After a weekend in Dakar where my life seemed to go back into its Western routine and a recent visit to my site by my Peace Corps medical officers I have refocused a bit of thought onto my own personal health. Those feelings happened just in time for another one of our national days of health education…
A few years back I was taking a course with the excellent Professor Carmichael of Indiana University. The class was on epidemics throughout history, and while not quite as solid as her Black Death course, I still found myself swallowed up in the material. The question I asked myself most in the class was how much do you inform the public about disease when you yourself are unsure of what it is and furthermore how sure do you have to be to enforce preventative measures? For a while I toyed with future paths in public health administration, but never went beyond some late night chats with my parents about it. Interest has again resurfaced again seeing the small impacts positive public health messages have had here in The Gambia. It is a geographically tiny nation, and therefore it is a place where so much progress is possible with the right kinds of policy.
Once every month the whole of The Gambia participates in President Jammeh’s “Clean the Nation” campaign. It is his attempt to bring together the nation under the notion that a strong and proud nation is a clean nation. It usually happens on a Saturday morning, once every month, unless of course the President’s will does not wish it. There doesn’t seem to be a set schedule of when these days occur and I never know they are coming until the evening before or the morning of. This is only significant because during a clean the nation day all business and life comes to a halt from 9am to 1pm just like if it were a national holiday. During that four hour period life in The Gambia shuts down so that all of the citizens of this small democracy can, quite simply, clean their nation.
The four hours of clean the nation sees the whole country mobilized not through any special propaganda or extreme measures; rather it is the turning gears of citizenry that puts the work in motion. The good citizen spends at least a little bit of time making his or her physical environment more tidy, clean, and habitable. Of course there is much work to be done since many such assailants on cleanliness present themselves. The top three offenders are animal droppings, trash, and dust/dirt.
Since many of the citizens of The Gambia are living in an agriculturally based society, the landscape is decorated with animals that contribute to farming productivity. Donkeys, horses, cows, chickens, goats, dogs, cats, bulls, etc. all have their place on the land and all have their own production of waste. With all the possible parasites, attraction to flies, or other such dangers that attach themselves to animal remains this poses a significant public health risk. Furthermore, many small children simply do not have presence of mind to avoid such hazards; running through the fields of knee high grass one does not pay much attention to what is on the ground. Nature does wash away the majority of the problem, but it takes the hard work of shovels and sweat to get it off the paths and streets. Probably the least overwhelming it is still nice to see animal droppings being cleaned up on clean the nation day.
Next on the list of usual suspects is human created trash. Trash here has no home, no where that it can go and be hidden from society. Back home most of you deposit your trash (which should be separated into Recyclable and not mind you…) into your bin, wait for a certain day of the week when the trash man will come, set it out on the curb, and then never think of it again. It is gone, disposed of, finished. Of course it does go somewhere, and I’m sure many of you have at one point or another visited your local landfill and seen the mountain of build up. Well, imagine that same mountain of expendables and scatter them across the countryside, that is more or less what we have here in The Gambia. It is everywhere and old food attracts scavengers, old plastics, cans, and bottles create a nice place for mosquitoes to breed, and old vehicle frames, broken chairs, or spare bicycle parts sit and create a museum of rust and dilapidation. What is done with these objects in a country without modern “trash removal?” On clean the nation day we gather them all up into big piles and then set fire to them. From 9am to 1pm many of the areas of the country seem to rain fire. I suppose it’s a scene that would make any rioter proud, and it does get rid of much of the waste, but it leaves the citizens chocking under poor air quality. I don’t even want to imagine the kind of toxins that must be released during the process of burning old batteries, plastics, paint, or metals.
Finally, there is the dust and dirt. This is prevalent throughout any day of the year as I have noted in earlier blog entries. The dry season sees tons of dust flying around invading your respiratory system and in the rainy season everything goes to mud giving ample room for parasites and mosquitoes to live and breed. While most of what you would consider our yards are simply a sandy dirt mixture every morning someone sweeps the ground and packs the dirt away all in an effort to minimize the excess dust that can enter our lungs and homes. During clean the nation day a special emphasis goes into making sure that every square centimetre is nice and brushed.
All in all “Clean the Nation” day is an event that monthly brings about national pride to many Gambians. It is a chance to feel like everyone is working together for a common good. While there are some questionable aspects to the methods of trash removal, getting health and a clean environment in the nation’s consciousness is a positive step. It is an idea that I wouldn’t mind being seen transferred back home. Sure there are plenty of small independent initiatives, such as groups and organizations adopting a street or city block to clean and care for, but nothing quite as regular or as large as how the Gambians get down to the dirty work. I would love to go back to a big city in America and find myself in a quiet residential neighbourhood that took the same kind of pride in the land they call home. Imagine how much nicer a city block could be in a place like Chicago if once a month all the residents got out of bed and did a little bit of house cleaning.
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Mariama was a wonderfully pleasant Dutch lady who I met on my way home the other day. She boarded the gele-gele on the way to Brikama and overheard me speaking to a man in Mandinka. She then joined the conversation greeting me in Mandinka, further more asking her children of mixed parenthood to also greet in Mandinka. The whole bus erupted in confusion, laugher, and joy as two tubabs were sitting chatting away about the home people, how the work was, if our home was still standing, what is our father’s name, etc. It was a classic Peace Corps moment that I was glad to experience in a small part for myself.
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With the gracious gift of rechargeable batteries (Thanks Dad and Valerie) I have been able to start taking some snap-shots again. I recommend for all future Volunteers in The Gambia who want to take pictures to be sure to bring along some rechargeable batteries, it makes life a whole lot easier. Perhaps someday I will gain the photography skills that my dad once displayed. I have uploaded some new photos to my Flickr Account, hope you enjoy them!
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