With the end of ICT, gone are the days of long walks to the VSO office in the morning sun, lunch ordered in and cool drinks stored in the fridge for us to help ourselves. I had become rather used to the luxury of this system; killing a couple of cockroaches before work still seems to deserve a treat for me, it's not yet become purely just a slightly gruesome addition to the morning routine.
And so it's the first day at the National Youth Service Scheme (NYSS). The scheme is a satellite of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and was created to combat youth poverty through providing supported access to valuable training. It's usually a two year programme for about 200 young people.
What follows in this blog is the impressions of someone on her first day. Any mistakes I've made are my personal misunderstanding, to be corrected as I learn. Day one involved being dropped at the office by VSO for a brief tour with the Deputy Executive Director, Mr Ebou Sow, who was very pleased to learn that my Gambian name as presented by my teacher is Haddy Ceesay, also his mother's name.
We then headed up to the NYSS orientation camp where they, with National Enterprise Development Initiative (NEDI), are accommodating and hosting training on business enterprise skills. The training itself is at the President's International Award (PIA) centre next door. The NYSS camp has been recently refurbished and has the atmosphere of a youth hostel. I joined then in time for a lunch of white Benacin which I attempted to eat with my hand, al Africano. [see photos, the kitchen and courtyard] As I dusted oily rice off my skirt I was once again struck that I must look like a child when I eat. Still, practice makes perfect and I was predictably invited to join a few bowls as the newcomer. Needless to say there was no need for an evening meal so I'm not sure how I managed to eat fried chicken only two hours later.
As any new employee I was pretty useless for the first day but managed to battle with technology and electricity cuts to transfer a presentation from word to simple PowerPoint. Some of the trainees aren't literate so I will have to think more carefully about how to make presentations more accessible in future. As it happened the power failed before the presentation so I sat and listened to the content as the temperature rose, trying not to become too drowsy. Having to introduce myself in Wolof helped with that, as did the fact that the content was good; relevant, well pitched and well delivered. The young people were totally engaged though, taking the advice seriously as they plan their futures. [see photo]
The day ended in that relaxed way of youth work where workers join young people in their spaces to be available to solve issues and interact. I sat while a very driven young entrepreneur brewed a strong attaya, it was like espresso, and another colleague offered me a share in his fried chicken. With choir practice moved for a funeral I was free to spend as long at work as seemed needed.
I walked back to the compound at around 7; it's only 10 minutes away across the highway and down a sandy track. As I went I passed the PIA sign and thought my old friends would be pleased to see that the brand we worked on has got this far. [see photo] As I start on work here my fervent hope is that by the end I can look back on VSO in the same way that I look back on that great DofE team, with both fondness and pride in our achievements.
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