Transformative Life as an Education Volunteer in The Gambia

Experience another culture firsthand through this interview with Jaden Paley, a Peace Corps volunteer working as a Education volunteer in The Gambia. Driven by a desire to make a difference, Jaden gives us an inside look at daily life volunteering. From adjusting to new family life while living with a host family to overcoming language barriers and cultural surprises, Jaden shares the highs and lows of immersing oneself in an overseas community. Through projects focused on empowering local community members, Jaden has created meaningful change while also going through immense personal growth. Join us as we explore the victories and difficulties of Jaden’s journey and gain perspective on how Peace Corps service can lead to change.

Table of Contents

• Volunteer Experience and Motivation
• Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
• Surprises, Challenges, and Personal Growth
• Community Projects and Interactions
• Advice and Support
• Practical Tips and Language Learning
• Final Thoughts

Volunteer Experience and Motivation

1. Can you provide an overview of your experience serving as a Education volunteer in The Gambia?

Education looks different all around the world, however, nothing could’ve prepared me for working within the Gambian education system. Overall, it has been a very transformative and humbling experience, not just in the sense of a lack of resources, but in the sense of appreciating certain systems in America that we have, regarding education and the overall treatment of children.

Specifically as a woman, working in a country that does not place the same values on women as the States has been extremely challenging, and humbling. It’s quite difficult to capture the entire experience thus far in just a few words, however, overall, each experience that I have had, the good, the bad, and the ugly, are experiences that I will look back on with both pride and a grand sense of achievement.

2. What motivated you to join the Peace Corps and choose The Gambia as your service destination?

I have been very privileged in my life to grow up multi-cultural and to have exposure to many different ways of life. Because of that, I have always wanted to learn more about how people around the world live, and how I could learn from them if they were willing to learn with me.

Having never been to Africa before, I thought of my service in The Gambia as a great opportunity to learn something new, while trying to do some good at the same time. While understanding that West Africa was not a monolith, I also admit that I knew very little about West African cultures and languages. That greatly influenced my final decision-making.

Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration

3. Are you currently live with a host family? Can you tell us about them and how you cross that cultural divide while being a member of their household?

I currently live with a host family and count myself extremely lucky in that department. Not only is my compound women-led (a very rare thing in The Gambia), but my family has a history of hosting PCVs, I am the fourth volunteer in a row (minus the COVID-19 years) to live with this family. Their previous knowledge and experiences with other PCVs have greatly influenced my stay, as they were already used to most of my habits, such as needing a bit of alone time now and then, as well as warding off people who harass me at my compound.

However, like with everything in the Peace Corps, there comes a handful of challenges living with people who do not share the same norms and cultures as you. No one in my compound speaks English, and my community representative at the time moved out of the community about one month into my Integration Period, so not having a proper representative through the most important, and challenging, part of Peace Corps was quite difficult.

One aspect of my host family and Gambian Culture that I will never understand or get used to, is the increased beating and violence towards children and women. That is no different in my host family’s household, and because there is a child in our compound with a learning disability, that child gets unfairly beaten more than the other children. Getting used to seeing that has been one of the greatest challenges of working and living here.

Despite that, I do feel like there is also a lot of love in our compound. My host mother is an Elder and she is not only the head of the compound, but she is very involved in politics and is very vocal about her opinions. She is also the neighborhood Garden Master and the children having such a strong role model shows in their education and the ways they go about things. My favorite thing to do with my host family is cooking with my older sister. The kids will often come to help out/play and we always listen to music and sometimes play cards while waiting for food to cook. It’s great bonding time and just quality time hanging out with my family and improving my language skills.

Surprises, Challenges, and Personal Growth

4. What has surprised you most (or least) about The Gambia or culture? Has it influenced your service?

One of the biggest cultural shocks for me is how Gambians treat time. Not only do they seem to not keep track of time (most people do not know their birthdays, nor do they care to), but they are very relaxed in how they see time and punctuality, thus the term Gambian Time. I learned very quickly that The Gambia has a reputation for not being timely on major development projects. 

I have heard that multiple times from both Gambians and foreigners alike and that reputation holds up throughout my service and was very difficult to adjust to, having just come from a New York City STEM job where we seem to be working all hours of the day. However, I have learned that trying to push Gambians to be timely is futile, and have embraced (a little too well, almost) Gambian Time nowadays I often find myself showing up extremely late (by American standards) to things, even official Peace Corps Trainings, but right on time in Gambian Time. I am in for an interesting re-adjustment period once I return to the States.

Another more pleasant cultural surprise was learning just how diverse The Gambia is. With over eight different nationally recognized languages and cultures (Mandinka, Wolof, Fula, Bambara, Manjago, Serrer, Sarahulle, and Joola), The Gambia is extremely diverse and I can often recognize which culture and language someone most likely is based on how they dress, the language they first greet in, and their surnames. Because of that, as well as my site placement (my site is a huge, diverse town with over 40,000 people, over 2,000 Dundas, and more than eight languages and cultures), I was able to familiarize myself with the different cultures and languages and can now communicate in about three languages living in Farafenni.

5. What challenges did you face while working with community members in The Gambia, and how did you overcome them?

Overall, most of my discrepancies involve men harassing me, as well as witnessing how children are treated. There have been a few instances where I have gotten in trouble with the Peace Corps for reporting instances of unnecessary and unusual beatings in schools. While I completely understand that beatings are normalized here, I do know that in certain situations they are deemed illegal, however, because that addendum to the law is not enforced in schools despite it being written in law, school administrations get away with it. I was told that when reporting, and that has not only led to problems within my community, but it has led to problems with Peace Corps.

