This video published on YouTube by Good Magazine about a program that equips health workers with motorcycles in The Gambia brought back memories of when I was in the Peace Corps there. I was a health education volunteer who trekked with a community health nurse to three villages from N’Jowara, the village where she and I lived. The roads between these villages was soft dirt. From N’Jowara to the main road that led to Banjul, the capital, was about seven miles on a hard-packed dirt road. From the point my road hooked up to the main road, the trip to Banjul involved two ferry crossings and a taxi ride–also on a hard packed dirt road. Banjul was where The Gambia’s main hospital was located. Depending on the season, it could take several hours to make the journey. Some days the taxis didn’t go all the way.
Whenever N’Dey and I set out for a village visit as part of our job we hoofed it. I had a bicycle, but she did not. It didn’t matter anyway because the dirt was so soft, riding a bike through it was almost impossible. Often we would get to a village to meet with the village health worker or the traditional birth attendant to find out they weren’t home, so we’d turn around and walked the three miles back. The fact that she had me to walk with her keep motivated to make the trip. After watching this video, I’m happy to see that health care access is becoming much easier than back then. The scenery is just as I remembered it. I can almost taste that red dust. Thanks to Marilyn Terrell, our National Geographic Traveler information-giver extraordinaire for passing the info about the program along.