Mary's Gambia Experience - Her Diary
Wednesday March 7th
I left Gatwick airport of on my trip to Gambia, Margaret and Chris met me at Banjul airport. The first impression was, it's hot! Margaret and Chris then took me to my hotel, the Mansea Beach Hotel, Kololi, time to unpack and have a quick dip in the pool. A quick change into shorts and t-shirt, this is the life. Margaret and Chris met me later and we went for a meal at Ali Baba's. Margaret asked me how I wanted to spend the week. I said I was keen to see as many of the nurseries as possible and help out in any way I can. We couldn't do much at the moment as we were waiting for the shipment to be released from the docks. Margaret and Chris were staying at a hotel near mine called Sarge's. It had been a long day travelling, so, back to the hotel for an early night. My hotel was down a dark dirt track so Alex, one of the Gambian Helping workers took me back in the car.
Thursday March 8th
Not a bad night's sleep, down for some breakfast, There was a good choice, fruit, cereals, bread,jam, marmalade,eggs,sausages and fruit juices. Tea and coffee was served. I settled for a light breakfast as, oh dear, my tummy wasn't feeling that good. Margaret and Chris met me at 10.00 and we went for a walk along the beach. There I met Ebu, a fisherman friend. We carried on walking to another hotel, the Senegambia, where at 11.30 they feed the vultures. We watched vultures being fed and were just off to the monkey park when Margaret got a phone call. The shipment we had been waiting for at the docks had been released and was ready to be unloaded. Alex and Sarjor met us and took us to Sarjor's mum and dad's compound where the static container is. By now it was about one 0'clock and about 38 degrees. There were 191 boxes in all, some gifts from sponsor families, some boxes with clothes, books,toys,paper,pens, all the things people had donated. The task was to sort all the boxes into the nurseries and stack them in the container with the ones we wanted first at the front, easy! This was where I could help. After moving loads of boxes (actually about 4) I had to sit down. It was so hot that I just didn't have any energy. As the saying goes, the mind was willing but the body wasn't able. I moved a couple more and sat down again. How embarrassing! By this time we hadn't had any lunch and the water was running out so Sarjors sister got some water. Margaret, Chris and the boys kept at it andwe finished about 5. We went back to Sarge's, freshened up and went for something to eat at Ali Baba's (we always ate there as the food was good) We bought a bag of peanuts from a woman (who had them in a dish balanced on her head) as tomorrow we were going to the monkey park, Then back to Sarge's Hotel to see some local people dancing.
Friday March 9TH
My tummy hadn't been very good in the night, so I only had a piece of bread for breakfast. Margaret and Chris were meeting me again to go to the monkey park, well it's not really a park, it's a bit of a forest where wild monkeys live. As we walked along the beach we met a bumster, this is someone who hasn't got a job but will act as a guide to get a few dalasies (the currency in The Gambia) so that he can get breakfast. The monkeys were amazing, although they are wild they were so gentle when they took a peanut from you. There I was in amongst the monkeys, having a great time when, oh dear, my tummy started playing up again, so it was a quick dash back to the hotel, Margaret gave me some imodium tablets and I spent the rest of the day sipping water and keeping close to the amenities.
Saturday March 10th
Margaret and Chris had been invited to attend a ceromony at the football stadium involving all the local nurseries. I was supposed to go with them but as my tummy was still playing up I though it better not to go. I heard later from Margaret thet I made a good choice. They sat out in the heat for three hours waiting for the dignitaries to arrive before the ceremony could begin. In all that time the children were kept out in the blazing sun with no shade, poor things. Still, Margaret and Chris said they wouldn't have missed it. We arranged to meet at 2.45 to go to two local compounds to visit some sponsored children. Alhagie another Gambian worker came with us. We stopped off to buy 50 kilo bags of rice. Each child gets a bag of rice for the compound to share and a mosquito net. This was my first experience of how these people live. They had a little bit of furniture but not much else. There are chickens running around where the children play and there was an open sewer right next to the water tap, but they were very pleased to see us and made us very welcome. After this we went to Sarjor's mum and dads to load up the car for our trip to Jenoi, the nursery where my little girl and my sisters little girl live. Jenoi is out in the bush and takes nearly a day to get there so we will be staying overnight at a place called Tendaba. My tummy was still a bit "iffy" so I took a couple more tablets. As I didn't want any dinner I went back to my hotel for an early night, it was disco night again so I had to wait for it to finish before I could get any sleep.
