We have just returned from our up country excursion so we are all diligently blogging so we don’t forget the details. We left the Kanifing house early on Friday morning and drove to the ferry terminal where we met the new volunteers. Three from Uganda all working for the disability program, Denis, Moses and Paul and Jim from the uk who is a primary teacher going to be working in Basse, the hottest and furthest place in the Gambia. The ferry terminal was hot and busy with hawkers, goats, foot passengers, vehicles of various sorts. We had to wait quite a while to get on, but the ferry journey to Barra on the North Bank was good, welcome breeze and no hassle. Rachel made another friend on the way over who wanted her email and to invite her to his forthcoming wedding. Kate got a lecture on teaching skills by a nice guy who said he was a scientist.
First stop was Fort Bullen, only about 5 minutes drive from the ferry terminal which is on the shores of the river. We stopped for an omlette sandwich and a walk around the fort and a walk on the beach. Word had obviously spread that the toubabs were in town and we soon gained company in the form of about 6 small boys. Kate, Rachel and I played ball games with them with tin foil balls. They seemed to really enjoy this. They took a real shine to Pete and he soon had one on each hand walking along the beach. They were fun and very friendly but very limited in their English considering some of them were about 12. We couldn’t try our Mandinka out on them either as they were Wolof. They shook all our hands as we left and they managed to pilfer several of our water bottles which they were delighted with and they ran after the truck waving. It was a nice experience to start off the weekend.
We made our way on the highly bumpy road to Jerreh camp. Our truck was open so it was great to view the scenery. Kate and I were both wondering how on earth we are going to manage riding the motorbike on these roads. The truck was almost on its side in several parts as we negotiated ditches and potholes. Lots of it was forest and we were also continually lashed in the face by the “voluntary policemen” as Ebrima called them, growing on the side of the road. Before we reached Jerreh camp we stopped at the compound of the alkola, the village chief, to pay our respects. He gave us a bit of a talk on the role of the chief and the history of chieftancy in the Gambia. The chief has a administrative and judiciary role. Only criminal matters are taken to the courts. We also met Nuha’s mother who lives in the village. Every village we passed through in the truck children came flocking, running after the truck shouting "hellö' and "toubab" and "any bottle" they like to have the empty water bottles and "give me mintie" This is because it's a well worn tourist route so they are used to people throwing them things like sweets out of the vehicles.
The setting of Jerreh camp was really nice. It is on the shores of the lake and is really peaceful. The existing voluteers, Emma, Paul Courtney and Andrew were already there but Paul and Courtney had come off the bike and Paul had had to go to a health centre to have stitches in his leg.
That evening there was some cultural entertainment from a group called the caneling. They are a group of women who are or in some cases were barren and they formed a kind of support group and go round performing, dancing and singing and raising money. If one of them do eventually have a child that child is afforded great significance in the community. Sometimes they are identified by beads around their necks or by a boy dressing as a girl and vice versa. We all sat in a circle and watched but at the end they invited us up to dance. If they come and put the beads around your neck you had to do up and dance so in the end we were all up there. It was really funny. Gambian dancing isn't that hard. They seem stick their bums out and stamp their feet and clap. For even someone like me with little natural dance talent it was doable. Pete's dancing was the funniest. His Gambian dance partner even sat him back down he was so bad.
That night a few of us Emma, Andrew, Rachel, Kate and Phil sat out on the pier playing drinking games with Andrew's bottle of 70 dalasi ginn (apparently regularly consumed by the volunteers)It's really just alcohol with ginn flavouring I think.
The next morning we made our way to the next camp which was at Jufferh, albreda about 10km away. This is which the slave kunta kinteh was said to have descended from. Alex Haley visited
the village and interviewed Kunta Kinteh's ancestors for the roots book and some of roots was filmed in the village. So now it's quite a big tourist place. Consequently the people are quite persistent in trying to get money out of you, pestering you to take a picture of their baby etc. One woman said she would sell us her baby for a million dalasi or some such amount. We went to see the alkola of the village who in this case was a woman and then we went to see the ancestors of Kunteh Kinteh. One of them gave me my Gambian name which is after her, Aja Mariyama. Aja means that you have done the Hajj, the muslim pilgrimage to mecca. They might give me another Gambian name though when we go to placement. Usually you are named after someone in your compound. Rachel is Awa because she was named when she visited Brikama. People here often have the same name because the first daughter is usually named Fatou and the first son Mohammed. There are a lot of Lamins and Alhagis. Apparently they do call you by your Gambian name most of the time once they have named you. It's their way of welcoming you into the community which is nice.
