Arabiatou who lives in our compound

Cathy, Mariella, Kate and Sukey having a cleavage competition

kate and I before we got too drunk!

Me and Moses Okello, Ugandan disability volunteer

Kate, me, Rico, Marielle, Georgia and Cathy

So health and safety and traveling in the Gambia. Two words that don’t really fit in the same sentence. As one volunteer who travelled in a gelle gelle without any breaks will tell you. Its how many men, women, children and chickens can we cram into a vehicle to make as much fare as possible. Its undeniably stressful at the time but it does give you some good stories to tell and you experience some random acts of kindness that balance out the baser displays of the human character you inevitably encounter. I think that you have to approach the experience of traveling here with a que sera attitude. You will usually get where you wanted to go but maybe just not the way you expected.
So this week with that in mind we made our first trip to the Kombos, armed with a long shopping list and an equally long list of fun things to do we headed back to civilization.
Our chosen method of transport was the big green bus, yes its large and yes its green, lime green to be exact. Except it’s a bit of a mystery, the big, green bus. Sometimes it appears sometimes it doesn’t. I’m not sure how a thing that big and that green can get lost but there you go.
Gladly it was there when we arrived at the gelle park at six thirty in the morning. It was almost full then though and we only just managed to get a seat. Then began the mammoth seat shuffle as all the locals rearrange themselves to accommodate others, children squashed in whereever they can fit. Then more people get on and stand and sit in the aisles for the entire three hour bumpy journey. However it was a bit of luck to get the green bus to drop us right outside La Parisienne where we slumped into the sofas and relished our cake and coffee.
While we were in Kombos going from one place to another we had a slightly more frantic travel experience, getting on a gelle gelle, the apparantee guy agreed 5 dalasi. Then came the whole, nice ladies where are you from, can I have your number spiel. He even tried one which Kate and I thought was slightly odd, You have nice noses! What's that all about. Kate and I discussing it later agreed that our noses weren't really our best feature! Anyway then when we weren't too welcoming of his advances he tried to charge us more money and stop us getting out of the gelle and then proceeded to chase us down the street demanding his extra money. So we just legged it, which proved rather difficult with ten tonne of luggage on our backs, refusing to pay him. We laughed about it later. But it was far from funny at the time.

However then there was the return journey. This time we didn't manage to pick up the green bus. Instead we ended up in the gelle park where we were fair game for the gelle merchants. We did end up on one bound for Soma after Kate haggling for the price of our bags. I tend to leave it to her as she knows its not one of my strengths. It has to be one of the most uncomfortable journeys of my life. I can't quite describe the sitting position I was forced into. My knees jammed under the seat and my feet jammed in a contorted position behind. I had all this stuff on my lap, a rolled up map of the world, (random I know), a sandwich and two bags of water. (they sell it in bags here). The stuff all kept slipping off my lap because my knees were sloping. The yound guy next to me recognising my plight reached over and took all the stuff off my lap and put it on his on top of his bag and he held it all the way to Soma. Those kinds of experiences restore your faith in human nature.

So we ended up safely back in Soma, covered in a thick film of orange dust, dirty smears on our faces where the dust had mingled with the sweat. We lugged our bags up our very long road and were very glad to be home and even more glad that we had brought back with us a bottle of 70 dalasi ginn!


Happy Birthday your majesty

So I decided to bury my republican sensibilities and graciously accept the invitation to celebrate her majesty’s birthday. Yes there was a free bar! We all got dolled up at the pink palace of heavenly pleasure (we renamed Mariella's house!) most of us wearing Rachel's Gambian tailored dresses and were highly excited at the thought of free drink and food. We spent most of the night exclaiming - its real baileys! its real ginn! and the night sort of went on like that really. We finally left the party at twelve thirty. Everyone else had gone home and we had just about drunk the bar dry. There was definitely no baileys left anyway. Fun was had by all and there are plenty of pictures to prove it.

purely pictures

Across the river Gambia!

no bake strawberry chocolate cheesecake ( God bless America!)

