Ringing the changes

One of the elements of volunteering that I was worried about before arriving was nothing to do with the challenges of living overseas or making an impact in a different culture. It was sharing a house again. For the past few years I have lived alone and the freedoms and privacy that gives are very much appreciated. However, now I would have a housemate, in this case a Ugandan woman called Agnes. And now, six months later, she has left, finishing her placement early for personal reasons.

As housemates go Agnes was not a bad one. Of course we had different ideas about the washing up, the value of spending money running a fridge permanently or just overnight, and like all housemates she had to put up with me covering the dining table with enormous paintings most of the time.  Yet, for the first six months of my placement it was helpful to have an ear to bend about issues and strategies for pushing changes in our shared workplace, good to have someone to share food bills and shopping with, interesting to swap tips and ideas on cooking, family life, cultures and careers.

And, as Agnes left, I was drafted in to help induct the new batch of volunteers. The group was small, five people and only one of them female. On their first day I met them in the pouring rain with Amar (another serving volunteer). Vaguely remembering how disorientating my first few days in The Gambia were we had a simple walk up the high street and visited a few supermarkets to get a sense of what is available and where key landmarks are (OK, so we noted the traffic light but it is fairly central to getting around).  As the storm intensified we took shelter in a doorway and swapped advice on getting started. This was mainly “remember to eat and drink” and “try to relax at points, it’s not that bad”.

Later in the week, now working with upcountry volunteer Godfrey, I ran a discussion on topics from meeting strategic objectives to culture shock and sexual harassment. It was a short session, due to start conversations that would continue into the afternoon of exploring the local town. However, the day was incredibly hot and the afternoon became a coke by the hotel pool then moving everyone to the shared house. We took a walk round the local area, which is also my own, pointing out such essential information as “this is a corner shop”, “this is the way to the main highway”, “this is a masquerade but, don’t worry, the child dressed as a whirling monster with the machete won’t really hurt you”. I left them to settle into the shared house with a promise to meet in the morning.

Only one task was left on the essential information a serving VSO must pass on, taking transport. So I met the gang of excited VSOs in the morning ready for a trip to the capital Banjul.  Unfortunately for them, I rarely go to Banjul and prefer to walk than take transport. Still we soldiered on and it’s a testament to how settled I am that, while they remarked on how muddy the streets were after the previous night’s rain, I was commenting on an unusual arrangement of seats in the van.  We passed and negotiated with hawkers, picked up some cutlery and advice on internet connections and had a small tour of the sights of the city. I even, in a fit of longing for home comforts and long Saturday breakfasts in my new solo living environment, acquired a teapot.  I also acquired cockroach poison whilst my new colleagues were searching out irons and plates. Priorities do change.

We headed back from Banjul, me smoothly turning getting the wrong van into another exploring opportunity. We found dinner at a local volunteer haunt, Omar’s at traffic light, then indulged in that ever present VSO activity, ignoring each other when you sit in a wifi enabled area talking to home instead. They bought me cake and coffee as a thank you for the tour and one commented “yes, she did say she cried on the first night but that it gets better”. Pretty much sums up the three days I’d say.

The first draft of this entry, intended for w/c 16^th September, died with my phone in a tropical storm while I was singing in the rain. There are worse ways to go. The rest of the

month will be updated soon.