The Gambia - The GOOD, The BAD, The UGLY

Reflecting on my time here... these are my opinions based on observations and experiences. Photos are just a beatiful mix of Gambia.

THE GOOD

• Sharing food and materials with others.




• Children growing up in a large, extended famiily full of love and support.




• Children having the freedom to actively explore their surroundings, seek adventure and wander round their village knowing they are safe.




• Children playing an important role in the functioning of the family. eg chores.




• Stress free attitude - it will happen when it happens.




• Welcoming family, friends and visitors and feeding/housing them for weeks on end with no fuss.




• Being calm and relaxed when things go wrong eg. broken down bush taxi. No point in complaining if things are beyond your control.




• Greeting people as equals on taxis, gelis, work, on the street regardless of gender, religion, ethnicity or status.




• Honesty between peopl and acceptance of critical feedback.




• Effective and cheap transport system.




• Being able to buy all sorts of items through the window while waiting for a bush taxi to leave. eg. water, bananas, torches, underwear, toothpaste, DVD's, hard bolied eggs, cooked sweet potato.




• Islmamic culture of people praying togther each day, including school children and teachers.




• Half day Fridays due to Friday being a holy day and men go to te mosque.




• Looking out for each other and willingness to pitch in.




• Subsistant farming - eating what you grow.


• Strong focus on family and not things.




• Beautiful sunsets over the water.




• Clear night sky with stars, moon and quiet surroundings.

THE BAD

Lack of planning and organisation.

Females expected to farm, cook, clean and raise children.

Skyrocketing prices of rice, resulting in families living day to day.

Inability for Gambia to manufacture raw materials due to standards, equipment and international monopoly of goods.

Bumsters annoying and hassling white coloured people.

Low income for workers and the inability to explore the world and get ahead, despite having a good job.

Limited job opportunities and further education.

Men sitting around and watching their wife/wives busy doing domestic chores.

Hot weather inland.

Poor roads and infrastructure.

Crazy bush tazi drivers on terrible roads.

Continual shouting of toubab by children anywhere in The Gambia.

Lack of water pumps in villages.

Electricity supply stopped in some regions due to political differences.

Road blocked for hours as the President travels through with motorcade.

THE UGLY

Female Genital Mutilation and the support of it from mothers.

Young mariage and pregnancy.

Old Western women travelling here to abuse their power of wealth and hook up with a young Gambian man.

Inability to speak your own mind publically.

Government control of media.

Tobaski Celebrations

Tobaski can be described as the Islamic Christmas, it is the biggest celebration in The Gambia. A time for families to come together and feast on mutton.
Tobaski is based on the bible story of Abraham being asked by God to sacrifice his only son. Abraham spoke to his wife and son and all agreed his son should be sacrificed if it is God's wish. On the morning of the sacrifice, Abraham sharpened his knife to ensure the slitting of his son's throat would be swift. As he was about to kill his son, angel Gabrielle came down with a ram to kill instead. Araham and his family proved their faith in God and were rewarded with the saving of their son.

I felt it was important that I was involved in Tobaski with my Gambian friends. Transport was difficult from the coast and I managed to get a ride on an open truck with 100 people and a few rams which were by my feet. We spent 7 hours standing going through the dry, dusty and bumpy road to Soma. I thought it was brilliant, as the people on the truck were friendly and made sure I was fine. I arrived covered in dust and had to wash my hair in a bucket a few times, but grateful I managed to get a ride back due to the friendliness of some Gambians.

The day before Tobaski I visited families in Soma and surrounding villages, I then travelled across on the ferry and rode my motorbike to another colleagues house. Here i spent 2 nights with his family. The day of Tobaski included morning prayers where men and children go to the mosque, ladies of course are prohibited from this. I helped peel vegetables with his wife and eldest daughter.

The family and I then spent the next hour slitting the rams throat, skinnng it, taking out its insides and cutting it up. It was a great experience and the kids loved it. What I find so beautiful is that around a fifth of the ram is given to the 'poor people'. A conversation I had with another guy at work explained that the ram meat is shared with the 'poor people' who can not afford a ram or goat, this practice is part of the islamic faith. What I found so humbling is that my work buddy is only paid $40.00 US a month, and yet what little they have they share with others less fortunate.

I then travelled around the village with my colleague greeting people in their homes, all were involved in cooking mutton meat. I did this again in the evening with his wife. People we met spoke either Mandinka, French (as near Senegal border and Senegalese are french speaking), Wolof(another west african language) and English (to my relief).

The rest of the day was spent sitting and watching the family grill and eat meat and conversation. Dinner consisted of shared food bowl with rams head, small intestines, meat and this dry cous cous soaked in ram meat juices. Luckily my colleague knew I don't eat red meat so I had some of the cous and potato.

Later in the evening I rode my motorbike 5 km to meet an american friend, he was with a family too. We just hung out in a tin shed bar. As always I have another lost story...around 11.15pm, on the way back to my Gambian friend's house, which is only 2km from the seneagalise border, i got very confused. I had the right turn off but once inside all dirt streets and houses looked the same. I wasn't scared as knew I would get there eventually and asked lots of people and directions ranged from.. turn left at the mango tree, next junction right, then left etc.. Finally had to give my phone to a Gambian man who spoke to my colleague and he walked with me for 30 minutes as i putted on my motorbike. But once again, everyone very friendly and willing to help the lost 'toubab' (white person).

Next day I rode to another gambian friends place, and sat around outside and drank more attyre while the kids all dressed up and walked around the village saying “selloboo”, this is a bit like trick or treat, the kids are given a couple of coins and they love it. Most are wearing brand new outfits and look gorgeous. All the kids around my friends house know me and call out 'Aja' (my gambian name) and some young girls just sit and hold my hand, so cute.

'Toubab give me mintie'

After travelling with my Gambian colleague throughout our region over the past 10 months he has finally realised that being called 'TOUBAB' can be annoying.

To paraphrase....
“Julie, I was thinking about how the children scream TOUBAB at you every village we travel through. Its like me be shouted 'black man' wherever I walked in Birmingham. It's not right.”

(NO SHIT!! I thought)

Its about time he has seen how tiring living can be in the country if you have white skin. The kids scream out toubab incessantly, it is because they are excited and generally there is no malice in it, but it feels like you are a queen , freak or an exotic zoo creature.