Sunday March 11th
An early start, Alhagie was driving so we had to pick up Sarjor and Karamo, who were coming with us but everything is in Gambian time so when we did meet them we had to wait for them to have breakfast. When Margaret and Chris came to my ladies club to tell us about their work in The Gambia they said that the road to Jenoi was difficult, what an understatement, it was a red dusty dirt track with huge holes in it. As the road was so bad, often you didn't want to ride on it so we were driving along half on, half off, which meant a lot of the time I was either rubbing along Chris's legs or sitting on Margarets lap. We just had to laugh about it. After hours of driving we decided to stop for a break,big mistake, the car was making a terible noise so we got the local mechanic to have a look. After an hour and a half and a lot of banging with a big hammer we found out he was only the man who repaired tyres, the real mechanic lived at the other end of the village. At this point my tummy started, I needed the loo BADLY. Karamo took us to the police station ( a hut with one man in a uniform drinking happy juice) he waved his hand round to the back of the station where we saw a small building, No that wasn't it, a bit further on I saw a 3foot high raffia fence in a circle. The penny dropped, it was a squat toilet Margaret had told me about. I offered Margaret to go first but she insisted I did, I wonder why? Basically it was a hole in the ground and you had to hope your aim was good. I suddenly realised I hadn't any paper or tissues, neither had Margaret, thats OK, I'm in the bush I'll use a leaf. I picked up a leaf only for it to disintergrate in my hand, it was so hot everything was dried up. Oh well. drip dry. Afterwards Margaret said she wished she had had a camera to take a picture of the look on my face when I saw the toilet. After three hours we were back on the road and arrived at Jenoi at 5.15. The whole village greeted us, they had been waiting all day in the blazing sun, they all sang out "wecome, welcome" clapping their hands and banging drums. I was so overwelmed I couldn't speak. The HELPING charity has had a well built in the village, so we had a look at that The villagers are so pleased with it, even though the water is a bit brown. One of the elders led us to a classroom as they had prepared a meal for us and insisted we eat first. It was chicken stew on a bed of rice. I'm vegetarian! They gave us a couple of spoons as they use their hands, so as not to offend I managed to eat a little rice, then it hit me,they must have killed one of the chickens to provide us with a meal, I felt so bad even though I wasn't eating it. Afterwards we unloaded the car and started to call out the sponsored childrens names and give out the presents, mosquito nets and rice. There are two teachers at Jenoi a lady and a man, they each received the same. Then my sisters little girl was called, I went to meet her and her mother came frward and threw something like a poncho over my head as a present. I was so pleased to receive it. I got Sarjor to explain I would give it to my sister on my return to England. Then I met my little girl, Mariama, such a pretty little girl. Her mother came up and I gave her a kiss on each cheek, she giggled at this and so did all the other women, then I noticed she had a baby tied on her back, next time I send a parcel I'll put something in for the baby. As we were three hours late arriving I didn't get the chance to visit Mariamas compound but I did get to say goodbye before we had to leave. Everyne at Jenoi made us feel welcome and even though they didn't speak much English they all said thank you. I wished I could have spent more time at Jenoi but we still had a two hour journey to get to Tendaba. We arrived at Tendaba at 9 pm. My tummy was quite bad, as we went to book in I spotted a block of English toilets, I dropped everything and ran. Margaret came with me to my hut where I was staying the night and checked the toilet, yes it was an English one, I just kept saying "thank you, thank you" You can't imagine how grateful you are for simple things that we take for granted at home. I took a shower, washed my hair and went to dry myself, only to there was all red on the towel, the dust gets into your skin so much, I had to take another shower. I took more pills and went to bed.
