Day 9: May 24--Last Night in Africa

Dear families and Friends,

Dr. Jarvis here again. Our little band of daring adventurers is back in Dakar Senegal on our way home to America.  This is our last night in Africa.  This is our last blog.  We would like to close this amazing journey by letting you hear each of our voices.  I have asked each student to sum up her experience by answering two questions.  1--In what ways has this time in Africa changed you?  And 2--Will you come back?  Also I have asked each student to insert her favorite photo of herself from the journey.  It is not fair to ask students to do anything I would not do myself, so I will lead off.

I have been leading student groups overseas for almost 20 years.  I've never had a better group of young people to work with and I've never had a more heart-lifting experience.  Never.  This journey has changed me.  I'm now 56 years old.  The bulk of my life's work is over.  It's time to pass the baton to the next generation.  After working for the last four months with the 13 young women in our Sajuka School Project Group and with Nyillan Fye, I am finally at peace about one thing.  These amazing young women are ready to change the world in the best ways possible.  They have just shown me that we really can take young, idealistic people from the richest country on earth and they can walk among the poorest people in harmony, in a spirit of love, in ways simultaneously beneficial to the people they meet and to themselves.  These women are ready to lead our world to a better place.  There were many ups and downs in the months of preparation and then during the journey itself.  I counted on one thing above all--their love for the suffering children of Barra Village.  I was not disappointed. They did not let me down.  They did not falter once.

In 32 years of teaching, I have never had the honor of working with a group of human beings as good or as beautiful as this one.  The moment that they stepped off the bus after an exhausting, 10-hour journey through West Africa, I knew that I had brought the right people to this place.  From the first moment, from the first handshake, from the first hug, they gave their whole hearts to the children of Sajuka School.  They did it every day, day after day.  They did it in 100 different ways.  The gift of their hearts never wavered in its intensity, in its sincerity, in its beauty.  They never stopped smiling.  They never stopped giving.  As you will see in the fall when we premiere our documentary film, the children of Sajuka School wept when these young women said goodbye.  And the Bay Path students wept along with them. 

Tonight in our last debriefing before catching our plane tomorrow for home, I asked the Bay Path women how many of them planned to come back.  Thirteen hands went up.  As we talked about how coming to Barra Village had changed them, many broke down in tears again.  But, as one of them said with the tears streaming down her face, "These are tears of joy, not of sadness."  As I listened to them sum up what this trip has meant to them, something changed inside of me.  I realized that finally the teacher can begin to fade away to allow the new generation to take its rightful place in leading the way towards a more peaceful, understanding, and beautiful world. 

And, yes, I will still come back to Barra Village again.  I will come back to work with the children of Sajuka School.  I'll do it until I die.  I cannot change the world.  I cannot change a nation or even a region.  But I now know thirteen more people who will help me to change one school and one village. They now know as I know that if we don't help Sajuka School, no one will help Sajuka School.  If we don't help these children, no one will help these children.  At least not now.  Not for this generation of children.  We are all they have.  After ten days with thirteen Bay Path women working at my side, I am optimistic.  We might be enough.  We might be all it takes to lift these children. 

And if we succeed with the children, the children themselves will do the rest.

--Dr. Jarvis

Gambia is the smiling coast of Africa, as we have all been reminded many times on this trip. Today Dr. Jarvis asked us to sum up our experience here in Africa; the truth is that's a lot harder than it sounds. There are no real words to truly describe how amazing this experience was and I will forever hold the memories close to my heart. Just try to imagine 310 little smiling faces looking up at you, wanting to touch your hand, and speak to you. The faces of true love, compassion, and true humility. These are the faces with which I had the privilege of sharing the past few days. These truly amazing young people, as well as the staff have reached for my hand in friendship and have touched my heart for eternity. I will hold their ambitions, hopes, and dreams in my thoughts and prayers always. What all these children need is a chance to make it. If they fail it is not due to lack of trying or ambition but to the lack of resources available to them. That is why I will do everything within my power to ensure their success. One day it is my hope, as well as the school’s, to have a full health clinic for all the students and local families to go to. It is my hope, as well as the school's that all their children will go on to secondary school and then university. All these goals may at first glance seem beyond their reach, but why? Why should these children be looked at any different than any child in America? The answer is simple they shouldn’t be. They too are worthy of love, affection, hugs, education, dreams, and ambitions. If we continue to work with them in obtaining their goals who knows where they could end up. I have every intention to return to the Sajuka Primary School in Barra Village, Africa, as soon as I possibly can. I love these children. They have truly opened their hearts and arms to me. They simply accept you for the person you are. They do not judge you or care about your religion or race.  They just take you as part of their family. I will forever keep them in my heart as part of my family.

