June 18, 2009

With this last post I am closing my African adventure. By the time this entry gets posted I will be already on the plane on my way to Moscow.
It is impossible to describe all the emotions that I have to go through right now. This has been my identity for two years, and now, once again, I am starting from scratch. They say that the hardest part about African Peace Corps is not the heat, or rough living conditions, or being a lonely white man in the bush away from your family, or anything you might think off. The hardest part is coming back home and trying to fit in. To say that I had been changed by this experience is to say nothing. I know that America will shock me, disturb me, maybe even disgust me after the two years here. I know, that this is also, what they call, cultural differences - and I should be able to overcome them. But it will be hard, and I will need time and support from people around me. The Gambia was amazing. I learned so much. I enjoyed so much. I am so happy and grateful that I was able to do this. I am also happy that now I get to go and see my family and friends, who I miss very very much. I had an incredible two years of service. It is time to leave.
As they say: You never really leave a place or person you love, part of them you take with you, leaving a part of yourself behind. True.
Gambians also say: No matter how long the stick will stay in the river, it will never become a crocodile. Also very true. It's time.

Traveling is not just seeing the new; it is also leaving behind. Not just opening doors; also closing them behind you, never to return. But the place you have left forever is always there for you to see whenever you shut your eyes.

June 17, 2009

Not Christian or Jew orMuslim,
not Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen.
Not any religion
or cultural system.

I am not from the eastor the west,
not out of the ocean or up from the ground,
not natural or ethereal,
not composed of elements at all.

I do not exist, am not an entity in this world
or the next, did not descend from Adam and Eve
or any origin story.
My place is the placeless, a trace of the traceless.

Neither body or soul. I belong to the beloved,
have seen the two worlds as one
and that one call to and know,

first, last, outer, inner, only that
breath breathing human being.

June 16, 2009

Tomorrow is my last day in Africa. Guess what, not many things had changed in those 2 years as I am still:

Currently freaking out.... :)

June 15, 2009

We had an annual Peace Corps photo contest, and here are some of the winners. Pretty amazing pictures.

Mother Hawa

Cooking Sunlight...

One of my favorites: 'Ar naam', meaning "Come, eat'

June 1, 2009

I left the village on June 1, 2009. This is how dreams come to an end. For two years I was living the impossible. I did not dare to talk about my wish to become a PCV to anybody for the fear of not being understood. Now the fear is gone and the dream is gone. Two years in Africa gave much more then I could ever possibly give to Africa. I learned many lessons and I am so so so grateful to Allah for being able to have this experience.

But enough of long words.

Leaving the village was not easy. Packing and Isatou with Baby B are helping me.

I was crying, Sira was crying, Gorgol was crying. Kumba was not crying, but then she is too small to understand really....

On the way back we stopped my another village where I was working to say goodbyes. They gave me a beautiful dress and made me cry some more...

I arrived to Kombo with a headache and sick to my stomach from saying goodbyes. So I decided that I will go back to the village that weekend just to hang out... It is not easy to leave this place, it is not easy.

May 31, 2009

Saying goodbye to the school was a long and painful process. I got attached to those children. I know their names, their personalities, their mood swings. I will miss them.
The morning assembly on my last day of school.

Teachers sitting in the shade.

We had a small celebration on my last day. We exhibited our art, played our music.

This is wife of the school principle.
On the morning of my last day I went to school to take our last pictures. This is my grade 8. Yusupha, one of my all time favorites, mad at me for going. He was angry and upset.

Musa. my host-brother, and Samba, our new-elected head boy.

Binta being sad...

Demba being sad...

I was very sad myself. The day before some girls come to my compound and brought me some baobabs so I can take them to America to show American people.

This is Oumie:

Binta, Oumie and Khaddy:

Hawa, my favorite student: Mama, my great friend and student:

Our last group shot.

oh... Sambang.... I will miss you.

May 9, 2009

Praying time:

so peaceful, that it makes me almost want to pray myself.

May 8, 2009

My tooma, Toola Bah was born the night before Gamo - village prayer that lasts the entire night and is a cause of great anticipation and celebration. She was born at night at the cement block, that we use as a shower floor in my mother's back yard. She weighted 3 kg and was pretty ugly. The first seven days of her life she spend inside the house with her mother. The baby can not be taken outside or seen by any male before it has a name. The name is given after a week from birth.
When the name is given to the baby, a ceremony called Ngente occurs in the compound. I had this ceremony performed on me, see the entry of June 25, 2007 (http://chaycka.blogspot.com/2007/08/june-25-2007.html, seriously two years had passed). Now this ceremony was performed on my tooma. Me and my sitemate Jon put on our best clothes and went to the ceremony. Her head was shaved, colonuts were distributed and the name given. We cooked benachin and sat around.
Me, Sira and baby Toola:

It is custom here to draw eyebrows on a new born babies. With a big black eye pencil they draw those huge, black eyebrows.... Me and Jon went a little overboard and gave her Arlekino eyebrows. The mother came, took the baby and restored it to the normal state...

Kodak moment:

Since this is my tooma, when she grows to 7-9 years, she will be sent to my compound, where she will help with cooking and cleaning and taking care of younger children... think this is funny? Let's see what happened in the next 9 years....