Monday March 12th
A good nights sleep, only up a couple of times, a piece of bread for breakfast than off on the journey back to Kololi. We had to stop off at the same village as yesterday as we had lost grease from the front wheel. Another couple of hours and we were back on the road. Margaret had been given hundreds of pens so on the way back we passed them out of the window to the children, they loved them. We arrived back at Kololi late afternoon, I was dropped of at my hotel and ordered toast. I thought it strange that the tablets Margaret had given me didn't seem to be wrking, Oh well, I'll take some more. Margaret and Chris were going to Sarjor's mum and dad's to load up the car ready for tomorrow. They met up with me later and we visited the local craft market before the evening meal, then off to bed as we are visiting another school tomorrow, Pakau Njogu. Its another early start as we have to go on the ferry, we are meeting up with Maggie who sponsors a boy there. My tummy still wasn't right so I thought I'd better take another tablet. This time I looked at the packet, instead of taking the imodium tablets Margaret had given me I'd been taking Paracetamol. I phoned Margaret and confessed but said I hadn't had a headache. African dance at the hotel tonight.
Tuesday March 13th
6.30.am a little breakfast then off to pick up Maggie and get the ferry. It was arranged that Alhagie was meeting us at the ferry but when we got there, no Alhagie. The 8 am ferry came and went, still no Alhagie. It was decided we would go over as foot passengers, hire a taxi and just take the rice. We got on the 9 am ferry, that was an experience, the Gambian people carry everything on their heads, so you may see people with mattresses, food, all sorts of things balancing on their heads. They bring goats and chickens with them, they all run on to the ferry trying to get a seat, it's quite a sight. The journey took about 45 minutes. When we docked and got off the ferry, guess what? Alhajie was there with the car. He had got the 7 am ferry over but hadn't got the mobile phone from Alex. We bought the rice, 1 1/2 tons of it and set off for Pakau Njogu. There are a lot more children sponsored here so while Margaret and Chris were sorting everything out I had a chance to talk to the local children and their mothers. They don't speak much English but we got by with a form of sign language, each time the mothers showed me their babies they would burst out crying, the mothers thought this really funny. It was yet another hot day so we sat under a mango tree for shade. Maggie met her sponsored boy and gave him her gifts. Once everything was given out we visited the compound where Maggie's boy lived, it was very different to the one I'd seen at Kololi, the hut hadn't any furniture, there was a straw mattress on the floor which the mum and dad had, the little boy slept on a piece of material. There was a piece of string with a few clothes hanging up and that was it. The rest of the people who live in the compound had gathered outside under a Mango tree, they were all pleased to see us. We got in the car and set off for the ferry, well you know when you look at someone and they look at you in a funny way, thats how Margaret looked, what's going on? then I heard a clucking. Sitting in the back of the car was a chicken with it's feet tied together! Margaret assured me everything was OK, Sarjor had done a favour for someone in the vilage and they had given him the chicken. I asked what Sarjor had intended to do with the chicken and was told that his daughter loved eggs so I wasn't to worry about the chickens fate. We got to the ferry in time for the 4 pm ferry, that is all except Alhagie, he stayed with the car which had to queue, we went on a foot passengers. We found out later that Alhagie didn't get on until the last ferry at 11pm. The chicken came on the ferry with us and settled down on the floor, it wasn't until we were about to get off when I said to Margaret "I don't think the chicken is very well", it had it's eyes closed and I wasn't sure it was still alive, I had visions of doing CPR on it but I gave it a poke and it woke up,thank goodness.
Back to the hotel, a quick freshen up and off to Ali Baba's for dinner. Now I was taking the right tablets I thought I'd go mad and have something to eat. Back to Sarge's Hotel to watch the dancers then back to my hotel. We weren't going anywhere tomorrow so I didn't need to get up early, guess what, nothing going on tonight, typical.
Wednesday March 14th
I'm going home today so I have the morning to myself. My tummy's feeling better so I'm off for some breakfast. Then, at last, lounging around the pool reading my book and going for a dip. Youv'e guessed it, it's cloudy and windy, still that didn't last long, it was soon sunny and time for me to catch the coach back to Banjul airport. As I waved Margaret and Chris goodbye and thanked them for everything I had time to reflect on everything I'd done and seen. What a week and what an experience, the people I'd met, the places I'd been, the different birds,the heat, the roads and not forgetting the toilets. Oh how I was looking forward to seeing my English toilet, I'd even told Margaret I was going to give it an extra clean.
I hope you've enjoyed reading about my time in The Gambia, I hope it hasn't put you off going but has enthused some of you. If you like me are thinking of going to see it for yourselves, I can assure you you will have a Gambia experience you wont forget.
