We have left Soma for the summer. Kate has gone home for a month and I am in Brikama at Gambia College which is the teacher training college. I am helping out with Early Childhood Development lectures for 8 weeks and had my first week of lectures this week. The students are unqualfied nursery teachers from all over the Gambia who come to do the ECD certificate during the summer and then go back to their schools. Yesterday I had 6 hours of lectures and its quite hard work in the heat. Especially since you are prancing about singing songs and playing games and you don't have many breaks to drink water so its exhausting but very enjoyable. The students are very friendly and welcoming. Trying to remember all their names is quite difficult though.

Some of the vso's - Amy, Emily and Emma left for home this week. There was a leaving party at Courtney's house which was really good fun. It was a wigs and hairdo party but kate and I failed miserably at the fancy dress I'm afraid. Gambian cocktails - Wonjo and vodka and baobab and brandy and of course plenty of julbrew, more singing and drumming of course. Emma helped me to discover the black and white and sepia option on my camera so I went a bit mad with it. Photos to follow.

The photos at the top are In the compound in Brikama where Rach and Emma had a tye dye lesson from Genaba. I just watched the process and took the photos.

I did have quite an amusing experience in Brikama in my first week. It rains a lot in Brikama and when it does rain the streets are under water. I was making my way home from the college to the compound and my sense of direction failed me. I ended up wading down the street being directed by an old Gambian lady, (who spotted the hapless toubab), as to which part of the river was the best to wade through. Some people sitting at a nearby bitiko and the guys from the garage all decided to get involved, pointing out the way to go and shouting to me. Then while wading my way down another street was spotted by some children who proceeded to make stepping stones across the street for me. It caused quite a stir. They all seemed to think it was quite amusing! xxx L

The journey of the bamboo bed

I jumped at the chance to inherit Emma’s bamboo bed as you can only get them from a few places and they are great to have for visitors. But there were going to be some logistical barriers involved in me actually getting the bed to Soma from its home in Kerewan. Emma and Carol very kindly agreed to bring the bed to Farafenni on the top of a gelle. Which left me and Kate to transport it from Farafenni town to the ferry port then over on the ferry and then from the ferry port to Soma. We braced ourselves for a day full of challenges. We were envisioning having to negotiate ridiculous prices, maybe having to hitch a lift on a lorry, and with the very real possibility of rain adding complications. We made a pact that whatever came up we were just going to go with it.
But for once, everything went remarkably smoothly. Not very interesting I know! First stroke of luck was Carol and Emma had managed to get a lift with the bed to Farafenni from Emma’s landlord. We stored the bed in Eddie’s hotel while we had a look around Farafenni. After having chicken and chips and a julbrew or two we embarked upon the journey home. We first managed to get a big taxi with a kind of roof rack and then got off at the ferry and carried the bed over much to everyone’s amusement. We did get some help from a random Gambian man who announced that he was happy to help on the account that the bed was a locally made product. At the other end there was a man with a wheelbarrow ready and waiting and then we watched skeptically as a taxi driver crammed it into his boot and tied it on. I had indeed cost me quite a lot in taxi fare but the process couldn’t have been smoother. It makes a change. The last time we went through farafenni it was only ourselves we were transporting and we caused a fist fight amongst the taxi drivers and then had to wait hours and hours to get a bus to Janjanbureh so we don't really have a great history with travel.