The Interview: Marnie Florin, Peace Corps Volunteer in The Gambia

Marnie Florin is one of the thousands Millennials involved with volunteering programs abroad. She graduated from Emory University with a degree in history and now she is a Peace Corps Volunteer in The Gambia, West Africa. We enjoyed the power of Internet to ask Marnie several questions about her volunteering experience, cultural differences and how a Millennial lives without Internet and tech gadgets on regular basis.  

Tell us more about yourself before joining the Peace Corps.

I grew up in Orange County, watched Gossip Girl, had never camped and didn’t even like the outdoors, used to own (and love) an iPhone and liked to shave my legs—so not your typical Peace Corps volunteer. I got interested in Africa after reading Samantha Powers’ book A Problem From Hell, and decided to take some African Studies classes in college. I ended up majoring in history with a focus on Africa and wrote my thesis on the civil war in Somalia.

Why did you decide to join the Peace Corps?

I wanted to end poverty, ha. Not really, but sort of. At some point while studying Africa in college, I realized that reading about Africa wasn’t enough. I got it into my head that to be the person I wanted to be and make the changes I wanted to make in the future, I had to volunteer with the Peace Corps. I also saw the Peace Corps as a way to get some experience in development, the field in which I planned to have my career, without having to sit in a cubicle everyday. But, most of all, I wanted to challenge myself. I didn’t think it was fair for my life to be so easy just because of where I was born.

Did you choose The Gambia?

No, you don’t get to choose where you go, but I did specify that I wanted to go to Africa.

What is your daily routine? What do you do in The Gambia?

I wake up around 7 am to the sound of donkeys and my sisters pounding with a huge mortar and pestle. I make some juice using a powdered juice packet and breakfast using my gas burner, usually oatmeal or toast, and poop in my pit latrine. I finally open my door around 8 am and greet my family. Most days I ride my bike to the neighboring village where I work with its women’s group or to the school for Press Club meetings. But if I don’t have any work that day, I like to find a bush path I’ve never taken and bike until I reach a village. Before the sun sets, I fetch water from the pump and take a bucket bath. Then I read some more and either cook or eat dinner with my family.

Work is a relative term here. I never spend more than 4 hours a day ‘working’ and most days I don’t ‘work’ at all. It sounds great, but keep in mind that even when I’m not working, I’m still living in a village day in and day out, surrounded by a foreign culture, speaking a different language and peeing in a hole. That being said, the Press Club’s advisor and I have been working together to teach the students basic journalism skills and help edit stories. My other project is building a garden with the women’s group from a nearby village. Gardens are a major source of income for women here, but they are very expensive to build. I applied for and received a grant to fence in a half-hectare garden and build four wells. The fence is already finished and the wells are in the process of being completed.

Do you like such simplicity in your life?

Actually I do. As much as I loved having an iPhone and being able to settle any argument with a quick Google search, not having to return e-mails or voice mails is such a relief. It’s also really amazing to wake up each day and—having no concrete schedule or job description—to be able to lie in my bed and decide what I want to do.

But, being happy doing nothing all day takes some getting used to. It’s kind of like Walden: I have an obscene amount of free time, most of which is spent reading. Whenever I start to feel like a waste of space, I try to remind myself that this is the only time in my life that I will have this much free time and I should enjoy it to the fullest and not feel guilty about doing nothing.

How does a Millennial who has grown up with Internet, cell phones and other gadgets learn to live without electricity and running water?

I absolutely dreaded the idea of living without electricity and running water, but found that taking bucket baths, having a hole in the ground instead of a toilet, living with rats in my house and never having cold water is actually not that hard. We do have cell phones though, and a plan that allows us to text other PCVs for free. So I spend a fair amount of time each day texting things like, “I just caught a mouse in my backpack, what do I do??” or, “My farts smell so bad… That meat sandwich was a bad idea.”

The most difficult part about this experience—something I didn’t even think would be a problem before coming here—is that I am alone in my village, surrounded by people whose food, culture, clothing and language are completely different from mine. Before I came here, I could not have imagined how difficult it would be to live most days without anything familiar.

How do you keep in touch with the world and the rapid pace with which everything is changing?

I don’t, ha. I can use the Internet when I come into the capital, but I never check the news, which is ironic because I used to watch CNN all day. I have no idea what is going on the world, aside from the gossip, and only hear about major news stories from locals who listen to BBC on their radios. When I’m not in the capital, I’m able to keep in touch with my family through my cell phone and old-fashioned snail mail.

Obviously, The Gambia has a very different culture. What are some of the most shocking differences?

The country is almost entirely Muslim, so men can have up to four wives and many do. Women can show their breasts, but not their knees and very few girls and almost no women wear pants outside of the capital. Most Gambians pray five times a day and stores close during the afternoon prayer. Despite the country’s piety, male prostitution is a serious issue here. We were warned about it before we arrived and I thought it was an exaggeration. It’s not.

Aside from the high incidence of male prostitution, I was most surprised by Gambians’ obsession with and coveting of Western culture and white people in general. When I tell Gambians that some people in America have no homes and live on the street, they don’t believe me because they think everyone in America is a multi-millionaire, and also because there is no such thing as being homeless here. My favorite aspect of Gambian culture is its generosity: A person without food or a place to stay can walk into any compound, ask for food and shelter and he will be provided with both. In fact, it is standard practice while eating to invite anyone that passes by to join.

