Salaamaleekum!

Hope all is well in the States. It’s april, should be rainy there right? Well we have another 2-months until we see even a dew drop.  Man I miss playing in the rain, splashing in puddles; this year I have rain boots!  It’s really hot here right now, it was 91 today and that was the coolest it’s been in a few weeks now.  From 2pm-5pm, I sit in tree eating ripe mangoes and writing in my journal and/or reading books.  It’s JUST too hot to do anything during the day.  People are starting to prepare their fields for the farming season which will last from june-october.

my new toubab baby

The health school just finished its 4^th month, completing Reproductive & Child Health month!  We even painted a whole health mural on the village clinic – it’s beautiful!  Now we move onto Environmental Sanitation, talking about open defecation in the bush, pit latrine maintenance/sanitation, waste water, trash dumping, etc.  It’ll be a dirty dirty topic but oh so necessary!  The last month will be on Malaria in June.  After that, I’ll have to make some more work. 

Time is flying by.

completed health mural in my village

i got a place in the mural! check out the pit hair haha

Every month for the rest of my time here, there is something planned.  I cannot believe in the blink of an eye that my time here will be finished, or will it be ;) I might try to stay here for some time.  I love the simple village life and can’t imagine my life otherwise right now.  A new group of Peace Corps health/environment came into the Gambia just this month, and I want to help them out with adjusting, learning language and creating work.  They spent the last 2-months training in Senegal, and are now officially Gambian volunteers!  With this group coming, it is not only a significant time for THEM, but also for me.  I remember this time last year I was doing the same thing as them – swearing into the United States Peace Corps, with my right hand raised, reciting lines that promise to promote peace and prosperity among Gambians in the hopes of progress and positive change (there’s a lot of P’s in that sentence).  It’s beautiful to take this time to reflect on the last year and look to my future.  I am very happy right now with my service I am just radiating energy.  All of those around me will feel these vibrations – it’s inevitable!

i wish i could look as fly as her! wedding day

I am in a significant time in my life right now, living abroad.  I now have a solid grasp of the Wolof language (well… I’m trying anyways).  I feel COMFORTABLE in my environment. I absolutely love my village and family – I have FRIENDS here and people to infect me with happiness.  I have meaningful work and hopes for more in the near future.  I feel like I am growing a lot, learning as much as possible in my Peace Corps experience.  This is also a personal experience.  I’m taking time to try new things, like crocheting, farming, etc.  I’m happy.

the village painter and a good friend of mine

Well I’ll keep this one short.  Just know, all is well on the smiling coast of West Africa.