel uncomfortable. Those are the times that are the most rewarding because you really get to take a look at yourself and realize who you are and what you are worth to yourself and not to anyone else. And slowly but surely I’ll get the hang of all of this.

Today we woke up early again for mass and then school once again. It was another day of testing but for some reason I was up for the challenge, so it turned out to be a better day. I forgot to mention our ride home. After school is out we ride the bus….with all the kids. Think about the school but you rode from school. Think about that being packed with 200 kids yelling and screaming at each other. I think when I rode the bus home when I was a kid we had about 50 kids…..maybe. I honestly don’t know how we even pack 200 kids on a bus but it’s not a long ride for most of them. All the teachers always pile on last and we sit in the first few seats- packed together with a child on each of our laps (if not two children). It’s very hot and all the kids are yelling but in some way, I actually look forward to it because that’s part of what I came here to experience. No not yelling kids, but in some sense a realization of what life is all about. These kids bring me back to what is most important in life – the simplicity of loving who you are and who the Lord created you to be.

We got home and had a bit of lunch and then everyone took a rest. They call a rest – a siesta. So the sisters always ask, “how was your siesta?!” Everyone likes to take a rest in the afternoon, which I appreciate too.

So yes, things have been busy the past few days and I’m glad that I’m learning new things every day. It’s difficult trying to step out of my comfort zone but it’s a good thing to learn a few news things.

I sure hope everyone is doing well! Please email me, I wouldn’t mind to hear more about home and how things are.

In Jesus and Mary,

Jen

well...the Lord Jesus was humbled too. I wonder if he ever had to wash clothes?

January 17, 2009

Well I think out of any day I’ve been here, today has to have been the most humbling. Saturdays around here are a day of relaxing and catching up with the chores around the house. We all got up for mass in the morning for 7:30am and afterwards everyone came back for breakfast.

I knew that today I was going to attempt at washing my clothes but like I said…I didn’t realize it would be such a humbling experience. In the late morning all the girls from the hostel were washing their clothes and I knew before coming to Africa that they don’t wash in a washing machine like we do at home. But I still didn’t realize what I was about to witness. I sat down by the girls and as we were talking I was watching them wash their clothes. They take three buckets – one for washing the clothes, another for washing the clothes and rinsing and another for just rinsing. They have this really neat technique where instead of rubbing the clothes together they just swish the water through when rubbing. I know some of you are saying, we used to do that not that long ago but I have not yet and as interesting as it was, it was embarrassing not knowing how to do it. While I was watching them they all said to me, “are you going to come and wash your clothes?” and all I’m trying to think is how am I going to do this without looking like a foolish little spoiled girl whose had her clothes washed by a machine for 24 years. I just said, “yes, when you’re finished.” And of course, since all of them share everything and do everything together, Edwina says to me, “no, you go and bring your clothes and we’ll wash together.” So after getting my clothes and walking the road of shame – realizing that the spot light is going to be on me, I sat down beside them and one asked me, “have you ever washed your clothes like this?” of course I hadn’t! I said, “no”, and they all began to laugh saying, “who washed your clothes? Your mother?” As if it wasn’t embarrassing enough, they all thought my mom still washed my clothes. They must think I’m some little rich girl. After I explained that we use washing machines in Canada and that no…I do wash my own clothes, I felt a little bit at ease realizing for myself that it was ok, since thats just how we do things at home. And, I thought, “well, may as well make the most of this experience and learn from them.” So Edwina helped me wash my clothes. One cool thing I learnt was that when the wash white clothes they use what they call “Blue” and it almost stains the colors a blue tint and when you hang them to dry, they dry this bright white color. It’s amazing.

You know…it’s not the fact of learning something new, because I’m all for that. I realize that we have it easy in Canada and I would like to learn how to do the things that we have been convenienced with. I think I was just coming to terms with the idea that these 14, 15 and 15 year old girls had it worse than me and they knew how to do all of these house hold chores by doing it the hard way and I don’t. I can assure you that these young girls all know how to do the every day chores that we do BUT trust me, they don’t have the conveniences that we do at home. After we washed clothes, I thought it would get better but trust me it didn’t. I want you to get a picture in your mind about this. An African kitchen. If anyone of you have seen this, you’ll understand where I’m coming from. The African kitchen is something like an outside kitchen where food is prepared and cooked. They don’t have a stove, it’s like a counter with a hole in the side to make a fire and you put a big pot in the top ) which there is a big circle cut out that just fits a pot. It has a tiny little sink – and if they’re lucky there’s running water in it. Another thing I’m amazed at is how they prepared their food. It’s not like if we want to eat fish where we go to the store and buy a filleted fish that is packaged and wrapped, and go to the vegetable isle and get fresh veggies and take them home and cook them. They go to the garden and pick and clean their food, if they want fish they either have go to the market and buy fish or possibly their family has to go and catch it, fillet it themselves and cook it after making the fire and heating the pot. I know I know, people did this a while ago and its not new news but it’s so behind the times. And I’m amazed at how this is normal life for these people. Especially these young girls. I cleaned rice with Sr. Catherine today and as we were doing that we were talking to Sr. Odile about planting potatoes. I guess they wouldn’t eat much potatoes if it wasn’t for Sr. Cecile because they prefer rice instead. But Sr. Odile was wondering if I knew how to plant potatoes and I said “yes, my family plants lots of potatoes”. So she asked me how we do it and after explaining it to her she thought that she might attempt at trying to grow potatoes in the garden. I think it would be great. They have a wonderful garden here. Since it’s always warm here they get the opportunity to have a growing season all the time. They plant cucumbers, peas, tomatoes, peppers, spinach, and quite a few other things that I have no idea what they are. It’s really nice. And that’s not even including all the fruit trees they have. Sr. Cecile loves fruit trees so she plants them everywhere. I mean everywhere. It’s great! I wish we could do that at home.

Today was a really windy day and when it’s really windy usually we get a lot of dust (either from a storm from the North or from the Sahara Desert). About an hour after all the cleaning was done there was a layer of dust on everything again. I forgot to close the windows in my room and I noticed on all my books and things by the windows had a layer of dust on all of them. I have curtains so that shielded my room from most of the dust, but I imagine it would get frustrating after a while. The sisters said that it doesn’t happen very often but it happens more than anyone would like.

As I’m sitting here writing this, it’s Saturday night and I can hear a lot of music playing. I asked Sr. Bernadette what people do here on a Saturday night and she said that they just walk around the streets and visit with people. It’s actually quite noisy compared to regular weekday evenings where it’s really quite. I hear drums and African music. I sure hope I can sleep tonight….I’ve got to get up early to go out to the villages with Sr. Cecile and Sr. Sue then off to mass and we’ll be visiting with the Billington’s (the couple from England) again.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Talk to you soon

In Jesus and Mary,

Jen

.

Almost a week in the Gambia

January 15, 2009

Hi everyone! How are all of you? I hope you are all doing well!

Today I started showing my first signs of a tan from the African sun….my feet. You know…I never thought the weather would be like this in the Gambia. It’s cool in the mornings and really hot at around 2 or 3 and then when the sun goes down it gets really cold again. It’s really weird. I know you’re probably thinking, “well Jen, it gets like that in Canada too.” But the weird part about it is that it’s like a cold fall day in the mornings and evenings and Hawaii weather in the afternoons. Today was a very cool day and the sun didn’t come out until almost 2pm. Apparently when this happens EVERYONE is in a bad mood for the whole day and they blame everything on the weather. I wore Capri pants and a t-shirt and I also wore a long sleeve shirt and I was just right, that’s why only my feet have the only signs of being in the sun. They say that when a day like this comes, all the kids are late for school and people don’t open their shops until really late in the day ( really late would be around 9am since people open they’re little roadside vending shops at around 6am).

Today I went out with Sr. Cecile and Sr. Sue to sell eggs again. And they along with the rest of the Gambian’s today were very out of sorts because of the weather, so we had full intentions of getting back to the house early to rest. Full intentions are nice to have but it didn’t happen. I didn’t mind thought because I was able to spend more time looking at all the people in the streets. We went out to the market and BOY was it busy! I don’t know if anyone who hasn’t come from an environment like this can ever get used to it. But I do understand why Sr. Cecile used to say when she would come home, “where are all the people?!” Because most people back home spend their time in their house or yard where as the people here spend their time at the market or on the streets.

