Bye Bye Marielle

On Sunday we were woken by heavy rainfall this was a welcome relief as it was so hot yesterday. Abigail and Bradley decided to put on their bathing costumes and venture outside with umbrella in hand. Once the rain had stopped we made our way to the Butchers Shop Restaurant for brunch this was a thank you from Mr’s Clarke (Zenith’s head teacher). Paul had helped with sorting out a Science exam for year 5 and then helped with the marking of the papers. When we arrived there was another table of peace corp volunteers already there, it is very good value on a Sunday so seems to be used by them quite a lot. An hour later Kate, Lucy and Kanti turned up so we pushed another table to ours and sat together. We ate a fried breakfast and then helped ourselves to the buffet lunch. In between we played dominoes and uno before leaving just after 2 o’clock.

On Monday we invited Max and Marielle over for dinner as a final leaving meal for Marielle. She will be going back to the Netherlands on Thursday. I decided to feed the children earlier as the curry I had cooked was a bit too spicy for them. Marielle arrived with a large bag full of some of the things which she was leaving behind. Wrapping paper, cups and clothes I am sure we will find a use for them. We ate popodoms and pickles followed by the curry and rice. We drank lager and chatted until after nine which is when they left for home.

A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY TO BIG SIS LYNNE!
On Wednesday it was the last day of term for Abigail and Bradley this meant we had to pick up their reports and speak to the teachers. Paul was unable to attend due to a VSO conference which he had been attending yesterday and today. I arrived just before 9 o’clock and first spoke to Abigail’s form teacher who also takes them for English. She was very pleased with Abigail’s improvement this term although she did comment on her still being very quiet in class. I looked through some of her work and then spoke to the Maths teacher who was also pleased with Abigail’s work. We were given all of her books and exam papers to take away with us. We then went to see Bradley’s teacher in Reception 2, she was very pleased with Bradley’s performance and had no issues with him going into reception 3 in September. Her comments were he is a very bright boy and in the short time of him being in reception 2 he has done some excellent work.

On the evening we were invited to Max’s he had organised a leaving party for Marielle. We arrived at around 6 o’clock. There were already a couple of Gambians there a lady who used to work in the VSO office she left just before we arrived in August and a man who is a musician and plays in a bar at Palma Rima. Lucy, Kate, Phil and Kanti arrived shortly after us followed by Rachel and the other Philippinoes. We chatted and ate crisps and pizza then once the football match had finished Max sang a few songs on his guitar. We left just after 9 o’clock saying our good byes to Marielle. Every one was planning to make a night of it by going to Churchill’s bar for a bit of Karaoke.

On Thursday Paul had arranged to meet Alpha. Paul had set up a meeting with a company called Asset who offer help and advice on setting up a small business. They also had a meeting at Western Tours before arriving back home at midday for an omelette lunch. Then at 2 o’clock we went to meet Mick and Jenny the bee keepers for some advice on bee keeping. They have been living in Bakau since January as they are getting a house rebuilt on a plot of land at Lamin. We arrived at Bakau market and phoned Mick so we could meet and go on to his compound. Once at the compound it didn’t take Abigail and Bradley long before they were running about with Teo, Mia and a little Gambian girl chasing the cat and playing on a rope swing. We chatted for a couple of hours and looked at some of the hives which they are looking at doing trials with. Before leaving for home we invited Mick and Jenny around for lunch on Sunday.

On Friday we spent the afternoon at the Safari Garden pool. Paul came up later he has taken some of this week off as holidays as he has been busy for the last two weeks invidulating exams. This has proved to be another farce for him as a volunteer as he was rotared in for 15 exams and the rest of the maths team were only doing 7 each. Mr Coroteh had organised the rota for the exams, you may remember this is Paul’s boss in charge of the maths department who he had a bit of a falling out with in Mansa Konka. It seems the rota favoured more the Gambian lecturers and more work was passed onto the VSO volunteers hence why Paul decided to take some time out. Paul left Safari Garden around 4 o’clock to go to Yundum as he is now coaching some scouts to play rugby along with Bio on a Friday afternoon. We packed up and set off home for dinner, it was surprising at how much sun we had caught we were all a bit sunburnt.

