Tree Nursery Competition Grant – We need funds/donations

[THE PROJECT HAS RECEIVED ALL THE FUNDS. THANK YOU FOR DONATING. WE NOW CAN JUDGE THE SCHOOLS ON THEIR PROGRESS AND REWARD THEM FOR THEIR HARD WORK.]


This year I coordinated a nationwide tree planting competition in the Gambian school system. It is a great initiative that was started by a Peace Corps volunteer a few years ago. The competition is an incentive to teach school kids environmental education, and plant trees. The trees serve to beautiful the school, grow orchards, and woodlots. The fruit and timber from the grown trees will be used as food for the kids and income generation for the school. See below post on the Tree Nursery - Award Ceremony project.

Over 80 schools participated in this year’s competition growing over 20,000 seedlings. Unfortunately, the promised funding never came through. We now cannot finish this year’s competition. The kids and teachers have worked so hard on the competition we do not want to drop them halfway through. Therefore we wrote a Peace Corps Partnership grant to finish out the year and reward the winning schools with prizes. In the grant, the community must raise 25% of the funds and we raise the rest.

If you can help, please donate at the Peace Corps site below. Any amount would be appreciated.

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=635-063

or http://www.peacecorps.gov (click donations) – project number: 635-063

If you would like to donate, please do it as soon as you can because the competition is suppose to finish before the end of the year. Thank you.

Final thought - The competition encourages schools to emphasize environmental education and plant trees to reforest The Gambia. The forestry knowledge and skills gained by the students will remain with them for a lifetime building a more environmentally conscious society.


Students in their nursery site.



An education official judging the tree nursery on first trek.

Trees For The Future

This year I took over a project, Trees for the Future, from a volunteer who left for America. I organized the project this year because the volunteer’s replacement was new and still learning the language and culture. It turned out to be a great experience and what I enjoyed the most this past year. While the project took up a lot of my time because we worked in four villages, three of which were between 7-10km away from my village, it was worth it. I had fun and I learned a lot.

The project encouraged farmers to plant trees to help combat deforestation and soil degradation. The main focus was to teach farmers to include trees with current agriculture practices. I held village meetings where we discussed the environmental degradation, and strategies to fix the problems. We discussed different trees for soil improvement, income generation, fence building, and fruit. Gambians in general want a field cleared of all trees. They think a place that is completely bare whether it be their courtyards or fields is better. We introduced the idea that a developed field and compound incorporates trees for fruit, shade, and beauty. We drew pictures as examples and discussed different ideas.

Some meetings went really well. People were really interested in the material and were asking a lot of questions. Other meetings left a lot to be desired with no one saying anything. It was a challenge because some of the meetings I had to conduct in local language (Pulaar), but I was surprised how much I could say and understand. Other times, I would speak in English and a counterpart would translate to Wolof, another local spoken language.

The other part of the project involved tree nurseries. A person was selected in each village to be in charge of the project in the village. They grew the tree seedlings. When the rains came in August, they gave the trees away to villagers to plant in their fields. We spent a lot of time working with the nursery manager to plant and care for the seedlings. We also discussed the tree uses and correct planting spacing so the nursery manager could explain to other villagers when he gave the trees away.

At the end of the rainy season, we planted over 6,000 trees with over 15 varieties. Another volunteer is taking over the project for next year and making sure the trees are protected from the livestock since during the dry season livestock is left roaming free.

Medicine Men and Love Potions

I was sitting with a man one day talking when his daughter handed him some powder. He added some sugar, and started reciting words over the packages as he was tying them off. He told me it was a money potion. He said if I put the powder in water and then bathe with it, money would come my way. At first I did not understand what he was talking about but all of a sudden it all made sense.

At least once every two weeks I saw a car or taxi pull up to his compound, which is highly unusual. Only people with a lot of money can hire cars, and my village did not have money. I always thought it was strange. At that moment, I figured it out. He was a marabou, a medicine man, as we would call it.

I have heard of witch doctors and voodoo, but the Gambia has something a little different. They are called marabous. They tell fortunes, cure sick people, and make charms. They are extremely common in the Gambia, and Gambians believe in them, but they are very inconspicuous. The man in my village had the same house as everyone else, very plain with a bed, a mat, and some clothes hanging over a line. He dressed the same and worked just like every other man in village. I guess I let the Hollywood stereotype get the best of me because when I think of medicine men I think of dead animals, face paint, cauldrons, and bones.