To make matters worse, I have heard stories of tourists travelling in air conditioned comfort throwing sweets out the window. I blame these stupid tourists for the crap I have to put up with daily. Gambian adults find it amusing and encourage the practice.

Which leaves me finding it a hassle to walk in any village, even my town of Soma, which is large and I don't know all the kids. My journey on foot, car or motorbike are always to the sounds of :-

'TOUBAB give me 10 dalasi.'

'TOUBABA give me mintie'.

'TOUBAB, how are you?'

or even worse..

'TOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUBBBBBBBBAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBBBB!!!!!!'

A long, loud whine... ahhhh!!

Suprisingly,I have never lost my temper and either ignore, say hello or speak in Mandinka.

It's nice to be nice

Bumsters are basically men aged around 17 to 35 who annoy the crap out of all white females (sometimes men too). They have their usual lines and generally make life hard because a short walk on the beach, a walk to the market, actually anywhere near the coastal area is the bumsters playground.

Bumsters annoy all women, all ages and some try and pick up white females in the hope of getting money or a VISA. The sad and disconcerting thing is the number of older and unattractive ladies that visit The Gambia solely to have relations with a bumster. Many give the bumsters a lot of money and get caught up in this wicked love, power and money struggle. I see it daily on the coast and is uncomfortable to see a lady of 55 plus, with African beads, short skirt and sunburn walking hand in hand with a 25 year old buff fit bumster.

In the past week on the coast I have been bumstered at least 50 times.
Just a 30 minute walk to the bush taxi to go to work in Banjul this week has me hearing the same bumster crap.

Some common lines, all of which I have heard this week..
NUMBER ONE – its nice to be nice.
Welcome to the smiling coast of Africa.
Hey boss lady, I love you.
Hey boss lady, where are you from?
Excuse me, just one minute.
Hey sister, I like the way you walk.
Hey darling, may I walk with you.?
Hey, you are gambian now, do you have a Gambian husband?
Hey darling, I want to marry you, can I walk with you?
Does your husand satsify you?
Hey boss ladies, you are very strong/fit, can I join you? (while my friends and I go for a run we hear this at least 15 times)
Ahh.. Australia, nice country, can you take me with you?
How do you like the Gambia? Do you have a black husband?
Hey boss lady, I like the way you look.
Hey sister do you remember me? I'm Lamin from the hotel..a con used to scam money.

My friends in Soma

The pictures here are my work colleagues and their families. They are brilliant people and I love working with them. I only work with men but we have a mutual respoect for each other and enjoy having a laugh and chatting about world issues and both Australian and Gambian Culture. I do however find it difficult communicating with their wives as my Mandinka is limited and they speak little English. So my social life is mainly chatting to my work colleagues while we are at work. (which is way too many hours!!)

Photo of lots of kids who love to greeet me when I visit my friends compound.

My backyard in Soma

The photos show my back yard in the wet season and as it is now.

I have been watching the sunrise and sunset most days. The weather is a little cooler now. The rainy season has ended and the humidity is gone. Now a dry heat and I can sleep in doors comfortably. Although I have yet to use a sheet over me since I have arrived in The Gambia. I often look out at the moon and stars each night, very quiet and peaceful where i live and nothing much to do. I do work most nights though at the office, because the power is back on at 7pm after going off at 12pm.

The two pictures show my back yard in the height of the rainy season, very green. It is now dry and the corn we planted has been picked and eaten.

Fundraising Update

Hello everyone,
Thankyou for your generous donations and efforts in supporting the fundraising for 16 schools in rural Gambia. A special mention to Williamstown Primary, St Raphael's Primary and Direk PS - thanks a lot for supporting schools less fortunate than you.

I have had a brilliant week of traveling to all the 16 schools I have worked closely with this year. I monitored the training of school staff and community members on their role as committee members in the areas of Teaching and Learning and Teacher’s Professional Development. It was great to visit these schools again, especially the remote ones which are hard to get to and chat to the staff and community members about how their school is going.

It was very exciting to roll out phase one of our fundraising efforts with cash donations to each of the schools. $75.00/ school was handed out, which equates to 1000.00 dalasi for each school. The money was presented at the training in front of staff and community and collected by the School Community Chairperon and Principal. The Gambian like things to be done officially so many speeches were made. I spoke about what a fabulous journey the schools and I have been on over the past 9 months and the faith and belief I have the successful implementation of the Whole School Development Plan we have all worked on.

All schools extend their sincere thanks and gratitude for the money raised and pray you have good health and happiness.

We used the new receipt cash books, the first time a receipt has been used in schools and filled them in. The money is will be used to support the Whole School Development Plan. The School Committee can select where the money will be best spent, things like funding teacher training, teaching resources, fixing a bench, buying a tape recorder for a phonics program.

Phase Two of the money raised in books. I have begun purchasing books for all 16 schools, thebook arebrand new and African based. I have arranged training in January for how to use picture books in the classroom and the activities that can be done. Stay tuned for that.

If you would still like to donate, thankyou. Just give me an email and I'll send you my account number.

The photos are of the Community Chairperson and Principal collecting the money. Thankyou again, your efforts will make a difference.

Karantaba Primary School - School Mnagement Committee

Here is one of the school's I work closely with. The photos is half of the school mamagement committee, a mixture of teachers and community members.

