Operation Cream Cake

It was the last thing I was expecting here in Soma on my birthday, a big, fresh cream sponge with pineapple and coconut topping. Its my idea of a good surprise though! The whole operation was orchestrated by Marcus and Mr Choi. They had been in cahoots all week I knew that, huddled in corners whispering to each other. Going quiet when I walked into the room. I arrived home after my workshop to find the partygoers already gathered all eagerly awaiting the unveiling of the cake. Everyone in the compound had a slice and then I got to hear the story of the cake’s journey. All the way from the Kombos on a gele entrusted to the driver for a safe delivery. There had been an real cake organising committee, A lady called Maimuna and her mother and Mr Choi and of course Marcus. So it turned out to be a good birthday. Beer, birthday cake and everyone in the compound sang happy birthday. I had four (household) candles - no, not one for each decade - at least not quite yet!

Time to say goodbye

Time to say goodbye

So we had a small farewell party for Kate in the compound. Mrs Jawneh came with her daughter Nyara and newest addition Mamjanko, Arabiatou, the little girl from our compound and cluster monitor Seedy. The kids were having a great time tucking into the popcorn and biscuits while Kate and I did our best to entertain the baby. Such a chore! Marcus was official photographer. It was a lovely evening. Seedy presented Kate with a delightful outfit which was such a nice gesture even if she did look like Widow Twanky.

When Kate left Soma it took her a couple of hours to pack her house up and a couple of days to sort my house out. She declared that she couldn’t possibly leave thinking about the squalor in which I remained so we spent a very amusing few days putting systems in place in my humble abode. Never having really had systems this was a revelation for me! Stacking systems for the pans in the kitchen cupboard. Set places for everything in the drawers. Actually she spent most of the time sat in the chair directing me as to where to put everything and explaining with admirable logic why it should be that way. Also of course laughing quite a lot at the sheer randomness of the arrangement of items. We both came to the conclusion that we should never be flatmates!

Then a few weeks later in the Kombos it was time to say goodbye for real. And I was glad to see the back of her. She was like a weight around my neck! No seriously, soberly and sentimentally: - a few tears were shed I have to admit. Having spent practically every day together for almost a year it was a bit of a wrench. Definitely some memorable times, good and bad. From the playing "name that tune on the verranda", to the queen’s birthday getting hideously drunk and being put to bed with buckets, to the infamous churchills karaoke night, to the motorbike adventures and the gele gele disasters, and the nights of gin, guitar and singing at Max’s. But as Liz said in consolation that night. You have a friend for life there and I think that’s true!

I still can’t shake her off, pestering me on facebook. Are you eating properly? etc etc

Workshops

looking good!

After spending a week or so hairing round on the motorbike getting stuck in the sand, weaving in and out of undergrowth, dodging oxen carts, sheep, goats, being trip wired by runaway donkeys and stopped in my tracks by kamikaze chickens. I had finally completed my baseline assessments of the schools in cluster 4 and Seedy and I realised there was some work to be done with the phonics. So we arranged a Saturday workshop for 45 ECD, grade 1, 2 and 3 teachers in the cluster. We provided breakfast and lunch and everyone dutifully turned up – eventually!
Kate and I had planned it and she came to Kwinella on the back of my bike as hers is tempermental to say the least! It’s about an hours journey on terrible roads. It didn’t start well when I had to pull over having been stung on the thigh by some waspy thing.
However despite this everything went smoothly enough at the workshop. We got the teachers working in small groups to plan and teach their lessons on letter sounds and then spent some time making letter sound flashcards out of rice bags.
It was on the way bag that things got interesting when my motorbike suddenly spluttered to a halt 10 minutes out of Kwinella and we were stranded on the side of the road, no where near shade in the hot sun with empty water bottles. Not a good predicament to be in. Luckily we had just enough phone credit so we called the mechanic who wasn’t that keen on coming all that way on a Saturday. He suggested we clean the spark plug, which we did, but no joy. We were a little bit parched so I walked to the nearest school, Nema, where I found the head teacher, reading a Dickens classic under the mango tree. I asked politely if I could get some water from the local pump, braved the load of wasps around the pump and eventually filled the bottles and was on my way again. I then called upon my super dependable cluster monitor, Seedy, to come and rescue us which of course he did despite being on his way to Tendaba. He cleaned the spark plug again, properly! The motorbike spluttered into action but then died again 100 yards up the road. Again we phoned the mechanic and thankfully he came to rescue us. Seedy had in the meantime discovered that there was a lot of water in my petrol tank and so when the mechanic came he had to empty the fuel tank, drain off all the water and then refill the tank. Alls well that ends well. I have to say the 7o dalasi gin made another appearance that night!

