Starting in Starfish
My first couple of days in The Gambia have flown by. I felt bad that I came in with a fever and cold and couldn’t be as energetic as I usually am but the Gambian hospitality lifted my spirits up quite quickly. I flew in late at night because my plane got delayed and Fatou Y waited patiently at the airport for an hour to find me. Once I made it to Starfish, Fatou Ndure had dinner ready for me just as my family does at home. At first I was a bit worried about how to make myself at home here but once I started interacting with the Starfish girls and mentors I knew that it wouldn’t take long to fit right in. These women that I have been spending my days with show such resilience and strength throughout their daily lives. They work hard and then when it’s time to play it doesn’t even take a second for them to turn on their goofy side. Also, if you ask any of the students if they want to play a game not only do they respond with unyielding enthusiasm, they also have a long list of ideas in their head of what they want to play.
We had our naming ceremony a couple days ago and we got to wear our new Gambian clothes that we picked out. The students and the mentors got on a boat and we went through the ritual with each of the volunteers. My Gambian name is Musu Camara (I picked the same last name as one of the mentors, Isatou, because she has such a warm and welcoming smile, which I have appreciated so much every day that I’m here). The name Musu represents powerful womanhood, which I aspire to personify throughout my stay here and after. I look forward to the many more mornings when I get to wake up to the hugs of the mentors and Starfish students. Their presence has been energizing me to be the best I can be.
Today we spent our day following one of the mentors. I followed Awa, who took us to her house to meet her wonderful family. We spent a little time talking in the living room then she said that we had to go out and fetch water from the well. I did not anticipate the level of difficulty of this task. Awa makes everything look easy so I figured I would catch on. Pulling on the rope to pull up the bucket from the well was such a work out. Then we filled up 5 big water containers and walked them back to the house before we headed back to Starfish. Through the sun and heat we walked for a while as countless children yelled “toubab” at us. The mentors do a great job of explaining to the kids that they should greet us as regular members of the community and not as tourists. The same thing happened with the kids a couple nights ago during our evening walk. At the time I was walking with Isatou, she called the kids close to me and introduced me. These kids were all of a sudden so exited to meet “Auntie Musu.” They asked Isatou if they could come to the Starfish library and have Auntie Musu teach them. I love the immediate change in interaction once the kids made a personal connection with me. Every activity at Starfish is well thought out and planned to provide the volunteers with richest experience.
