Kelsey Mccall on her Peace Corps Adventure in Gambia

In mid-October I left on my two-year Peace Corps assignment in the Gambia where I am aspiring to make long-lasting, sustainable, qualifying change in her Gambian community by educating all ages in a health curriculum that improves lives for many generations. As part of the Peace Corps application process, I identified three professional attributes that would help me meet my aspirations while succeeding as a Peace Corps volunteer. Based on my previous volunteer work, I concluded that my flexibility, positivity, and communication skills would be my best assets while working with my Gambian Community.  My flexibility and positivity made me a patient, adventurous and fun worker which helped when I was struggling to learn how to carry a 20-gallon badong full of water on my head from the village well to my hut. The learning adventure included a lot of spillages, being laughed at, and a minor goose egg, but a positive attitude helped turn an unfortunate situation into an adventure, frustration into reflection, and confusion into a learning moment. During the Peace Corps training period, my mornings were filled with classes, while the afternoons included bike rides to see friends in nearby villages or to Soma, where there was internet and a large market, hauling water, playing with the local kids, drinking attaya– a local sweet green tea, and writing in my journal. At the end of the training period, I was sworn into the Peace Corps and relocated to my permanent location, Alkali Kunda in the North Bank Region of Gambia. The trip from my training village to my new home for the next two years, where I would be living in a local family’s compound, took two hours and utilized five modes of transport, including a ferry and donkey cart. On my volunteer site, I was working with local health care providers to do an initial baseline survey of my local community to get an idea of what their health education needs were, and then I began developing appropriate projects in the Peace Corps’ four main Health focus areas including Reproductive and Maternal Health, Maternal and Child Nutrition, Environmental Sanitation including WASH – water and sanitation hygiene, and Malaria Prevention. The International Development Studies minor, which strongly incorporated an environmental viewpoint, allowed me to understand the importance of how a community's resources and environmental issues overlap with their culture. IDS was the biggest educational influence on my Peace Corps service as it led me to courses and professors that continually sparked my desire to serve abroad as a Peace Corps volunteer. The Peace Corps Prep certificate, including a specialization in Civic Engagement, gave me the practical knowledge of grassroots development that I needed as well as a competitive edge in my Peace Corps application. To read about my Peace Corps adventures, visit http://kelseypeacecorps.wordpress.com.