In the afternoon we visited James Island which is where they kept the slaves for transportation to the Americas etc. The journey on a big wooden boat was made quite amusing by the drummer with the not so good voice singing us welcome to the Gambia songs and then Bob Marley no woman no cry so he went round the entire boat substituting our names, no Carol no cry, no Rachel no cry, no Lucy no cry. You get the idea! A lot of the island itself has been eroded but the ruins of the slave quarters and the cannons are still there. It was quite a sobering place as you might expect. Apparently when they abolished slavery the last slaves were told they were free but were told they had to swim back to the mainland. None of them survived because they were eaten by the crocodiles and sharks which inhabited the river Gambia then because they regularly threw slaves bodies into the river. That's what the guide told us. I have never seen roots but will have to try to read the book.
That night after dinner we had a game of cards and a few julbrews until late into the night. At least the ones of us with stamina stayed up until the early hours. The next morning the existing volunteers made their way back to Kerewan on their motorbikes and we went on our way to the ferry. The journey back was a laugh as Ebrima impersonated the drummer with the souvenir drum Denis had bought and did his rendition of no woman no cry. Then everyone had to do a turn with a song and the drum. The Ugandans perfomed some of their songs for us. I did a song which I do with the kids, which Rachel videoed so I will try and include it on the blog if I can!
So that's the trip. It was good meeting with the existing volunteers to find out a bit about what they do in their placements. Emma and Paul do most of their work on early reading and jolly phonics aswell as meeting with heads and trying to get them to monitor and support the teachers etc. Courtney came out us an accompanying partner with Paul. Her background was in construction but now is a vounteer herself and is active in the small project fund. She was telling us about a toy for the children's unit in the Royal Victoria Teaching hospital in Banjul that she is in the process of designing. It's like a wooden free standing structure with different faces with activities for the children to do like threading the beads, surfaces with different textures, a maze type thing. She is still looking for a few ideas for the remaining sides so if anyone has any bright ideas! I think she is funding part of it herself by doing fundraising at home.
If any of you teachers has any useful jolly phonics material or other good early reading material that could be adapted to use with minimal resources please email it to me as it seems this is the main emphasis. I guess I will know a bit more about what I will need when I get to placement. I'm hoping I will develop the ability to be more imaginative and creative with few resources. But If anyone has any bright ideas it all helps.
Motorbike training starts tomorrow and I think we are riding round the golf course. Should be fun. Rachel leaves for Brikama tonight. So a few at a time we are all departing. Will keep you posted about the motorcycle training which should be good for a few stories! xx Lots of love
First stop was Fort Bullen, only about 5 minutes drive from the ferry terminal which is on the shores of the river. We stopped for an omlette sandwich and a walk around the fort and a walk on the beach. Word had obviously spread that the toubabs were in town and we soon gained company in the form of about 6 small boys. Kate, Rachel and I played ball games with them with tin foil balls. They seemed to really enjoy this. They took a real shine to Pete and he soon had one on each hand walking along the beach. They were fun and very friendly but very limited in their English considering some of them were about 12. We couldn’t try our Mandinka out on them either as they were Wolof. They shook all our hands as we left and they managed to pilfer several of our water bottles which they were delighted with and they ran after the truck waving. It was a nice experience to start off the weekend.
We made our way on the highly bumpy road to Jerreh camp. Our truck was open so it was great to view the scenery. Kate and I were both wondering how on earth we are going to manage riding the motorbike on these roads. The truck was almost on its side in several parts as we negotiated ditches and potholes. Lots of it was forest and we were also continually lashed in the face by the “voluntary policemen” as Ebrima called them, growing on the side of the road. Before we reached Jerreh camp we stopped at the compound of the alkola, the village chief, to pay our respects. He gave us a bit of a talk on the role of the chief and the history of chieftancy in the Gambia. The chief has a administrative and judiciary role. Only criminal matters are taken to the courts. We also met Nuha’s mother who lives in the village. Every village we passed through in the truck children came flocking, running after the truck shouting "hellö' and "toubab" and "any bottle" they like to have the empty water bottles and "give me mintie" This is because it's a well worn tourist route so they are used to people throwing them things like sweets out of the vehicles.
The setting of Jerreh camp was really nice. It is on the shores of the lake and is really peaceful. The existing voluteers, Emma, Paul Courtney and Andrew were already there but Paul and Courtney had come off the bike and Paul had had to go to a health centre to have stitches in his leg.
