Minor Field Studies – MFS

Today I have been in The Gambia for one week! I am slowly getting more and more used to the life and routines here. Now, I even sleep well during the nights. I had a visit from our foster child and she brought her kids as well. It was so nice to see them again and to hand over the presents I had brought from home. I also called the teacher Mr. AM, and since there are no lessons yet because of the strike, I suggested to start doing my interviews instead. There is no time to lose so this was arranged for the following week.
No Wi-Fi for a couple of days now….

All the people I meet here are very friendly and open. Even though poverty in the country is a very big problem, people often seem quite happy despite their hard life. The Gambia was the last country in Africa to get independency from the British colonialization in 1965. The average salary is approximately 1500 – 3000 Dalasi (300-600 SEK) per month.

As I arrived at the school, I met the principal by coincidence and was lucky to get his written consent. He was very interested in my upcoming project and asked me to join and introduce myself at the assembly when the strike is over, before starting my lesson observations. Time in The Gambia is something you can’t control. I had an appointment for interviews with a teacher and had to wait for more than 40 minutes. Just the traffic alone can be hard to deal with on a daily basis. It turned out to be a minor problem, having to wait, because as the interviews were done, I was so pleased to have very good material for my thesis. I arranged a focus group of 4 teachers, teaching different subjects and willing to participate. All gave their written consent, generously shared their opinions about the question, of how to facilitate for the students to understand the topic, with support of local languages as English is the language of instruction. It was very interesting. My assistant Ms. WEN was also there to help me with local expressions and words. I recorded the interviews on my I-pad. The discussion about languages and learning continued after the interviews and other teachers came to join. It was obvious that they all started to reflect and look upon this topic as a serious problem.

I was also invited to visit a Study Center in Bakau, where my assistant Ms. WEN is working, to attend lessons, as I am just waiting for the school strike to stop. What a successful day! They are all doing their best to help me! The Study Center is open for students that need help after schooldays during the week and Saturdays. They have lessons in small groups in different subjects that they need to improve. The language of instruction is in English. The lessons I attended was in history and French. I was also offered a job as a teacher, if I would be interested.

In Dakar (the town very close to Banjul, my final destination), the plane made a short stop. Over the speakers I could hear one of the cabin crew from Turkish Airline thanking the passengers for a pleasant journey. I felt a bit unsure if I was to get off the plane here but sat still and watched about half of the passengers disembark. A great number of new passengers arrived shortly after, and it felt more like a big “Air bus”, the way passengers were going and coming, rather than the giant jumbo jet it was. Luckily, I didn’t get off the plane and arrived in the wrong country. When I arrived in The Gambia it took me two hours in a long narrow crowded line to get through Security Check and Passport Control. An amount of 20 USD plus money for Customs had to be paid directly. Outside Security the taxi driver who was supposed to pick me up, was waiting with a sign in his hands with my name printed on it. What a relief!

After a very long and hot trip in the car I arrived at the compound where I was going to stay for my two months in The Gambia. The landlord OB and his wife EM welcomed me and showed me my room in a small annex behind the house. I was totally exhausted after more than 20 hours of travel. I quickly unpacked all my things and tried to get a shower but only a few drops of water came out the tap in the bathroom. I laid down on my bed under the mosquito net and fell immediately to sleep. A few hours later when I woke up from my nap, I was served a vegetarian stew with rice. Outside I heard goats running around in the yard of the compound. The extreme heat, the new sounds, the spicy food, and smell of animals – it was overwhelming!

I hardly slept a minute during the night. So many sounds outside as there are no windows to the annex, only holes with a mosquito net attached. I could hear cats meowing, insects buzzing and dogs barking all night long. EM forgot to tell me that during the nights they let out two big dogs to guard the compound. They went crazy, chasing the monkeys that were running on my roof (made of tin so the sound of steps was extremely loud).
In the morning I got Wi-Fi connection so I could talk through WhatsApp with my family. It was a marvelous feeling! The hostess EM works very hard every day as she runs a small restaurant business in her house and by the street outside. This afternoon I helped her with the dishes.

I usually get vegetables with different spicy sauces and rice. Mostly dishes like Stew, Benechin, Yassa or Domoda. In the evening I went on a walk with EM on the beach and we also visited her cousin at a Craft Market. She had nice tablecloths that I might buy later for presents to bring home. There was not much to see or do in the neighborhood, so EM took me to the one and only hotel where we had a pineapple juice to drink.