Gambia – Peace Corps Worldwide

PayJoy created by RPCV Doug Ricket (Gambia)

Apr 12 2024

RPCVs in the news How PayJoy built a $300M business by letting the underserved use their smartphones as collateral for loans TechCrunch Mary Ann Azevedo Thu, April 11, 2024 at 7:34 AM PDT Lerato Motloung is a hardworking mother of two who is employed in a supermarket in Johannesburg, South Africa. But in February 2024, she found herself without a mobile phone after it was stolen and she could not afford to buy a new one. For nine months, Motloung had to go without the convenience and connectivity of a smartphone Then, a sign caught her eye – a sign about PayJoy, a startup that offers loans to the underserved in emerging markets. With the help of PayJoy, Motloung was able to purchase her first smartphone, becoming one of the millions of customers that the San Francisco-based company has helped since its inception in 2015. “She was its 10 millionth . . .

“Peace Corps signifies true Gambia/US friendship” — US Ambassador

Dec 06 2023

In the news — Africa-Press – Gambia. Her Excellency Sharon L Cromer, United States of America Ambassador to The Gambia, has said the mission of Peace Corps signifies and facilitates true understanding and friendship between the peoples of The Gambia and the United States of America. Ambassador Cromer made the remarks on Wednesday at the Peace Corps Massembeh Training Center in Lower River Region during the swearing in of the most recent group of Peace Corps volunteers in agriculture and health. The swearing-in ceremony marked the completion of a 10-week Pre-Service Training (PST) that prepared the 12 trainees for service in the respective communities. During the training, trainees learned to communicate in local languages, gained a deeper understanding of the rich patterns that make up the Gambian culture, and learned to take responsibility for their health and safety as well as their security while in The Gambia. Since 1961, Peace . . .

CUMBERLAND by Megan Gannon (Gambia)

May 04 2023

In the fictional coastal town of Cumberland, Georgia, fifteen-year-old twin sisters Ansel and Isabel Mackenzie have lived with their eccentric grandmother since a car accident killed their parents and paralyzed Isabel. Over the past seven years the responsibility of caring for her sister has fallen increasingly on Ansel. However, as she cultivates a romantic relationship with a local boy, as well as an artistic apprenticeship with a visiting photographer, Ansel’s growing desire for independence compromises her ability to care for her sister, threatening their sororal connection, and ultimately, Isabel’s life. Juxtaposing Ansel’s traditional narrative against Isabel’s poetic prose, Cumberland highlights the conflicts between independence and familial duty, the difficulty of balancing the dark draws of the body against the brighter focus of the mind. Megan Gannon was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee and is a graduate of Vassar College (BA), the University of Montana (MFA) and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln . . .

Talking with Clinton Etheridge (Gambia)

Sep 14 2016

An Interview with Clinton Etheridge Clinton Etheridge served in the Peace Corps in Gambia from 1970-72. A July 2011 trip back to West Africa with his family inspired him to write a reflection piece, “What is Africa to Me?” for the Swarthmore College Bulletin. • Tell us a little about your background and where you served I was a secondary school math teacher in Peace Corps Gambia from 1970-1972. I grew up in Harlem, came of age during the civil rights movement, and was a black student leader at Swarthmore College in the late 60s. Like many young blacks of that generation, I wore an afro and dashiki and was “black and proud” and fascinated with Africa. I joined Peace Corps Gambia seeking the answer to the question “What is Africa to me?” posed by Harlem Renaissance poet Countee Cullen in his 1925 Heritage. What was it like to . . .

Bryn Mooser (Gambia 2001-03) Body Team 12 Nominated for Oscar Documentary

Jan 15 2016

Bryn Mooser is the Co-founder of RYOT, a media company based in Los Angeles. Mooser was Country Director for Artists for Peace and Justice (APJ) and helped build Haiti’s largest Cholera center as well as APJ’s secondary school in Port-au-Prince, which now educates 2,400 Haitian youth per year. Before working in Haiti, Bryn served in the Peace Corps in West Africa. Bryn is also an award-winning documentary film maker. His first three documentary shorts, Sun City Picture House, Baseball In The Time Of Cholera and The Rider And The Storm, premiered at TriBeCa Film Festival three years in a row. He was named one of Esquire Magazine’s “Americans of the Year” for his work in Haiti and a “Hollywood Maverick” by Details Magazine for “raising guerrilla-style docs to the level of art.” Body Team 12 In Monrovia, Liberia, Garmai Sumo is the only female member of Body Team 12, one . . .

Review — A VILLAGE SON REMEMBERS by Mark Lewis (The Gambia 1970-72)

Oct 20 2011

A Village Son Remembers Mark R. Lewis (The Gambia 1970–72) Self published 104 pages 2010 Reviewed by David H. Day (Kenya 1965–66; India 1967–68) I HADN’T GIVEN IT MUCH THOUGHT AT FIRST, but the torn and singed pages of what appears to be a personal journal on the cover of this slim paperback provides a clue to just one of the traumatic incidents punctuating Mark Lewis’ Peace Corps assignment in The Gambia. This reviewer was soon led through a series of incidents that, on one hand, for their sheer shock value, astounded, and prompted me to recall one of our great Peace Corps mantras in coping with the vagaries of life in exotic places: flexibility. And is Lewis ever flexible! His equanimity in the face of the unexpected is exemplary. Even before the group departs the States, there was a snafu and Lewis was visited during training by two FBI . . .