HAPPY 4th of July!! So last night I couldn't sleep well. no there aren't rats at Tendabe but I'm so used to waking up to them at 2am that I woke up then. So I was pretty tired and grumpy all morning. Then someone brought up the fact that it's the fourth of July and I realized I was missing out on all of the things that my friends are doing. the parade, carnival, the fun pot luck at Jen's and all that. An hour later people were shouting and screaming, turns out there was a hut, 2 down from ours, completely engulfed in flames

At first I didn't know what to do I mean it's a building on fire 15ft in front of me and everyone was yelling and crying. After a minute or two I pulled myself together and saw that a lof of Gambians had found water containers and us PC people were standing in schock. Then a bunch of us snapped into action. We grabbed whatever we could find that would hold water and ran to the swimming pool to fill it. Then the men would throw it on the fire and we would run back and get more. it was exhausting but what can you do when there are limited fire stations. Halfway through the fight we saw a man drug out of the house with saliva pouring from his mouth. At first I thought he had been in there the whole time and my stomach churned.

It registered in my brain the next second that his skin and clothing hadn't been burnt, most have been smoke inhalation. Thankfully the PC med officer is here to train us and she was able to help him. It was a display of true compassion and human emotion as the entire village and us put this fire out. One of the realext experiences I've had in a long time if that makes any sense

I was hit with the realization of my own selfishness, a feeling of being a tiny tiny speck in a very big world. As I was feeling sad and full of slef pity, a hut was on fire rocking someones world.

That night we had a party thrown for us for 4th of July with free alcohol. We drank and danced and had a great time. When I was walking back to the room I passed the pool and there were 12 of my fellow volunteers swimming butt naked in it. Haha I couldn't resist having my first skinny dipping experince be in the gambia so I jumped on it.