We met up with Mike, the other Saskatchewanian from Moose Jaw again today, and I was able to visit with him some more about what he does. Apparently Mike when to school for Economic Development and after school he volunteered for VICS, which is an organization where you volunteer for 2 years in a designated spot where there is a need. This is his 3^rd volunteer site and he seems to really enjoy the program. He spent his previous 2 volunteer jobs in South America and on a few islands near Hawaii. This time he works in the Gambia doing some accounting for the Catholic missions office. It was nice to visit with him because obviously coming from rural Saskatchewan to a country where people are everywhere and there is never any silence he understood where I was coming from when I said, “it’s taking some getting used to.” He mentioned to me that after the 7 months are up and I head back home, I won’t only be a changed person but I will come back with a different perspective of my view of home. What he meant by that was that I will take things from this culture and wonder why home is not the same way. I then realized that in some way, I feel I’m holding back from really immersing myself into the culture because I still want to come home the same person as when I left. I’m not sure if I will ever let go of that fear, since the cultures are so very different. But my prayer is that the Lord will always provide for me and allow my heart to be changed in the way that He wants.

When we arrived back at the house I helped Sr. Sue make supper. Spaghetti was on the menu. I’m not sure why, but there ended up being mini hot dogs in the sauce. The other sisters enjoyed it but for myself, I just took the noodles. I try to try everything once, and for the most part I’ve liked most of the food, but there are a few things that I’ve left of my plate. Dessert was a custard that Sr. Sue had made and it was very good.

Just before supper, the sisters had their community meeting and so I went to pray with the girls in the hostel. I’m definitely starting to see big differences in each of them and I’m slowly starting to learn their names. Tonight I got out and paper and pencil and wrote down all of their names, so that I could understand them better. Turns out that most of the names are common names I’ve heard before. I just didn’t realize it because they all say it with an accent. The girls names are: Fatoubintou (fat-too-bin-too), Nancy, Susan, Antonette, Therese, Harriet, Cathrine, Princess, Edibis (Ed-ee-bis), Edwina, Betty, Fatima, Lucinda, Rita, Zenita, Marian, and Marie. Not so hard after all. I know some of the girls a bit better than the rest now, since they seem to be around a bit more. Slowly but surely I’ll get them all.

After supper, everyone went to bed early. Today I started to feel a cold coming on and I think it’s partly due to the dust and the drastic change in temperature throughout the day. So I took a shower and relaxed in my room for a bit before I went to bed. For the most part the house and living with the sisters is pretty quiet and I enjoy that since it’s SO loud everywhere else. I enjoy the time I get to spend with the sisters although I also enjoy the time I get to spend alone too. Half the time I don’t understand what people are saying and the other half I never know what to say.

January 16, 2009

Wow was today an interesting day. I woke up at 6am to get ready for mass and then we went to the school for the school day. Even though mass was at 7am everyone was rushing to get ready and then we realized that the truck wouldn’t start. The sisters have been having trouble with it all week and today it finally gave out. Well…it just wouldn’t start. So we took the big purple bus to mass. The church is really beautiful. It doesn’t look like much from the outside but it sure it nice on the inside. Almost all buildings have walls around them with a gate because there are animals roaming around all over. So when you pull up into the compound (inside the walls) you come up to an older building which used to be the church until they built the new one and they now use for a hall. Then beside the hall is the new church. I doesn’t look like a normal church, like with pillars or a steeple it just looks like an ordinary building. They have two statue fountains (that are not running), one of the Sacred Heart and the other of Mary. When you walk into the church they have the altar at the front of the church, and pews down the middle and sides. The pews are dark wood and the kneelers are just a piece of wood. The altar and tabernacle are covered with beautiful linens (at the moment white) that seem to almost billow off of the top. I’ve never seen anything like it. There are beautiful pink flowers that stand beside the altar.

