Tea time

On pretty much every street corner of the Kombos one can find a group of guys sitting around, relaxing and letting the day pass them by. If you’re lucky enough to befriend a few of them you can join in the regular ritual of ataya drinking – the local version of green tea. The locals use strong, affordable Chinese tea and then put in the pot about 5-6 spoons of sugar for each person drinking. The whole tea making/drinking process is, as you would expect from people with time on their hands, very drawn out. The tea is brewed about three or four times, and is then passed from glass to glass a couple more times (as is illustrated in the photo above). This creates a “bubbly effect”, which I’m told greatly enhances the flavour. The result is extremely tasty and certainly has an energy-giving kick. Another type of tea to add to my repertoire methinks!

Beginning at Work - I've just had my first couple of days at my new workplace, the Ministry of Education. First impressions are that I should have everything I need to be comfortable in my workplace – we have fans and internet (when the electricity is on), so relatively speaking I've done very well! On my first day I was taken around to meet all the staff and all the departments. I’m in a massive complex, so remembering everyone’s name will be a challenge (but very much expected! People look very disappointed if you forget, and will often get straight to the point – “hi Robert, do you remember my name?”). My new neighbours include the heads of curriculum for all the subjects in Gambia, so I have the pleasure of break time tests of my French language with the nationwide head of French! I hope to find out more about other intriguing departments such as Islamic Studies and Disability/Special Needs in the coming weeks. I’ll tell you more about my own particular role amongst all of this in the next blog post.

Set Setal – otherwise know as National Clean-Up Day [insert fanfare]. Yes, every last Saturday of the month, by order of the government, a full morning is dedicated to the clean-up of one’s house and neighbourhood. All the shops are closed and the roads can only be used by people with special permission. The result was an eerily quiet city centre, with all roads deserted and all shops boarded up. Everyone was indeed at home cleaning their compounds. Even the police, army and prison service got in on the act, cleaning up the highways of the city. In some ways Set Setal seems like a great initiative, forcing everyone to care for their neighbourhoods. I wonder how this would go down in other countries...

The Wedding Dancers – after doing my own bit of cleaning I was fortunate enough to be invited to a bride’s wedding celebration by a local Senegalese family. As the weather was positively stormy we all crowded into a small house for what turned out to be an evening of music and dance. Drummers drummed and the obligatory whistle-blowers whistled. It was an explosion of noise, which seemed to go on non-stop. A brief lull occurred when the bride entered the middle of the room – all the guests would come up and offer her money.

The rest of the evening revolved around people taking turns going into the middle of the room to dance. The dance was mainly done individually, and involved a variety of short movements. Of course yours truly was dragged in on the act, much to the amusement of everyone present, including one of the cleaners from work – much hilarity was had in the office the following Monday. I think my mix of Polish folk dancing and the African beat worked relatively well... The event was attended mostly by women (the bride’s family and friends), all dressed in their finest dresses. When dancing they produced a beautiful cocktail of swirling colours. After several hours we returned home, an evening well spent.

Lots of love from the fresh and newly cleaned capital of Gambia. A big hug to you all,

Robert

Lightning Strikes

We’re currently in the tail-end of the rainy season, and are getting treated to some really great light shows in the evenings. My compound has a roof terrace, so I’ve got a fantastic place to view the sky being lit up. I’ve never seen anything like it – there are strikes of lightning every 10-15 seconds, and from all directions. It really is impressive, I think I’ll be quite sad when the rain stops and we’ll just have normal skies! So, whilst I’ve been staring at the sky what has been on my mind?

Mr President – Otherwise known as President Jammeh (or his full title, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya Abdul-Azziz Jemus Junkung Jammeh Naasiru Dee). The President came to power after a coup in 1994, and now exerts great influence over most of Gambian life. His face is everywhere – on billboards, houses, bakeries(!) and on the television. Just recently I saw him cleansing people of evil spirits, and offering women fertility treatment – his power seemingly spreads into the spiritual sphere as well.

To find out more about President Jammeh have a quick look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahya_Jammeh. An interesting character I’m sure you’ll agree.

The Bumsters – a foreigner’s life in the Gambia is invariably touched at moments by the “bumsters”. Bumsters are Gambian men who use a variety of tactics to try to get money or assistance from foreigners. They mainly can be found on the beaches or the touristy areas of the city, and spend the whole day on the lookout for foreigners. Once one is in their sight they’ll start a friendly conversation, and will follow you for miles upon miles until either a). you’ve given them money or b). you’ve made it completely clear that you’re not interested in funding their education/hiring them as a guide (this may take several attempts!).

