Introduction Reading for Day 2
Trip Start
Oct 26, 2007
1
2
11
Trip End
Feb 04, 2008
Serekunda,
Gambia
Monday, October 29, 2007
September 18, 2007
A day in the life of a Gambian student:
Early in the morning during the month of Ramadan, you wake up in darkness, but not quiet. All around your compound you will hear the clinking of dishes as people prepare breakfast, and if you have been indulgent enough to wait until 5:30am to wake up, instead of 5, you will hear the first call to prayer of the day resounding through the house from the mosque on the corner. Though you hardly need it, this will remind you to unroll your prayer mat, face Mecca, and go through the slow, steady motions of prayer to prepare you for the day. Not as important, but also necessary to prepare you for the day, is helping your family make breakfast before the sun comes up, around 6:30am. None of you will eat any food or drink any water until at least 7pm, after the sun has disappeared behind the palm trees and buildings on the horizon. Your mother will likely be cooking (Gender roles are entrenched here, and though you will see women at universities and in higher-level jobs, traditional expectations apply) but during this holy time especially, it is very important that everyone work together and help others. This might mean cooking, or walking to the biddik (small shops on every block that sell basic canned goods, and other necessities) for fresh bread. You will leave the heat of the room you probably share with a couple other of your brothers and sisters, weave your way through the chairs filling the common room where you have visitors, and step outside to the welcome breeze, where something - likely a rice dish - will be cooking over a portable propane stove, or maybe a wood fire. The cooking is always done here, still within the cement walls surrounding your compound, but outside of the small buildings that serve primarily as bedrooms. It is quite common for members of your extended family to live in the compound with you, often in their own rooms within the same compound walls. This is a sort of adaptation from the village-style housing, where several huts of an extended family are grouped together, often behind enclosures, providing a close set-up that supports a strong sense of mutual responsibility support inside families.
Though there is much activity in your compound, Ramadan gives a feeling of peacefulness and reflection to everything. The days seem to be overcome with a slow, hot lethargy as everyone adapts to the fast; people tend to lie down rather than sit, businesses are often open fewer hours, and greetings are spoken with a sluggish cheerfulness, rather than the energetic friendliness that is common other times.
After breakfast there is cleaning, and, because it is September, school has just started and you must get ready to leave. You will don your uniform: a very English style (one of the many little signs of colonialism), with a collared shirt, black shoes, and slacks for boys, long skirts for girls. You probably won't have books to carry - most reading material is shared - which will make the hot walk to school a little nicer. Your parents will have chosen to send you to either a public or private school, but in general more schools have been built in the past few years, so hopefully your walk won't be more than 20 or 30 minutes. You must keep in mind, though, that the walk is always made longer by how many times you see friends and stop for the necessary greetings in this friendly culture. Every few minutes your walk is sure to be stopped by an exchange that goes something like this:
~Salaamooleikum!
~Waleikum salaam!
-Nanga Def?
-Mangi fi, yoonak?
-Jama Rek, Jama nga Fanaan?
-Jama Rek, naka suba si?
-Suba sangi fi, naka sa wakeergi?
-ņungi fi....
It can go on much longer, and if you were in the village it would extend for many minutes, but here in the city a little, and I mean a very little, bit of the feeling that time is precious and efficiency is necessary has slipped in, and greetings will not last too long. To be on time yet still keep with the relaxed Gambian conception of time it is best to leave very early.
It is a struggle to keep your shoes clean while maneuvering your way around puddles, goats, sleeping stray dogs, trash, and cars that decide to swerve randomly off the road, but you are more than used to this. Once at school you will take your seat in a classroom with 30 to 40 other students and wait for your teacher begin to lecture. Your classes follow Western education styles, taught strictly in English, and you'll take the same core subjects -- math, history, English, science - that American students are used to, including more specialized classes as you get older, The Qu'ran will also be taught, and while most students take part in this class, it is not compulsory. You have breaks throughout the day, during this month you won't be spending them eating or drinking, but a rest is key to conserving energy. Even those who aren't fasting will likely not eat, drink or smoke on the streets or in a classroom where fasting people will see them out of respect. Time will also be set aside at noon and 2:30 when the call to prayer again echoes across the neighborhood, and classes will roll on with the same steady routine of school days everywhere until mid-afternoon hits.