--Amanda Bergstrom

Goodness, we ran out of time.  Everyone is now in bed resting for our morning flight home.  I will have them all finish this blog once we are safely back with our loved ones.  Please stay tuned for the amazing wrap-ups of this amazing journey into the "heart" of Africa.

Sincerely,

--Dr. Jarvis

P. S. Here are some photo previews of what is still to come . . .

Lats night Dr. Jarvis asked our group to answer 2 questions, the first being, How has this trip changed our lives and the second, would we want to come back again? Before coming on this trip to The Gambia, my main mission was to teach the people of Barra village, essentialy, our ways of living. What I didn't realize until the last day of being at Sajuka School though, is that, it was the people of Barra village that were teaching me. Coming away from this trip, my view on life has changed drastically. I have learned that life is too short to focus on the little things in life that we may view as "stressors". The children have stressors in their lives that exceed any stressor I've ever had in life and yet every time I saw them they were smiling from ear to ear. The staff and students at Sajuka school are so unified and treat each other as if they were one big family. It's said that people in America are so happy, but how is it that I was the most happiest in a village that has close to nothing compared to America where everything is provided for me. Having 300 children fall in love with me in less than 3 days absolutely blows my mind. To those children I was someone important, I was someone they could trust, I was their friend. From now on I will see my life problems as insignificant bumps in the road compared to the lives of my friends at Sajuka school. I will be honored to come back to The Gambia in the near future to further the work we've done at Sajuka school and to learn more important life lessons from these wonderful children I call my friends. To the children of Sajuka school: I will never forget you and you will always have a special place in my heart.

--Destiny Donnell

This trip has changed my life in so many different ways. After this trip I am so thankful for everything in my life, from my family and friends to basic amenities like a flushing toilet. I have made so many new friends on this trip, both in our group from school and the new people I have met in Africa. When I looked at the children in Barra Village I could only think of my nieces and nephews who, although they may look different, are no different than the children in Africa. They have the same laughs and mannnerisms and the same innocent souls that only children can possess. After working with the women in the Craft Center, some of which are the same age or younger than myself, I have truly learned what the definition of a woman is. The women of the Craft Center are the strongest and most resilient women I have ever met, aside from the women in my family. I would absolutely come back if given the oppportunity. To not come back here would let down not only the children of Barra Village but everyone within the village. After this trip I now realize that it is my duty to help people in any way I can and I have made a vow to come back at some point in my life, whenever I can, to help people. I will truly NEVER forget the time I have spent here and it has made a change in my life forever.  

--Madalyne Boomer

My time in Barra Village, truly changed my life for the better. Above in the picture was VaNessa, and me. This is the class we taught each day because the teacher was absent. I honestly feel i didn't give nearly as much as the children did for me. These children have touched my heart in so many ways i cannot even begin to explain. Looking into one African child's eyes, you see a story, you see a story of pain, happiness and above all, hope. When they look into my eyes, i see the hope they have. Their smiles are large and bright and they have changed my heart in so many ways.I have hope now, i have hope for the future and hope in these children. I know after seeing us, they have hope now for their futures. I would most definitely go back if i was given another opportunity, i would take it in a heartbeat. This trip was the best thing i have ever done in my life, and i will do anything i can to make it back to these children.

-- Jessi Donohue

My journey to Sajuka school has changed the way I view the world today. I always knew that I wanted to be a pediatrician one day and I had the passion for it. Now, my passion for this dream has intensified when I saw the faces of each and every one of The Gambian children. They gave me compassion, they gave me love, but most importantly they gave me hope.The children changed me for the better and I hope one day I can return to Barra Village to help them. I made a promise to Mr. Joof and I told him that I will return one day. Even when I become a doctor and join Doctors without Borders, I will return and help the nurse's station and hopefully aid the chilren. I feel as if this experience has made me more mature and independent and I will never forget the beautiful memories that I made on this trip.  

-- Tenzin Yangdon