Peace corps party ( The night of the rum cake) from right to left - Tanya, Kate, Lisa, Sarah and Jacob

Please note (Me cooking!)

Something interesting has happened at work this week. Despite most of it being Kate and I playing Solitaire on the laptop. We met the cluster monitors who told us a bit about the jobs they do when visiting schools. They have a pretty big remit, a lot of it seems to be collecting data about numbers on roll, number of girls and boys, teacher attendance etc. Also they are responsible for monitoring teaching and learning in the schools. Doing lesson observations, looking at planning and schemes of work, curriculum coverage, supporting heads with record keeping. They have a lot to do but they don’t actually have a class to teach themselves. Am not sure how this works in practice but I daresay we’ll find out. They had a big drive to get girls into education in the Gambia so the girls don’t have to pay school fees but the boys do. So our job is really identifying training needs and delivering training to the teacher trainers who can deliver it to the teachers. But I think in practice a lot of volunteers end up working directly with schools and teachers, doing demonstration lessons and then team teaching and observations to monitor improvement. The cluster monitors seemed to want our help with writing funding proposals as well, not really sure about how to do that, although I daresay we can find out.

The other interesting thing that happened was finding out about the small project funds. One of the cluster monitors wanted us to acquire funding from VSO to renovate a teachers quarters in one of the schools, which is apparently dire, falling down so much that they all have to sleep in one room. This sounds like a very worthwhile project to me so Kate and I are going to go for a site visit so that we can support the proposal and then it will be our job to monitor the project and see that it is all happening.
We have also just been for a site visit to another project that wants funding. This is an NGO that does adult education in Literacy and Maths for people in the community and does tye dyeing and soap making classes that will generate income for the women in the community. They also want to plant a garden there and grow things to sell at market. So we are going back to have a look at the classes next week. I’m quite keen to learn to do tye dye myself! These two things I think will be great to get involved in and will help us to get to know some people in the community.
Kate and I talked to our caretakers wife Faye yesterday about planting some things when the rainy season comes. At the moment the soil is so dry but when the rainy season comes apparently its easy to grow things. During this time they tether all the goats up so they don’t wander from compound to compound and eat everything. It will give us something to do at least! Her sons are going to help us dig the garden. Mr Jawneh is going to get us both a bamboo bed on the way back from his trip to Basse so we will then have space for visitors to stay! You will be highly welcome as they say here. I’m not really selling it with the scorpions and mice though!

Another bit of good news – the mangoes are out and they are very nice as well, sweet and juicy and very cheap! Another fruit other than bananas – hooray!

We invented yet another tasty treat – digestive biscuits with chocolate spread which they do in big tubs here, sprinkled with the roasted peanuts that the ladies sell in the market for 1 dalasi a bag. It’s the nearest thing to a snickers we are going to get. Also we tried to do those banana things you do on the barbecue, we sliced open a banana put chocolate spread and peanuts inside and then wrapped it in tin foil to see whether it would roast in the sun. But we couldn't leave it long enough before eating it so the tin foil was a bit unnecessary.

Our fun with the goats continues. As the baby patch boldy made its way into Kate's house to explore yesterday while its mother Gregory stood at the door bleating. It was quite amusing. These goats give us hours of entertainment.

One thing I forgot to put on the post when we were doing the workshop in Basse which rather tickled us, was a nursery rhyme that was put up on the wall in one of the schools. A very well known nursery rhyme but here it was given am unusual twist.

One, two buckle my shoe
Three, four, knock at the door
Five, six, pick up sticks
Seven, eight, lay them straight
Nine, ten, big fat cock hmmm!


maybe we need to do a workshop on rhyming words!
While cleaning out their library in Janjanbureh Pete and Liz found a peace corps translation of some Mandinka nursery rhymes. This was one of them:-

"Two little dickie birds. Tom, Dick and Harry
The two little birds flew over.
My hand is at the anus of one
The others anus is at my hand." Again I say hmmmmm!!!