Fundraising letter

I have emailed this letter to friends and thought if anyone is following my blog and would like to donate, that would be great.
To date, $1400 has been raised, thankyou kindly for your generous donations and efforts. A little bit of money goes such a long way in the proud schools I work with in the rural Lower River Region (LRR) in The Gambia.
Since my last letter I have continued to work closely and form partnerships with principals and school communities in the LRR, particularly the 16 schools involved in the implementation of Whole School Development (WSD) process. WSD is a new Gambian initiative, funded by Department for International Development (DFID) and is being rolled out to all schools in The Gambia. It is an exciting time to be working here and assisting school communities in the implementation of WSD. These schools and their respective communities have been involved in intensive training in setting up committees, involving the community and students in decision making, finance training, school reviews, action plan writing and identifying school based issues. Together we have written one year development plans addressing the prioritised needs of the school. These actions will begin implementation at the commencement of the new school year, beginning on September 22nd.
As mentioned in the previous letter, I will use your financial contributions to purchase African story books and work with cluster trainers to deliver and fund teacher training in literacy. Some of the money will also be used to support identified needs of the WSD schools, as written on their one year plans.
Due to schools holidays and the upcoming religious celebration of Koriteh in October, I will begin school based workshops in November/December. All work being organised with schools will be captured on my blog .
I will gratefully accept further donations until end of January to further fund school based initiatives. Please forward on this email to schools or organisations that may be willing to assist, thanks.
Some facts:
l School fees for one child/ year is $1.00 AUS and not all families can afford this.
l A primary schools only source of income is student school fees. The Government does not supply additional funding.
l Stationery materials for teachers are donated by the Red Cross and other donors, but resources are limited.
l Generally, the only books found in schools are Gambian text books.
l Most schools do not have enough furniture for all students to sit on.
l Water supply to some schools does not exist due to damaged water pumps.
l No Primary school in the Lower River Region has electricity.
l Schools in my region have 40% of teachers who are Unqualified.
l The Lower River Region has 52 schools. It is the poorest region and has the lowest academic results in The Gambia.
To revisit ways you can be involved:-
l Use me as an initial link to a Gambian school and I can provide their address and set up communication. How and what you would like to do is up to you and the Gambian school. I can support for the time I'm in The Gambia.
l Fundraise or donate money for new books and local school initiatives. I'll provide evidence of this process on my blog through photos and written text.
l Learn about the Gambia. For example, students may come up with a list of questions and I can interview students or teachers and email back the responses with questions for you.
If you are willing to be involved in some way, please email me explaining your intentions and any questions you may have.
I will respond when I have email access, usually every 2 weeks.
If you would like to fund raise, THANKYOU! Just one donation of $15.00 can purchase a book.

Thankyou for your support and the donations raised already, it will truly make a difference.

Black eye

This is what you get when you dance to the wee hours of the morning and slip face first on tiles, another proud moment!!

Tumba fly

3 weeks ago, I had sore appear under my arm pit. Iintially it looked like a pimple, it then began to get infected, red and pussy. I thought it may have been a boil and I tried to squeeze it, but no luck. It just grew redder and more pussy. On day 5, a pain shot through my body when the puss seemed to moved in and out. I showed some of my friends the state of my arm pit, and one thought to could be Tumba Fly maggot. I didn’t believe her as noone I had met has had one. We placed some Vaseline over the infected area as this closes up the air hole of the maggot. Sure enough, the maggot reared its little head. My three friends and all screamed!!! It was so disgusting. After many attempts, my friend managed to pull it out. I gave birth to a 1cm long, bouncing baby maggot, was a proud moment but not quite the birth delivery I had in mind.
Tumba fly eggs land on clothes hanging outside, if they are worn immediately, they can imbed into your skin. I think I got mine from my underwear. I have photos of the maggot and will put them on in the next few weeks.

Gambia college

I have been teaching at Gambia Teacher’s college for the past 5 weeks. My role there has been Head of English during the summer program. During this time I have worked with fellow tutors in planning English lessons for student teachers, half of which have been teaching for one year. I emphasised the need for students to be actively involved in their learning through thinking activities, group work and literacy games. Trying to encourage teachers to move away from chalk and talk and text book based lessons.
Classes had up to 70 students which was fine but difficult to remember individuals. I’ll be able to visit some of my students who are working in my region and support them where necessary.
During my time at Gambia college, I was only an hour and 20min away from the coast. I commuted most days on a bush taxi to and from work. The time spent on the coast was brilliant, I was able to catch up with friends and play team sport like Frisbee and touch rugby on the beach. Life on the coast to completely different to rural life. Even though The Gambia is so small and there very few things to do, life on the coast allows you to lead an active social life with team sport and house parties, hanging out the beach was a treat (not on the sand, as I get hassled by Gambian men, locally called bumsters) and there are places to go and eat. Soma has no where to go and eat, just ladies selling food on the side of the street. But is saying this, I missed my Gambian friends in Soma and my job of going on Trek to schools and assisting my Regional team.
Whilst teaching at Brikama, I met up with a principal, Mr Fatty, at his compound and met his first wife. I had already met and stayed in his second wife’s compound up country. Once again, I felt welcomed and met the extended family. On one occasion his compound was flooded by the rain, as seen in the photos.

Naming Ceremony

My colleague, Seedy Jammeh invited me to attend his daughter’s naming ceremony. This celebration is held within a year of a child’s birth. It involves the women preparing Gambian dishes for all of the guests. These are distributed in the huge shared food bowls. Family guests from the wife's side, travel far and wide to attend and money is generally donated to the family.
Traditionally, women and men sit separately and have special duties during the celebration. Women dance and have time to go present baby clothing gifts. Following this, men sit together in a group with a Maribou spiritual leader who enthusiastically leads prayers and encourages further money donations for the family.
Bags of popcorn and little donuts are distributed amongst the guest as little gifts.
I knew quite a few people there including work colleagues, local teachers, Seedy’s family members and ladies I have met during my Mandinka classes I attend in the same village. The people are very friendly and welcoming, even though I stand out and get swarmed by children, I felt very comfortable sitting around and chatting.

Shared Food Bowl

Above are photos of a 'food bowl'. I have mentioned food bowl in a previous entry. Everyone in The Gambia eats from a shared food bowl at lunch and tea time, if they can afford 2 meals a day. School children eat lunch from a huge shared food bowl. The rice and oil for school children is supplied from the World Bank, called Food For Schools program. Kitchen ladies at each school prepare the food for the children each day. The Gambians use their hands for eating and share the limited meat and vegetables equally. I usually eat food bowl with a spoon when I am at schools but have recently begun to use my hand if no spoon is available. The rice and oil mixed together makes it all pretty messy. Someone in the group usually breaks off bit of meat or vegetables and places it in your side of the bowl.

