Help launch the Big Tree EcoLodge in The Gambia
We offer a 2-credit on-campus course in the Fall Semester, followed by a 2-credit/2-week site visit to The Gambia in January. This course explores the experience of life in Pirang, The Gambia. We will explore the history of The Gambia – the beautiful and the painful. We will learn about the lives of Gambians and how they make their way in the world. We will learn about religious life and economics. We will look at politics and the recent experience of a sea change in national government, and what that means for Gambians. We will wrestle with how this new context alters our view of the world, along with our personal and professional lives. We stay in guesthouses in the Gambian village of Pirang. Through interaction with the community in Pirang, we gain insight into daily life in West Africa. Pirang features world-class birdwatching opportunities, and our hosts in Pirang are expert guides. We will visit with community leaders and other residents. Potential day trips from Pirang include visiting the offices of the US Peace Corps, the University of The Gambia, the Ministry of Higher Education, an entrepreneurship start-up incubator, and a climate and environmental research institute (The GREAT institute), the Sandele Foundation, the Medical Research Institute, the Sanyang fishing village, and Paradise Beach.
Elizabethtown Professor Dr. Kurt DeGoede (Engineering) first spent the 2010-11 academic year serving as a visiting faculty member at the University of The Gambia (UTG). In 2024, Dr. Anya Goldina (Biology) joined the team as co-facilitator of the site visit trip. The team has been collaborating with faculty, alumni, and students from UTG. Dr. Yusupha Touray, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, also works closely with the team. The team has strong professional networks throughout the ministries of education, energy, and justice. We collaborate with Saikou Njai, a US and New Zealand-trained Gambian engineer and project manager who recently retired from his position as the field placement coordinator for US Peace Corps volunteers positioned throughout the country. The team has also established valuable connections within the Social Business Start-up community in The Gambia.
We only scratch the surface of understanding the life and experience of someone living in Pirang, The Gambia. Yet that fragile lens can provide the root of a new perspective on our lives and professional work. During the trip, each student will keep a travel journal and will use that journal to draft a reflection paper on how seeing the world and their work through a West African filter might shape their lives and professions.
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