TRAVEL AS A
VOLUNTEER - Gambia, June 2013
After
two months in Tanzania, where I was active in various volunteer
activities for orphaned children in an orphanage in Arusha, and faced
with their life situation, I realized the harsh reality of street
children, but also I learned about a significant project for
well-being of animals.I returned to Slovenia full of plans for the
future and hope that our activities to help children in Tanzania will
continue. One of our goals is to build an orphanage and an
educational center for children without parents. Well, next time more
about my adventures in Tanzania, in addition to the above, also one
of the world's most beautiful tourist destinations with its nature
and animal species, best safaris in the world, the famous roof of
Africa - Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar-the vacation venue and visiting tribes
Masai which are just a little parrt of what you can see and
experience in this wonderful country.
Shortly
after my arrival back home I started planning a trip to Gambia,
together with the president of the Association for Children of the
World, Etka Čalasan Žerdoner and volunteer Valerija, who is also a
sponsor to a girl in The Gambia.
Gambia
has many characteristics that are different from so many other
destinations. From the main European cities it is only 6 hours away
and therefore a popular country, very attractive because of relatively low
prices and also a destination that attracts more and more travellers
looking for sun, sand and cultural experience which this country
offers at every step. Its high-quality tourism that promotes
responsible and important partnerships in tourism offers to tourists
an unique experience and promotes socio - economic benefit to Gambia.
Like
mentioned before, tourism is a very important in Gambia,
being a leading factor in the exchange of foreign currency and the
impact of the exchange rate, which is one of the pillars for poverty
eradication. Government policy promotes tourism and its contribution
to economic growth of the country. The aim is to enhance the role of
tourism in the economy and to raise the standard of living for the
people of Gambia. The government continues its efforts to expand the
tourism market, improve quality standards and make intelligent use of
space for the development of tourism. In short, they are committed to
the ideals of responsible practices in tourism. It is the
responsibility of all stakeholders, to cooperate with us in creating
better living conditions for the people living in Gambia and for
people visiting it.
The
fact is that the tourism is a product of the whole country and its
people. The main attraction there is the river Gambia, in addition to
the traditional sun, sand and sea. The river is navigable and safe.
Bird watching, observing the dolphins, sport fishing and exploring
tropical plants are the major that are open to tourists. Nature
lovers can cruise the river Gambia visiting villages, towns and
people.
When
it comes to cultural heritage, Gambia with its incredible ethnic
diversity offers a wide variety of unique experiences for visitors.
Attractions include performances and art - dance and music are on
very advanced level and of great importance. Very significant is also
the culinary experience as Gambian food offers variety of different
tastes.
Finally,
in Gambia there are series of historical buildings, monuments and
archaeological sites, which have now been included in the list of
world heritage sites.
Our
trip was not intended to be sight-seeing, so you will not find here a
travelogue of tourist destinations, historical monuments or national
parks. We visited Gambia as volunteers and dedicated our time to
voluntary work, distribution of rice, visiting poor local families
and children, small villages, local schools, and socializing with the
people of this land of smiling people.
The
idea of 'Travel as a volunteer "was created in the context
of our previous voluntary work within the framework of the
Association for Children of the World. The Association is a
non-governmental, voluntary, non-profit and humanitarian organization
focused on helping poor families and children whose primary objective
is to raise the quality of life for children, youth and families and
the promotion and inclusion of children in education, from pre-school
to the juvenile period in Gambia and Tanzania.
"Travel
and help" does not represent a new trend in the tourism
industry, but merely a different way of combination of travel and
volunteer work, and consequently combines volunteering with pleasure. In
this type of journey the volunteers involved in local projects (an
orphanage, a local school, etc.) visit the country, learn about the
people, their culture and traditions and experience the country such
as it really is and is not exactly as some want to present it to
tourists. Travellers dedicate volunteer work according to their needs
and establish themselves in relation to the purpose of their travel
to a particular country. Due to the situation in the world today this
way is becoming more and more popular because of the feeling doing
something good. This kind of journey awakens men and leads to the
conclusion that the world has a lot of people who live very modestly
and that you can only by a nice word or a good deed completely change
a life.