Once school is over, you will have homework to do, but something about this place -maybe it is the heat, the slow moving river, or simply the need to greet so many acquaintances in this small country - does not let this overwhelm you with stress or urgency. Your walk home will likely be even slower than your walk there, each block you pass will have another person you know calling to you, inviting you to come hang out and chat. Once you finally make it home you'll change out of your uniform. If you are a boy you might switch to pants and a t-shirt, or maybe a more traditional African tunic made out of fabric your mother bought at the local Market by the tailor down the street. More Western style clothes are common, but so are traditional African patterns and outfits, as well as full body coverings seen in Muslim societies. Whether you are Muslim or not, it is the norm that you cover your knees, your stomach, and usually your shoulders. There typically applies to both men and women, though, as in most societies, the focus tends to fall more on women. As a girl, if you want to wear more traditional clothes, you can choose from a brilliant assortment of different colors, usually the brighter the better. Your skirt, top, head scarf, veil, bracelets and shawls give you the opportunity for much mixing and matching, and because you probably chose the fabric from an overwhelming assortment of gauze, lace, patterned cotton, silk, and embroidered fabrics, your outfits will never be bland. Dress is important here; it has religious significance (you will put on nicer, more traditional clothes on Fridays for the noon prayer at the mosque, when many people pour in for public prayer), and being appropriately and cleanly dressed is an assertion of the respectability that is key in a small society.
Once dressed, if your parents are vendors, you may head to the market or their local shop. Otherwise there may be chores, usually divided on gender lines, for you to do. However, in this economy where even educated adults can't find jobs, an after-school job is not typical. If there are no responsibilities to attend to, you have a free afternoon to enjoy, and The Gambia is a great place to while away an afternoon. Younger brothers, sisters, and cousins will be playing in the compound or in the streets. They may be playing tag, or they may have even decided to do a masquerade, an adaptation of a traditional custom also performed by adults, where one person dresses up in a bird-like costume and is supposed to be possessed by a spirit, while the other children bang pots and rocks and sing, making an excited parade down the street. You prefer other activities, however, and if you feel like you have the energy, you'll head down to the football field nearby, find someone with a ball, and get a game together. There is usually a large group of boys who are on the fields each day, even during Ramadan. A much more relaxed option would be to wander down the street to a friends' compound and find a nice shady spot under a mango tree to sit with your friends. You might also walk down to one of the many local beaches to spend the afternoon. If you are musically inclined, you might have brought a djembe, a hand-made, bongo-like drum. With this, you can work up a rhythm as someone provides a base while someone else adds a beat, and another maybe a solo. You will go faster and faster until your whole body is swaying and jerking with each slap or tap of the drum. Others may sit around and whip out a deck of cards to play Gambian crazy eights. This is basically crazy eights, except cheating is encouraged, as long as you don't get caught, which really makes for a much more active, strategic, exciting game. (If you want to play, the rule is that if you are caught cheating you must draw two cards. Common ways of cheating are dealing yourself fewer cards than everyone else, putting down two cards instead of once, playing the wrong suit and seeing if anyone notices, hiding cards, and generally taking advantage of any diversion to get cards you want or get rid of cards you don't want.) If it weren't Ramadan, someone would have invariably rolled by with a small teapot and coals to make attaya: a slow-brewing, strong, sugary form of green tea that comes in shot form and usually gets passed around a group as they sit and chat. This slow, deliberate, social way of getting caffeine, provides a very telling contrast to the way Americans tend to get their own caffeine intake: a hurried, venti-coffee-on-the-go that you grab as you speed to work or school.
Time passes surprisingly quickly like this, and you may not even realize what time it is until the call to prayer again begins to sound at 5pm. This is usually a good sign that it is time to wander back home, pray, and prepare for dinner, keeping an eye on the sunset, waiting for the very welcome first drink of water and bite of food. The night might be a good time to get homework done, between the last two daily prayers (around 8pm and 9pm), but it is also an important time to be with your family. You may want to go out to a concert, a friend's house, or a local nightclub, but this is less common during Ramadan when you must always get up early. Also, unlike American society, when Gambian youths go out at night most do not drink, because alcohol is prohibited by Islam.