Charms, or jujus as Gambians call it, are extremely popular. All Gambians have at least one. They wear them around their waist, bicep, or neck. They can bring good luck, or ward off evil spirits. They can prevent knifes from penetrating the skin or allow for safe travel. People can get them for almost any reason. One boy in village approached me one day to borrow my bike. He wanted to travel 12km to find a marabou that would make girls attracted to him. He wanted to go when it was dark so no one could see him leave. He wanted it to be a secret. He told me not to tell anyone in village. A few weeks later he said it was working.

Busy Busy

My first year of service seemed really slow. I hung out in village not knowing what to do or why I was placed there. I could not find any work to do. I mostly sat around my compound listening to conversations and trying my broken Pulaar. I spent time doing manual labor such as building fences and houses in order to learn about what people did. I would say I was what we call a cultural volunteer who spends a lot of time with the family and community learning about the culture and sharing mine. All I wanted to do was find real work to do.

My second year has been completely different. My this time I mastered their language, Pulaar, which made my interaction with the locals a much easier task. From spring through the rainy season, I was really busy. I had met a lot of people interested in planting trees, and I traveled to their villages almost every day. I spent a lot of time meeting with people to discuss ways to improve their agriculture yields, combat deforestation and increase household income by incorporating agro-forestry techniques with current agricultural practices. I helped them fill and plant polypots, and plant trees. When the rainy season arrived we made development plans for their fields. Looking back at it, while I enjoyed what I was doing, I wish I could have slowed down a little and spent more time in village.

I think it is kind of ironic that the first year I wanted more work because I spent too much time in village but the second year I had too much work and felt I was missing out on the village experience. I think this is typical of most Peace Corps volunteers because the first year we are learning about our communities and surroundings. We cannot speak the language and do not with whom to work. After some time, we discover the people who are willing to work and receptive to trying new ideas. At first, people who approach us tend to be hustlers just looking for handouts. This is frustrating because I wanted to hit the ground running when I showed up in village, but instead I had to wait a year to actually find real tasks. It was a good learning experience that to really help people it is important to take time to learn about the community. Otherwise the project might be a waste because it falls apart after we leave (see marnie’s blog).

The problem with donor money

A fellow peace corps volunteer in the Gambia wrote a blog post about the problem of sustainability and how most Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) work. It explains many of my frustrations with donors giving money to villages. The villagers then think money will be given to them whether they work hard or not. I have learned throwing money at a problem does not help the situation and usually makes it worse.

Here is the first paragraph she wrote:

A lot of volunteers, NGOs, etc. will roll into a village spend a couple days there and declare "You need a ______ (school/library/garden/clinic)!" This sort of situation is the WORST IDEA EVER and not sustainable AT ALL! For example, an NGO walks into a village and says, "You need a garden and we're going to build you one," and all the village people, if you will, are all super excited. The NGO then proceeds to build the garden using all expensive materials instead of local ones, ie. steel poles instead of wooden ones, chain-link instead of live fencing, pumps instead of wells. And the villagers love it and they start gardening. Fast-forward one year to when the pump breaks. Who's going to fix it? Well, no one has the money to fix a pump and since none of the villagers feel any ownership over the garden, it's not anyone's responsibility. So the pump never gets fixed. And the garden ceases to be used and just sits there. Fast forward 5 years, another NGO comes and says, oh, here's this garden just sitting here being unused, let us fix it for you and/or build you a better one. And on and on it goes.

Please read the rest of her blog post.
"The problem with sustainability and the way 99% of NGOs function".

It gives a more detailed picture of the situation -

http://marniesaur.blogspot.com/

Mummified - A Fula Wedding

I had been waiting all day for this moment. I watched as the women filed into the compound. I asked the man next to me where the bride was. He pointed to a brightly clothed woman. I was confused. My host sister was getting married, but the woman he pointed to was not my host sister. I asked again and this time he said look behind. Then I saw her, my host sister. She stood huddled behind the women wrapped from head to toe in fula fabric (Fula fabric is traditional fabric made by hand by the Fulas). She reminded me of a mummy because I could not see any skin. I do not know how she breathed. It was a hot day and the fabric covered her face. A man picked her up and laid her down on a prayer mat and the official tying of the knot started.