Regards Mary.
I left Gatwick airport of on my trip to Gambia, Margaret and Chris met me at Banjul airport. The first impression was, it's hot! Margaret and Chris then took me to my hotel, the Mansea Beach Hotel, Kololi, time to unpack and have a quick dip in the pool. A quick change into shorts and t-shirt, this is the life. Margaret and Chris met me later and we went for a meal at Ali Baba's. Margaret asked me how I wanted to spend the week. I said I was keen to see as many of the nurseries as possible and help out in any way I can. We couldn't do much at the moment as we were waiting for the shipment to be released from the docks. Margaret and Chris were staying at a hotel near mine called Sarge's. It had been a long day travelling, so, back to the hotel for an early night. My hotel was down a dark dirt track so Alex, one of the Gambian Helping workers took me back in the car.
Thursday March 8th
Not a bad night's sleep, down for some breakfast, There was a good choice, fruit, cereals, bread,jam, marmalade,eggs,sausages and fruit juices. Tea and coffee was served. I settled for a light breakfast as, oh dear, my tummy wasn't feeling that good. Margaret and Chris met me at 10.00 and we went for a walk along the beach. There I met Ebu, a fisherman friend. We carried on walking to another hotel, the Senegambia, where at 11.30 they feed the vultures. We watched vultures being fed and were just off to the monkey park when Margaret got a phone call. The shipment we had been waiting for at the docks had been released and was ready to be unloaded. Alex and Sarjor met us and took us to Sarjor's mum and dad's compound where the static container is. By now it was about one 0'clock and about 38 degrees. There were 191 boxes in all, some gifts from sponsor families, some boxes with clothes, books,toys,paper,pens, all the things people had donated. The task was to sort all the boxes into the nurseries and stack them in the container with the ones we wanted first at the front, easy! This was where I could help. After moving loads of boxes (actually about 4) I had to sit down. It was so hot that I just didn't have any energy. As the saying goes, the mind was willing but the body wasn't able. I moved a couple more and sat down again. How embarrassing! By this time we hadn't had any lunch and the water was running out so Sarjors sister got some water. Margaret, Chris and the boys kept at it andwe finished about 5. We went back to Sarge's, freshened up and went for something to eat at Ali Baba's (we always ate there as the food was good) We bought a bag of peanuts from a woman (who had them in a dish balanced on her head) as tomorrow we were going to the monkey park, Then back to Sarge's Hotel to see some local people dancing.
Friday March 9TH
My tummy hadn't been very good in the night, so I only had a piece of bread for breakfast. Margaret and Chris were meeting me again to go to the monkey park, well it's not really a park, it's a bit of a forest where wild monkeys live. As we walked along the beach we met a bumster, this is someone who hasn't got a job but will act as a guide to get a few dalasies (the currency in The Gambia) so that he can get breakfast. The monkeys were amazing, although they are wild they were so gentle when they took a peanut from you. There I was in amongst the monkeys, having a great time when, oh dear, my tummy started playing up again, so it was a quick dash back to the hotel, Margaret gave me some imodium tablets and I spent the rest of the day sipping water and keeping close to the amenities.
Saturday March 10th
Margaret and Chris had been invited to attend a ceromony at the football stadium involving all the local nurseries. I was supposed to go with them but as my tummy was still playing up I though it better not to go. I heard later from Margaret thet I made a good choice. They sat out in the heat for three hours waiting for the dignitaries to arrive before the ceremony could begin. In all that time the children were kept out in the blazing sun with no shade, poor things. Still, Margaret and Chris said they wouldn't have missed it. We arranged to meet at 2.45 to go to two local compounds to visit some sponsored children. Alhagie another Gambian worker came with us. We stopped off to buy 50 kilo bags of rice. Each child gets a bag of rice for the compound to share and a mosquito net. This was my first experience of how these people live. They had a little bit of furniture but not much else. There are chickens running around where the children play and there was an open sewer right next to the water tap, but they were very pleased to see us and made us very welcome. After this we went to Sarjor's mum and dads to load up the car for our trip to Jenoi, the nursery where my little girl and my sisters little girl live. Jenoi is out in the bush and takes nearly a day to get there so we will be staying overnight at a place called Tendaba. My tummy was still a bit "iffy" so I took a couple more tablets. As I didn't want any dinner I went back to my hotel for an early night, it was disco night again so I had to wait for it to finish before I could get any sleep.
