Monica Wendelborg´s World: Gambia Diary

As i started up saying..

This Blog will be a huge mix, of things concerning me in life.

This night i started to think about the time i spend in Gambia, and wish to share a piece of my diary with you.

It is a long writing, but the words is from the heart!

It is hard to explain in short words how grateful i am to this experience, because, it was after this trip that i dared to give my own projects a chance.
Life is Beautiful!

Much Love and much Blessings to you all!

Monica

20/10-08

I have so much to write after this journey, 3 weeks in Gambia, meeting children, adults and the elder has put a deep trace in me.

The whole country has put a trace in me. To come from “luxury Norway” go to Gambia, live completely on the floor in the ghetto, sleep on the floor, eat on the floor, take a shower in a bucket with a cup, has been amazing.

I would never believe the transition would go so smooth, and I would never believe that living like this actually makes me more happy...!

But to come from Gambia and back to Norway, that was not that easy.

This journey has with no doubt been a big turning point in my life.

A good turning point! Amazing things has happen each and every day.

When I left Norway, my bag was full, and I give away it all before I go back to Norway.

And I pack my bag FULL of things I sell here, and give back the money to the once making the items.

And, I also bring the presents I get from the amazing people.

So here I am, sitting here with no money on my account and almost no clothes. But I would do the same again, because the feeling you have after giving what you feel like giving and making room for the heart to do the actions,

is a true blessing, it’s hard to find the right words to describe the feeling.

Here is a little piece I write, on my straw-math bed in Gambia...

7/10-08

I am still in Gambia, was supposed to leave, but I just had to stay a little while longer.

I cant explain the WAY I love life here, but it’s just not time to go.

Have been a little scared that I have not used my time right here. Because I have mostly been talking to people and tried to understand the life that they have, with a BIG dose of empathy but also a understanding that,

the people who now is around me, is born, raised and used to the life here.

Every day I hear “We are poor, but we are happy” and those words truly describe Gambians.

But, by talking to people, and trying my best to understand and to feel the life here.

I see the needs here, off course, education and work.. !

Today I decided to help a young man get a license to drive, he with to be a taxi driver, and a young boy who wish a bigger education...

And i think that can be a good investment for the future.

After deciding this, I sit down and wonder why I choose two young but still grownups to help out.

I had to think a little while before I found the answer, but then I suddenly understand what my heart meant. These two guys have their hole life ahead

of them, they have nothing but their dreams, visions and wish to create a goodlife for them selves is BIG.

But they have not yet got the chance. And I was also thinking, maybe these boys become fathers in few years.. Maybe they get a wife, a family to provide for.

So by helping a man or a woman in the age of these guys (20 and 21)

you also help them in the right direction of getting a good job, that gives a solid income, so they might manage to pay for their own children’s education.

So, maybe by doing this, I can help out some few families to be happy in the future.

Today I have also been visiting a little beautiful girl, who was frightful sick..

She needed a surgery in her stomach to get the chance to grow up...

But what is needed for a life-necessary surgery? Yea... money..

So I pay for her surgery, that amazing and beautiful little princess, and I buy in a bag of rice to the family so they might get a more easy “month to come”.

When I get to the compound where this child lives it was filled with sorrow, when I left it was filled with joy.

Words can not describe the feeling I am going to bed with, right in this moment.

Thank you God, for blessing me!

Picture selection: