Tuesday 11 November
And so the trip has started! Well actually, it had started already some days before, and actually way before that. But ok, today is the day I’m going back to Guiné Bissau on mission! On such a beautiful date as well, the 11th of the 11th.
This traveling ride to Guiné Bissau (the short version) started 3 days ago. On Saturday November 8th I was on Dushi Curaçao spending that trip’s last hours on the island with my father and my sister. Of course I swam one last time. Of course I annoyed my father into buying me cake (Ponch’i Crema i Ponch’i Pistacho di Centrum Supermarket) one last time. And of course I gave many kisses goodbye to my nieces and nephews one last time. Then my sister and I flew from Curaçao to Bonaire. Five minutes going up, five minutes in the air and then five minutes to go back down and land. Quick flight. On Bonaire I spent that trip’s last hours with my mother, stepfather and sister again. Of course I swam one last time (swimming on Curaçao and swimming on Bonaire is not the same). Of course I annoyed my mom into braiding my hair one last time. Of course I tried kissing my sister many times but failed each time, one last time. One last time, until I do it all again if God willing next year.
Then on the 9th of November, in the evening, I flew from Bonaire to the Netherlands. We landed at exactly 11:22h on Monday November 10th. There on Schiphol I waited out my transfer time of 6 hours. I had bought drinks at the airport on Bonaire, Maltin Polar and lemonade from Minute Maid, and I had saved my bottles of water I received in the airplane so I could drink during my waiting time. To find out on my arrival at the Dutch airport that I had to go through security check again, which meant: no liquids over 100 ml. Ugh! Fogo! All of it! So I sat most of my hours at the waiting chairs near the security check, so I drink everything first and have my snacks there before I go through to go to my gate. We had a little bit of delay and then finally I was on my way to Lisbon. We landed at 19:36h PT time. I fed myself and then went to Faria’s house. Where I prepped, unpacked and repacked till about 3:30h. I took a shower and chilled a bit, but couldn’t sleep and didn’t want to either. At 4:30h my alarm went off to start gathering my things and head to the door. The first Uber kicked me back out, because my luggage was too heavy. I still don’t get that, because it wasn’t the first time I traveled packed like that, but okay, I know the enemy was at work. The second Uber, an XL one, brought me to the airport where I met the rest of the team who’d be staying for about two weeks. I had 10kg too much, aghum, that lovely Laura brought home, with an extra 7kg I believe, to bring with her on the day she travels to meet us there.
“It’s happening”. I thought, as I ate my so called last CBO hamburger from McDonalds for breakfast. “I’m in the plane. I’m going to Guiné Bissau. EEK!”
The flight was polite. I slept, had more airplane food, had a nice talk with a 60-something year old surfer from Portimão next to me and smiled almost the whole trip with stars in my eyes. It was finally happening. Descending was beautiful, even from my world’s tiniest window, it was beautiful. Guiné Bissau is beautiful. We landed at 13:43h local time, which is the same in Portugal, one hour earlier than in the Netherlands and four hours later than in Curaçao and Bonaire.
Stepping out of the plane once again felt like home. The heat, the damp that hits your face is exactly the same as on Curaçao. There it is again, that smile on my face. We take a 1-minute bus ride from the airplane to the airport, yup, one minute. I don’t understand why we just walked. I also don’t understand why they don’t close the bus doors while driving. I wonder if anyone ever fell out. I mean, it’s not that hard for it to happen, the bus was crammed full. But okay, we all made it safe and sound.
Also the luggage and the conveyor belt reminds me of home. The old Hato airport, and the now airport on Bonaire as well. Where there is just one belt, everyone surrounding it and it takes a good time for all the luggage to be out. Finally out, Bocar, the chief of the village came to give us a warm welcome, picking us up and bringing us to our home in capital Bissau. My first hours were still doable, I unpacked a bit, helped around and sent messages out saying I arrived well. After those first fruity hours, I crashed. Right on the hot couch, I crashed and slept I believe for about an hour. It was a great nap, but I for sure needed much more.
In the evening we went for dinner at a “fancy” restaurant. One that is more made for tourists than for locals. It’s called Papa Loca. There again I had my so called last burger. A creamy cheesy chicken burger. And I was laughed at, for again calling a burger my last. Well, the opportunity came, and so I took it. I also had a nice scoop of icecream.
On our way back home Gabriel, founder of the organization Hope For Fulanis, let us listen to this music album called Silbo Apacible made by AI. Which is mind-blowing and disappointing at the same time. Mind-blowing to me that AI can do this. But also disappointing, because first I thought it was humans, and applauded their creativity and the beautiful voice, to then be completely turned off by finding out it was a “machine”. Que pena.
That first night, I slept like a baby. Belly full, body tired and heart happy.
Wednesday 12 November
After a good night rest I felt like I needed more rest. Haha. I guess my body at this age needs more time to recover. We had breakfast around 8:00h and by 9:00h we left to go arrange our residency cards. This was for João, Rute and I. As we plan to come regularly, paying visas every time would end up costing more than each having our residency. And so we did.
Right outside of the office there were some men with cameras hanging around their neck asking if people needed pass photos. Gabriel agreed with one of them and he took us to his booth. The door was his reflector, the curtain was the backdrop and the full 1×2 booth was his studio. Cheese, snap, print! And we were done in literally 5 minutes. Together with a copy of our passport, we delivered the pass photos and filled in the papers to get our residency cards made. We paid and left. We changed our euros to francos and picked up Gaby on the way home, who had done some grocery shopping for the days in the village. Once we arrived everyone but João and I, prepared to leave to the village. Gabriel, Bocar, Rute, Mathieu & Gaby. One full car. I was left behind so that I could get my own grocery shopping done, buy all other things needed to take to and use in the village and buy the medication needed for the center. Keeping in mind that I will stay for 2 months in the village. João was left behind with me so he could help me get all these things in order. He has been here I believe now five times, so he knows his way around town.
After the team left, I just rested, unpacked a little and filmed an Uncut Conversations episode. Episode 7: What I Wrote 8 Years Ago, I Live Today. A crazy realization. Crazy beautiful and fulfilling.
Thursday 13 November
After a warm cup of tea, João and I hit the road to go pick up our residency cards. Already! That’s insane. In Portugal this would take 5 years, if not longer. Here it literally took some hours. They called yesterday afternoon, but as we are doing everything by taxi and there wasn’t much sun left, we decided to go the next day, today.
It’s about 1,5km walk to the main street where we can call for a taxi. The taxis here are all well used and all to be shared. If we’re strangers to one another, but we are going the same direction, we’ll probably be getting real close in the taxi we share.
We first picked up the residency cards. Yay! It’s valid for 5 years. Then we did grocery shopping at a supermarket called Santy. Which has Apolonia (Portugal) or Van Den Tweel (Curaçao/Bonaire) prices. Kinda like a more expensive Albert Heijn (the Netherlands). Outside of Santy I bought one banana for 100F. Didn’t really wanted the banana. Just wanted to give something to the mother of the baby I smothered. I almost took her with me. When you see the pictures, you’ll understand why.
We also passed by Badim, the local market. Full of people and full of booths selling everything you can think of. I bought pieces of “wired mat” to make a garden fence for the plants, fruit and vegetables that I want to be growing in Tabanane. Then we also went to the Orange office to figure out my internet situation. We concluded that me buying a 20GB pack each time would be best. One of those packs cost 10.000 francos, which is about 15,38 euros. As the credit on my phone won’t expire I bought 100.000 francos so for sure I am okay till January. Well, hopefully till May! Haha, but we’ll see. I’m not sure how much internet I normally use.
Friday 14 November
Today Gabriel drove back from the village Tabanane to the capital city Bissau. While he was driving, I was typing. Typing hard, typing fast, because time was running out and we really needed to leave the house to go buy the medication for Tabanane. I was finalizing the manual so we could print it out at the pharmacy right away. The kind pharmacist had said we were able to, when we passed by to say hi on Tuesday.
A bit more about the manual. When I was here in May and stayed in the village for 10 days, I did consultations and gave healthcare for 8 days. In those 8 days I attended over 190 people. Pregnant women, recently delivered mothers, newborn babies, children, elders, clumsy people with machetes, anything you could think of. What I learned during those days is that about 150 of those consultations could’ve been prevented if only they had received basic healthcare information. For example: on hot days, drink more water. Also on hot days, don’t dress my baby in winter clothing. Do I have a cold? Then I cover my mouth when I cough or sneeze. Do I have a runny nose? Then I clean my face. Does my mango fall from the tree to the ground around or on animal feces? Then I wash my mango before I put it in my mouth. For us maybe simple or logic things, but we have been educated like that. We have had classes in school about contamination and we see what our parents have been doing. In Tabanane, they haven’t always had schools. I’m actually not sure when the school in the village was built, but they are gradually growing and getting towards our “normal”. The school in Tabanane offers 4 years, the first, second, third and fourth year. Students age between 8 and 15, ish. Hope For Fulanis has done so much work already, it’s heartwarming! And together with them, I am allowed to do some work as well, it’s humbling!
Due to the days I spent and observations I made, I decided for my project with Hope For Fulanis to be of auto-sustainability in healthcare by providing health education. In three parts. Firstly, I want to train Mamadu and another female “healthcare agent” in basic healthcare, so that when Hope For Fulanis and its (healthcare) team leaves, the care in the village can still continue. Secondly, I want to observe births done in the village, so I could give directed and intentional pointers to help prevent further maternal and neonatal death. And thirdly, I want to give health education classes for everyone in the village to accompany and learn from.
The manual I have been putting together consists of 6 modules and will be used in a 6-week training I’ll be giving during my first 2 months in Tabanane. This training is designed for Mamadu and the future female helper, for their level of education and for their village Tabanane.
Finally, after some pressure from Gabriel as well, it was done and we were all ready to leave! We bought the medication, 149.500 francos (230€) worth of it, we printed out the manual, Gabriel did some shopping for the center and then we went for dinner at a restaurant they called La Libanesa. What the real name is, I don’t remember. Again, and now for real, I had my so called last burger. Until January again, I guess, haha.
Also, everywhere we drove there have been events or cars with music and many people rooting for their political party. There are elections here on the 22nd of November. But I will then already be in the village, so I don’t think I will notice a lot of it.
As a cherry on top, Gabriel jokingly asked if I want ice cream as we drove passed Papa Loca, but when I of course and seriously said yes, his big heart couldn’t resist and made the stop either way. We all had ice cream.
Saturday 15 November
Today the second part of the team arrived in Guiné Bissau, including Laura, and Catarina! Catarina and I have been chatting online for months now, not being able to meet face to face yet, nor video call. And so, today we finally met! Worth the wait.
That afternoon we went to the church connect group in Bissau! My first connect there! So exciting and it was very cute. Gabriel shared the Word and the whole team (consisting of Christians and non-Christians) went with. After the connect we went for dinner at Papa Loca again. I believe it’s a kind of tradition to go there on the first night of the arrival of a team. This time, I did not have a so called last burger. I had fried chicken with fries loaded with mayonnaise and ketchup.
When home, we did some packing and prepping for the next day. Traveling day. The day we go to the village. Tabanane. This time I won’t be left behind in Bissau. But I will be left behind next week, when everyone leaves and I stay there alone with the villagers until mid January. Peacefully exciting!
Sunday 16 November
Three packed pickup cars, 14 people ready to go, and a 6-hour drive ahead of us. Today is the day we go to the village Tabanane! Far up northeast of the country. About 20km near the Senegalese border. And a few degrees Celsius hotter.
The drive this time actually really took about 6 hours, 7,5 total. But that is because we made a couple of stops to buy milk, flour and many more bits needed for the center and school in Tabanane. The children receive meals each morning and afternoon at school. Milk and bread with chocolate paste. A Guinean version of Nutella.
We made a longer stop in Bafatá for shopping and sightseeing, a lunch break stop near a bridge over a river and a final longer stop at Gikoi. Gikoi is the village about 1 hour by car away from Tabanane where Hope For Fulanis built a school as well and where this year the new school building will be inaugurated. We stopped to check out the preparations for it. We had some play time with the kids and women there while we waited too.
And then finally, the arrival in Tabanane. “Gabriel, Gabriel, Gabriel!!” is what every kid there yells as they see three white pickups driving in. The run behind the cars and some even jump on the back if they can. We drove in, right in front of Bocar’s house. Everyone came out to meet us. All smiles and happiness, and now I hear some calling my name as well: “Tashy-myn!” I recognize many faces, and they recognize me. They come and say hi, give hugs and high fives. I feel many small hands trying to hold my hand or just touch my t-shirt, but I can only grab two at a time. My eyes water, but I push it back down.
After our warm welcome we go to the center. Next to the school, both built by Hope For Fulanis. In the garden of the center is where we’re all be sleeping. In 9 tents next to each other, 2 people in each and some with the blessing to sleep in one alone. We unload the cars and put everything inside and then we head to the garden. It’s briefing time. A welcoming one. And it’s as I sit and settle, Gabriel and Laura start speaking, it’s when things start sinking in. This is where I’ll be staying. This is my new home for these months. Alone, but never alone (with the people and with God). And as things sink in my head, my eyes water again. I believe this time I can’t push it back down. Right at that second I see Laura looking at me, and a second later Gabriel talks about me and looks at me too. I believe I have to respond to something, I didn’t hear, I wasn’t listening, but I respond. I respond in tears. Not really words, just tears. And a bit of snot right after that.
The briefing continues as we go over the plan for the next days, who sleeps in which tent and we finish with prayer and a picture. The evening was calm and beautiful, we’re all going through emotions and tiredness from the trip. We celebrate Gaby’s birthday with singing and the tiny cupcake that survived the ride from Bissau we brought for her. We have a garden concert for starters by Laura on the flute, Rute on the guitar and Susana on vocals. Then we have pizza for dinner, popcorn for dessert and we end the night looking at the stars in the sky and counting the ones that fall.
What a day.
Monday 17 November
Today was a settling and unsettling day. Long but short.
We started with a briefing of the day. My name wasn’t mentioned, so I had time to unpack a bit and get my things in order. But I didn’t really want to yet, not yet at least. I kinda want everyone to leave first, kindly, haha, so I can unpack once. Because at the moment we are all sleeping outside in tents. But when everyone leaves and I stay alone, my tent will be placed inside of the center. So if I unpack now, I would have to pack and unpack again when I move inside. So I planned to help wherever needed.
Codo sent us a huge pumpkin for us to eat. It came in on the head of Sambaro, Mamadu’s baby brother. I have no idea how he put it there, because my goodness, that pumpkin is heavy. Also Codo is the lady I had seen the most in May. She was highly pregnant then and her high blood pressure just did not want to come down. I had been monitoring her and giving her medication bit by bit to lower the blood pressure, but not put her or the baby at risk by it. In the end it helped, but Mamadu had to continue keep an eye on her when I left. In June I received a picture on WhatsApp from Mamadu of Codo and her newborn baby, Braima, showing that all was well.
I went out in the village to say hi to some of the ladies. First I stopped at Mamadu’s family, his mom (Fatumata), his wife (Raqui) and daughter (Mariza). And then I went to say hi to Asamou (Bocar’s wife) and the family of Bocar there. It was a small walk and round in the village.
Then when I got back to the center I helped around where needed. Mostly I helped Mathieu out, together with Marilia and Umaru and about 6 young boys who really wanted to help too. We sanded the walls of the two classrooms, swept the floor so we could paint near the floor as well, and finally, we painted half of the walls. The top half would stay white. Or a very off white. After doing the class rooms we rested a bit and soon it was already showering and dinner time. Another end of the day.
And that is how my first week went. Isn’t that crazy? How has the first week passed me by already?
The thing I struggle most with so far, is that I am in between places and feelings. I don’t really feel like my time here, or my mission here, has started yet. I think it’s because everyone is still here and I can’t really unpack and settle yet. And I believe the silence, the time alone, the settling, will help me sink into this reality a bit more.
Thank you for joining this journey and taking your time to read! I will do my best to update you every week. For videos you can also follow @tashmness on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.
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