I honestly do not know where to begin...this blog can only do so much, but I strongly urge you to listen and ask questions of your children and family members upon their return as they have stories which not many people can claim to experience. As you may have heard, there has been sickness in our group, of which the cause still remains unknown. Some of us surmise that it may have been due to the plumbing of the bathrooms, the lack of supplies, or an adverse reaction to the food, but we are all thankfully improving and getting some much needed rest. Thank you ever so much for your prayers and support.
     Yesterday was the weekend celebration put on for us by the school; a surprise which the entire village kept for nearly a week. I have never seen preschoolers and elementary students keep a secret so well. It was an African extravaganza. Upon coming down to the courtyard, we found everyone waiting for us and chairs placed out front for our "seats of honor." The celebration started with the children and staff performing traditional dances for our team. The girls dressed in beautiful flowing gowns with headdress wraps and the boys struck up a fancy beat with a myriad of drums. I felt like I was living inside of a National Geographic special. At the end of every dance, they would twirl over to our chairs and pull us into the fray, teaching us to twirl and sway in rythmn with their impeccable motion. And guess what!! I would like to proudly say that our team has officially learned how to dance! Not possible you say? Well, I have first hand video which shows otherwise :)
     The children followed up their dances with plays put on by their drama team, perfomed with such enthusiasm that they had us both crying and laughing simultaneously. My favorite part of the play was a younger boy who had been lucky to obtain the role of "the king" and was clearly having a grand time swinging his "scepter" around and ordering about the other drama team members. Yet, the festivities did not end there. It had come to our knowledge that Nyllan Fye, our illustrious and pretty awesomely fantastic team leader, would be missing her graduation back in the states, due to facilitating our trip. Seeing as this simply would not do, we determined to give Nyllan her own graduation...African style. Creating  an "almost official" diploma out of extra paper and sharpies, we then made our own college president/spokeman to present the document. This consisted of Dr. Jarvis wearing a scarf wrapped notebook tied to his head for a graduation cap....we now fully understand the phrase "Necessity is the mother of invention." Equipped with the diploma, "graduation cap," traditional wrap, and a terrible French accent, Dr. Jarvis presented Nyllan with her well deserved diploma.
     I would like to put out a congratulations to Lori Vaugn on the celebration of her 27th wedding anniversary, which, like Nyllan, she missed due to her asisstance in this Gambian project. We celebrated by bringing a cake over from Banjul, the capital of the Gambia, and watched in delight as its chocolate surface was revealed. After a few mores dances, many more smiles, and a myriad of laughter, the celebration ended with an aura of contentment.
    Thank you Barra Village for your awe inspiring desire to give and show the world what is truly necessity. Thank you Nyllan Fye for your impeccable leadership and giving us the confidence we needed to pursue this task. And thank you everyone back home, for reading this. These stories and memories would be simply words if it were not for our readers. I wish you a goodnight here in The Gambia...don't forget your bugspray :)

--Sarah A.