It
was a late Wednesday, on the 5th June, when we arrived high-spirited
in Gambia! Laughter and expectations made our adrenaline rushing
through our veins, so the long way became surprisingly fast. At the
Gambian airport we were well received, the police were very friendly!
The extreme heat at the airport enriched our first moments in Africa.
A visit to the toilets woke us up from a dream and we are faced with
the reality. This is Africa!
We
saw our luggage coming on the carousel marked with an X. A man
approached us and told us to follow him into the office, where we
will open our suitcases and have our luggage checked. Well, so much
for the kindness and happy landing!
Valerija
and I entered the office full of people screaming and opening their
bags. I asked one of the employes where should I put my bag. She
showed me a table and at the same time she pointed the same to the
four other passengers. Valerija and I stood confused in the office
and waited for someone who would have mercy to help us raise our
heavy suitcases. After 15 minutes, we finally put the bags on the
table, opened them and asked the staff to examine them. In Valerijas'
they did not appreciate a package, which I explained to them, was a
gift to the poor children. They were also bothered by the old phones
that I've had with me for one family in Gambia. He asked me how many
phones I have and I replied, "Four, maybe five." The man
smiled and said, "Nine, maybe ten!" Once again I told him
that I want to give them to the families and the elderly. My
interpretation seemed to be accepted, so we closed our suitcases and
were finally let out. Etka was all well, standing in the waiting
room, watching the rest of our luggage and surrounded by Africans.
All three of us were glad that we were released without any
additional fees and bribes.
Once
we have completed all the formalities and moved towards the exit,
Musa Faal, our colleague and friend in the Gambia, and his friends
were already waiting for us. They were more than welcome to help us
around the luggage. Musa could not hide the joy of us coming there!
All of us hugged and he squeezed us closely and welcomed us. We felt
so safe and all fears were gone in an instant. Our friends drove us
to our apartment.
Africa
immediately welcomed us and at the same time made face the harsh
reality. The first night we spent in dark, because there was no
electricity. Same story happened almost every day and every night. We
only had 2 hours of electricity in the morning and 2 hours in the
evening. Nets on the windows were broken, the nets which should be
over the bed were under the bed. But why? For your information, one
month after the nets were still under the bed! In the night, tap
water was cold and during the day it was hot. This was because in the
daytime, when all the water pipes warm up and in time of intense heat
you need a cold shower, the taps ran hot water. The world is upside
down there. The kitchen had a fridge, where it was impossible to keep
things fresh, sincer there was no electricity to keep it working.
Even in the few time of electricity, the fridge consumed so much of
it it was really pointless to turn it on. In Gambia, the electricity
charges as our cellphones- with a card. In any case, there is little
chance that you do not eat dinner surrounded by candlelight. There
are two reasons why so, or there is no electricity or your account
was empty.
When
I returned home from Gambia, I found myself looking for something
around the house in dark, and only after 10 minutes did I realize
that I can turn on the light! Priceless!
However,
life without electricity was relatively easy to get used to. I even
learned the tricks to make candles burn slower. I must admit that
until then, I had never in my life think of how and why you would
need a candle to burn longer.
Handwashing
of the laundry, no TV in the evening, refrigerator without fresh milk
or eggs, limited computer time, empty battery on the phone, etc... All
of this soon became our reality. I grew up in a city and I'm still
quite young, so these were indeed all new experiences! Even though I
have lived almost 5 years in Egypt, nothing can compare with so called "black Africa"!
Ursa Rojnik, Gambia June 2013
info@kidsaretheworld.com
www.kidsaretheworld.com
Children from the poorest families are going to school without having a meal, which means that the child didn't eat breakfast, neither a midday snack, nor lunch. The child's only meal is late lunch, when the whole family shares one bowl of rice. How can a hungry child study and how can this child be convinced to stay in school for as long as possible in order to learn a profession and get employed, when a hungry child is thinking only of ways to get some money and buy food. This is also connected with child labor which is »used« by parents to be able to feed their whole family.