The main st in Soma

Above are photos of the main St in Soma. I walk along this road most days. At the moment it is mango season and ladies line the streets all day selling mangoes to the gelis and people coming through. The second photo is one of the gelis that I travel to the coast on, about a 6/7 hour journey. They hold aroung 22 people. The third photo shows the food corner. This is situated by the Geli garage and people sit and have goats meat (bones and all), fried eggs, beans with a watery gravy sauce with bread for breakfast. It is a busy spot in the centre of town, my colleague and I often sit here for breakfast before we go on a long 3/4 day journey around the region.

Journey back from Dakar to my town, Soma

We did the usual bartering for cabs then another dodgy sep – place. It was hilarious watching my friends in the cab in front being chased in the garage and surrounded by Senegalise vying for our business. I hopped out of the set-place after about 3 hours travelling to go the rest of the journey alone, as i was heading straight to Soma for work the next day. I quickly farewelled my friends as they dropped me off at a dusty, busy garage full of the usual dodgy cars, people walking around selling products on their head ranging from bananas, soap, clothes, torches, underwear, sunglasses etc. I went to search for a geli going to a town in Southern senegal, this geli crosses through Soma on the way. In amongst the mayhem, a Senegalise man befriended me and showed my where to go. He was very helpful and I paid for my fare and hopped onto the geli which was a sauna filled with flies and Senegalese men, teenage boys, 2 women with their young babies. The men on this geli wore long robes, hair in long dreadlocks covered in a long material head wrap and cool sunglasses. They had on thick leather belts around their waist, army boots and necklaces showing photos of their spiritual leader. We all sat and waited for the geli to leave, we sat for 2 ¼ hours, I could feel the sweat dripping down my back and my bottom was already beginning to get sore. Finally we departed and the geli broke down after 15 minutes. After some time we set off again, there was 28 people on board and noone complained as the geli broke down 4 more times. At one point all the men got out in the sweltering heat, around 45 degrees outside and push started it. We arrived at the border, not that I was quite sure of where the border was or what it looked liked. I was asked to get out the geli by the border official and walked to the Customs building and showed my passport, praying that I wouldn't be detained due to being unsure about my visa expiry. All went well and the Senegalise official was very friendly. I filled in my details and noticed the previous entry of a Visa entry at the this small border crossing was last November! The geli waited for me and then we drove to the Gambian customs. I again was asked to get off and I showed my Gambian residence card and id card but that was not enough. My passport came out again and I walked to the Customs area. My friends had some problems at the major Gambian border recently with luggage and body searches so I was a little nervous. The Gambian official turned out to be friendly, in fact I thought he was going to ask for phone number... ahhh back in The Gambia!
Once again the geli waited for me, I was happy to be back on Gambian soil as I have a pretty good idea as to how things operate and can get around The Gambia confidently. Signs were all now in English and money was back to dalasi. We crossed The Gambian river and I finally arrived in Soma. I started walking down the main st to toubab shouts from kids i didnt know and my work colleague rode past, we stopped and had a chat. I then heard "AJA! AJA!" another lady I knew , Isatou, called me over another chat followed. She hailed the Governor of the region driving past who gave me lift to my house. Further shouts of "Aja! Aja!"down my street ensued. 11 hours of travelling came to an end and listening to the shouts of Aja, I was finally home.

I`sle de Gore`e

We caught a ferry to Goree' island. This is a quiet, peaceful, small island with no cars or motorbikes. It is beautiful, like being on a Greek island in the Mediterannean, blue water, sandy coloured buildings with flowers hanging over terraces and amongst the narrow cobbled alley ways. About 1500 people live on the island. The island was once used for slave and goods trading in the 17th and 18th century and school groups and tourists visit the island due the rich history and museums. The island also has a strong arts focus with local made craft and creative artists producing colourful oil paintings.

Dakar

My impressions of Dakar were.. wow! A city is before my eyes, as The Gambia just doesn't have high rise buildings and only a few bitumised roads. Dakar is a city with high rise buildings, decent roads, traffic lights, round abouts and even a small garden square. The females mainly dress in beautiful, colourful West African clothing which I see everyday in The Gambia. Ladies wear a long skirt with matching fitted short sleave top and head tie. Although the females here also dress in office like clothes, but always skirts below the knee. The streets had pavers, with many markets set up sellling all sort of things, shoes, mens clothes, sunglasses etc. One thing that I found both annoying and sad about was the number of hasslers on the street trying to sell things. They wouldnt take a polite 'no merci' for an answer and we were persistently hassled, if we stopped we were swarmed. Dakar also has kids with tins walking around begging for money.The kids don't go school and collect money for their spiritual leader.
Due the French occupation and influence, pastry shops are everywhere. I'm not really into pastries, but I couldn't find anything else to eat for breakfast, so i'm still hanging out for natural yogurt, fruit and muesli. Although, a chocolate croissant wasn't so terrible in the morning! I also ventured out to the coast for two afternoons to have a swim at a place called N'gor. On the beach I was surrounded by Senegalise kids catching the waves with me, whilst others played soccer or wrestled on the sand.
We discovered some beautiful restaurants, we were all so excited. The nightlife in Senegal is mixed, a band playing Senegalise rhythms to a bar playing Western music from the 90's.
One relief was not being called a Toubab, there are quite a few Western people who live in Senegal and having white skin does not seem to attract as much attention.

