Don't Push

I would like to start this entry with warm birthday wishes to my loving wife, who deserves more then I am able to give her on this glorious day.

We made it to our new home! It is a nice little apartment looking place in a compound with the Baldeh family so we have changed our last names to match.

Work is coming along slowly, I have rather high hopes for this year but I am going to try to not be too optimistic, everyday I reminded that although I not in RIM I am still in West Africa, and if the teachers were as outgoing and proactive as they sounded they wouldn't have requested a Peace Corps presence. I will undoubtedly be working on organizing a library, training a librarian, developing the computer lab, teaching basic computer classes, and providing some teacher workshops. There are more things that I could do, but these are things that were repeated over and over during my assessment activities at the school.

Kristy has some interesting potential projects also, the library and computer lab were requested at her school, she will be able to work with a motivated environmental club, there is a man who needs help writing grants to further his development, and there is a possibility to work with the World Wildlife Fund (this last one she is the most hopeful for).

So far the Gambian people have been extremely kind to us, they work with our sub par Mandinka skills, and seem genuinely glad to have us around. It really feels like it's going to be a good year.

p.s. I will be bringing my camera to site now, we haven't been able to take pictures because we left early and it was in our locker over last week.

Steady, As She Goes

I recently plugged The Gambia into my blog, it's everywhere now and Mauritania is in the background but not forgotten. Go look, there is even a map of Essau on the bottom of the blog.

We are still waiting around at The Stodge, the transit house, whilst our new home is having it's pit latrine put into good working order. Our only news is that we have met a lot of the other volunteers and are working on adjusting to the climate and our lush green surroundings.

I have neglected to take pictures here, with a strong tourist culture it is hard to differentiate ourselves from tourists if we do the same things as them. I think that this will be different in our village and home but for now in the touristy areas I will abstain, until my Mandinka skills are better.

We Did'nt Start The Fire

Wow what a whirlwind experience! We left Mauritania and we are in The Gambia (notice the, "The", that's right not just any Gambia but The Gambia).

Kristy and I are going to have very similar jobs but with new focuses, the descriptions and opportunities are still not concrete but we hope that they are fantastic as they sound. No details until I can work them out.

We are going to live in a villi age called Essau and we are currently learning to speak Mandinka, not a skill that will get us much in the world but more languages means a higher awesome factor. We will probably be able to speak English for work purposes so that is a lot of stress off of our daily routine and the French (we scored Advanced-Low on our final test- WOW)has already come in handy and will again in the future.

This country is gorgeous, if you were holding out to visit us you hit the jackpot, this place is gorgeous 9 months of the year, it rains a lot the other 3.

The interweb is not as fast or reliable here so that means this as a contact medium is not going to be as frequent, sorry.

We have new phone numbers mine is 011.220.700.2098

We have a new address it is:

Brian Sisco and Kristy Smily PCV's
PO Box 582
Banjul, The Gambia
West Africa
Par Avion / Air Mail

That is all I have for now, more as we know it.

Changes

Today, is our last day of PC-RIM.

We are accepting this as we have no say in the issue, we will say goodbye to volunteers we know to be more than friends, our family who lived much as we do and will be connected to us for the rest of our lives. Some are going to Rwanda, Mali, Morocco, Senegal, Jordan, and or course The Gambia.

I want to thank the people who have been supportive of Kristy and I through our time in RIM and we hope you will still support us if we are able to transfer our service to The Gambia. Nothing is certain yet, we could still be home next month or next week, but we have hope.

You will know more as we do. Please, continue to keep us in your hearts and minds as we move from one phase to another we need the support.

Africa

Tears flowed freely as were told that PC RIM will be suspended.

We left home without saying goodbye to many of our friends and colleagues, many of our personal belongings were left behind because were were only leaving for 10 days, it is amazing how much can change in such a small amount of time.

The future is so unclear right now and we can not foresee what shall come of our situation. We are sorriest for the people whom we made promises of prolonged projects that shall go unfinished.

There are options that shall be discussed over the next few days, we are not sure if we will be home in a week, a month, or a year as planned. I am sorry for the lack of real news but it is what we have, more will come as we have it.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

An event happened in Mauritania, we are fine, we were not even in Mauritania. Don't worry, if you want to read about it there are links on the side of the blog or you can follow this link http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSL8672694._CH_.2400

If you want to talk to me directly my number Senegalese number is 011221776223651 if this doesn't work we have had a lot of rain, email me. Rain knocks out the interweb from time to time but I will get your messages.

Runnin' Down A Dream

Jealousy has ever really been something that I fall prey to, I cannot say that at this moment. I am jealous of PC Senegal, they have amazing facilities and the large cities are places I would pay to go to as a tourist. They will just have to face retribution during WAIST next year.

We are in Theis, Senegal and we feel as if we are really in Africa right now. This place is tropical and lush. This unfortunately means I itch a lot right now, there is a healthy population of mosquitoes because I am feeding every second that I am here. I have not been taking pictures because of training sessions that have occupied much of my time, but there will be time, yes there shall.

Projects and things are on hold right now because we aren't there to do them, so work isn't actually happening right now. I think there will be some opportunities to help out here, and maybe some international collaboration.

I have the unfortunate duty to remind you that we are safe. Safe. Safe. Safe. I say this and say this often. Our community in Mauritania really likes us, and they do what they can to ensure this. We are currently away from our country while someone who has never experienced our home looks into it to ensure we are safe. This is compounded by people going around Kristy and I when we state in plain English we are safe. We are fricken' old too, 30+ even, and will continue to make our own decisions as is the right of old farts like us. We know our home and our community. I worry about you, there is a written record of violent crimes that goes to every door in America (newspapers - they are filled with bad news), and more bad guys in your small towns then in whole of our country. If you are worried CALL ME, please, or call to say hi, I'd like that more. Calling Peace Corps first compounds our difficulties and gets me a visit to the hot seat.