Easter weekend

For the Easter break Kate and I felt that we needed to break away from the excitement of Soma for a few days! So we set placed it to Janjanbureh otherwise known as Georgetown or Macarthy island to go and see our fellow Kanifing housemates Pete, Liz and Phil. To get onto the island you get off at Lamin Koto and take the ferry across. The journey was uneventful apart from as we got off the ferry we were accosted by teenagers wanting us to give them money for their football team etc. There are quite a few lodges in Janjanbureh because being on the river it does get its fair share of tourists who come up on boat trips from Banjul. Pete and Liz had organized some accommodation for us in the forestry commission which was cheap and a peaceful spot right on the river so we were pleased with that. We took to Janjanbureh straight away. It has a very relaxed feel to it and there are a few little bars. Our favourite came to be Bendulas as the guys working there were very friendly and Kate managed to use her negotiating skills to acquire a discount on Julbrew! It was great to see Pete and Liz again and talk over our various work situations and everything that had been happening since we saw them last. Pete and Liz really spoiled us feeding us fried bean sandwiches, banana and chocolate pancakes, eggy bread, ommelette sandwiches, spicy coucous. It was brilliant! Kate and I were in our element having spent our whole time in Soma so far continually talking about food.
Pete and Liz live in a lovely little compound. They are now known in the community as Bakary and Hawa Darbo. There is some big Gambian joke about Darbo meaning man who eats too much rice. So every time Pete tells people his surname they chuckle and pat their stomachs. Also Bakary means goat so Pete is now thrilled to be the goat who eats too much rice. Next door to them lives the Jim’ll fix it of Janjanbureh, Muli. He seems to be involved in everything in the community, sits on various committees, supports the women’s garden project and is trying to find new ways to encourage tourism to Janjanbureh. The women do the majority of the gardening and selling at market in the Gambian communities.
We took a walk down to the site where they are building a new five star lodge but apparently the owners got conned out of some money and now are struggling to get the funds to finish it. It was a lovely location, a quiet spot on the river. The accommodation was partially built but looked like it was going to be quite plush. The swimming pool was working and they had partially built the restaurant which is going to have a rooftop terrace, looking over the river. There were some tents already constructed which had lovely bathrooms, sofa, table all done out in what looked like ikea furniture. So if it does finally get finished it will be a little haven. Admittedly not a lot to do other than swim and read and birdwatch. There are quite a few lodges already there which are ok but a bit run down.
On Saturday we were joined by several VSOs on their way back from a trip into the national park in Senegal. They had hired a truck and driver to take them there. Denise, Paul and their two children Abi and Bradley, Marielle and her sister, who was over from the Netherlands and Kanti who had joined them for the trip. So we all had dinner that night in the lodge and then breakfast in the morning. Apparently their trip was good but didn’t go quite as smoothly as they hoped. It took much longer to get there than they anticipated and they ended up missing the national park’s curfew so had to find somewhere else to stay. They had seen hippos and crocodiles and lots of birds so the children were happy but they all looked a bit exhausted.

On the Sunday we took a long and hot walk to Janjanbureh camp which is over the other side of the river. We had a drink there and there were monkeys all over the place jumping and playing on the bar and on all the tables. There is a chimpanzee rehabiliation place nearby but you can't really visit it. We paid a man in the boat to take us straight back across the river because we couldn't face another walk in the sun. We had dinner at Pete and Liz's again that night and played cards.

On the Monday morning we said goodbye and were on our way back to Soma. This time we share the ride with a chicken and no one else which was great. It was quite funny, we didn't realise that the chicken was there in the boot. Until it popped it's head up and squawked and frightened the life out of us.

