No Na Bai Jumbai
Cultural Cognitive Dissonance in the Beautiful Village of Portogole
A snapshot of a day in the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer in Africa
It was my first time in the village and a 1st full day of meeting everyone, the Chief Mbunde Tombon (who would later give me the name Mese Tombon)& his family, the School Teacher Didi & his wife Eufemia; their family including ‘Ya’ Lazario Merson Mendes who with some time would become my best friend in the village, and everyone else from both the Balanta (Animist) & Biafada (Muslim) tribes that made up Portogole. It had become dark out and I was returning to the building where the Peace Corps had arranged for me to be housed & sleep for this inaugural week. You see, the house that was to become my home was a mud brick house with thatched roof and under renovation to meet Peace Corps standards for volunteers. Basically a cement layer was being applied on all dirt surfaces then whitewashed and a corrugated tin roof with a ceiling to keep all the poisonous snakes out. My colleagues and I were in the middle of training and had each recently been assigned to where we would be living. Part of that included being taken to our new ‘homes’ to spend a week; after which we would all reconvene at our training site for the remainder of our training & preparation.
