Dunes Hotel

This week has been a busy week preparing the children for their return to school as well as myself. On Monday Paul returned to the college to only half a class of students. Myself and the children set off early to walk to Dunes Hotel so I could use the internet to update my blog whilst Abigail and Bradley played in the pool. The walk took us past the Golf Course with a couple of pigs in the grounds then to the beach passing Fajara Craft Market. We took the road to Bungalow Beach Hotel which is now very much a small tourist resort as there were plenty of coaches, taxis and bumster touts offering their services. We then walked along the road and crossed over Kotu Bridge where we saw some more bird life luckily the bird guides left us alone. We continued on in land until we joined the small path which runs parallel with Senegambia highway before turning right down a sand track back towards the beach and Dunes Hotel. The walk was a pleasant stroll which took us just over forty five minutes. On arrival at Dunes the children quickly changed into their costumes to test out the water which proved to be rather cold at this time in the morning. I found a seat in the sun and managed to upload a good amount of my blog before joining the children for an afternoon around the pool. At 4 o’clock we packed up and walked up to the main Senegambia highway where I quickly called into Kariba shopping centre before jumping in to a taxi. Balancing Abigail and Bradley on my knees whilst holding on to two bags wasn’t easy, fortunately the driver didn’t complain when I produced the 5 dalasi for only one fare.

Wednesday morning was spent making one of Abigail’s Christmas craft presents painting on glass. The paint proved to be poor quality it just wouldn’t go onto the glass we eventually finished only for me the next day to knock it onto the ground which resulted in the paint falling off Oops, Abigail was not amused. After lunch we spent the day at Safari Garden bumping into James, Sam, Felix and Georgia who is currently off work as she has hurt her back yet again since returning from the UK. She had pulled a disc a month ago before going home for Christmas.

Thursday was back to school day for Abigail and Bradley and as suspected proved to be another tearful morning for Bradley. However when I picked him up he was full of beans as he had enjoyed playing with his friends Cediff and Patrick. As for myself I was also back at school, after a warm welcome by the year 1 children I joined Mr Jadama in year 2. The morning was spent with the children building sentences and drawing, I also spent some time getting together the items I had asked to be photocopied as I am hoping to teach some Jolly Phonics next week to year 1.

On Friday the morning was taken up with myself in year 1, Mr Jadama in year 2 and Mr Jow in year 3 as all the French teachers where away for the weekend on a training workshop. Mr Jadama prepared a few tasks for the children in year 1 to complete with myself overseeing. The morning was going well until Omadi decided to start fighting with Abdoulie who he sits next to. This resulted in some disruption to the class once separated and after a quick chat I told Omadi to stand outside the classroom until he had calmed down. After picking up Abigail and Bradley from school and lunch we made our way back to Dianna Mariam to meet with Cathy, she has agreed to come in to help with the teaching of the Jolly Phonics structure to the teachers and myself. Cathy started with teaching us the first group of letter sounds, actions and songs. We then made our own set of resources to help us in the classroom flash cards, jolly clock face and a set of family cards. We finished off around 4 o’clock with the view to return for workshop 2 tomorrow.

I was up early cooking our usual Saturday treat of pancakes, after breakfast I quickly had a very cold bucket bath as the water was off before leaving for the school. Cathy was all prepared with the day’s workshop, for the first hour we continued with the making of our resources until all the teachers had arrived. Eventually the workshop commenced with the next few groups of letter sounds being taught by now we were all enjoying singing along to the songs and doing the actions. Mary was busy in the corner putting our attempts onto film for further training opportunities. We then acted out the roles of children and played some of the games which complement Jolly Phonics. We broke for a turkey sandwich lunch provided by Mary and then we were back in the class room to make more resources, string joining, missing sound game, apple and fish game. We ended the afternoon with more letter sounds and revision of the previous letter sounds and songs. The day has been very enjoyable not only for me but I think also for the other teachers who were still busy making resources when me and Cathy left for home.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

The children were awake as usual at around 6.30am Paul dressed them and took them off for a walk whilst I tried to get some much needed sleep as I hadn’t slept all night. I was up and dressed laying in one of the beachside hammocks when they arrived back for breakfast. Whilst eating breakfast we saw numerous bird life Abigail keen to impress Sarah with her knowledge. Abigail then sat as a member of the staff called Abi plaited her hair, it may be sometime before she gets it done again as it took her over an hour. We changed into our costumes and had a dip in the sea, unfortunately there were no sun beds on the beach to lay out on. Whilst Bradley set about digging Abigail went further on up the beach she suddenly cried out, she had only stepped onto a washed up sea urchin so some spines had gone into her foot. With Paul carrying her we went to the restaurant and managed to get a needle and safety pin from one of the staff which we then sterilised with a lighted match. Alf had arrived back by this time so with Abigail laid on her tummy on a table and me trying to console her Alf and Paul set about trying to get the spines out. With the task completed and some tea tree oil antiseptic applied and Abigail a lot happier we ate a late lunch of fish benechin. By now it was passed 3 o’clock so we quickly changed and packed up and with Alf accompanying us we set off back to the car. Safely across the lagoon we got to the car only to have a flat tyre, luckily Paul had brought the pump so it was quickly sorted. With fingers crossed Paul turned the ignition key and the car spluttered he tried again and on the third try hey presto it started we all climbed in Alf sat in the front to give directions. On the way back he did comment that he thinks the tyre may have been let down on purpose which were also our own thoughts. Just before the main road we stopped as Alf wanted to show us his Batiks and we thought it was only fair after all his help. We were introduced to a couple of guys and offered Atiya tea and peanuts and shown the batiks and ceremonial Kankurang head dress which Bradley decided to put on, they also entertain the tourists with music and dance at the centre. We parted company and set off for the ferry terminal buying our ticket we managed to get straight onto a waiting ferry and across the river all within an hour would you believe it after yesterday’s performance my faith in Africa was restored. We had a nice surprise when we arrived back home as Tom and Lynne had cooked us a chicken casserole for dinner before they left John’s house to stay at Mariella’s.

