Oh I do feel ill never again as the saying goes. This afternoon I spent some time trying to get the orange food colouring out of Abigail and Bradley’s hair having to resort to using lemon juice. Unfortunately it hasn’t worked so Bradley looks as if he has strawberry blonde hair luckily Abigail only has a few streaks.

Pirang Forest

After a couple of days spent close to home we decided to visit another forest situated at Pirang which is further on passed Brikama. Tom had decided to enjoy the trip with us leaving Lynne behind with back problems. We arrived early however did have some difficulty finding the track from the road as usual in Africa not sign posted for Pirang Forest. After quick directions from a local in a long coat bearing in mind this is the winter season to them we were in shorts and t-shirts we came of road and headed off down a track eventually arriving at a building which was the start of the forest. We set off walking along a well used track through some forest which then opened out into fields which the locals were busy working in. We were welcomed by them to take a look and could see healthy plants of Aubergine and bitter tomatoes growing. Tom and Paul decided that to visit the forest we would have to go off track and into the undergrowth so we jumped over a low wire fence and found a used single track. The track twisted and turned amongst the trees and bushes Tom occasionally placed an arrow on the floor so we knew which way we had come. As we were trying to find another path as ours had come to a dead end we noticed some locals so picked our way through and found a good path which came out to more vegetable fields. I watched one young girl bringing up water for the fields from a well by a bucket tied with string. We went back in the forest and bumped into three teenage boys all carrying machetes and asked them which way to the river, they decided to guide us there. After a good thirty minutes and crossing mangrove swamps we came into view of the river bank, Bradley had managed to get a carry most of the way by one of the young boys. We then turned back towards the car along a well used village track which took us through fields on either side and village compounds as well as the odd goat on route looking for a meal. Finally at the car we thanked the boys handing them some oranges and biscuits as well as a small tip.

The River Gambia

Medical Research Centre

We were up early as Paul needed to be at MRC with Bradley early so he left just before 7.00am, the plan was for me to follow after I had taken Abigail to school. I arrived at the MRC gate and gained access by the security guard as he has seen Paul and Bradley earlier on. When I was in the grounds I was surprised at how many people were either sat or laying on seats or on the floor waiting to be seen. Apparently the guards give out 250 tickets each day for new patients however patients turn up from 4.00am in the morning so it is on a first come first served basis luckily we had the referral letter. After asking around I was eventually shown where Paul and Bradley were, we sat and waited. Finally we were taken into the room to see the Doctor, by now quite a lot of Bradley’s rash had gone down so I was glad that I had brought the camera with the photos we had taken. She asked a lot of questions then she suggested they do blood, urine and stool samples and asked us to call back on Thursday for the results. We were back home by 11.00am so Paul quickly changed and went off to work hoping he would make his 12.00pm meeting. All afternoon Bradley showed more improvements and by the evening the rash had practically gone.

Fajara Club

This morning Abigail and Bradley wanted to make a candle stick holder for Amy, so whilst I applied the polyfila they set about sticking on the shells, finally finished we cleared away and called at the bakers for some bread. Then after lunch we decided to visit the Fajara Club to use the pool and hopefully to join which we will know by Thursday if they are keeping the cheaper volunteer joining fee going otherwise it will be double the cost and too expensive for us. We were the only ones at the pool so the children enjoyed jumping in and playing with their woggle float. I managed to do some exercise by swimming twenty lengths of the pool which is a start although the pool is only about a quarter of the size of a standard pool back home. At 4.00pm we set off back home to have dinner, Paul arrived home then he quickly got changed as he has joined a running group called the Hash Harriers. The plan is for us all to go as a social evening as they meet each week at one of the bars or restaurants in the area sometimes for a meal, and the men go off for a run whilst the women and children chat and play. Paul is looking much trimmer with all his sport activities and the fact that he is not eating as much as usual, he has gone down a trouser size and has lost about a stone in weight. As for me my skirts are fitting me much better and I have managed to get into a dress which was too tight for me. When I last called at the VSO Office I jumped on some scales and it did show that I had lost about twelve pounds so life out here is doing us both some good.

