The Toughest Job I Ever Loved: My Journey as a Peace Corps Volunteer in The Gambia

True peace is born through humanitarian services. My journey began with the United States Peace Corps (USPC)—the toughest job I ever loved.  This is my story. 

As a student studying at Northeastern University, I worked at the Institute of International Studies as a work study. While working there, I made some amazing friends from all over the world, the Caribbean, Africa, and Latin America.  My friends spoke about their amazing lives in their respective countries. I learned about their beautiful cultures, languages, histories, and families. The one continent that inspired me was Africa.  I majored in Management Information System/International Business and like a typical South Asian, I was supposed to work in an information technology company after graduation. But my heart wanted to do humanitarian work in Africa.  How could I do this? I decided to apply to the USPC. In the summer of 2002, after graduation I was accepted into the US Peace Corps in a small country in West Africa with approximately one million people at the time, The Gambia.

My job in the Peace Corps was to be an education volunteer in a small town called Basse-Santa Su, in the Upper River Division of The Gambia. Before being assigned to Basse, two Peace Corps volunteers and myself spent ten weeks in a training village. The purpose of this training was to introduce us to the language and culture of The Gambia. We lived in a small Fulani village, (one of the major tribes in The Gambia) called Jiroff with a local host family in a white washed-mud house with a thatched roof.  My family’s compound consisted of a father, who was the Alkalo, or chief of the village. He had four wives and several children. During our stay in the village, I learned the Pulaar language and basic survival skills like how to pump my own water, use a pit latrine (toilette), take bucket baths and eat out of a food bowl (four or five people gathering around a food bowl to eat). We learned Fulani phrases like Salaam Alekum, Tan Ala (Peace be with you, hope there is no problem), Hono lige (How is the work?), Hono be chuddi (How is the Compound?) Mi wayirima (I miss you). I was also given a Gambian name Mariatou Jallow.  During my training in Jiroff Village, The Gambia, I was honored with a traditional naming ceremony, where my local family gave me as Fulani name Mariatou Jallow.

After these ten weeks of cultural integration and training in specific work sectors, about 20 of my colleagues and I were sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers by the US Ambassador to The Gambia. I then began my formal responsibilities which included being an IT teacher at the St. George’s Junior Secondary School where I taught students at grades (7^th, 8^th, and 9^th), community members, and teachers information technology. In addition, I was an assistant Peer Health advisor, teaching the students the importance of HIV/AIDS and other fatal diseases.

My secondary projects included working at the Regional Education Office in Basse where I taught the secretary Excel and PowerPoint applications as well as helping set up a library at St. George’s Junior Secondary school and creating a teacher trainee center at the regional office. I also assisted in a three day, “Take Our Daughters To Work Day” workshop, which gave young girls in the Upper River Division area an opportunity to learn about the many career opportunities they may be entitled to, if they complete their schooling successfully.

Additionally, I taught my six-year-old host sister how to count in English, to teaching Sierra Leone refugees how to implement Information Technology into creating a teaching curriculum and process their repatriation through Anglican mission and UNHCR.  My Peace Corps experience was the toughest job I ever loved and taught me so much about life and the pression of developing countries.  

Joining the Peace Corps has been a dream of mine since I was in university. Participating in this unique program was meaningful, especially helping the less fortunate at the grassroots level, which is my passion. I touched the lives of not just Gambians but West Africans. I truly became a Fula in The Gambia. In a world where we all need peace and a time where we need to help the less fortunate, joining the Peace Corps can be your calling.

During my training in Jiroff Village, The Gambia, I was honored with a traditional naming ceremony, where my local family named me Mariatou Jallow.     

#Africa, #TheGambia