Journey to Dakar

On Thursday 22nd May, six VSO volunteers and I travelled to Dakar, Senegal. Dakar is the capital and has a population of around 3 million, the total population of The Gambia is about 1.6million. As you know, Senegal surrounds 3 sides of The Gambia but I am unable to travel there without a Visa. After many visits to the Senegalese Embassy I was granted a one month visa. All my VSO friends are either UK, Netherlands, Irish, Scottish, American or Canadian and can enter Senegal anytime they wish without a Visa, so I needed to plan weeks ahead.
The journey there went without incident which was suprising, but the people who I was with had been there once before. We caught a shared taxi (a taxi shared with strangers) to Banjul, (capital of The Gambia) and waited in a huge queue to purchase our ferry ticket amongst pushing and squashing. We then had to run onto the ferry after the gates were open as we would have pushed to the ground by the crowds behind us. The ferry across the river Gambia took about 45 minutes. We then bartered for another cab, the usual scenario, cab driver asks for double the price, we disagree, we say the usual price, he disagrees,we walk away amongst shouts to get in. It happens so often, but I still hate going through the whole process each time to get a cab. The cab takes us to the border. Here we go through Gambian customs, which was fine, then Senegalise. I felt a bit nervous about this as the Senegalise speak French and I wasn't sure my Visa was going to be accepted because the date only lasted from 24th May, but all went smoothly. Amongst the ladies and kids trying to sell mangoes and cashew nuts, we jumped on a horse and cart for 2 km to reach transport to Dakar. I was told we would be hopping on a sep-place, a 7 seater vehicle.I had visions of this newish 4wd for our journey,I was dreaming. We arrived at the garage (like a taxi/geli rank) to literally 100 old beaten up small station wagons and gelis (vans). We were swarmed by people trying to communicate with us in French dragging us around to their beaten up car. We agreed on a price and off we went. Part of the back area of the station wagon was built with a raised seat for 3, all very cosy. The Senegalise have bitumen roads, I haven't been on a bitumen road for quite sometime, so the journey was quite smooth. The land was flat, dusty, minimal vegetation and the small villages with thatched roofs, just like The Gambia. As we approached the city, houses were made from cement , high rise flat blocks were scattered around and traffic became thick. I was brimming with excitement by the fact I was in another country – SENEGAL, it spoke French and local African dialect, currency is cfa's , 1000 cfa's equals to about $2.20 AUS and it was a city. Just purchasing drinks at the petrol station using cfa's and trying to communicate in French was a buzz. It took us about 5 hours in the car to reach Dakar. The driver dropped us off at another taxi area on the outskirts and we yet again bartered for our cab to our hotel. All up, the journey took about 9 hours.

On my motorbike

Just to show you that I'm in The Gambia!! This is by the Sengalise border.

An abandoned church

I run past this church in the morning. Thought it was a cool photo.

Missera - a village by the Sengalise border

I'm now out and about on my motorbike again, this has been great. I travelled to the Sengalise border about 30 minutes away, the photos shows the a village called Missera. I also rode to the ferry and went across The Gambian river. There is a larger town 30 minutes away, I was excited to discover the market sold carrots and lettuce. In Soma we can only buy small tomatoes, onions, potatoes and egg plant/cabbage (sometimes).

The Scholarship Pageant

The Scholarship Pageant

Each of the 6 regions in The Gambia were instructed by the Government to select 10 girls from years 7-12 to represent their Region in The Gambia Scholarship pageant. The president got the idea from Miss Black USA, held in The Gambia in 2007. Regional finalists will compete in the capital, Banjul. The 10 winners will receive a scholarship for high school or University. My role as part of the Education team was to assist with the organisation of the event. Planning began 2 months prior and each school was to select 5 students. Criteria included Talent, Knowledge of The Gambia, Beauty/Appearance and composure, Knowledge of the July 22^nd Revolution and advocating for a community issue.

I was a part of the planning committee and led this group to decide on the Programme , management and logistics of the pageant. For those who know me, I love to organise, so I was thorough, working out the pageant running time schedule, catering, accomodation, format etc. and with the planning team, made a list of recommendations and tasks for the Regional team to follow through on.

Leading up to the day I consulted with the Deputy director to ensure all was organised and offered my assistance, but was told all was arranged. I felt that maybe it wasn't quite all planned and suggested and devised a judges score sheet divided into criteria, total tally form for each girl, certificates for the participants, list of contestants names with corresponding number, made contestant numbers and asked the deputy to devise a script of questions based on the criteria to ask each of the girls. I suggested perhaps a few less questions, but the deputy was keen to range of questions about The Gambia. This was fine, I didn't want to run the show, just support as much as i could. I really couldn't do much more, the rest was left was up to the Regional Team.

On the day, I was led to believe the plans agreed upon were still in place, how wrong I was!! The initial plan was all girls arrive by 11am for a 11.30am start. As the day progressed, I began to grow more and more impatient and frustrated. Half the girls had arrived by 10am.The venue had moved from our office, where the girls were staying in lodges to a venue half an hour walk away. Lunch was due at 1.30pm, it came at 4.30pm. I travelled with the deputy to a judges house at 4pm to remind the judge about the pageant. We moved chairs etc to the new location.I really cant explain my growing frustration, knowing that the event would take at least 9 hours.

Finally we arrived there at 6pm, the crowd started to grow and all the girls began to arrive..finally!!! The massive sound system was hooked up and lights were placed around the outside venue. The venue was a Youth Centre, the chairs were arranged on the edge of a basketball court. Girls were able to get changed and wait inside the Youth centre. At this stage I was still unsure of the role I would play, I 'want to take over, as it was their pageant but I did want to support the education office. And to be honest, I was still frustrated that I'd been hanging around for 6 hours waiting for it to all start.

Anyway, I noticed that nooone was really getting any of the girls or teachers organised , the deputy was off picking up all the judges in the ute, the education team were sitting on chairs waiting for it to begin and a person was on the door charging around 25 cents AUS entry, a great fundraising idea. Amongst all this, the music from the sound system was blaring, I really couldn't hear myself think. So I ventured into the hall and started handing out numbers to the girls, although many girls had been swapped and their names didn't match my list, so much effort was placed on getting spellinh their names correctly. Teachers were asking me what the girls were wearing first, their school uniform or african dress, I wish I could answer, but due to many changes in the past 2 days, I really had no idea, I was thinking - just wear african dress, we haven't got time for girls to get changed and come out again, but it wasn't my decision to make and the deputy was still picking up the judges. On his return I politely suggested that we had no time for the girls to get changed, but he insisted. After the bedlam of getting all the changed names and numbers handed out to 60 girls, amongst doing all this the deputy asked me to inform the judges of the criteria and how to go about awarding points ahh!! Noone was around to do this. The crowd outside was starting to grow, the music was blaring, the girls could hardly hear me as I gathered them together to explain the outline of the eveing, it really was quite a funny nightmare. At last the first contestant came out on the stage, it was 8,15pm. I really couldn't believe it, 60 girls, 10 minutes /girl.. the event would end at 4am. I informed my colleague of finish time, laughing as I spoke to him, he laughed but didn't believe me. I explained my reasoning, he still laughed.. was going to be a long night. The deputy asked the girls mostly the same questions, after 4 hours of this it became excruciating, worse that watching paint dry. There was at least 700 people in the crowd, all very patient and supportive.