I am still going back and forth between Peace Corps and my community, as this issue has not been solved or overcome, yet. Other problems I have faced mostly involve the sexual harassment of men daily, multiple times a day, which has been extremely challenging and continues to affect many factors of my being here. Again, these are issues that cannot be overcome, as it is so ingrained in Gambian culture and my town is so large that there is no way to overcome issues of daily sexual harassment by so many different people, every day.

I have gotten used to it, and come up with comebacks when men tell me they will marry me, have my babies, etc. Or I just ignore them altogether. I no longer worry about how that looks to my community (as ignoring people is a sign of disrespect), but when people that I do not work with disrespect me, I have no problem disrespecting them back, if I do not have to work with them.

6. How have you personally grown and developed during your time as an Education volunteer in The Gambia?

I feel like I have grown a lot, and I also feel like I have aged tremendously. I feel like I have gotten significantly stronger in my will to stay true to my beliefs while being more open to conversations that are not echo chambers. I have learned what it means to stick up for myself and others that I feel are being unjustly harmed, no matter the consequences, as I have had some trouble with that in the past before joining the Peace Corps.

Because (most) Gambians are very open and welcoming to strangers, I find myself emulating some of the mannerisms that reflect that, as well.

Community Projects and Interactions

7. Could you share some of the secondary projects you have been involved in while working with your community members?

Using my expansive site to its advantage, I love conducting digital literacy classes for basic computer and phone literacy. Over the summer, I had the staff at both of my schools come in for computer classes where they learned how to use document-making software to create worksheets, tests, and activities. They also learned how to use spreadsheets for organizational management purposes.

The Gambia is extremely underdeveloped, even in my large town, and while the computer lab consistently lost power for extended periods, my students remained steadfast and eager to learn. That truly inspires me to keep working with them, despite the many difficulties we all face with our extremely limited resources.

I have also been teaching my teachers basic sign language for our students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing. While I am not a Deaf teacher specialist, I do know both American and British Sign Language from the States, and am working with my teachers in both schools to become more informed on not only the language itself but a little bit about Deaf culture, as well.

8. Can you tell us about any memorable experiences or interactions you’ve had with community members that have left a lasting impact on you?

I am very lucky to have a good counterpart that I trust very much and he has been an integral part of my service and overall experience. He is the most open and non-threatening Gambian man I have ever met and he has welcomed me and has also let me have my space and feel safe around him, which is very rare for The Gambia.

He has taught me much about Gambian culture without the Peace Corps’ censoring. He’s brutally honest which is quite refreshing because I have learned that even the Peace Corps Gambian staff feel they must sugarcoat certain things so as to not scare us, however, I would personally prefer honesty and my counterpart gives me that.

He is also very friendly without being creepy and I have eaten lunch with him, his wife, his parents, and his kids and they all seem to be lovely. He has been a great source of knowledge and learning.

Advice and Support

9. What advice would you give to someone considering joining the Peace Corps and serving as an Education volunteer in The Gambia?

While I truly do love it here, I do admit, it has not been without some major challenges. First and foremost, I highly recommend talking directly to a PCV in-country before accepting a position, to get a realistic sense of what life is like here, both personally and professionally, as I have said, Peace Corps staff is not always honest with how life is here and that is very misleading. Talking directly to volunteers without having to do so through the wall of the Peace Corps could be very enlightening to potential PCVs.

10. What skills or qualities do you think are most important for an Education volunteer in The Gambia?

Being able to handle a lot is a great quality to have. This is an extremely difficult country to live and work in, especially if you are a woman, LGBTQ+, a POC, or a religion other than Muslim, and having the mental capacity, as well as safe and true coping mechanisms is essential for a successful service.

Being able to keep a steady head and remain calm when things get chaotic, is also a very good innate skill to have. Things here are very quick to escalate and losing your cool can result in consequences that are not ideal. The ability to self-regulate and self-soothe even amidst great chaos is an essential skill to have, but also a skill that will be built upon throughout the two-year service.

One more useful skill that I have found, is the ability to laugh and have a sense of humor about things. While the Gambian sense of humor is quite different from the American sense of humor, I have found that Gambians appreciate and feed off of a humorous energy.

11. How has the Peace Corps provided support and resources to enhance your service experience in The Gambia?

In all honestly, in my experience, Peace Corps The Gambia has dropped the ball when it comes to volunteers’ in-service support. Even though most staff are trained and sensitized, the majority of in-country staff have had many incidents of improper practice, and the American staff has been no better.

However, we will have the first Peer Support Network training this November (InShaAllah), so that we can be properly trained on how to better support our peers.

Despite this, I am extremely lucky to have such an amazing cohort and to have had amazing cohorts come in after us. We truly are a unit and our support system, which is why most of us are still here: for each other. Trauma bonding is definitely a thing (LOL).

Practical Tips and Language Learning

12. Anything yet that you packed or didn’t pack that you’d like to tell future The Gambia volunteers?

13. How has learning the language been? Any advice to future volunteers?

Language learning has been mostly in-country, and at-site. Again, because of my expansive and diverse site, I have been very lucky to have picked up more than one language throughout my time here, but I recognize that not everyone has that privilege or opportunity.

I have found that language learning has been best when being taught by the kids because the kids are very non-judgemental and do not gawk when I ask how to say something the way that some adults would. Children are also a lot more willing to want to teach you and they get very excited when you get things right, which makes you, as the learning PCV feel very good and motivates you to keep going.

Final Thoughts

14. Any last comments or observations you’d like to pass on to future The Gambia volunteers?

While this journey has been and continues to be, fraught with extreme challenges, both mental and physical, know that within the PCTG PCV Community, we will always have your back if you choose to come to The Gambia! Our PCV Community is very tight-knit and even if the Peace Corps will not have your back, we always will:)

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The content of this post does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or The Gambia Government.