Sunday March 11th
An early start, Alhagie was driving so we had to pick up Sarjor and Karamo, who were coming with us but everything is in Gambian time so when we did meet them we had to wait for them to have breakfast. When Margaret and Chris came to my ladies club to tell us about their work in The Gambia they said that the road to Jenoi was difficult, what an understatement, it was a red dusty dirt track with huge holes in it. As the road was so bad, often you didn't want to ride on it so we were driving along half on, half off, which meant a lot of the time I was either rubbing along Chris's legs or sitting on Margarets lap. We just had to laugh about it. After hours of driving we decided to stop for a break,big mistake, the car was making a terible noise so we got the local mechanic to have a look. After an hour and a half and a lot of banging with a big hammer we found out he was only the man who repaired tyres, the real mechanic lived at the other end of the village. At this point my tummy started, I needed the loo BADLY. Karamo took us to the police station ( a hut with one man in a uniform drinking happy juice) he waved his hand round to the back of the station where we saw a small building, No that wasn't it, a bit further on I saw a 3foot high raffia fence in a circle. The penny dropped, it was a squat toilet Margaret had told me about. I offered Margaret to go first but she insisted I did, I wonder why? Basically it was a hole in the ground and you had to hope your aim was good. I suddenly realised I hadn't any paper or tissues, neither had Margaret, thats OK, I'm in the bush I'll use a leaf. I picked up a leaf only for it to disintergrate in my hand, it was so hot everything was dried up. Oh well. drip dry. Afterwards Margaret said she wished she had had a camera to take a picture of the look on my face when I saw the toilet. After three hours we were back on the road and arrived at Jenoi at 5.15. The whole village greeted us, they had been waiting all day in the blazing sun, they all sang out "wecome, welcome" clapping their hands and banging drums. I was so overwelmed I couldn't speak. The HELPING charity has had a well built in the village, so we had a look at that The villagers are so pleased with it, even though the water is a bit brown. One of the elders led us to a classroom as they had prepared a meal for us and insisted we eat first. It was chicken stew on a bed of rice. I'm vegetarian! They gave us a couple of spoons as they use their hands, so as not to offend I managed to eat a little rice, then it hit me,they must have killed one of the chickens to provide us with a meal, I felt so bad even though I wasn't eating it. Afterwards we unloaded the car and started to call out the sponsored childrens names and give out the presents, mosquito nets and rice. There are two teachers at Jenoi a lady and a man, they each received the same. Then my sisters little girl was called, I went to meet her and her mother came frward and threw something like a poncho over my head as a present. I was so pleased to receive it. I got Sarjor to explain I would give it to my sister on my return to England. Then I met my little girl, Mariama, such a pretty little girl. Her mother came up and I gave her a kiss on each cheek, she giggled at this and so did all the other women, then I noticed she had a baby tied on her back, next time I send a parcel I'll put something in for the baby. As we were three hours late arriving I didn't get the chance to visit Mariamas compound but I did get to say goodbye before we had to leave. Everyne at Jenoi made us feel welcome and even though they didn't speak much English they all said thank you. I wished I could have spent more time at Jenoi but we still had a two hour journey to get to Tendaba. We arrived at Tendaba at 9 pm. My tummy was quite bad, as we went to book in I spotted a block of English toilets, I dropped everything and ran. Margaret came with me to my hut where I was staying the night and checked the toilet, yes it was an English one, I just kept saying "thank you, thank you" You can't imagine how grateful you are for simple things that we take for granted at home. I took a shower, washed my hair and went to dry myself, only to there was all red on the towel, the dust gets into your skin so much, I had to take another shower. I took more pills and went to bed.