Are there any cultural similarities you find surprising?

People here can be just as superficial and vain as people in the US. They always want the newest gadgets and constantly complain about needing new clothes.

Did you experience culture shock?

Not really. I didn’t know enough about the culture to be shocked when I first arrived. But I do experience a little culture shock each time I go from my village to the capital, and vice-versa. They’re just so completely different that once I get adjusted to one place, the other seems so foreign.

From personal experience I know that when people move to a different country one of the main issues is food.  Do you miss American food? How did you adjust to the local cuisine?

I miss food more than anything else—sorry mom and dad. I spend hours every day talking, thinking and dreaming about sushi, everything bagels, gruyere cheese, buffalo burgers on whole wheat buns, frozen yogurt, real ketchup, the list goes on and on. When I’m in the capital and have access to real grocery stores, restaurants and most importantly, a fridge, I’m able to buy and cook a lot of American food, such as pizza, grilled cheese, ice cream, Lucky Charms, chicken parmesan, etc. No electricity makes cooking in my village a little different. I used to eat every meal with my family—rice or millet topped with either peanut sauce, dried fish, oil and MSG or green sauce, dried fish, oil and MSG—but now I cook for myself. I make oatmeal or pancakes for breakfast, and soup, pasta, stir-fry, mac and cheese, curry, etc. for lunch and dinner.

Do you think that Millennials in The Gambia and in the USA have different values and mindsets? How much of who we are is shaped by our culture, nationality, socioeconomic status and how much is shaped by the time we live in?

The Millennials in the US and The Gambia have extremely different values, which are, in my opinion, shaped primarily by socioeconomic status and nationality. Most Millennials here are obsessed with leaving their country and getting rich, because, unlike most American Millenials, they have spent their whole lives worrying about money. They don’t have the luxury of spending their time and money fighting for those causes so important to many of their American counterparts.

Many have labeled Millennials as civic-minded. Do you agree? Is it true only for Millennials in the USA or in The Gambia as well?

I think most Millennials mourn not being alive in the 1960s and unknowingly try to re-create the environment of passion, unity and change that existed then. Nearly all my friends have causes that they’re fighting for, be it environmental education, human rights, gay marriage, etc. Very few of my friends are working just to make money and those that are grew up very poor.

The reason Millennials care less about money and more about the world is because, unlike generations before us, nearly all Millennials have the opportunity to go to college and travel abroad. Gambian Millennials, however, do not have the chance to go to college, nor even high school. In fact, almost all Millennials here have never left the country and will not move out of their village. As a result, they, like some of my friends that grew up poor, are obsessed with making money, as I’ll bet the generation that grew up during the Great Depression was.

How has this experience changed you?

I am much more adventurous and brave than I was before I came here. In other words, I’m way less lazy; I push myself a lot more physically. At home, I would have to walk a trail before I biked it, in case there was a huge hill or something. Here, I just find some random trail in the bush and bike it with no idea where I’m going, and I just ride until I get tired or reach a village. I also eat a much larger variety of foods, which may have something to do with the bravery, but more likely is because of how little good food I eat here.

How much has this changed  your outlook, your long-term goals, ect?

My goals and vision for my future have changed drastically. Before coming here, I was dead-set on a career in development. I had a 5-year plan and made all my academic choices to further that goal. But after being here one year, I now have no desire to ever work in the development field in the future, unless it is to reform the way current aid and NGOs operate. Development aid, which does not include conflict or crisis aid, is not the solution, it’s the problem. Aid has completely immobilized Gambians and convinced them that they are unable to carry out any project without the assistance of an outsider.

I can only speak to my experiences here, but I would fight to end all development aid (again, not including conflict or crisis aid) to Africa before I would ever consider increasing it.

How does this experience make you look at your own life, family, education, differently? 

It took a lot of adjusting, self-reflecting and flexibility to learn how to be healthy and happy here, but I did it. Through this process, I realized that my job alone will not make me happy or feel successful. I’ve stop caring about having a career with clout and influence and just want a job that makes me happy. I plan to try working in journalism, but starting my future career is no longer a huge priority. I want to experience as much of the world as I can right now and just do things that make me happy.

What do you plan to do when you return in the USA?

I will spend a few months visiting friends and family, but, ultimately, I want to keep traveling. I’m hoping to get an around the world ticket and spend 6-12 months traveling Asia and Latin America, but I need money for that. I’m looking into doing the JET Program (teaching English for a year in Japan) or serving as a PCV for another year in a country in Latin America.

So, you would renew your contract or join a similar organization?

Yes, I’m considering doing another year of Peace Corps service in Latin America. I would not, however, do a 2-week volunteer program and would only consider a 6-month or longer stint if I was fluent in the local language, because that’s not enough time to make any real, sustainable changes. At first I thought 2 years was far too long, but after being here, I realize it’s totally crucial. There’s no point in even beginning a project unless you’ve taken the time to assess the community and its need, which alone, when done properly, takes almost 6 months.