regular at roadside

New boy in Soma

We have an addition to our little Soma clan in the form of Ashley who decided in his wisdom to come out and spend a month of his gap year sampling the delights that Soma has to offer. As we speak he is diligently working on his artistic masterpiece, a rather large map of region 4 which he is painting on the office wall. I have to say it looks quite good so far although I'm not sure how long it is going to take him as he has a teeny paintbrush to fill in all the green for the land as some helpful soul walked off with our big paintbrush. Anyway I will provide photographic evidence of the quality of the work on completion.

Aswell as his artistic services he is offering his maths expertise at the local high school Packalinding, helping out with the grade 9 maths classes. I think he has found this an experience. His key behaviour management strategy when they are not paying attention is to say "Look at me I'm beautiful" He is certainly now the most famous of our group. We can't go anyway in Soma without the cry from some adoring student "Mr Ashley!" or being followed by gaggles of giggling girls. I think he is enjoying this notoriety, practising for his future career as film star!

I think two things have really struck him about living here, the heat and the boredom. He did get a bit of teasing by us for bringing out a flannel shirt and actually wearing it. He soon saw the error of his ways on the short walk to the bituk, when he turned a rather nice shade of scarlet. He dutifully took his place on the cooking rota under the instruction of Kate who has taught him how to make butternut squash risotto, lentil chilli etc and sweet and sour. So he's now all set for uni and planning to impress the ladies with his culinary skill. He soon got into the julbrews! Out of necessity rather than enjoyment I think, as did we all. Luckily he hasn't succumbed to the sachets of fake gin. That's strictly for us 10 monthers. He's read 3 books, won lots of games of scrabble - Cheeky young whippersnapper, thought he was very clever with his 50 bonus points for using all his tiles in one go with "tonsils". He was pushing it though trying to get away with dampenize - I ask you? He's made friends with the local kiddies by feeding them biscuits.

He has become a regular at the local video club to watch the footy, along with Marcus. He joins enthusiastically in our regular conversation "What we will eat when we get home" So all in all he has adapted rather well to life in Soma. It's just a shame he is leaving soon!

Ebrima's Nursery

Ebrima's nursery

We made a visit to the nursery of a student on the Brikama ECD course. Ebrima's nursery is in Jinoi which is a village close to Soma. Close but hidden away behind lots of vegetation so after stopping in various compounds to ask directions a kind lady finally showed us the way and we emerged from the undergrowth to find a small nursery. I have to say that this was probably the most pleasureable experience we have had yet in a school in The Gambia. Ebrima is doing a brilliant job with the children. We arrived at the nursery to find such a lovely environment which makes the best use of the materials he has. There were books he had made himself on the walls, hanging decorations, numbers, rhymes. There were labelled places for all the children, books and toys which were actually being used. He was using a rice bag as his story and circle time mat. We spend a while there reading with the children who were wonderful and who knew a variety of words in English. They knew the colours, the parts of the body, animals. I read them a storybook in Mandinka and they delighted in correcting my pronunciation. We sang some songs, "If you're happy and you know it", "twinkle, twinkle" and others.
In contrast the week before I had been in a nursery school where adult sized chairs were laid out in rows, theatre style and the ABC was written in capital letters on the board and that was about it. It was really great to see in Ebrima a teacher who recognises what an important job he has and in difficult circumstances works incredibly hard to make sure those children have the chance to fulfill their potential while they are with him. Great stuff!

(Once I caught a fish alive)

Just a few Brikama college photos (six little ducks went swimming one day)

I have returned to Soma to discover that I have actually developed quite a fondness for the place. I'm pleased to get back to the peaceful, easygoing, sedentary kind of life after the hecticness of Brikama. There have been some minor changes in life here. The compound has become very verdant. Groundnuts are growing in abundance and tall green weeds line the path to the tap. It seems a bit strange that in such a short while it will become dry and barren again. Adding to this I have a new neighbour in the form of new VSO Marcus who, being very technically minded is great to have around, as he deals with all things electrical and computer related. Kate is also happy because she has two people to send off to the market for her cooking ingredients and to get cashpower. She has however declared an edict that I have to cook one night a week for everybody and one night a week for myself. She says so that she won’t have to worry that I will waste away to nothing when she goes home.