After mass Fr. Anthony drove us to the school because Sr. Cecile took the bus back to see if she could get the truck fixed. The whole truck business kinda threw a wrench in the whole day since Fridays at the school are for an assembly, religious studies and then the kids play a bit until around 11:30. They stop school on Fridays at 11:30 because the Muslims pray at 2:00pm since it’s their day of prayer. The Gambia, if I haven’t mentioned already, is 90% muslim. It’s been a bit interesting seeing the customs first hand. I studied Islam in College but seeing it up close is something else. Many men have more than one wife, at every prayer hour (5 times a day…I think) they start praying on a loud speaker, and many women wear the traditional full headdress and dress. As much as the country is almost entirely Muslim, they respect Christianity since many of the Muslim children are educated in the Catholic schools. That is actually the story for the President of the Gambia. He grew up a Muslim and wasn’t going to school so one of the sisters (sister Mary Alice) went to his father to ask if he would put him in school and because of it he joined the Military after he finished school and took the country over when he was 27 years old. To this day he respects and supports the Catholic schools in the country. That obviously is a really good advantage, and because of it the country is very peaceful since both religions get along very well together.

At the end of the school day Sr. had asked me if I wanted to take the girls and teach them how to play volleyball. I was so excited! There was only one problem. About 100 girls….and only one ball. J And all of them want to touch it at the same time! I think I’m going to have to come up with something different next time. Maybe split them in to smaller groups. Since none of them know anything about playing I just started out by teaching the basics of passing….and we didn’t get past that since there was so many girls. But we’re going to work on it and who knows maybe we’ll get a few teams out of it. After we were finished playing volleyball I joined in with the group that was playing “football” – to us soccer. It was really fun and the kids love when older people play with them. The kids are absolutely adorable. They know I’m a stranger to them and obviously I don’t look like them so at first I get a scared stare and when they see me smile at them their faces light up with this bright smile. They’re all so cute.

Everyone took naps in the afternoon and around 5:00pm I went with Sr. Cecile and Sr. Sue to their Catechism or First communion class. I just watch everything because Sr. knows how to address them and they have a translator who translates into mandinka.

My cold has been getting worse and who knows what it’s from. I imagine it is partly due to the weather, but also because there are so many plants that I’ve never been in contact with before and it’s probably adding to the problem…never mind all the dust around. Hopefully it’ll get a bit better within the next few days.

Please continue to pray for me…

In Jesus and Mary,

Jen

pictures

Hi everyone!
I'm attempting to add some pictures but I'm having trouble. So if anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate any! If not...just be patient and I will add some sooner or later!

In Jesus and Mary,

Jen

"can Jennifa come out to pray...?"

January 14, 2009

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is well at home and is enjoying the cold weather! I hear from a friend that it was -39 the other day?! Wow…I guess it hasn’t warmed up since I left?

Today was warmer day. It’s funny because during the winter season (dry season – January to May/June) it gets cool in the mornings and evenings and gets very hot in the afternoon. Last night the sisters were laughing at me because after supper I put on my sweater. And yes embarrassingly enough I along with Sr. Josaphine were the only ones wearing sweaters. They laughed and said “Ah…look at her…the poor Canadian has to put on a sweater!” Yes, I can imagine I’m never going to live it down.

I ended my last post at yesterday afternoon so I will continue from there. I’m not sure if I will be able to keep up with writing something for ever day but I will at least try to keep up with week to week.