End Of Term Party

On Wednesday it was party day for the pupils at Diana Mariam as it was the last day of term. The children arrived in their party clothes most of which were European in style, I was surprised at the heels some of the children were wearing. The music had been organised by Mr Conoteh and the children were soon up dancing. The year one, two and three pupils put on a dance performance which they have been learning. Then at break time the children brought out on large platters or in bowls some food from home. They sat down to eat and share with others their food. I gave everyone a cake bun which I had baked yesterday as my contribution to the day. We rounded off the day with a game of musical chairs for the various years. The pupils paraded round the chairs swinging their hips to the music it was more like being on a catwalk.

Mr Conateh

On Thursday it was my last day at work the other teachers were busy placing the children’s books in neat piles ready for their parents to pick up and take home along with their school report. By 1 o’clock most of year one parents had been so I set off to pick up Abigail and Bradley from school. I have been picking up Abigail at the same time as Bradley as they haven’t been doing any work this week due to report writing by the teachers so she has been very bored. As I left Diana Mariam Mary asked me to call back as she had something for me. When I arrived back Mary gave me my wages and a lilac embroided skirt and top as a thank you which was very nice. We spent the rest of the day waiting for parents to turn up finally at 4.30pm we ate some fish benechin and chicken. Some music was put on and we were told we had to dance before leaving. With much coaching from Mr Ndoy everyone finally got up for a little dance including me before we finally left for home.

Graduation Day

This week has been the opposite to last week, very busy especially owing to the fact that we had to spend two nights at Safari Garden. It was Paul’s birthday on Wednesday so we were up early to hand over some presents, leather flip flops and elephant tie die trousers then off he went to work. The children accompanied me to school as it is the National Gambian Exams for the older children so they are off school today and tomorrow. When we arrived home some guys were there laying a new pipe for our toilet. We have been having problems with smells and standing water when we flush we were told it is possibly blocked due to roots. Luckily we didn’t have any issues with smells as they did the work we just made sure we entered the house from the side door. When Paul arrived home the work men had left so he went to check on the job. He suddenly came storming in and told me to keep the children inside. He then told me that the workmen had only smashed up the old pipe and scattered it in the compound near to our door. The issue with this was that the pipe was an asbestos pipe so very dangerous when disturbed. Paul decided to remove the pipe and then took it up to the office in such a rage. They didn’t believe it was an issue as not really clued up into the effects of asbestos. With much persuasion and looking up on the internet to update them on the risks they decided to do a risk assessment and phoned London VSO office emergency phone line. Would you believe there was no answer, they finally got an answer on the usual office number and were told that the emergency line was not manned due to the football however she would get in touch with someone and phone us back. Hadi the office director suggested we stay at Safari Garden for a couple of nights whilst the issue was sorted. This ruined our evening plans of birthday cake and DVD better to be safe than sorry though, after we finished dinner we packed a few clothes and walked the short distance. We checked into our room and whilst doing so received a call from VSO London. The children thought it was great to be back at the Safari Garden and were straight in the pool staying there until we put them to bed at 8 o’clock in the evening.

On Thursday after school I had to pop home for a few more clothes I entered then opened the side door for Abigail and Bradley. I noticed fresh sand had been laid in the compound near our door. Paul then arrived with Hadi and Ebrima they finally decided to cement over the area to make it safe. We spent the rest of the day at the Safari Garden pool. The weather was a bit overcast so I had a quick dip in the pool then changed and sat reading. On the evening Courtney decided to do a last minute get together for everyone which solved our issue of cooking. We arrived just before 7 o’clock and were introduced to Rachel’s boyfriend who is over from Australia visiting for a month. We ate a very nice variety of vegetarian dishes as Courtney is vegetarian.