By 11.30pm, the director and colleagues began to finally believe how long it would take, I suggested cutting out 3 questions less on their second round, this they did. The director also had to go and collect the food for the girl's dinner. They ate at midnight. The crowd started to leave from 1am, by 2.00am there was only 3 people in the crowd, with all chairs packed up. The judges hadn't moved, a few education staff , the deputy still on the microphone asking the same questions and music blaring between each of the girl's walk onto the stage. I was sitting on chair, half asleep calling out the girls numbers. "Number 55, get ready, your next. " The evening finally finished at 3.30am, just crazy. The girls then piled in the back of two utes back to their accomodation.

So, my day didn't quite go as planned, i thought the 11.30am start, held inside the education building hall, low key event. But what I learned about was the brilliant community spirit, patience shown by everyone and the attitude of..'it will happen when it happens.' I saw the funny side of the event and am glad I was able to be of assistance. I am learning Gambian programs start late and its ok if noone is left in the audience at the end. Although I still personally prefer organisation and structure, I just have to go with it and not become too frustrated. What an evening!!

The President visits Soma

The Presidents tour through The Gambia

It was a busy weekend for many people in Soma. The president arrived on Sunday at 6pm and left on Monday morning. Soma was crowded with people during the evening with the President giving a speech after arriving 3 hours later than anticipated. I went for a night motorbike ride to check out the sights and sounds. There were dim bulb lights littered around the fronts of shops built from scraps of tin, this produced an eerie illumination of dust. Groups of students milled about and people scattered around the edges of the road heading home or towards the crowd trying to hear the President's speech. Many had packets of biscuits clutched under their arms, these had been handed out by the President's soldiers. The crowd radiated a sense of excitement and community spirit. The people here show the utmost respect and compassion for President Jammeh and actively support all he says and does.

The following morning I embarked on my regular morning run up the hill along the quietest track I have found near my home and to my surprise there was around 50 soldiers congretated on 'my' quiet track, so I thought it was best not to run through but deviate down hill. The soldiers were staying at the resthouse which I believed to be abandoned, along with the president staying next door at the Governor's house. The soldiers here are friendly and I feel safe in their presence but the attention and greetings of I would have received running past would have been intense.

At work the same morning, our team waited outside to wave to the President as he went past, as is the norm here. We had branches in our hands and had a laugh shouting at the motto EDUCATION FOR ALL. A convoy of soldiers, officials, hummers (long, wide black ute like limousines), motorbikes and utes with biscuits being thrown out to the crowd and soldiers running alongside the President. He was in an open style hummer. He waved at the crowd dressed in long white robes, sunglasses, shawl and a round muslim head piece. He is in the photos attached. Accompanying the convoy is a deafening, persisitent siren to indicate the President is on his way.

The President travelled back to Banjul, following his Gambian tour. In our Region, the Education Director needed to make sure schools were on the side of the road waving. He visited schools the day before and zoomed half an hour ahead of the President to make sure schools children were on the road. The Gambia schools who made the journey to the edge of the road were given between $500 - $1000 dollars AUS, not all schools were given money. The money had to be spent on a school community party under the direct orders from the President. Principals were not able to use this huge amount of money on books or pencils.

Swarmed by children

After one of the training sessions the presenter and my colleague decided to stay at the school to rest (in the end, we didnt leave school until 7pm!) and wait for the principal to arrange our accomodation at his house. I had no choice but to just go with to the flow, all in Gambian time. The school was quiet, so I decided to utilise my time and work on typing up this blog. Children started to appear and gather around me to look at the computer, the first computer they have scene. I had at least 25 children squashed around me, so I decided to show them some photos of Australia I had on my computer. We exchanged local language and English words for items in the pictures. They were also interested in my camera which was also sitting on my lap, so I took a video of them around me and played this back. If you can imaging me sitting on a chair, surrounded by 25 kids packed in tight tryin to spin my camera around as they all wanted to get their head the screen. I played this back many times to the excitement of the children seing their faces on the screen. The video is hilarious, a sea of smiling faces but when the younger children started crying because they were being squashed i thought it was time to put the gadgets away.

Trek through the Lower River Region

Publish Post

The Trek around the Lower River Region

In my role as Education Advisor, I am working with the Lower River Region Education team to implement the Whole School Development Strategy in selected schools. The WSD strategy is changing the structures, management, organisation and practices within each school. It is a huge inititiative being sponsored and driven by the World Bank and other large organisations (Difid, Besfor).

I have spent the last 5 days on Trek through my region with my Gambian Colleague. We have stayed in small rural communities, which have been extremely hospitable. Principals have organised food and accomodation, often vacating their homes to provide a place for me to sleep.

The first stage of the initiative has been for communities to elect a School Management Committee, the communities have met in large gatherings to elect members. Our role was to observe the Principals/Deputys deliver training to 3 school communities about their role as a committee member, information about WSD and developing their school vision. The training was conducted in Mandinka (one site Mandinka and Fula) and information discussed was written in English. We went to 4 sites and participated, gave feedback and recorded what the community ideas were.

It has been a wonderful trek, meeting teachers, school children, community members and principals. I have spent quiet evenings chatting outside under that stars as there has been no power in the towns visited. I have shared a food bowl for each lunch and dinner. This has consisted of a huge rice bowl with a domoda (peanut gravy, often eaten with goat meat) or fish benechin (dried fish with cabbage due to limited vegetable supply). About 5 people ear together and share the food bowl usually without cutlery. Each breakfast has consisited of sardines, onion and mayanaise to a bagette with really sweet tea, both condensed milk and sugar added.

My thoughts about the project so far are positive, even though it is such a huge project. It had been wonderful seeing the parent community having a say and contribute ideas in their local language. Most parents are illiterate and it has been powerful to hear their thoughts and to indicate what they have to say is important.

Crash and burn

The Motorbike Accident that was bound to happen

I suppose it was only a matter of time really, even though I feel comfortable and enjoy riding a motorbike, I still need a lot more practice on the sandy, dusty, rough, bumpy and stoney roads.

