So what the hell AM I doing in The Gambia….

Alright, this is a question that I have been receiving quite a bit recently from the very few people that still talk to me :D … and the answer is a little long, and I will probably ramble a lot, but here is my best attempt at an explanation, with a bunch of additional information that you did not ask for ---

For the next three months I am in what PC (Peace Corps) calls “The three month challenge”. These three months are the months directly following our swearing in as volunteers, and are also expected to be some of our most difficult in country. During this time we are all separated as a group and sent to our permanent sites all over the country (mine is Brikama). There is also the additional rule that we are NOT allowed to leave country or travel overnight away from our sites for any reason other than banking and for holidays (e.g. Thanksgiving). This means that most of us will not see each other for quite some time.

Once at site we first need to start turning our new houses/huts/shacks into homes. We also must become part of our new host families and integrate our selves into our new communities. On top of all these settling in tasks and, of course, more paperwork, we do start our actual work… but not totally start actual work. What we really do is begin going to the schools to which we were assigned to work, but it is up to us to determine what we want to do, and where we would be of most use, for our remaining time in country. So the majority of these next three months will be spent trying to determine what is going on and setting the foundation for our next years of service.

I would like to caveat all of this by saying that because we are volunteers we are extremely self directed, and can do pretty much anything that we want (assuming it is beneficial to the community obviously). Although we are “assigned” to a school at the start we are definitely expected to perform additional work outside of that “assignment”. We could start community groups, create community gardens or libraries etc., build a fence, work in a hospital, hold classes/training sessions for the public, work with local business, work at other school etc. etc. etc. We do not even have to stay at our original assignment if we do not think that there is enough support or work available.

Most of MY time will be spent working at the University of The Gambia (UTG). Thus far I am very interested in what is happening here, so I am not sure how much time I will spend on outside organizations as time goes on. I need to get my feet on the ground at UTG and see what else is out there before making that decision.

Now here is some really interesting stuff. A little background on UTG… UTG is the first University in The Gambia, and graduated its first class of students in 2004 (yes, that officially makes UTG only ten years old). It is still important to note that there are three other colleges in country (Gambia College, GTTI and MDI).

Currently UTG does not have its own campus. It is sharing a campus with Gambia College and has another smaller campus in Kanifing. They are however, in the process of building a new, sustainable, campus which will be able to hold 15,000 students, not exactly, only approximately. The construction of this new campus seems to be heavily focused on “sustainability” and “setting new environmental standards”. The architectural plan even includes “a solar park for generating energy, a waste management center and locally done water harvesting”. I am very interested to see how quickly construction work begins, and how much the end product resembles the original intention. In addition to building this new campus UTG is in the process of merging with the three aforementioned colleges (Gambia College, GTTI and MDI) to create one much larger educational system which will run under the same over arching administration. I am not totally clear as to how or when this will happen/be complete, but I plan to learn more in the near future.

So right now, given my PC responsibilities and my lack of understanding all that is really going on, I am only teaching two classes. The first is CPS 111 Introduction to Information Communication Technology which falls within the computer department. Another name for this is “computer literacy”. The class covers everything from the basic parts of a computer, how to turn one on, how to type, how to use Windows and Microsoft Office etc. The class is also required for all students at UTG, so the size this semester is expected to be approx. 200. Each student is required to have access to a computer and each lab has only about 20 computers. To handle all the students I have 6 teaching assistants and the classes are broken into three hour labs that each meet once a week. My role will be to lead the teaching assistants, teach my own sections, own the syllabus and content of the class, create exams, and finalize grades and such.

My second class is still TBD (which is interesting because classes technically started last week, but I will get to that later). I believe it will either be to start a pre calculus class, which they have never had before, or to take a section of the calculus class. Because enrollment was unexpectedly high this semester they are not sure they have enough lecturers. I should find out in the next day or two.

Either way I am looking forward to becoming more involved with both the computer and math departments as time permits. I am sharing my office with Kathy Lewis, an American woman who just returned to teach permanently in the Math department at UTG. She has been a huge help thus far from the math perspective. From the computer department perspective I am trying to become more involved in advanced Excel / VBA programming classes. Not sure if this will be through the university or another professional organization.

So that is, generally speaking, what is keeping me busy on the whole, settling in, learning about the University, starting my two classes and trying to identify other work opportunities. There is however ONE last point on which I would like to elaborate. Why did classes “start” last week but I still have so many fundamental questions that are unanswered? Why do I still not really know what I am teaching, or who my students are, or if there will even be a pre calc class this semester, or if we have enough teachers to teach calculus? Turns out…this is not a surprise and everyone told me it would happen, and it happens for many legitimate reasons. These many reasons are ones that I will elaborate on further in my next posting….