Not much has been happening since. Work has been very uneventful, in fact everyone else seems to have gone awol and its just us there trying to find ways to fill our time. Hopefully things will get better next week when the schools are back. Kate and I have been keeping ourselves busy by naming all of the goats in our compound and a bit of excitement this evening as I found a baby scorpion under my luggage. I was a bit concerned that if there was a baby there was likely to be a mother aswell lurking somewhere! Apparently when walking out in the rainy season you have to take a torch to avoid stepping on the scorpions! I think I might be wearing my walking boots. I also think I have a mouse in my house! Oh joy! We did find out today that our rent is only eight pounds a month and our water bill was less than 50p for the month!

It is keeping us sane watching season one and two of the west wing. We are going to have finished them all soon though. Don't know what we will do then!

Arrival in Soma

peace corps and us in my house

We finished the motorbike training on the Saturday, had a beach day with Mariella on the Sunday and then had Monday left to finish all our shopping, buckets, jugs, plates, pots, pans cutlery and all that sort of stuff. We interspersed it with visits to blue bar for a julbrew or to Parisienne for coffee and cake. After about 3 or 4 taxi trips we were finished. The truck arrived for us about 9.30 the next day and Alieu spent an hour trying to get all our stuff tied up under the tarpaulin shaking his head and exclaiming. “ Never have I been up country with this much stuff,” so we all stayed out the way. Anyway eventually we were off. The road was extremely bumpy. The scenery was pretty unchanging really, flat and dry. It did get a bit greener when we got near to the little tributaries of the river Gambia and we were most excited when we got to some minor hills.
We had been rather deceived by the a/c in the truck because when we finally got to Soma we stepped out of the truck to the full blast hairdryer effect. The Jawneh family were waiting for us with all their children to help unload our things. Then we began the tedious business of unpacking. Our houses were pretty dusty but we were quite pleased with them really. The compound is a row of concrete houses with corrugated metal roofs. Kate’s house is first, then mine and then Kanti’s. On the end are some trainee nurses who are very nice. I got given my second Gambian name by the family which is Aminata, Kate is Nyima and Kanti is Kumba.
We have two rooms the first one a kitchen/ living room which goes through to a bedroom and then an outdoor yard which is the bathroom with pit latrine and drain for the bucket bath. This is open air but is very private because it has walls all around. You do get the company of the lizards though, of various sizes and colours, who come and sunbathe on the walls. They are nice though and they eat the insects. The day after we got here I uncovered my pit latrine and a lizard was clinging to the cardboard. As I picked up the cardboard he plunged spreadeagled into the murky depths of the pit latrine. I felt quite sorry because I like the lizards and I didn’t think he really deserved this fate so I left the latrine uncovered in the hope that he would somehow escape and sure enough a little while later he emerged unscathed!
We collect water in Jerry cans from the tap which is about 10 metres away and I am becoming well muscled from the effort of carrying two full cans at a time. If you leave the water in the pit latrine in the sun it becomes boiling so you can actually have the luxury of having a hot bath. Which of course you don’t want because it is about 40 degrees! I have to say I am not that keen on going out to the pit latrine when it is dark because I think that a rat or mouse is going to be lurking in the shadows so I always make sure that I make a lot of noise and shine my torch everywhere. Some volunteers actually sleep in their pit latrine with a mosquito net suspended by nails on the walls but I am not that brave yet! I think the big situation will get worse as the rainy season approaches. I have quite a lot of spiders in my house but I have decided to keep them because as spiders go they are pretty inoffensive. We did have rather a performance the other night when I heard kate shrieking next door I had to go and rescue her as she stood on the chair screaming and a scorpion thing raced about the floor. I had to bop it and then attack it with the broom because it was too fast to catch and eventually it gave up the fight. I did feel a bit bad because I don’t really like killing things but it was either that or have Kate move in with me so I had to.