The stars have been great lately and we have spent many a happy hour on our verranda star gazing or watching the various lightning flashes in the distance. We have seen quite a number of shooting stars and the milky way.

We have fallen very quickly back into the same old patterns of behaviour. My daily trip to the bituk for a coke and half a tapalapa, mayonnaise and maggi has resumed. Although I have forgotten most of the Fula Fatoumata taught me. Kate still has a love/hate relationship, well more of a hate/hate relationship with her bike. First day back and she had to ride pillion with me because she refused to put petrol in it. Since then it has been nothing but temperamental and has had 2 flat tyres!

For me it was time to get serious with the motorbiking. No more of these namby pamby journeys 20 minutes down a paved highway with regular signposting. It was time for hardcore terrain, potholes, hills, scree, puddles, having to navigate by mango trees and distinctive fencing. Of course this wasn’t really the reason why I found myself on the way to Kwinella. It was for the serious purpose of meeting the head teachers in the cluster to discuss the phonics programme.
Cluster monitor Seedy was ably leading me on the South road from Soma carefully guiding me round potholes and showing me the best part of the road on which to ride. First stop Jiroff, then Nema abc nursery, Nema community health centre, Nema Lower basic (where we had the first of the foodbowls, tilapia fish, rice and sauce) and several glasses of attiya. Then lastly to another foodbowl and of course more attiya at Kwinella lower basic. It had been a good day and well fed I started off on the hour’s journey back. This time alone. But alas grey clouds were lurking in the distance and it was a race against time, would I beat the approaching storm. No chance! It was to be a lesson in being prepared.
Suddenly I was under the cloud, the temperature dropped markedly, then came the winds whipping up ribbons of sand into my eyes (of course no visor) and battering against the side of the bike shunting me sideways. Next the stinging rain and the lightning. I was all the time trying to weigh up my options. Since the option of phoning my mum and Dad to come and get me wasn’t really viable I was considering the following. Do I carry on and just pray I reach Soma in one piece? Do I stop and seek shelter with the people of the villages? Do I stop and phone Kate and cry? So I continued leathering it over pot holes and through puddles and mud with my eyes closed hanging on to the handlebars for grim death. It was reminiscent of the gele journey from hell that feeling of tremendous relief at reaching Kaira Konko scout lodge at the edge of Soma still in tact.
I stumbled through the gates of the compound, something like the creature from the blue lagoon greeted by some very worried faces. It ended as motorbike adventures invariably do. Glass of 70 dalasi gin thrust in my hand and all is right with the world.

Brikama

Brikama is a bustling place. During the rains many of the streets are underwater. If you go into the market after the rains you will find yourself ankle deep in muddy water in many of the narrow passages, trying to find your footing and not end up on flat on your back. At the same time you are trying to avoid men with wheelbarrows and the general human and animal traffic. Flies swarm all around the fruit and vegetables but after being in Soma you are just so happy to see a healthy looking carrot that you don’t care how many flies have landed on it. Brikama market has most things that you could want to buy. Rachel discovered lovely homemade biscuits and in the mini market she also made a great find - powdered chocolate milk – just add water. I even have it on my weetabix in the morning. The market can be an interesting experience , not always a pleasurable one, but mostly if you try to speak a little local language you get a good response. Although people do seem to be a bit dismayed if you don’t know all three of the main languages - Wolof, Mandinka and Fula.

Today we went into one of the clothing stalls because Rachel was looking for a gift for someone. So as I was waiting I used up my stock Mandinka phrases on the rather large lady who was sitting on a low bench inside. As Rachel was choosing what she wanted the lady gestured for me to come and sit beside her and was trying (I think) to tell me that she wanted to come to England or that someone she knew had gone to England. Then she turned and glanced and my arm and spotted my moles. She pointed to them on my arm and said sympathetically (mas, mas, mas) which translates ( sorry, sorry, sorry). In vain I tried to explained to her that I had had them from birth and that they weren’t the symptoms of some hideous plague. This isn’t the first time my moles have been a subject of concern. The Gambians seem to be fascinated by them. Arabiatou in our compound in Soma, often starts counting them. “Aminata – look at this” and Bunja our caretaker at work once noticed them and said “bites, bites”. Again I tried to explain that I had always had them and again he looked at me with great sympathy “ mas, mas” .

