Day 10

Monday, January 15, 2018

At 7:30, we woke up and I had breakfast. I ate some bread and french-fries. My host then took me to another part of the village where my friend Erin was staying. Her host wanted me to eat breakfast again. I had some of their noodles but there was no way that I could eat more. Eventually, all the students made it back to the bus. We said thank you to all of our hosts, boarded the bus, and headed towards Tandaba.

We reached Tandaba within a half hour. The camp is pretty nice but very crowded. Many students from the University of Gambia are here for Student Week. The room is much better than the village and is about the same as the huts from the first hotel. I have to share a bed with the snoring kid. Oh well, my friend gave me earplugs so hopefully those will help. We ate another breakfast and a long dinner at the camp. I had French fries for all three meals today.

Beach View from Tandaba Camp

Between breakfast and dinner, we went into a new conference hall so that Buba could lecture. Buba talked a lot about the many myths of Africa. I even believed some of these myths. Here’s the first one: Africa is a Jungle. Movies such as Tarzan and the Lion King portray Africa as this huge jungle with all these animals. People then think that lions, hyenas, and monkeys are going to be crawling around everywhere. This is not the case. I did believe that a gazelle, for example, would be the equivalent to a deer in PA in that we would casually see them roaming around. I have seen very little wildlife, with the exception of the nature reservation. The next myth is the name: Most people refer to the continent of Africa as a country. I have even told my friends, “I am going to Africa.” What I should have been saying is “I am going to Senegal and The Gambia.” Many of these African countries are not in the global political or economic spotlight, so people forget their existence. Therefore, they group all these “useless” countries into one: Africa. Additionally, many underestimate it’s size. Many cartographers draw Africa as a very small continent on the world map. However, Africa is huge. We had a map in our course booklet with The United States, Argentina, Europe and a few other places all fitting in Africa. I had no idea that Africa was that big. The next myth is that Africa is dangerous: Many will not even step foot onto African soil because they fear danger and terror. Some parts of Africa though, are safer than parts of the United States. The village we stayed in two nights ago: no wifi, electricity, running water, sleeping and eating with strangers, a lot could have gone wrong. But I felt extremely safe the whole time. Another myth is that Africa is full of diseases: Again, many won’t come to Africa because they think diseases are everywhere. Buba was describing that one disease breaks out in one part of an African country and the government puts travel bans on the whole continent. Diseases happen everywhere and Africa is not more prevalent than any other country. UPMC has 25 hospitals just in Pittsburgh. Africa is lucky to have one in a major city. That should tell you something. Buba did not mention this myth but I would like to explain another myth: Everyone in Africa is deathly skinny and starving. We have all seen the commercials with the sad, starving children in Africa. I am pretty sure that every grade school American thinks that Africans have no food and starve all the time. This is not the case. In fact, they eat more than Americans. I can never finish my portions here. Now that I have experienced Africa first-hand, I am excited to go back home and put these myths to rest.