When we had gotten home from the school there were a few girls watering the plants in the yard (the girls from the hostel). From what I’ve gathered so far, each of the girls has a chore to do for the day. Each of the girls go to school either in the morning from 8 -1 or 1-5. When we began talking with the two girls (Princess and FatouBintou) Sr. Cecile mentioned to them that she would like me to lead the girls in prayer. The girls got really excited and said, “we like Jennifa (to me everything with and –er sounds like “a” ) and we would like ha to pray wit ous”. I thought that it would take some time for them to ask me or for sister to have me go and pray with them but just after supper the girls came knocking on the door saying “Can Jennifa come and pray wit ous?” I was glad to go. For the first time I just sat back and watched. I’m amazed at the faith of these young women. They pray with such meaning. They pray for the sisters and are grateful for the sisters hospitality. They pray for themselves, thanking God for the gift of LIFE. That’s the thing that most amazed me…they All pray for the gift of LIFE. It’s amazing to me. One thing about Africans is that they Love to sing, so they sing everything! (even if they don’t have a good voice…haha…I find it kind of funny) After anyone prays they sing a verse from a song and after prayer was all done they started singing “Stand up and tell somebody that you love them!” and they all stand up and hug one another and sing! It’s such a sight to see! These girls all come from different places in the Gambia and they all get along. I’m just amazed at these young girls and what I’m grateful for is being able to spend time with them. They enjoy my company and I really enjoy theirs. I can relate with their young and longing hearts and I think I will get to know them well for the time I am here. After prayers they all wanted to see pictures from home since Sr. Cecile had told them I was a triplet. So ran to get my pictures in the house and when I came back they were all sitting in a circle waiting for me. They passed the pictures around and then when the pictures were al shown they took out theirs and began to show me. You can tell how proud they are of their families. Once all the pictures were shown they all surrounded me and began to ask me a million questions. They don’t know much about Canada and they wanted to know what it was like. One girl actually had a Toronto Blue Jays shirt on and she didn’t even know what it was. So I pointed out to her that it was a Canadian baseball team. They all loved that. It was so funny…they were all talking at once and I already have a hard time understanding their English that I was just looking at them and they’re all trying to translate for each other. Eventually we all were on the same page. For some reason, black women like to have fair skin so there is some sort of pill you can take to make your skin a lighter color and the women around here like that. Obviously not very many women can afford it but while the girls were all standing around me one started and said, “ I like your nose” and another, “I like your skin”, “I like your eyes, and your hair!” it was never ending. I only say this story because I find it funny how the grass is always greener on the other side. I think the black people here are absolutely beautiful and black people think that the white people are beautiful. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we actually appreciated who we were ourselves and not wished we were someone else? I think the African people deal with this better since most of them don’t have much. They are ok with not wearing make up or the best clothes. They are just happy people. After all the talking was done, I tried to learn all of their names but even if they are a common name like Therese, the way they say it always makes me wonder what they are saying. So the girls all had to say their names 5 times each. Haha…I’m sure they think I’m stupid. I left the room that night with so many smiles and waves that it was hard not to laugh and be grateful for each and everyone of them. I’m going to enjoy spending more times with them over these next months.

Back in the house, I heated some water on the stove for my shower and then I took a warm shower. It’s very refreshing and actually having to work for it makes it rewarding. I appreciate it. After my shower I was able to get on the internet to check my email and see some of the posts. Thank you to everyone who sent me emails. Seriously, I’ve always appreciated mail but it’s more than overwhelming when you’re out of the country and cant talk to someone whenever you want. I think out of anything, that is the thing that is going to make the 7 months long. But THANK YOU to everyone for your emails. I love getting them! So keep them coming!

I’m slowly getting used to the time difference but I hate to be a bother when everyone else is getting up at 6:00am. Most of you know me…I’m more of a night owl than an early bird so I’m thinking that getting up early over the next months is going to be my purgatory. Oh Lord…If I have to suffer, please make it somewhat bearable. J I guess with the way the sun is (it rises at 6:30 am and sets at 7:00pm every day – no change) it’s a little bit easier going to bed in the evening. I guess my college days really produced a bad habit out of my schedule. I used to START studying at around 9:00 pm, so here because all the sisters go to bed early I think it’s such a waste of the rest of the night. But I guess once I get into a good routine it wont be so bad.

I was able to sleep in today again and once I was up I had breakfast (seems to be pretty similar as all mornings) we got ready and Kabia took Sr. Sue and I to deliver some eggs and run some errands. Kabia is a contractor and he actually put up the school that I am working in. He does a lot of different jobs but I think he mainly works for the sisters since there is always work to do and Sr. Cecile always has new plans and things to build. I had only met Kabia once before and it was only an introduction. But today Sr. Sue and I spent the majority of the day with him. I really appreciated it. The only thing…..only thing….He speaks Pigeon English too. Oh no. Well to say the least by the end of the day, I not only knew that his first name was NOT Kabia, but Abraham Kabia but I also knew how to pick up Pigeon English. WOW…can they talk fast! It’s like their talking another language. I spent most of the day sitting in the front seat watching Kabia weave in and out of small streets and listen to him and Sr. Sue talk pigeon English. We spent the day in Serrekunda, where I got to see Sr. Madeline and Sr. Marie live, one of the nursery schools, and also meet Sr. Bibian and Sr. Ruth. I’m sorry for all of the names, but I say it more for myself. Its good to write them down so that I can remember them. So I apologize. After Serrekunda we went up to the capital, Banjul to check out the market and see the Arch. Apparently when the president took over by a coup they built this arch to signify the change. It’s very historical…I guess. I definitely enjoyed my day today. Every day I get to know Sr. Sue a little bit better and I really enjoy her company. I’m not sure if I mentioned, but the first day I spent with Sr. Sue I was convinced that she could not be very old because she looks so young. So….I asked her. J She made me guess of course and I guessed that she was in her 30s. She laughed and said, no. Turns out she is 52. I couldn’t believe it. I’m not saying 52 is old, but the women here look SO young for their age. I had to ask her her secret to looking so young since they live in such a dry climate. Of course her answer was that the Lord granted her good skin. I left it at that. I am often caught off guard by her loud talk. When I hear the women around here talk to one another I always think they are yelling at one another. Today I saw one women “yelling” at the other and so I asked Sr. Cecile if she was yelling since she was talking in Wollof, and sister laughed and said, ;’oh no, they just like to emphasize what they are saying.” I had to laugh. Sr. Sue definetly talks like that and sometimes I think she is yelling at me or Sr. Cecile and it catches me off guard.