Basically, Jenny and Sovie (other Soma volunteers) and I planned to take an hour and a half journey to have lunch. I was extremely excited, my first weekend in Soma after spending prrevious weekends camping on the beach at Kartong. 20 minutes into the journey, I was trailing the girls and road was dusty. I came over a rise, travelling about 50km/hr and at the last minute saw a piece of metal on the ground. I didnt have time to swerve and hit it. After the impact, Im not exactly sure what happened. I believe I flew into the air ahead of my bike, landed on my head and did a few rolls. Bike followed behind me. I was quite relieved I could stand up and felt I could get back on the bike, still believing I was invincible. With one arm I manged to lift the bike upright and assessed my body and the bike. The front of the bike was a bit bent, indicator light cracked and the top of my helmet was scratched and a small part came off. The girls finally realised I had crashed and came back. I still felt I would be able to ride on but my arm was aching and I couldnt bend or move it, thinking this pain would quickly pass. After sometimeI confronted the fact that my arm was not good, I couldny even get a lift on a bike back home as I couldnt move it.

We arranged a lift back with a friend from Peace Corps and another Peace Corps nurse assessed my arm. I could feel my fingers but could not bend or twist it. I still believed I would be fine and not to worry. As the day progressed no improvement was made and medication was necessary. We arranged for VSO to come out and pick me up in the next morning and head to Banjul hospital, about a 4 hour journey just to make sure my arm wasnt broken.

I was fine all day, in a bit of pain but in good spirits. In the evening, 11 hours later I had a panic attack, which scared the life out of me. I felt hot, tight in the chest and then felt like I couldnt breathe. My body went all tingly, dizzy and i couldnt stand up, convinced that I was going to die from not being able to breathe. I finally overcame this, but it left me shaken. I then felt another attack coming on and manged this one a little better.

With support from VSO, I went to the clinic that evening for a check up and then slept outside at the Peace Corps nurses house, I needed to have fresh air and open space around me.

The next day we travelled to Banjul hospital and after time there having x rays and doctors looking and prodding my arm they declared it wasnt broken, elbow was twisted and arm ligaments damaged. They put my arm in plaster and wrappped it up. I took the plaster off after a week and only used the base for protection.

So my motorbike riding days are over for at least 6 weeks. I am happy to say my arm movement is improving all the time.

"Aja, Aja, Aja, Ajaaaaaaaa" yep kids, thats me...:

My Gambian name -Aja Jawneh

It is customary for all visitors living in the Gambia to be given a Gambian name when moving into a Gambian home for the first time. The Gambian name given is usually connected to the landlord of the compound (compound is a name given to a group of shared houses and yard area, like a group of units or connnected houses). The surname given is the landlord's surname and the first name is often a family members name. Your Gambian name is then your name for your time in The Gambia.

My name is Aja Jawneh, named after the landlord's eldest daughter, Aja is also the name given to women who have made the pilgrimage to Mecca. My colleagues at work refer to me as Aja or Julie, I have given them the choice, likewise principals and teachers in my region. The adults and children around my home and Soma know me as Aja. I hear this being shouted repeatedly or sung by children as I walk past them on my way to the market.

Initially i found it strange to be called Aja and felt I didn't identify to this name that people were calling me. I grappled with being called Aja in the work setting, but I am now used to it and really don t mind, although I still provide both my first names when being introduced to people. It is practice to sign a visitors book on arrival to schools and I write both of my names as I'm still not able to let go of my identity entirely.

MY NEW HOME March 11th

Well here is my home for the next 12 months. It is is a rectangular shared compound with another 5 local teachers and 2 vsos. The house has two rooms, the front room is my living room/kitchen. It has a fridge, two burner gas top, table, 2 chairs . i have bought some beautiful material to use for table cloths and curtains. The back room is my bedroom.. double bed and mosquito net and a chest of draws. This leads to my pit latrine ... this is all my personal space and is enclosed by a grey brick wall. Here take be bucket showers and use the glorious pit latrine.. My house walls are a lovely blue wash and the floor is newly painted cement.. a red/maroon colour. It is nice to finally sort out all my things and have a place to call home. The back yard is a basically a large dirt and sand pit.....there is a porch which is essential because it is sooo hot.. and will only get hotter. Most places in the gambia are in compounds.. basically a group of attached flats.. You may be thinking...a fridge?? I have POWER!! Power was only connected i my town 2 months ago... so i am in luck.... the power is switched for a period of time each week..today it was on for about 4 hours.. but that is fine.. it might stay on long enough so i can have ice... cold drinks.. lights on at at night time..the luxury!!
I do not have running water, this is collected from a pump in the compound. water here is ok to drink.. probably better than adelaide water!! I have 3 plastic 20L jerry cans which I keep full of water. So there you have it... hope the photos/or vidoe whatever loaded.. give you some sense of my new house.
I have been busy getting my house looking like a homely by banging in nails all around.. this allows me to put up curtain wire.. i have used this to attach material for curtains.. photos, motorbike gear, towel.. mozzie net.. im very happy with how it is coming togther so far.

The motorbike journey to Soma – March 10th

What an adenture this turned out to be. The plan was to leave at 8am and then arrive by 11am to my house.. I was travelling with the instructor Lamin, we left 2 and half hours later than planned... so i just hung around waiting at the bike garage.. i also needed to carry 20L full jerry can on the back.. i was worried about the extra weight travelling through sand.. but i had no choice.. we crossed 3 ferrries in total. These are old and i needed to run up the ramp with my bike.. wasnt easy... especially when the ferry is packed with people and vehichles. After about 3 hours of travelling, Lamin stopped at a village, I was keen to get to soma.. I wanted to sort out my house..we ended up staying here for 2 hours!! Ahhhh!! Lamin siad the heat would not allow his bike to run sweet...it was over 40 degrees..Finaly we were off again.. arrived at my house at 7pm.. there was no key to get in.. the land lady was found after 30 min and I was then let into my house.. turned on the light but there was no light globes..i also needed to get my bike inside.. ended up crashing it on the porch.. and needed to lift it up.. very heavy.. the day couldnt get much better really... there was stuff all over my house the place.. ..managed to get light bulbs and began sorting out my furniture, unpacked fridge etc. went to bed exhausted... but looking forward to unpacking all my stuff the following day. I have bought so much.. pots, pan, glasses, mugs, sheets, pillows, towels, floor mat, plastic conatainers, food, cans, plates, bowls, cutlery, utencils, plastic shelf, lots of sealed buckets for storing water.. rubbish etc, At last I have a home!!!