The bride covered from head to toe in white

The wedding began the day before in the bride’s father’s compound (where I lived). It started with a big lunch for all the guests. My compound killed two goats. I never saw my host sister the whole day. She stayed in the house, while everyone else was dancing, cooking, talking, and having a good time. Right before dark, the gifts were brought out and a crier started to count all the presents. My host sister had over 40 buckets, 250 meters of fabric, and 70 bowls not to mention the other household items she received. Each guest brought a present. To me, it seemed such a waste to have some items of the same kind because these people do not have enough money to replace their own broken bowls and buckets, but one woman gets more buckets, meters of fabric and bowls than she could use in her entire life. Later I learned the presents are actually shared with the family and friends.

Around 1 am, a gele (bush taxi) showed up with the groom contingent. After a couple of hours the groom left taking the bride to his village. Women, the bride’s family and friends, go in the car to the groom’s village. The bride’s parents do not go. The women were all crying (extremely uncommon in Gambian culture) because my host sister was leaving her village for good and may be visiting only rarely. Men usually do not go, but my family encouraged me to go to the groom's village to see what happens next.

The groom is on the left

The bride contingent stayed the entire morning in a different compound while people arrived in the groom’s compound. The women cooked. The men chatted. The kids chased each other around. Around two, the bride’s contingent showed up in the compound to look at the cow to be slaughtered for the meal. They approved and the dancing began. I helped a man from my village kill the cow and cut up the meat. In the evening the bride and her contingent showed up in the compound as the sun was going down.

I sat in the back watching as a family friend picked my host sister up to lay her down on the prayer mat. All the men were sitting around her. The groom was sitting a couple of rows back. Many men spoke and blessed the two. Then everyone got up and I could not see where my host sister went. Luckily a woman explained to me what was going to happen. I quickly followed a bunch of people as they headed to the open well.

My host sister went through the ritual of what she must do before she can enter in her "married" house. She knelt on each side of the well. She washed her husband’s clothes splashing everyone when she finished. She then went to the cattle field where a kid milked a cow. She finally was able to take off the fabric around her head and put it on the cow. Now she was ready to enter her house. As she approached the door, the groom’s friends would not let her in. The women’s friends must pay the fee to enter which is not more than 2 or 3 dollars but there was a lot of negotiating the price down. Then the women ran in trying to smear cream on the groom’s friends as they tried to escape. The women then took over the house. The bride was in her house and the women stayed there all night talking, eating, and congratulating the bride. The party continued the next day. Fula weddings are always three days, with much eating, dancing and celebrating.


The bride after she removed the fabric over her face.

Tree Competition - Awards Ceremony

This year I coordinated the nationwide Gambia All Schools Tree Nursery Competition in the lower (elementary) and upper (middle) basic schools in the Gambia with representatives from the Department of Education, National Environment Agency and the Department of Forestry. The number of participating schools has fallen over the past three years. We decided to hold an awards ceremony to generate excitement about the competition.

We held the first ever awards ceremony at the first place school to celebrate the successes of the top three schools. It was a great event with food, music, songs, and dancing. We invited high ranking government officials and the media to attend. The second and third place schools sent representatives. We awarded prizes, garden tools, to all the schools. The event was later broadcasted on the radio throughout the entire country. It also appeared in the newspaper.

I gave a speech to introduce the competition. Representatives from each participating organization also gave short speeches about the importance of the competition to combat deforestation and teach environmental education. We had a person who translated everything from English to Mandinka, the local language. The speeches started to drag a little, but the last speaker stole the show.

The head boy of the winning school spoke a few words about why we should plant trees, and why he likes planting trees. I was surprised how good his English was for the sixth grade. It was great to see him talking about the environment. I looked around and saw how proud the other kids were to win the competition. It made all the work worthwhile. The point of the competition is to teach kids about environmental education. If we can teach them to plant trees hopefully they will remember it for the rest of their lives.