That evening there was some cultural entertainment from a group called the caneling. They are a group of women who are or in some cases were barren and they formed a kind of support group and go round performing, dancing and singing and raising money. If one of them do eventually have a child that child is afforded great significance in the community. Sometimes they are identified by beads around their necks or by a boy dressing as a girl and vice versa. We all sat in a circle and watched but at the end they invited us up to dance. If they come and put the beads around your neck you had to do up and dance so in the end we were all up there. It was really funny. Gambian dancing isn't that hard. They seem stick their bums out and stamp their feet and clap. For even someone like me with little natural dance talent it was doable. Pete's dancing was the funniest. His Gambian dance partner even sat him back down he was so bad.
That night a few of us Emma, Andrew, Rachel, Kate and Phil sat out on the pier playing drinking games with Andrew's bottle of 70 dalasi ginn (apparently regularly consumed by the volunteers)It's really just alcohol with ginn flavouring I think.
The next morning we made our way to the next camp which was at Jufferh, albreda about 10km away. This is which the slave kunta kinteh was said to have descended from. Alex Haley visited
the village and interviewed Kunta Kinteh's ancestors for the roots book and some of roots was filmed in the village. So now it's quite a big tourist place. Consequently the people are quite persistent in trying to get money out of you, pestering you to take a picture of their baby etc. One woman said she would sell us her baby for a million dalasi or some such amount. We went to see the alkola of the village who in this case was a woman and then we went to see the ancestors of Kunteh Kinteh. One of them gave me my Gambian name which is after her, Aja Mariyama. Aja means that you have done the Hajj, the muslim pilgrimage to mecca. They might give me another Gambian name though when we go to placement. Usually you are named after someone in your compound. Rachel is Awa because she was named when she visited Brikama. People here often have the same name because the first daughter is usually named Fatou and the first son Mohammed. There are a lot of Lamins and Alhagis. Apparently they do call you by your Gambian name most of the time once they have named you. It's their way of welcoming you into the community which is nice.
In the afternoon we visited James Island which is where they kept the slaves for transportation to the Americas etc. The journey on a big wooden boat was made quite amusing by the drummer with the not so good voice singing us welcome to the Gambia songs and then Bob Marley no woman no cry so he went round the entire boat substituting our names, no Carol no cry, no Rachel no cry, no Lucy no cry. You get the idea! A lot of the island itself has been eroded but the ruins of the slave quarters and the cannons are still there. It was quite a sobering place as you might expect. Apparently when they abolished slavery the last slaves were told they were free but were told they had to swim back to the mainland. None of them survived because they were eaten by the crocodiles and sharks which inhabited the river Gambia then because they regularly threw slaves bodies into the river. That's what the guide told us. I have never seen roots but will have to try to read the book.
That night after dinner we had a game of cards and a few julbrews until late into the night. At least the ones of us with stamina stayed up until the early hours. The next morning the existing volunteers made their way back to Kerewan on their motorbikes and we went on our way to the ferry. The journey back was a laugh as Ebrima impersonated the drummer with the souvenir drum Denis had bought and did his rendition of no woman no cry. Then everyone had to do a turn with a song and the drum. The Ugandans perfomed some of their songs for us. I did a song which I do with the kids, which Rachel videoed so I will try and include it on the blog if I can!
So that's the trip. It was good meeting with the existing volunteers to find out a bit about what they do in their placements. Emma and Paul do most of their work on early reading and jolly phonics aswell as meeting with heads and trying to get them to monitor and support the teachers etc. Courtney came out us an accompanying partner with Paul. Her background was in construction but now is a vounteer herself and is active in the small project fund. She was telling us about a toy for the children's unit in the Royal Victoria Teaching hospital in Banjul that she is in the process of designing. It's like a wooden free standing structure with different faces with activities for the children to do like threading the beads, surfaces with different textures, a maze type thing. She is still looking for a few ideas for the remaining sides so if anyone has any bright ideas! I think she is funding part of it herself by doing fundraising at home.
If any of you teachers has any useful jolly phonics material or other good early reading material that could be adapted to use with minimal resources please email it to me as it seems this is the main emphasis. I guess I will know a bit more about what I will need when I get to placement. I'm hoping I will develop the ability to be more imaginative and creative with few resources. But If anyone has any bright ideas it all helps.
Motorbike training starts tomorrow and I think we are riding round the golf course. Should be fun. Rachel leaves for Brikama tonight. So a few at a time we are all departing. Will keep you posted about the motorcycle training which should be good for a few stories! xx Lots of love
it looks like things are starting in earnest now then Lucy, I should ride very slowly and carefully. tried to reach you once on your phone, will try again. Had a ladies night out on Friday, everyone enjoyed it and all are enjoying your blog, hope you are able to keep it up in Soma, Uncle Peter is also following. Lots of love to you Mam xx
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