Day 1

Jan. 4, 2008

Before I begin, I want to preface the following entries. From January 1-January 15, I traveled to The Gambia, in Western Africa with my friend Kathryn Cunningham, her mother Carol Cunningham, as well as three doctors from Christiana Hospital and a videographer who later met up with us there. In the village of Bwiam, there is a hospital called the Sulayman Jungkung General Hospital which receives less than 10 hours of electricity per day. This consequently means they also only receive 10 hours of running water. In these kinds of conditions, vaccinations and immunizations cannot be kept refrigerated, ventilators and oxygen machines cannot be run, nor can incubators. It’s a sad situation and incredibly hard for us to imagine. However, Power Up Gambia! is striving to raise $300,000 to install a solar powered electrical system including a water pump. At this time, I have determined that my precise functions on the trip were Humorist/ Mandinka Translator/Official Name Bestower of all Goats Encountered. Enjoy.

Finally, after several long days of travel, The Gambia has become my home for a short while. I should start at the very beginning, a very good place to start…

We left from Philadelphia on the evening of January 1^st. I had drugged myself for the flight to Manchester, England but naturally the Tylenol PM didn’t have any effect until 8 hours after I had taken it. This meant I spent 6 hours straight crossing the Atlantic trying to fall asleep, yet unable to due to an ongoing battle with the personal television screen in front of me. It’s luminescence was driving me up the wall and made me even more figety than the Tylenol PM did. We finally landed in Manchester at 10:30 AM on January 2^nd, collected our bags and made our way out of baggage claim to find our driver who was to take us to Kathryn’s grandparents’ house, which was another 90 minutes away in the Lake District.

The Lake District is a most whimsical place. It is the birthplace of Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit, a home to William Wordsworth but more importantly it is home to more brightly colored sheep than I have ever seen. Thousands of sheep dot the rolling landscape. But these aren’t ordinary sheep, no. Apparently they are painted bright greens, and blues and reds to identify their owners. Never before had I seen blue sheep, but I must say I look forward to seeing them again.

It was my first visit to England and all of the stereotypes about them are true. They have tea every day...

they eat a truck load of sausage, and French fries (otherwise known as chips) form the base of their food pyramid. Not only that, but they are entirely unafraid to let you know if they aren’t understanding something. For instance, both drivers who took us to and from the airport had no idea where they were taking us either time. We had to not just direct them to Kathryn’s grandparents house but also, read directions to our hotel that was literally right next to the airport. Silly brutes.

And now I am in Africa. The dark continent. The sun, however, shines incredibly brightly and is very hot. The people are very nice and offer to do everything, in exchange for payment of course. I nearly wrestled a guy today as he kept trying to carry my bag for me. They speak English as well as several tribal languages called Mandinka, Wollof, and Jola. Unfortunately, none of them are clicking languages. Our hotel that we’re staying at here in the capital city of Banjul is called the Safari Gardens. Fear not, there are no lions, giraffes or migrating wildebeests. Just millions of chirping birds. It’s everything you’re hope an African hotel would be, and less! No TV, no separation between shower and the rest of the bathroom (you can sit on the toilet and take a shower at the same time!) and no air conditioning. Nevertheless, it wouldn’t be a true African experience sans bathing in Deet so I’m grateful for this opportunity.

It will be a busy two weeks and I’m sure they will fly by. I look forward to showing everyone that even I, Jessica Zutz, can handle Africa.

with african love,

jz