We get regular visits from different families of goats in our compound as well as pigs and dogs to forage amongst the rubbish. The Gambia hasn’t quite got a handle on rubbish disposal. It just accumulates in piles and then they eventually burn it. Some of the goats were intrigued by our game of boules the other day and starting nibbling at the Jack.

On the Thursday we went to our office for the first time which is a ten minute walk from our compound in a place called Mansa Konko. In Mansa Konko apart from the education directorate there is the governors office, an army barracks, a nurses school, a police station and pakalinding upper basic school and not a lot else but it does have a nice relaxed feel to it. On that first day we met the governor and the police chief and then sat in some training on disability. Then during that day we got a frantic call from Tom and Lynne, the volunteers in Basse. They had organized a week long workshop for 120 teachers and Pete and Liz who were supposed to be going to help were not allowed to go because their director had something else planned for them. So the next day we travelled to Basse thankfully picked up by vso who happened to be taking Jim up there that day from the Kombo.

It was a bit of a baptism of fire for me and Kate because we spent Saturday helping out Tom at a workshop for the secondary teachers on teaching methods and then Sunday afternoon preparing resources and then we were straight into it. We spent a day with each group delivering training on different aspects of reading. My bit was early phonics and reading strategies. It was really valuable experience for us learning what the level of the teachers was and how they engaged with the activities. Most groups were really nice and took part in good spirit even when they had to do embarrassing things like sing nursery rhymes and songs. Most of them actually loved this and wanted to copy down all the words of the rhymes and kept asking me to sing them over again so that they could get the tune right. Some groups were harder to engage and it was hard to know how much they were understanding. Lateness to sessions was a bit of an issue as was getting up and walking out and answering mobile phones. Tom was continually at them about these things and things did improve slightly but it was still quite annoying since a lot of the offenders were headteachers.

Kate and I stayed at the VIP house, don’t get too excited it wasn’t great! Jim moved into his compound where he will be living for the next year which is very nice with some lovely mango trees and a nice family living there. He is adamant that he is going to keep chickens but that seems more hassle than its worth to me. He reckoned that he was going to name them after me and Kate. Kate would be the troublesome chicken and I would be the one who just gets along with the business of laying the eggs! Hmmmm!


There are two places to eat in Basse – Aminatas and Fatous, you wouldn’t have a clue that they are restaurants from the outside. The food was nice but a bit limited. Chicken and chips or chicken and spaghetti or domada was about all there was so we had a lot of chicken that week. Kate and I sometimes got breakfast from the ladies on the roadside who sell bean sandwiches, nyebe or accra sandwiches which is like fried beans in a sauce. Very tasty and only 5 dalasi! Our bitiko Mandinka wasn’t that successful as we tried to buy some boiled eggs and got raw eggs instead. We could remember the word for eggs siise killo but neither of us could remember the word for boiled. It turned out to be fajindiringo, bit of a mouthful.

The first few days no where in Basse had any Julbrew but we did sample a Gambian guiness and then the julbrew arrived so we spent a few nights in the Nigerian bar run by Victor and also discovered that they sell sachets of gin and whisky here, an exciting discovery!

We spent a few evenings also playing petanque in the street with Lynne and Tom, as tom is a bit of a champion petanque player. Just missing the qualification for the English team apparently. It was fun. Kate was better than me to be fair. She was good at getting the close balls but I did develop quite a good smash technique.

By Friday we were fairly shattered. The next day we made our way back to Soma. Firstly in a sept place.( A car with seven places). This was very uncomfortable, with me, Kate and big Gambia guy squashed in the back. We had to get out of the car to cross on the ferry at Bansang which was a relief and then we went all the way to Farafenni where we crossed on another bigger ferry. Bit of a problem at Farafenni when we got a call from Jim. Some guy just phoned me from your phone, you’ve left it in the taxi. So my phone is now in Barra police station where the guy kindly took it. He was a Gambian but lived in Leeds and was just visiting family here. So eventually we arrived back in Soma safely minus a phone.

