Trip Diary 2009

Part Three: Debriefing and Return
by Jeff Chen

On the highway back, we were stopped at a police checkpoint, and realized that our driver had let his van’s licensing tabs expire.  I didn’t think much of it because it’s not that big of a deal in America, but it slowly dawned upon me that this was potentially a major problem.  It’s customary for people to get two months of a grace period, but after that, cars get pulled over to the side of the road, and left there until the licensing fees are paid.  Considering we were hundreds of miles away from a licensing station, it looked like we might be stuck on the side of the road indefinitely.  Fortunately, we were able to make our way to a local police station, and with the help of some of Wandifa’s “suggestions”, were able to obtain paperwork that let us pass through the rest of the police checkpoints.  By 11 pm, we were able to catch the last ferry of the night, but there was no room for the van so the driver stayed with it on the north side of the crossing.  Later, we heard that it had been impounded on the side of the road for two days.

The next week, Shelby and I debriefed on all the activity from the trip to the villages, including assembling a summary of projects and proposals villagers had presented.  Shelby emphasizes implementing projects that the villagers want, not that she wants, so visiting the villages in person is critical.  It was a bit overwhelming to see all the items, knowing that most likely GambiaHELP would only be able to fund a few of them due to the world economic downturn and subsequent drop-off in donor dollars.  We also spent some time going around the capital city, Banjul, in our continued effort to get the container off of the port.  Domanding, domanding.  By this time, it had been sitting for almost a full month due to administrative delays and runarounds.  Shelby spent time smoothing out the process after I left, and it should hopefully be easier next year.

During my last days in The Gambia, I spent as much time as I could walking the jutted roads, talking to anyone who strikes up a conversation with me.  People were especially happy when I asked them what they thought of President Obama.  Huge smiles proudly came to the majority of faces when they talked about their African brother.  Several Gambians said without prompting that “war is bad”, and hoped that Obama would end the all the incursions America started.  I wish I had been able to spend more time with one particular café-worker, who chatted me up with an ear-to-ear gap-toothed smile.  An immigrant from French-speaking Guinea-Bissau (just south of Senegal), he and I tried to converse as best we could over a cup of instant coffee, he in his broken English and me in my embarrassing French.  A few days before, the President of Guinea-Bissau had been killed in an apparent military action, which made for an interesting but cautious discussion. 

I also had a fun time playing with a big group of kids that ran toward me as I was walking past a schoolyard.  They bragged about who was the best forward, the best goalkeeper, the fastest sprinter, etc., and also readily jumped at my Imp-Ro-Vised math quiz.  Knowledge of basic addition varied wildly.  When I asked one second-grader what one plus one was, he unhesitatingly shouted “twenty-two!”.  I said that the answer was a little lower, he yelled “twenty-THREE!” even louder.  Luckily, one of the bigger kids told me he’d make sure that all these kids stayed in school and did well.  Solidarity.  

Heading back to America was bittersweet.  I missed all my friends, and the simple creature comforts of home. But I was really glad to see the village projects in action, and that I had made several friends in The Gambia.  Kemo, Pa, Alagie, Badji, Hussein, Wandifa, Rohi and Isatou (among many others) were extremely friendly to me, happily sitting down to talk for hours and show me their country.  I’m hoping to make it back to The Gambia sooner rather than later, and can’t wait to see what the people make of their future.

About Jeff Chen

Jeff has been volunteering with GambiaHELP for several years.  He has degrees in mechanical engineering and business, and most recently was Director of Operations at a pharmaceutical company he helped start, Acucela Inc.  He serves as a Board member for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound and Passages Northwest, volunteers with Treehouse and Seattle Works, and has a goal of donating 20 gallons of blood in his lifetime.  He’s an avid climber, bridge and Ultimate Frisbee player, and crossword puzzler, recently having one crossword accepted into the LA Times.  His girlfriend, Jill, missed him immensely while he was gone and cried herself to sleep every night (girlfriend’s added note: the word “whatever” should be inserted here, spelled here with a capital “W”).