The compound in Brikama is very friendly. We get our fair share of visitors knocking on the door to pass the time of day. Touray, the caretaker in the compound also runs a school nearby and fosters a young lad about 19 called Jaygen. Touray is an extremely nice man, who is always at hand if you need help. He always tends to come past when I am fighting with the lock on my door. He rescues me, usually managing to do it first time. Teenagers EJ and Ebie are also regular visitors. They are good friends but extremely different in character. EJ is the sensible one. He came to my door the other day, shook my hand and said sternly. “Lucy why you walk to school. I saw you walk to school. Why you not take Amy’s bike.” So I pointed to the bike and its flat tyre. He looked at me in exasperation and started wheeling the bike out the door. “I’ll take it and put some air in it” So off he went. He came back about 10 minutes later, absolutely soaked as it had started to rain, with the tyre still flat. “The tyre must need changing. I’ll come in the morning and take it.” So there he was 8.30am outside my door ready to take the bike and brought it back fixed. “Now you no walk to school Lucy”

Ebie on the other hand is a bit like the lad about town, roaming about from one compound to another. He drops in occasionally to regale us with various tall tales. Or to recount in scary detail one after another episodes from Tom and Jerry. “I like this programme, this is very funny.” Or to show us his latest dance moves.

Sometimes the really tiny kids from the neighbourhood come peering under the curtain on the front door and shout “toubab, toubab” until they get bored.

Kids also come and set their homemade rat traps in the grounds. They are quite good contraptions made out of old tomato paste tins. (See the photo). Apparently whose ever trap it is if they catch a rat they get to take it home and roast it at their compound and then everyone shares it. I can’t say that’s a custom I will be joining in with.

Anne, who is leaving to go back to Canada this week has been working at the college for five years. On Saturday she organised an excursion for the kids that she has got to know over her five years. She hired a gelly and took them to the beach at Sanyang for the day. The only trouble was when the morning arrived, the word had obviously spread and the world and his wife turned up at the compound asking if they could come. Half of them Anne had never seen before. But she did finally get all her group together and they all trooped off down the street to meet the gelly and apparently had a very good day out and all returned in one piece.

The work at the college is exacting to say the least. I have 24 hours of lectures a week. It may not seem much but at the end of the day I feel pretty wrung out. The students are mostly very nice and respectful. I do get called Madame quite a lot which makes me feel like some old spinster but I guess that’s what I really am in Gambian society. Some students have decided they will call me Aminata Lucy. I see 180 students a week so its not surprising I can’t remember all of their names but I think I am doing quite well with the names considering. Motivation can be a bit of a challenge but considering the workload they have and the fact that a lot of them have families they have to take care of when they get home, they do quite well really. A lot of the mothers bring their babies to class, strapping them to their backs or breastfeeding them while at the same time taking notes. Sometimes I get to have a hold in the pretence of allowing the mothers to get on with their work. In one of my classes there is a baby that can only be a few weeks old. He lies there quite happily in his basket. Wearing my Gambian outfit today got me lots of brownie points with the students. Friday is dress up day in the Gambia. I decided I would get with the culture and wear my Gambian two piece. I hadn’t anticipated how difficult these wrap skirts are to walk in especially when you have a European striding pace. Wrap skirts really aren’t made for striding, more waddling (if you are me that is). Gambian women seem to walk perfectly elegantly. Then the wind kept blowing the skirt apart so I kept trying to yank it down to protect my modesty. I must have looked a sight walking to work this morning. I did get a lot of attention though! The students kept popping their heads round the door of the lecture rooms “ Amie, you look so beautiful in African dress” I’ve never had such attention. One of them said to me “I hope you are going to wear it when you go back to England. At that moment I had a mental image of myself walking through the main street of Newport in my full Gambian dress. I’m not sure Newport is ready for it!
One thing I can say about the Gambians is that they really know how to liven up a rhyme. Heads, shoulders, knees and toes has got a much needed African revamp, the hokey cokey too has received some Gambian glitz.
I do like the atmosphere at the college. I have my regular peanut lady who shouts “kilijano” (that’s a compliment. It means you’re a regular) whenever she sees me because I buy so many peanuts from her. The students bring baobab ices to college to sell. 2 dalasi for one of those. They are really refreshing. My latest find is mini fish pies – 5 dalasi for a bag from another of my students.

It’s great when you walk into a classroom and they start singing one of the songs you have taught them or you just walk round the quad and they start singing at you. It’s a good feeling. Although I do feel a bit like I’m floundering around in the dark with little idea if what I am teaching them is going to be at all useful, when in some cases they have to go back to classes of fifty odd children with little resources. Songs and rhymes at least I think are the way to go. You can always do those with a large number of children. It’s also what I get the best response from the students with . They are just fanatical about writing all the words down to each song you do with them.