On the Sunday we braved Soma market which was quite good fun. The ladies were fun and were pleased that we were practising our Mandinka. The food situation isn’t great here though. Each stall was selling practically the same thing, that is potatoes, onions, shrivelled up aubergine and a few, extremely small tomatoes. Very different from being in the Kombo where you can get everything. We have a minimarket that sells powdered milk, tea, coffee, tinned mackerel, biscuits and soft drinks. The only fruit you can get is oranges and bananas. The other day I dreamed about eating scones with jam and cream!

We have seen a bit more of the peace corps people. We got invited to a going away party for Lisa's twin sister that her nursing students were hosting. Her sister had only been here a week but they wanted to give her a send off. It was good fun, the students were really enjoying themselves, they each did turns, telling jokes and doing skits and dancing. We had baobab juice and popcorn and also an alternative attaya with condensed milk and lots of sugar. This was really nice. It went on until dark and then we walked back.

About 8 of the peace corps are coming to us on Thursday to cook dinner for Jacob's birthday and then on Friday we go to Janjanbureh to see Pete and Liz. We were contemplating going to the Kombos but we have to pay for accommodation so we are not sure whether we can afford it. It will be good to have a change of scenery from Soma anyway xx L

Now we have completed our first week at week. At least Kate completed but I was struck by my first bout of gastro. Not very pleasant at all especially when you have to go outside to the pit latrine several times a night and the batteries in your torch have run out and then your bed collapses beneath you. These are the times where you think what an earth am I doing here. Apart from still not being able to eat much apart from biscuits I am on the mend and today Kate and I wiled away some hours. We played hangman, and squares and cards and then to kill a bit more time we took all our body measurements. Kate was most aggrieved that since she last measured in the Kanifing house the only measurement that had gone down was 1 cm off her waist.

The week in work was interesting, meeting all the different characters in the office and trying to size them up. We spent one day at a workshop on English grammar. Its fair to say that the Gambian teachers had a better grasp on English grammar than either Kate or I did. The eight parts of speech etc. They do like to argue about the smallest details though. Anyway just spent ages trying to get some downloads that will make the west wing dvds that Kate gave me work on my computer.

Yesterday was the last day of motorbike training. Big sigh of relief from all, especially Kate. We all made a pact that we were going to go with bravery in our hearts and try to impress Salifou. But it followed a similar pattern really. First of all I managed to very nearly mow down an ancient cyclist who just rode across the road straight in front of me. I missed him by not very much at all. Then we made the hair raising jouney through Serrekunda market. You really need your wits about you as there seem to be no traffic laws or protocol, it's very much every taxi, tuk tuk, man, goat or donkey for himself. At one point we managed to get jammed into the side by a water truck spraying the roads and got absolutely drenched. When we stopped Kate yanked off her helmet and exclaimed to Salifou " But Lucy nearly died so many times on that journey" After that perilous start we got to the off road section of the trip at which point things got much worse.

It really is very scary riding through sand when your motorbike is slipping and sliding and wobbling and you feel like you are going to fall but you know you just have to keep going. A few times I very nearly crashed into the back of Liz and at one point I ground to a halt and managed to drop my bike and add a few fresh bruises to my legs which are quite an array of colours at the moment.

Kate had another freak out at Salifou when he helpfully suggested that she should try not to ride in the sand! There was some choice language and again he tried unsuccessfully to pacify her. We did 10 k on the off road bit through several little villages. Finally we got to the tarmac road. This was the best part of the ride. We got the bikes up to 50 - 60 k and rode about 22 kilometres along the coast. This was really good fun and we managed to end the training on a high note. Salifou seemed pleased with us and even said I think me and Kate will become good friends now the training is over!