On our way home, we went back through all of the small villages and I enjoy doing this because it gives me time to look around and get used to seeing all the people around. I asked Kabia where all the people were going and what they were doing since there is SO many people in the streets all the time. Just think of this…..driving down the highway and seeing goats and sheep and people crossing the roads….ALL THE TIME. It’s like it never stops. There are people on the sides of the roads and cars weaving in and out of the paths of other cars. I’m glad they don’t want me to drive because I might develop a bad habit of road rage. Kabia said that people are in the streets because most of the people sell their good in the streets. They just sit there and hope that they will go home with 100 dallasis. That’s not even 5 Canadian dollars. It would barely buy a bag of nuts. There are boys in the streets whose prized possession is their wheel barrow because they offer to carry peoples loads of oranges, or wood, etc in exchange for some money. They are the ones that make the most money in the streets because everyone needs help carrying their goods, so they get paid pretty good if they are fast enough. So, next time you look at your wheel barrow and think “oh this is too much work”, think of the little boys in the streets whose only way to make some extra money for their family is that wheel barrow.

I knew that Kabia has a family so on the way home I asked him how many children he has. He has 3 kids. The oldest is a girl, 7, next is a boy, 5 and the youngest is a girl, 3. I think he does very well with is trade as a contractor and I’m sure his family is pretty well off. When we left the car he said to me, “Well Jennifa, we will have many conversations since you are here for a while.” I appreciated his comment because I didn’t know if he was annoyed by all my questions and his comment allowed me to know that he appreciated being asked. I enjoyed my day with him.

When we got home, the maids had cleaned 20 chickens – for selling- and Sr. odile was making sugar coated ground nuts (otherwise known as sugar coated peanuts) in the back of the house. The young girls were in the back watering the flowers, and making supper for themselves, and washing up. I went to visit with Sr. Cecile on the veranda and she explained to me the Lectio reading for that day. Every Wednesday the sisters have adoration with an hour of Lectio Divina (a reflection on the gospel) beforehand. It was nice to be able to finally have some time to sit in the chapel and pray. We ended with evening prayers. Supper was on our own and then the sisters have the rest of the night in silence. I went out and spent some time with the girls in the hostel and then I went to shower. I’m now about to go to bed.

How is everything at home? It’s hard for me to imagine that it’s so cold at home since it’s so nice here. I hope it’s not too cold! I’m thinking of all of you and I know it’s only been a couple days but I’m excited to see your faces when I return. I never thought I’d miss the familiarities of home, like I do. I have to keep reminding myself that this is my home for the next 7 months. Things are good, and because I’m spending so much time busy with the daily duties I’m asking the Lord to speak to me through my experiences of meeting people and seeing places. One thing I’m grateful for is my home. I am continually reminded that I’m only here for so long and then I get to come home, but these people are here for good. I thought today, “oh I’m going to love taking a hot shower where all I have to do is turn on the taps and not heat the water on the stove” And then I thought, wow….the sisters will do this for the rest of their lives. I need to remind myself that that might be my way to heaven….as it is in some way for the sisters.

Continue to pray for me! It’s been a challenge here! You’re in my prayers!

In Jesus and Mary,

Jen