On picking up Abigail with Bradley from school we went to Safari Garden as I have been promising them a dip in the pool for a week now. We bought some drinks and changed, the water was lovely and cool as it was another hot day. They played for a couple of hours before we finally headed for home. Whilst walking home through the streets it was very humbling to see a couple of Gambian kids using some imagination. They were playing horse’s galloping around with a branch between their legs and holding onto a piece of rope. We also saw a pretty black finch playing alongside a group of Red-Fire Finches and Cordon-Bleu’s.

Baby Sheep

Because the children were at school yesterday they have been given today as a day off, Paul took them out for a walk before leaving for college whilst I set about sweeping and mopping the floors. We ate lunch with the intention of going to the beach only to have the joiner turn up to fix one of the ceiling tiles which had collapsed due to getting wet when we had a leak in the roof. It was pointless me mopping this morning as by the time the joiner had finished there was muck all over the corridor, I quickly set about sweeping and mopping.

We set off for the beach Bradley running off a head as usual, on the way we saw a newly born sheep with a red ribbon round its neck the children insisting I took a photo of it. We stopped off at the Fajara Club to have a look around, pick up an entrance form and check on the prices. On enquiring about the volunteer price the receptionist said they have stopped that deal so they seem to have doubled in price as to when Jenny first enquired. Included in the price is the use of the pool which was not very big but was very nice, tennis courts, squash courts and golf course, however the gym was a separate membership.

We finally arrived at the beach at 2.30pm found a sun shade and we all went into the sea which was quite rough but Abi and Bradley enjoyed jumping over the waves. I read whilst the children made sand castles and played at the waters edge. We packed up after a couple of hours and set off for home, Bradley and Abigail upset that they didn’t see the baby sheep again.

Kariba Shopping Centre

After dropping the children off at school I decided to make my way to Kariba shopping centre by Gelleh Gelleh on my own. What a performance, I picked up the bush taxi only to realise I had got on the wrong one as it turned of the main road heading towards Serakunda. I quickly stopped the driver and got out cutting through a side street back to the main road I tried to get my bearings. I then shared a taxi with a very large woman and guy squashed between them on the back seat, very sweaty. I thought I had explained where I was going only to have the taxi driver detour off the main road yet again continuing down side streets with pot holes then around to Westfield Junction which was too far for me. Dropping both passengers off the taxi driver pointed to where the main road was, luckily he didn’t charge me anything for the ride so I walked back up the main road only to bump into Max, by this time I had had enough so I jumped in the taxi with Max and headed back home passing the Kariba shopping centre on the way and not spending a penny, I may try again tomorrow.

First Day at Brikama College

We were up early as it was Paul’s first day at the college l took the children off to school with a few tears and Paul left for college. Abigail had lost a bottom tooth this morning we thought it would have been her top tooth as it has been loose for some time. I spent the morning ironing and downloading photos onto the computer and renaming them. I was pleased that on picking Bradley up there were no tears and he was quite happy, he had been playing with a little boy called Patrick who had brought in some spidermen pencils. When we arrived home Paul was just pulling up in the car apparently the meeting which had been planned had been changed to Tuesday morning.

On his way home Paul had stopped to give some people a lift as their gelleh gelleh had broken down, he ended up with three men and a woman squashed in the back seat and a woman with a young baby in the front. He told the woman she needed to put on her seat belt as you can get a fine if not wearing it, so he tried discreetly to help her, only to find as they set off she wiped out her boob and started to feed her baby in true African style.

When Abigail arrived home she was excited that another bottom tooth had come out whilst eating her apple so the tooth fairy is going to be busy tonight. We went to the bank to withdraw some money and check that the money we had transferred from England had arrived which it had. Its ironic that on leaving England we checked with all the banks to see if they had connections in The Gambia which non of them did, however the GT Bank which we have chosen is all so linked to the HSBC bank.

Paul went off with Abigail to give the guy who is doing our Batik some money for materials, whilst I and Bradley went to buy some bread. We walked past the American Embassy choosing the pavement closest to the gates rather than waking right next to the busy road, we were suddenly stopped by a security guard saying we couldn’t walk there, I had quite a few choice words to say ridiculous being one of them. Even Paul and Max were moved on when they had stopped to talk on the opposite side of the road from the embassy.