So our 4 week training period is at an end. We have run out of gas in the house so we have to eat out or at the bitikos for the remainder of the time. Our shopping trip was quite successful yesterday and now I seem to have more household equipment than I have at home in Wales. We had a text from Kanti in Soma saying looking forward to you both getting here. It's very lonely. I think we will both be glad to get there and unpack and sort ourselves out. We start work on Thursday. Our first day is meeting everyone in the office and then we have to be introduced to the important people in the community like the alkola and the district police chief and all that and then we go out to do some school visits. Me and Kate have agreed that we will go the closest schools first as the motorbiking is still quite new. Pete and Liz hit the ground running when they get to Janjanbureh. The week after they arrive they have been roped into helping deliver a week long course in Basse which is 80k from Janjanbureh, for 250 teachers on early reading. There are only four of them delivering it.

The blog might be a bit more intermittant now as Soma isn't so well equipped in terms of internet but keep emailing because I look forward to hearing from everyone. We are having a final day at the beach today which will be nice. Lots of love. Hope everything at home is well. xxx

Then there were four

So we are down to four in the Kanifing house now. Kanti and Phil left today for their placements. Pete's counting down the days until he leaves. The big brother house as is his idea of hell. The motobiking mayhem has begun and now nearly ended and guess who fell off! I'm not the only one though as all of us apart from Peter have taken a tumble. My downfall was the deep sandy street that our instructor Salifou took us to which we had to hare up and down in third gear, except going anywhere even in first and second gear was a near impossibility. Salifou's technical advice was open the throttle, look where you're going and have bravery in your heart. Kate and Liz tried it but kept getting stuck but they made it without falling off. Even Pete the experienced biker found it hard. Cockney Jim was the best. He did it really well and his advice was " Babe just up the revs and floor it down there." I got most of the way up the street, slipping and sliding everywhere hanging on for dear life and then all of a sudden I was on the floor with my leg trapped underneath the motorbike and some concerned locals rushed over to extricate me. My leg is a bit black and blue but I was fine. I was more concerned that I had broken the bike. Kate spent most of the day in tears with Salifou trying to pacify her. As soon as we got in the 70 dalasi ginn made an appearance in order to calm our shattered nerves. It didn't help that everywhere we went we drew a rather sizeable crowd of curious school children.

Today was riding up hills and hill starts. Salifou thought it couldn't get any worse than yesterday but he was wrong. First on the way to the place where we were going to practise the hill starts Liz managed to fall off. Then we all looked at the size and condition of the hill and looked at each other in horror. He wanted us to do it first sitting and then standing and then stop half way up and do a hill start. The hill start was where cockney Jim had probably the most spectacular fall yet. He careered up the hill, lost control, did a bit of a wheelie and ploughed through a potato field eventually falling into the potatoes. He emerged with a cut leg and some bruises saying "don't worry man I'm fine." At this point Kate freaked out and starting shouting at Salifou whose exasperation by now had reached a new level. " But all the other volunteers could do this." I was supposed to go next and Salifou came and said to me with great uncertainty in his voice. " You want to try Lucy?" and looked mightily relieved when I rode up the hill and back down again without incidence. He decided to abandon the hill start with all of us though. He just kept shaking his head I don't think he knew quite what to do.

We then rode to the golf course and got shouted at because they were too busy to have us hareing up and down the fareways. So then we rode to the beach and were supposed to go riding on the beach but the tide was in. At this point Salifou couldn't bear it any longer so we rode back to the centre weaving in and out of gele geles and taxis and people and goats. Scary!
Tomorrow we are going for a trail ride so his parting advice to us was. Make sure you come in tomorrow with some confidence. I'm not sure that's going to happen though!

Our departure to Soma has been put off until Tuesday which gives us a bit more time to shop.
We went to the high commission to have a talk by the high commissioner and deputy high commissioner. We brainstormed all the trouble that we could possibly get into and then they reassured us with the fact that they probably wouldn't do anything about it if we did get into trouble because it would probably be our own fault. On a positive note they did say that they would invite us to a party for the royal gibraltar regiment. At which point I happened to glance at Kate whose eyes positively lit up!