Introducing my fellow volunteers

Given that I will undoubtedly refer to them over the coming years I thought I should add a brief summary of my fellow volunteers. That and I have been asked to by a regular reader.

When we arrived there were already volunteers in post from previous cohorts. This includes Nicola who provided my tour of Kanifing on my first night at home, Natalie who is currently working on evaluation across VSO programmes and so has been key to both our induction programme and made sure my cohort and I get regular invitations to social events (which is NOT always going to the beach), and Helen (yes, there's a troy of Helens here as everywhere) who has provided tireless support in terms of organising tours and presentations on her experiences of Gambian culture. They, and others in their group and network have made integrating into Gambian life pretty smooth. Nicola's boyfriend has even declared that I am like his sister and so is now known as "suma mag", meaning my older sibling. I haven't yet met my housemate Agnes as she's been away.

In my cohort we have a fantastic mix of skills, interests, cultures and personalities. There is (see photo, from left to right) Rao, Aisah, Munya, Julie, Martin, Joe, Jonson and me, as well as Yaap and Janneke who are not pictured.

The fabulous Dr Rao (UK) is a psychiatrist and is already investigating the mental health provision here. Investigation is a real Rao trait and I have found out a lot about everyone's work through listening while he asks questions. Dr Joe (UK), who'll be in A&E, however seems to get a lot of questions asked of him about all sorts of medical matters. He's good at answering them and currently he's investigating keeping chickens.

Aisah (Phillipines) is a rural development adviser. She'll be working up country and will be a friendly face to share attaya (local green tea) with when I'm visiting our project nearby.

Munya (Zimbabwe), Martin (UK, specifically Yorkshire), and Jonson are the agricultural team. Jonson will be out in Brikama and Munya and Martin here in the Kombos. They are all very jovial and like cracking jokes, but workwise Martin and Munya have pretty serious knowledge of agriculture, and Jonson is statistical whizz.

Yaap and Janneke (Netherlands) arrived before us and so are already working. Seeing them at work and with their employers as we did on Monday is really helpful as it gives a reasonable impression of how those of us doing similar work, as I am, can expect to progress. They have also volunteered before so have lots of helpful tips.

And of course finally I'm working on youth policy with the National Youth Service Scheme (NYSS). Having met with the Executive Director on Monday I'm keen to get started and to learn more about how the programme works as well as what I can contribute. No doubt my fellow volunteers will feature regularly, but if you want another perspective I'd recommend reading Martin Watts' blog on Wordpress or Raokadambari.wordpress.com.