Ongoing fiascos within the confines of Bureaucracy

October 10, 2008

The ongoing fiasco of trying to get work done for my independent study.

On Friday I had a 10am appointment with Professor Addy at RVTH so that I could get some work done on my independent study. It was my understanding that after meeting him he would introduce me to the head of the Cuban community. Like I said, that was only my understanding.

I left the house around 9:15 to make it to Banjul by 10. Mohamed said that I would be late. Usually that is plenty of time to make it to the capitol, but not on this day. It was the day before the Senegal-Gambia football match, so all of the vans running into the city were full of people headed for the ferry and then to Dakar for the game. There were throngs of people lingering along the side of the road trying to hop into a van. As soon as one pulled up and one or two people got off, the people raced to get into the one available seat.

After a while, a tractor trailer pulled up, and the driver opened the door, and lots of people climbed up and got in the cab. A second one came by at a slow pace, and I flagged it down. After it slowed to a stop, I asked if I could hop on, and the driver said yes. There’s nothing like hitchhiking a big rig. An older man and I got into the cab and I thanked the driver for the ride. He told me he would drop me off at the port. It’s quite an experience to sit up high in a Peugeot truck barreling towards the city. Since full-size trucks aren’t allowed to drive through Banjul, we took a back road to the port. At the port, the driver pointed out which direction I should head to get to the hospital. I thanked him and climbed down from the French made big rig.

At the port I called Prof Addy to confirm the appointment. He asked, “When did I ask you to come?” and I reminded him that it was at 10. He then told me that he had scheduled a staff meeting for then that was just about to begin and to come back at 1 or 2. Obviously, I was frustrated, but it gave me the opportunity to spend the day in Banjul.

I ran into my neighbor, who goes by Bob, when I first got to the main street. He is a driver for the Department of Treasury. I had to “relieve myself” as some people say here, so he took my in the back way past security into the restroom of the Department of Treasury. I went into the archive room and to the back where the restroom was. It was kind of funny, I was in a nice air-conditioned room filled with archives, but the bathroom door was off its hinges. To open or close it you had to pick it up and precariously prop it in place.

After that escapade we went across the street and I bought a Coke for each of us. Just as that happened though, Bob was called to drive someone somewhere. I enjoyed my coke alone at this little café, and did some reading. I’ve learned to always bring something to read with me to Banjul, because I never know how long I will have to wait. I eventually ordered some cenfu ak corn beef and onions for breakfast/lunch. The workers in the café were very talkative, so I chatted with them while I enjoyed my lunch. Fatu, the girl, who served my food, was quite the flirt for Muslim standards, and she was kind of cute. She gave me a free bag of water with my food, rather thoughtful of her.

After lunch I drank some attaya with mint with some older men on the street, trying to pass the hours until Professor Addy was free. We talked about politics and life in the Gambia, among other things.

Around 1pm I went to see the Prof. He had the letters that I had written in hand, and asked where my protocol was. Apparently for any research at the hospital, a statement of protocol must be submitted. It would have been very nice to know this a month ago. From what he told me it sounds like it is a medical research style protocol, although he knows very well that I am doing cultural studies. He told me to come back Monday to meet with him and he would take to meet someone to get the medical protocol format. From there I can take this document home and fill it out. Then I will submit it and an ethics board will either approve or disapprove of my work there. It’s very frustrating that they didn’t make this clear to me a long time ago. It seems that I might never get my work started. Maybe there is a way around this protocol and ethics committee. I shall see.

Be beneen yoon

Nathan

PS: I just talked with Mr. Femi and he said to bypass all of this protocol. He said that this is supposedly a free country and I am free to talk to whoever I like. I suppose his approach to this is the difference between a cultural studies person and a sociologist. I prefer cultural studies. It turns out that my Environmental Management professor, Mr. Dele knows some of the Cubans. Hopefully the tides are turning.