I had managed to sleep much better than last night so we were all up and in the pool for a quick dip before 7 o’clock. We then went for breakfast the sky was overcast and looked like rain. I quickly decided to leave so as to get to work before the rain. Paul would take the children to school and then drop our clothes back at home. As I neared the war cemetery the heavens opened and by the time I had got to the school my skirt was soaking wet even with the use of an umbrella. The rain continued for about two hours and I felt rather chilly having gotten wet. When I picked up the children they said they didn’t get to school until after nine as they waited until it had eased off. On the evening we had arranged for Amy and Emily to baby-sit. Abigail and Bradley were really looking forward to this I decided to make them all a pizza and some popcorn for them to have with a DVD. Paul was very late home as they have been invidulating exams at the college also he had waited for Tom to arrive at Brikama and travelled back with him. Tom will be staying at John’s again until he leaves on Sunday. We finally arrived at the restaurant just before 8 o’clock we had decided to have an Indian meal at the Jewel of India at Senegambia. A couple of hours later we were ready to leave after a lovely lamb and fish curry. Being in the Senegambia area there are more bumsters and it didn’t take long before we received the usual come and look at my shop routine. As we got in our car a guy then came up to us saying he was security for the car park, it was obvious he was trying to get money from us for parking the car. Paul asked him where his ID was to which he replied back in the office, this guy had no uniform on just jeans and football shirt Paul laughed and we drove off. As we left the Senegambia area Paul decided to pullover at one of the tourist police checkpoints. After explaining to the police man he asked us to take him to the car park. The youth was pointed out and eventually after a big discussion with him and his friends he was placed in our car for us to take him and the police man to the office for further questioning. Paul put over his side of the story to the sergeant on the desk which the youth denied it even being him he had since put on a hat to hide his dreadlocks. After an hour and an officer turning up as well as the youth’s boss they were taken into a back room. Twenty minutes later the youth left followed shortly behind by Paul. Paul had dropped the charges and the youth had been reprimanded with the view that they were now watching him. I would say this is the first time I have felt a little unsafe here in The Gambia especially when the youth got in our car behind me even though the police man sat next to him. I had a few choice words to say to Paul about this.

Today we were up early as we have been invited to the graduation day at the college for the university and college students. Amy and Emily arrived as they are also going, would you believe it the car wouldn’t start so we had to make the trip by gelleh. Once at the college we went to the VSO staff office Anne arrived with Secco her husband. Anne is going to be in the procession which Paul and Amy should also be in but decided to just sit and watch. We took some books from the office to amuse the children and then found some seats quite close to the front. The Chinese, American and British high commissioners were seated close to us. Paul had the pleasure of the British commissioner coming over to chat to him. We then waited and waited the procession of students and teachers finally started and went on and on as they were all seated, well over an hour. Then the president arrived and we all had to stand to attention. The next two hours were taken up by speeches as the new university chairman was enrolled. Amy and Emily decided to make a break for home and thirty minutes later we did the same as Abigail and Bradley were getting bored. It was good to see but it was obvious it was going to go on for a long time, I later found out it was gone 7 o’clock before it finished.

British High Commisioner

Anne

Mr Touray (Diana Mariam)

President Ya Ya Jammeh

England v Algeria

We have had a quiet week this week, on Thursday we entertained Tom with a curry dinner. Tom will be leaving for the UK on Sunday 27th so he brought some of his luggage down to Marielle’s so as to lighten the load. He was staying at Marielle’s tonight however the offer of staying in John’s house was a much easier option. Tom will be travelling back up to Basse tomorrow as he is organising a big presentation which is to be held next Thursday before he leaves.

On Friday we met up with Amy and Emily at the Comin local bar to watch the England v Algeria game. Abigail enjoyed wearing her England hat and had decided to wear some red and blue colours. As far as the game goes what a load of rubbish what more can I say doesn’t look as if we will be winning any cup.