Motorbike training March 5th - 9th

A Fillipino girl, Jorgi and I waved a fond farewell to our vso friends as they departed on their way back to Kombo and left the two of us.. the brave (or crazy!) up country volunteers to begin our motorbike training. We moved location to a town callled Bansang, another dry and dusty town. During our training we stayed at the ICT house, a vso house which can be used for all vsos in their up country visits. It has a generator which we learnt how to use for a few hours each evening. The house is away from the main town and has 5 homes surrrounding it. A night watch man greeted us as soon as we put the generator on,, he was about 70 years old, spoke mimimal english and wanted his phone charged.. another man soon appeared at the sound of the generator also wanting his phone charged.. when we turned the generaror off, they reappeared to collect their phones. This occurred each evening, and soon became quite the norm.
Jorgi and I arrived at the motorbike workshop eagerly awaiting to begin our training.. well i was eager.. Jorgi was terrified. Thank goodness I went through training before I arrived here, because they threw us in the deep end. I have a brand new bike, a Yamaha 100, bright red. Off i went on the bike following the instructor, straight onto dirt roads and to our first training location. This was a small rectangular sand pit, about 35m by 15m. Jorgi had only experienced riding a scooter and has never used a clutch or gears before and they expected her to start her first ride in sand... madness.. ahh we are in africa!! As you can imagine she crashed immediately. I did ok in the sand, only through having a bit of confidence and not being scared as I just slide all over the place, I only fell off once, which was pretty good.
We then went to a location, about the size of a soccer field. Jorgi hopped on the back of the instructors bike.. she is not yet able to start it. The field has sand in the centre and a pelethora of stones, rocks, cement, old cans etc around the outside. To reach the field we needed to go over 30cm dirt bridge.as their was a 1m deep ditch surroundig it.. best not to look at the ground whilst going over... just look straight ahead!!! AT the field I just zoomed around happily dodging stones etc... Jorgi basically crashed each time she stopped... not good.
On day 2 I was required to stand up and dodge a collection of cement markers, ride around standing up with one arm outstretched.. i think this exercise was used to show balance and throttle control. I then needed to go to a dirt hill and go up and down this in both sitting and standing positions then stop half way up and do a hill start. I did this about 35 times duriing the day wearing my black motorbike jacket in the heat, over 40 degrees. Lucky i still have a reasonable amount of fitness because it was hard work. I fell off once going up the hill, I gave the bike too much power on hill start.. no drama though. In the meantime, Jorgi is till falling off her bike each time she stops. Her day ended with a badly sprained ankle and bruises all over her legs, the instructor isnt accustomed to drivers with no experience and was impatient with her.. basically his instructon were move... grip... this in turn stressed her out more.
Day 3
The instructor left us to ourselves on the field for an hour. Here I gave gave Jorgi some training about how to stop and how to use the clutch and throttle smoothly during take off. She only fell off once today and is now stopping safely which is a relief.
We then left Jorgi to continue going around the field and the instructor and I went out into the bush for a two hour ride. I was fine but mentally tired after concentrating for so long. The terrain was mixed... stones, sandy, pot holes etc. He made me go through a deep sandy section.. I skidded all over the place. This was unavoidable, but managed not to fall off. Also rode through small mud brick and thatched roof villages. In each village I saw women pounding away on rice to remove the shell, children manoeuvrering donkey on dirt tracks, children collecting water using the village water pump and groups of men sitting under a meeting area called a bantabaa, which is a large shady tree. Rural areas are harsh and families need to make the most of limited resources.

Janjanbureh- March 1st – March 4th

Hello everyone,
Im back from travelling to the East side of Gambia. Started the trip squashed in a mini van with other volunteers. Used the South bank road, it was extremely hot, dry and dusty. The road was a blend of dirt, bitumen, sand and river bank. Everything and everyone covered in brown dust. Landscape is grey, sandy and brown with a few trees and bushes. We stopped at my town of Soma and I saw my humble abode, which was not finished yet. They were digging out my own brand new pit latrine and still needed to put in doors, frames, mosquito proof windows and paint cement floor.. more about my house next blog with some photos.
We arrived in Janjanbureh after 10 hours of drivin and police check points. Janjanbureh is a small island, about 10km by 4km. Here we met the Governor of the Central River Region, whilst there had a really AFRICAN moment.. two chiefs arrived in the Governors office all dressed in their customary attire from their villlage. One wore white robes, white and red checkered material ov er the shoulders, a white and gold head piece made of a beautiful fabric, like a round hat together with a beautifully crafted wooden staff. The other wore blue robes and elaborate shawl and head piece......Even though I know im in Africa, it blew me away when they walked into the room, part of my brain thought they were dressing up (this is meant with no disrespect) whilst the other side of my brain thought.. wow!! Im in Africa.. this is real.
We then met the religious Islamic leader of the whole region at his house, this person is called an Iman. He has 4 wives and the town people consult him regarding Islamic issues. He presides over religious ceremonies like weddings, babynaming ceremonies, funerals and marriage disputes. He also teaches the koran to students on carved wooden plate with charcoal for students to write memorised text from the koran. He was a calm and gentle man.
Also met the Maribu of the town..the spiritual leader... what we commonly know as the witch doctor. His role is use herbs for medicine, give advice about the present and future.. a bit like a clairovoyant. Two vsos had their future read. This involved them blowing into 5 cowrie shells and thinking of questions they want to have answered. They then threw the shellls on the ground, the maribu then scattered another 10 shellls, all various colours. The position of the shells determined their future in regard to the questions asked. I did not feel comfortable having this done, clairovoyants freak me out, i dont wont to dabbble in the unknown.
The town was extremely dusty but the river surrounding it was beautiful. A lot like the murray river with green trees on the banks and about 100m in width. I went for a run/walk each morning and it was so tempting to go for a swim but the threat of crocodiles kept me firmly on the bank.
The birds here are amazing.. Im not much into birds but the brilliant colours and variety has definitely sparked my interest.