Touch Rugby

We were up early as Paul had a busy day today we first went to La Parisienne to make our usual phone calls and check our emails. Paul has then arranged a meeting with Maurice at Safari Garden for 10.00am re a project he is hoping to do whilst out here so Abigail and Bradley went with him whilst I went home to make dinner. On the afternoon Paul went off to meet a Gambian guy who is president of rugby, Paul he is hoping to get a team together. When Paul arrived home he quickly changed and we all went to Leybato beach as Paul was playing touch rugby. I was quite surprised at how many women were playing and also the different age groups within the teams. The beach was very busy with Gambians playing football or doing their usual training of press ups and running.

It didn’t take long for Bradley to end up in the sea fully clothed playing with a little girl. We chatted to Danny who stopped playing half way through due to nursing a sore head, hangover from the Diwali evening. We set off for home having to take Bradley’s shorts off as they kept on falling down. Abigail suddenly pointed to the sky saying is that a bat, Paul and I looked up saying no. We continued to watch noticing that they had a very different wingspan to a bird and we realised they had no tail feathers it was then we agreed that they were large fruit bats. Abigail was very interested in them and wants to go out to watch them again one night.

Shell Shells And More Shells

The rest of the gang have gone of to Makasuto Reserve, we decided to go at a later date as we have been invited to a Diwali evening tonight at Senegambia resort. So we spent a quite morning before walking to the beach at 2.00pm. Paul continued on as he was meeting Greg and Danny in a bar at Palma Rima to watch the Liverpool game. It’s a relief to Paul that a few of the male volunteers support Liverpool, Paul, Greg, James and the other Paul who is located in Kerrewan so quite a fan club.

Adam came to say hello but was too busy at the market helping to wash some of the cloth and clothes at his cousins stall getting them ready for the tourist season, so he didn’t spend as much time with Abigail and Bradley as normal. The children busied themselves at the waters edge collecting more shells I think we will need a suitcase alone to bring them back to England. I started reading the Roots book which Jenny had bought me for my birthday. Having now lived here for a couple of months in The Gambia I can relate to some of the aspects within the book very true to life here. I decided to put my sun bed down so I could lay on my stomach and ended up trapping my finger which gave me a nasty cut which took ages to stop bleeding. On the way home we called at the craft market to say goodbye to Adam on which he produced a coconut for us and a bracelet which he had made for me on seeing this Abigail thought it was lovely so no doubt he will make her one for next time we are there. By the time I got home my finger was like a fat sausage and very painful, I washed and sprayed it with some antiseptic then covered it with a plaster so it could nit together without me catching it and causing the wound to open up.

Big Beautiful Shells

Diwali Evening

We showered and dressed, Abigail and Bradley would be having a very late evening, and made our way to the Indian restaurant where we were shown inside to a private room. On the wall was a large plasma screen which was playing loud pop bollywood music. Eventually some more VSO Volunteers arrived and joined us, there was around a hundred guests including the British High Commissioner and other volunteers from Peace Corps, UN and MRC (Medical Research Centre). The owner thanked us for coming and the evening began however the only music and dancing we were going to see was on the plasma screen.

The waiters came around with trays of Indian buffet food, onion bhaji’s, samosas, fish, prawns and chicken in breadcrumbs of which Bradley was very happy to try and enjoy. As well as giving us an endless supply of free alcohol, soft drinks, or powerful fruit cocktails. Paul went over to have a chat to the high commissioner of which he was very surprised when he remembered him by name. They chatted about rugby the high commissioner being a big fan and a couple of emails Paul had sent him. Abigail and Bradley were very tired by this time so fell a sleep on the seats. We stayed until 11.00pm and then carried Abigail and Bradley to the car placing them on Chris and Melanie’s knees as we had offered them a lift back to the volunteer house. Chris and Melanie are a newly arrived married couple from Canada who will be going up country to Basse next Thursday to take up their roles as physiotherapists.

