My first day in the rice fields in the Upper River Region of The Gambia, where I worked from sunrise until sunset with my family to transplant the food that would nourish us for the year to come. We worked until exhaustion, the young and the old, children on break from school and elders on break from prayers. Never have I ever experienced backbreaking work like this for such little reward- a small yield of rice for a family. Such is life in West Africa, and this was the day I became a part of it.