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Published: July 14th 2014
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Lately, all the local occurrences have made me feel more at home and excited for the future. There is a great level of comfort within finding that the steps towards achieving an ambition you initially thought would need patience to be seen. Of course, my primary dream is to practice physiotherapy in a place without the benefit of such services, while appealing to my ex-patriotism wanderlust that I cannot seem to shake. Of course, that is not enough for me. Understanding the needs of people are so great and diverse, I am thirsty to learn how to satisfy the needs for things such as clean water, business development, beneficial policy, and malnutrition. Even if I was to learn enough about one of these issues to find that it something I can only advocate rather than solve, the experience in learning and doing so would better satisfy me than otherwise. At the very worst, I am to develop a network of individuals and organization more competent in such areas to come beside me if I am ever to mobilize against them.
This thought process and internal comfort began with a five minute conversation on the beach at Nemasu, an eco-lodge owned by the family of my boss at Agua Inc. At the most random occurrence, I met George, an aspiring doctor from the UK in The Gambia to continue building a non-profit, Disability Africa. After I expressed my great interest in helping on the physiotherapy side of his efforts, he suggested I visit the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital in the capital Banjul to investigate a new physiotherapy program. I found the director’s name, Samba Bah, online and visited the hospital twice before I met him. With a humble space of a few consultation rooms, a couple offices, and a parallel-bar walking aid out front in the back of the hospital, another physiotherapist, Penda, from Cuba showed me around the first time. The second time I met with Samba, in which we discussed my experience in manual therapies and my intentions to pursue it further, as well as the other workshops I have attended. The time seemed perfect, as they had recently graduated their first class, and a school from Spain was too soon integrate a new curriculum. I was invited to hold workshops, assist in program design, and teach a portion of the aide program beginning in September. Of course, there was a great possibility of teaching after the study of my Master’s in Glasgow. The ability to be able to spend the next six months fostering this network would not only give me a further development of my dream, provide a rare experience, but also give me a taste of my dream before I reached it. Teaching physiotherapy in a developing country to a respectable scale no longer remained a vision, but only the tip of the iceberg. Now my work was to actually get my Master’s, and continue to think how I can do this better and different than anyone else ever has.
The recent duties with Agua Inc as the Director of Educational Programs has recently been maximized. Interns are coming in motivated, and so far leaving with a greater sense of purpose, education, and confidence in their skill development. I am assuming responsibilities I would never have seen myself assuming, and therefore I am growing with and for the interns themselves. I also can’t help think that I was getting an intimate look as to what effective education and development work truly takes. Among learning the cultural and lifestyle considerations of living in Gambia, I am mostly developing myself by not drawing the line. Similar to the types of “job descriptions” elicited by the new form of management called “holacracy”, my educational position has included anything to getting quotes from excavators and civil engineers, what it takes to run an international business, becoming literate in financial models, researching renewable energies, fostering relationship with the likes of Peace Corps and UNICEF, and learning anything and everything about clean water.
Most recently, I have become involved with a young graduate in Entrepreneurship and Finances from the University of The Gambia and an employee of the American Chamber of Commerce, Alieu Jallow. I spontaneously ended up speaking to a group of entrepreneurs at one of his Youth Entrepreneur’s Association meetings (of which he is founder), and found that received a grant to create a business incubator. The combination of Agua Inc’s heavy entrepreneurial spirit and my personal recent affinity for the subject brings us several weeks into finishing up the initial proposal for the incubator model. Set to launch in September, this incubator aims to alleviate the 60% youth unemployment in The Gambia. Considering job creation can change many lives, I couldn’t resist getting involved. The recorded incubation ‘industry’ as whole absorbs trillions of US dollars, and only create an average of 4 jobs per 280-something incubators. This is vastly a disappointment, and the desire for successful innovation is unbearable. I have no doubt that between the creative and experienced professionals in Agua Inc, the resources from the American Chamber of Commerce and the US Embassy, the Ministries of Trade, Economics, and Higher Education, various financial institutions, and the country-wide concern in all sectors to satiate such an issues will allow a collective force of success and profitable sustainability for this incubator.
With only under six months left in Gambia, I am ecstatic for the progress and connections that will further perpetuate. With a desire to further build my connections for physiotherapy, learn herbal medicine and alternative therapies, study renewable energy and sustainable technologies, and the need to become a distinguished foreign wrestler, I maintain the highest doubts that stagnation and boredom will reign supreme anytime soon.
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