What a Journey to Jinack Island

A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KAYLEIGH!!

Today we are setting off for our stay on Jinack Island, we were up bright and early hoping to avoid the ferry crossing rush, we bought our ferry ticket just before 8.00am and were told we would have a twenty minute wait so we pulled up behind other queuing vehicles. As we waited some 4x4’’s were waved a head of us through the terminal gates and onto the ferry. By 9 o’clock Paul asked some of the terminal staff what the hold up was and he was told that they were cleaning the ferry so there would be a slight delay. Then a 4x4 cut in front of us in the queue Paul went to challenge the driver upon which he produced an official document stating unhindered passage to Senegal. The three vehicles in front of us were waved through the barriers and terminal gates along with a few lorries and gelleh’s, we were now at the front of the queue so we thought hey we will be on the next ferry. No such luck the time went by as other official cars were waved through. Midday came and went with us still waiting at the terminal gates Paul went to investigate again and he was told a ferry had broken down so only two were in use. I was getting very frustrated and thinking we should maybe turn back for home, we made the decision to sit it out. We witnessed more heated arguments as official vehicles continued to queue jump, we were told it is useful to know somebody at the port who can help you to get on the ferry quicker. Paul spoke to a guy who was the assistant manager he was very apologetic that we had waited so long and said he would get us onto the next ferry. He then waved through another couple of official cars one apparently was late for his flight from Dakar and the other was attending a funeral yeah right. Finally we were waved through the terminal gates to the dock side where again we had a thirty minute wait. We watched as the cargo was unloaded by the porters onto carts, woman balancing three to five litre tubs on their heads with babies tied to their backs, cows and goats and finally the vehicles. We were waved onto the ferry after a six hour wait and set off only to be stopped to re dock to pick up a guy with a briefcase, unbelievable. After alighting and stopping for water we set off on the Senegal road only to miss the turning for Jinack Island as it wasn’t signposted. A young guy showed us the road for Jinack Island I jumped out and Paul took the guy back to his friends. The road was very sandy however Paul and the children were loving it you would think we were in a rally car race with blind corners of undergrowth and the back end of the car skidding out. We suddenly hit a very sandy area and the car stuck with the wheels spinning however luck was on our side as in the distance a land rover came into view. Three guys jumped out and with the driver behind our car wheel he got us out of the sand by driving through the undergrowth, good job the car is an old banger. Then one of the guys Alpha offered to show us the way to the island which we accepted in case we needed another push out of the sand. With Paul again behind the wheel and Alf showing us the best tracks to take we rallied around the bends with the accelerator on and the front end of the car hitting sand bumps which was coming through the air vents. We suddenly came to the end of the track at a small lagoon, Paul parked up then tried to reverse for a better position, the car had died on us he couldn’t get any gears engaged, what a day. We decided to sort out the car tomorrow and Alf offered to call the guy with the land rover to meet us and take a look as he is a mechanic. Whilst I chatted to some local children who were collecting what looked like whelks from the lagoon Paul agreed a price for us to cross the Niji Balon lagoon to the island in one of the canoes which was an extortionate 100 dalasi each way.

At the other side we then had a thirty minute walk to the lodge which took us through a couple of villages, ankle deep through a dirty stagnant swamp and fields of Marijuana. Apparently it is grown here quite openly as the main crop and because the island has a history and folklore of spirits and taboos officials don’t visit. We arrived at the beachside lodge and collapsed into the chairs and asked for a couple of julbrew's and soft drinks for the kids and Alf. We arranged to meet tomorrow with Alf so we could sort out the car situation. We were shown to our idyllic reed walled lodge consisting of a double bed and two singles, no electricity and attached outside washing facilities which consisted of a bucket of water and drainage hole. The shared flushing toilets were situated in another area of the grounds however there was no water facilities so you had to use a bucket of water. After a quick bucket bath, change of clothes and walk around the grounds passing the chef who was of for a swim we went back to the restaurant to await our evening meal. Then Sarah one of the three guests who were staying at the resort appeared with first aid kit in hand, apparently the chef had stepped on a weaver fish and had spines in his foot very painful, you have to laugh or cry what else can happen today. With the spines out of his foot and pain killers taken our limping chef managed to serve us our dinner. As night time came the staff lit halogen lamps and situated them around the grounds which looked very nice. We even witnessed a partial eclipse of the moon through Bob’s telescope and he then aligned it to show Abigail and Bradley Jupiter with its four moons. Shortly after the children were tired so it was off to bed whilst we chatted to Bob, Sarah and John. We decided to wait for midnight to watch the fireworks which were to be lit at Senegambia and Banjul. The president had arranged a music festival in Banjul followed by a firework display. Just before midnight the fireworks were lit at Senegambia and at about ten past midnight the presidents fireworks were lit late as usual. Well that’s the end of another year and what a day to end it on with all the frustrations and corruption at the ferry terminal.