Dinner with Emily

A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RYAN & LEWIS

When Paul arrived home from work we drove in the car to Palma Rima which is just around Kotu Point. We parked up and walked along the beach as usual having the odd local bumster asking us if we wanted some juice or showing us jewellery to buy. We eventually arrived at the Senegambia Hotel there were quite a few people sat on the sun beds so the tourist season is picking up, we then turned around and walked back. On the way home we stopped of at Mains shopping centre to get a few bits, they seem to cater more for ex pats so they do have quite a good selection of cheese, ham and meat on display and some items are much cheaper than the shops on Kariba Avenue.

We have invited Emily over for dinner, so I set about warming up the beef stew I had cooked earlier, putting the rice onto boil, and making an eve’s pudding by stewing a couple of mango’s instead of apples. Because I had no dish to put it in I ended up using one of the pans, hoping it will turn out okay. Emily arrived along with Paul who was just returning from a quick run. She had brought a bottle of wine for dinner (the first we have had since arriving here) and some chocolate biscuits for the children which they were pleased with. I had to delay the dinner as the eve’s pudding just didn’t seem to be cooking however I turned the heat up a bit more and it did eventually rise. We ate dinner enjoying seconds of the eve’s pudding which was yummy with the mango’s I will definitely be making it again. After a couple of games of Uno we put Abigail and Bradley to bed and then sat and chatted.

Emily is a Paediatric Doctor working in Banjul at the Royal Victoria Hospital which has been quite an experience for her to see young children dying each day from malaria or malnutrition. She told us of one occasion she had finished her shift only to have a very under nourished child come in so unlike the Cuban Doctors who left (and are earning more than her) she stayed and tried to get a needle into the child’s already collapsed veins and spent an evening watching the child only to have the child die later that night very sad. Paul then walked Emily onto Kariba Avenue where it was lighter for her to make her way home.

Timbooktu Book Store

Last night we received a call from Awa to say she was unable to come today as she was unwell with malaria so I set about washing and hanging out the clothes before setting of to La Parisienne. The internet was very slow I only managed to get one days worth of blog updated however I did post a lot of photos, will try again tomorrow.

On picking Abigail up from school we headed for Timbookto Book Store, we spent nearly two hours in there looking at the children’s books and getting some information on Gambian Wildlife. They both choose a book each, Abigail picked an African story book to add to her collection and Bradley picked Mr Busy. I also managed to get some ideas for presents for Abigail’s birthday so will have to call back again with Paul.

On arriving back at home I set about making a pizza only to receive a phone call from Tom and Lynne to say they were at the traffic lights with the view to call in. I thought I had explained where we lived however Tom called back for directions so I went outside the compound to find them, they were a little further up the street so I waved and finally attracted their attention. After showing them around I made a cup of tea, Tom played with the children reading stories and playing hide and seek whilst I finished making the pizza with Lynne chatting to me. They are leaving to go up country to Basse on Friday which is where they will be based, we have accepted an invitation to stay with them at some time in the future. Paul arrived an hour later so we chatted for a while before they left for home.

Timbooktu Book Store

Senegal Coucal

Whist sat in the compound updating my blog, I heard a couple of bird sounds which I didn’t recognise on investigating it was a pair of Senegal Coucal’s I did manage to get a photo however not very good as you can see as they were too far in the trees.

Paul had another strange experience on his way to work this morning, he decided to use the Gelleh Gelleh he found a seat next to a young girl. He then started to read a book about the history of The Gambia as he was about to turn the page the girl stopped him by holding down the page of the book so she could finish reading it. Paul then turned over and continued reading and got to the end of the page and went to turn back to the previous page to recap only to have the book taken from him by the girl who then finished reading the page. She passed the book back to Paul saying it was a good book and asking him if she could have it. Paul explained to her it wasn’t his to give away as it was VSO property and she would be able to get it from the identification no on the cover. After a lot of confusion she finally accepted that Paul wasn’t going to give her the book and she jotted down the number of the book.