Mangee ñibi Amerika!!!

I'm going back to Murka soon.
December 13, 2008

The past few weeks have gone by in no time at all. I can’t believe that it is really December 13th. Christmas is in 12 days, but it doesn’t feel like December. The weather is far too nice. The current temperatures have been in the 70s and 80s with nice cool breezes. I’m going to miss the tropics, but more so the people.

Last Sunday, Paul and I took a few gelleh gelleh’s South towards the Senegalese border, stopping in Kartong. From Kartong we walked five and a half beachside hours north to Sanyang. The beach was beautiful, but slightly more developed than the stretch between Tujerang and Sanyang. Unfortunately, whenever we would come up to a village or lodge, the beach would be littered with water sachets. We would collect the bags, filling my backpack and carrying them in our arms. When we came up to a group of fisherman or lodge workers, we would put the pile of plastic down, asking for a dust bin.

Often, the people would suggest that we place the bags on the beach, a horrid idea. Paul and I were in the Environmental Management in the Gambia class together. Therefore, we manage the Gambian Environment. In each place we stopped, we told the people that Paul was an inspector from the National Environmental Agency (NEA) and that I was a World Health Organization (WHO) journalist.

We were walking the beaches of the Gambia and inspecting them for waste based on a new NEA initiative called Operation Clean the Beaches. Paul explained in Wolof the benefits of having a clean beach. I introduced myself in Wolof as a journalist but I didn’t say much otherwise. He explained how the water sachets wash out into the ocean and look like jelly fish floating in the water. Sea turtles eat the plastic bags mistaking them for jellyfish and then die. Paul asked the fisherman if bags ever get caught in their fishing nets. They said that they sometimes get caught in the nets and stretch them out so that they have to make repairs. The fisherman said that they never thought that the bags could have such a major impact on the environment.

We told them that as part of Jammeh’s Operation Clean the Nation, it was the duty of the seaside towns to clean the beach on Set Setal. Set Setal is the last Saturday of every month where everything shuts down from 9am to 1pm. People should be focused on cleaning up their compounds and neighborhood. I expect that at the end of this month the people of the seaside towns and lodges will be making sure the beach is clean.

We also told them that we would be coming back to inspect the beaches within the next month. Considering that I am leaving in a few days, and that we are not real inspectors, I question the validity of the above statement.

One of the fisherman who owned three of the biggest boats offered to be a regional inspector for us. We thanked him for his enthusiasm. Hopefully they will work to keep the beaches clean for months to come. It is difficult to change people’s habits and perceptions, but people are afraid of inspectors.

It really wouldn’t be that difficult or costly to start a beach cleanup program. Someone just needs to organize it. Maybe I will come back to the Gambia as an inspector one day.

Tabaski was this past Tuesday. Tabaski is the Muslim feast day that celebrates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his own son, Ismail, following God’s decree. God was just joking and then told him to slaughter a ram. Every man who can afford it should slaughter a ram on this day and give out meat to those who can’t afford it. A ram is expensive, anywhere from $100 on up. The holiday coincides with the end of the annual Hajj to Mecca. I went between Ebrima Tunkara’s house and Babukar Jallow’s. I ate lots of ram that day, only after watching it being slaughtered of course.

On Thursday, Annie, Renee, Erika and I went fishing with Babukar. We took along his rod and tackle and also the Gambian style line on a spool with a hook. We ended up catching about 10 fish, a few of which were minuscule in size. We also caught a small blue crab. We started early in the morning on the bridge to Banjul, but it was breezy so the fish weren’t biting. That’s our excuse anyway. There was a man catching a lot with a net, but we had no such luck. We got all of our sea creatures at a creek that Babukar knows about.

On the way to the creek I bought some oysters. After we finished fishing, we went to Babukar’s compound, cooked the fish, ate some benachin, and then after that steamed up the oyster and dipped them in lime juice. Very tasty.

I completed my last exam this morning.

Tonight we are having a catered dinner party with everyone involved in the program and with lots of our friends. It should be a good time.

We leave at the crack of dawn on Monday for Senegal. It should be interesting being in Senegal. I don’t speak any French, but I know enough Wolof to get by.

I’ll be back in the States by Thursday morning, inshallah. Hopefuly the planes won’t be operating on GMT or WAIT (Gambia Maybe Time or West African International Time). I don’t want to leave but it will be good to see all of my friends and family. I am dreading the cold, but looking forward to coming home.

Cheers,

Nathan