Monday March 12th
A good nights sleep, only up a couple of times, a piece of bread for breakfast than off on the journey back to Kololi. We had to stop off at the same village as yesterday as we had lost grease from the front wheel. Another couple of hours and we were back on the road. Margaret had been given hundreds of pens so on the way back we passed them out of the window to the children, they loved them. We arrived back at Kololi late afternoon, I was dropped of at my hotel and ordered toast. I thought it strange that the tablets Margaret had given me didn't seem to be wrking, Oh well, I'll take some more. Margaret and Chris were going to Sarjor's mum and dad's to load up the car ready for tomorrow. They met up with me later and we visited the local craft market before the evening meal, then off to bed as we are visiting another school tomorrow, Pakau Njogu. Its another early start as we have to go on the ferry, we are meeting up with Maggie who sponsors a boy there. My tummy still wasn't right so I thought I'd better take another tablet. This time I looked at the packet, instead of taking the imodium tablets Margaret had given me I'd been taking Paracetamol. I phoned Margaret and confessed but said I hadn't had a headache. African dance at the hotel tonight.
Tuesday March 13th
6.30.am a little breakfast then off to pick up Maggie and get the ferry. It was arranged that Alhagie was meeting us at the ferry but when we got there, no Alhagie. The 8 am ferry came and went, still no Alhagie. It was decided we would go over as foot passengers, hire a taxi and just take the rice. We got on the 9 am ferry, that was an experience, the Gambian people carry everything on their heads, so you may see people with mattresses, food, all sorts of things balancing on their heads. They bring goats and chickens with them, they all run on to the ferry trying to get a seat, it's quite a sight. The journey took about 45 minutes. When we docked and got off the ferry, guess what? Alhajie was there with the car. He had got the 7 am ferry over but hadn't got the mobile phone from Alex. We bought the rice, 1 1/2 tons of it and set off for Pakau Njogu. There are a lot more children sponsored here so while Margaret and Chris were sorting everything out I had a chance to talk to the local children and their mothers. They don't speak much English but we got by with a form of sign language, each time the mothers showed me their babies they would burst out crying, the mothers thought this really funny. It was yet another hot day so we sat under a mango tree for shade. Maggie met her sponsored boy and gave him her gifts. Once everything was given out we visited the compound where Maggie's boy lived, it was very different to the one I'd seen at Kololi, the hut hadn't any furniture, there was a straw mattress on the floor which the mum and dad had, the little boy slept on a piece of material. There was a piece of string with a few clothes hanging up and that was it. The rest of the people who live in the compound had gathered outside under a Mango tree, they were all pleased to see us. We got in the car and set off for the ferry, well you know when you look at someone and they look at you in a funny way, thats how Margaret looked, what's going on? then I heard a clucking. Sitting in the back of the car was a chicken with it's feet tied together! Margaret assured me everything was OK, Sarjor had done a favour for someone in the vilage and they had given him the chicken. I asked what Sarjor had intended to do with the chicken and was told that his daughter loved eggs so I wasn't to worry about the chickens fate. We got to the ferry in time for the 4 pm ferry, that is all except Alhagie, he stayed with the car which had to queue, we went on a foot passengers. We found out later that Alhagie didn't get on until the last ferry at 11pm. The chicken came on the ferry with us and settled down on the floor, it wasn't until we were about to get off when I said to Margaret "I don't think the chicken is very well", it had it's eyes closed and I wasn't sure it was still alive, I had visions of doing CPR on it but I gave it a poke and it woke up,thank goodness.
Back to the hotel, a quick freshen up and off to Ali Baba's for dinner. Now I was taking the right tablets I thought I'd go mad and have something to eat. Back to Sarge's Hotel to watch the dancers then back to my hotel. We weren't going anywhere tomorrow so I didn't need to get up early, guess what, nothing going on tonight, typical.
Wednesday March 14th
I'm going home today so I have the morning to myself. My tummy's feeling better so I'm off for some breakfast. Then, at last, lounging around the pool reading my book and going for a dip. Youv'e guessed it, it's cloudy and windy, still that didn't last long, it was soon sunny and time for me to catch the coach back to Banjul airport. As I waved Margaret and Chris goodbye and thanked them for everything I had time to reflect on everything I'd done and seen. What a week and what an experience, the people I'd met, the places I'd been, the different birds,the heat, the roads and not forgetting the toilets. Oh how I was looking forward to seeing my English toilet, I'd even told Margaret I was going to give it an extra clean.
I hope you've enjoyed reading about my time in The Gambia, I hope it hasn't put you off going but has enthused some of you. If you like me are thinking of going to see it for yourselves, I can assure you you will have a Gambia experience you wont forget.
Regards Mary.
posted by HELPING at 10:24 pm
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