Arriving back home at 5.00pm I set about making Chicken Yassa for dinner, we then had a couple of games of Uno as Abigail and Bradley are really starting to enjoy the game. We put them to bed not forgetting Abigail’s two teeth wrapped up in some toilet paper ready for the tooth fairy.

Cape Point

Today with it being a public holiday the streets are very quite, we decided to visit cape point area and found a lovely secluded beach with a couple of kingfishers darting in and out of the waves catching fish. Paul made the kids his famous sand sports car which they were happy playing in whilst we went in for a swim the water was so warm, not cooling at all. I suddenly pointed to a large fish about two foot long just behind Paul he turned and followed it up the beach trying to get it closer to shore, whilst I made an exit for shore as it looked to me like some sort of shark or cat fish. There was a young lad on the beach so we asked if he knew what fish it may have been he was unsure but said it would have been a good meal for us and couldn’t believe we had let it go. We ate a sandwich picnic enjoying the sunshine and were visited by a large cricket which landed on Paul’s flip flop, and stayed there most of the afternoon.

Pied Kingfisher

Sand Sports Car

We finally packed up and walked around to cape point where there are a few hotels and a lovely stretch of white beach with palm trees we will definitely have to come back as very beautiful. We set off back to the car disturbing a large monitor lizard which ran for cover into one of the hotel grounds and bumped into Emma, Courtney and Paul all kitted up in their motor bike gear must be very hot for them, they were looking for the rest of the gang.

Cape Point Beach

We showered and dressed then took the children off to school with quite a few tears on the way. Paul then headed of to Brikama college to meet up with Amy they had decided to have a tidy around in the office which has been put aside for VSO teachers, and to see what resources they have.

Bradley was upset yet again when I picked him up from school, I finally found out that he didn’t like practising the writing of his numbers as he couldn’t do 2 and 5, I told him we would practise when we got home. The teacher (Aunty Anna) also gave me an exercise book explaining that she would write in it each day what lessons Bradley had been taught and this then had to be signed and returned each day. Abigail seemed to have had a better day she had been taught some Maths, English and Music and had wrote down a couple of the songs one about an ostrich and the other about a bug, it was so they could practice their o’s and u’s.

Abigail woke up fine this morning a little bit of a cold, however Bradley had a case of The Gambian Gallops, I had to change him a couple of times so decided it was a good idea to spend the morning at home leaving Bradley to run around in his undies just in case. Set about washing some clothes, sweeping and mopping the floors, whilst the kids amused themselves with a jigsaw. We then had a quick trip to the bakers, supermarket and market stalls for a few bits, the cupboards are starting to look a little more stocked up on basic condiments etc, we had a lovely dinner of Spaghetti bolognaise. On arriving home Paul told us he had re looked at the Renault car and decided to go a head with the purchase and he has arranged for a mechanic to give it the once over hopefully nothing serious will require doing.

New Maid

On Monday we were introduced by John to Awo and her 11 month old daughter she is one of the maids used by the volunteers to wash their clothes and tidy around their houses and comes much recommended. After a week of trying to wash the clothes and not managing to get the stains out especially white t shirts we have decided a maid would be a good idea. We managed to come to an arrangement of every Wednesday for 700 dalasi per month plus 50 dalasi for travelling, about £20 per month, which is not a bad wage in Gambian terms.

Awo & Louise

Up bright and early for the pick up to the VSO Office to commence our In Country Training (ICT). After introducing us to the facilities and staff we spent most of the morning with Ebrima completing forms, medical form, emergency form, alien immigration form etc. He then took us to the immigration office, a small run down building with two rooms the main of which consisted of a bench to sit on and two table’s one with a typewriter. The eight of us could hardly fit in the office and sat squashed together on the bench awaiting the outcome. Ebrima handed over some money and one of the officers started typing, it was very informal with lots of laughs and joking going on, at the end of which I can now say I am an Alien!! The day’s ICT finished at 2.30pm, so managed to spend the rest of the day cooling off at the pool with Abigail and Bradley.

Immigration Office

Emily, Emma, Georgia, Paul & James