Bumsters are particularly keen to target women. Gambia is one of the centres for male prostitution in the world, with many Western middle-aged women coming over for a bit of fun with the young, muscular local men. The arrangement seems to work along the lines that the women enjoy the attention and the men receive money and sometimes even the chance to start a new life in the West. However, the nature of this arrangement is such that usually there are very unequal power relations between the couple. Various organisations in the Gambia are trying to clamp down on the practice of male prostitution, but it obviously is still a popular career option for some young men.

Whilst many bumsters can just be harmless, simply trying to earn a bit of money by offering help and “services” to tourists, the hardcore group can really be quite cunning and trick even some of the more experienced expats out here. They try to convince you that you know them from somewhere, often by quoting names of people they have researched that work at your workplace / live in your area. Then they invite you to an event, say for example a naming ceremony of a child. The child is often not even their own child, but they will still aim to guilt-trip you into buying gifts/baby milk powder for the family. These gifts are then either taken by the bumster or sold on at a later time. The whole thing is a scam.

I had my first real bumster test today – a man came up to me and said “Hey! It’s Lamin, don’t you remember me? I work as a guard at your house” (a tactic used to make the target feel guilty for not remembering people’s faces). I replied politely, “sorry, I don’t know you. Do you know my name?”. Undeterred, Lamin answered “It’s John”. Perhaps foolishly I continued to converse: “No it’s not”, to which Lamin said “oh, but I am a guard at your house. I know Julie” (random Western name dropping seems to help). “Where is my house then?”, replies the now less polite and slightly cocky Rob. “Just next to the junction over there”. A nice try, but I actually live about a 20-minute drive from that area. Many people have fallen for the tricks that people like Lamin use. It’s a shame but one has to be on one’s guard when meeting overly friendly strangers in the more touristy parts of the city. Thankfully, the vast majority of Gambians are not like Lamin, and are some of the most genuinely friendly people I have met.

As I finish this blog entry a man has just got his prayer mat out next to me to begin his afternoon prayers. A nice reminder of the importance of Islam to the majority of people here (roughly 90% of Gambians are practicing Muslims). I'll write about how this impacts upon the culture and daily life sometime in the coming weeks. Polygamy is worthy of a couple of paragraphs at the very least! For now though, take care of yourselves and lots of love,

Robert

Village People

Last weekend we were all taken to the village of Ndemban, about a one hour drive from our base. I was keen to see more of rural, traditional Gambian culture, having spent the last week and a half in the relatively modern surroundings of The Kombos (the capital and its surrounding area). As soon as we arrived and saw our greeting party of the all-singing-all-dancing village women I knew that it would be an experience not to forget!

Ndemban – the first thing that struck me was just how tightly knit the people were in the village. Everyone was mingling in the village square, under the shadowy protection of large trees. Groups of children were running around playing games with each other, the women were talking and doing the cooking and washing together, whilst the men sat around in big circles (no doubt discussing the day’s news). Everyone seemingly wanted to be social and just mingle with each other. The other thing that hit me was the beautiful nature – the plants, animals and rivers were beautiful. Mango trees and brightly coloured lizards are completely new things for me, it’s all very beautiful.

The Day’s Entertainers – Ndemban’s Women’s Band, a really energetic and cheerful bunch! The older generation of women in the village had formed a large dance troupe, which filled the whole of the surrounding area with noise and singing. They seemed to have a repertoire of hundreds of songs, many of which I was told were simply made up on the spot (one person would start singing and then the others would soon follow). Most of the songs were patriotic, focusing on the beauty of Gambia or the greatness of its president.

The dancers were dancing to the sound of what I can only describe as a violin-drum gourd, which was played with enthusiasm by multiple musicians. It was lovely to see a multi-person instrument, carried by one person but played by a group of three or four. All the dancers eventually got in the act, having turns to drum or play the strings.

Village elders – The visit to Ndemban also allowed us to see an example of how a typical Gambian village is organised. We got introduced to the Council of Elders, a group of men who form a sort of “panel of wisdom” / decision-making body. The men are selected due to reaching a certain age or status, and serve on this panel for life. Women are invited to work with the elders when the issue is of particular relevance to them, for example policies around children and their upbringing. It was interesting to see the respect and power that certain old men held here – a complete difference from the Western view that old people are “past it”.

The Sacred Forest – There was one part of the village which was even off limits to the all powerful village elders, the forest of “Beeraiye”. Beeraiye is the place where girls are initiated into womanhood. They are taken here for a stay in exclusion for up to one month. At the end of this period they return to the village, ready to be married. Groups of their would-be husbands gather and shower them with gifts, and the lucky ones go home with a bride.

During the time in Beeraiye the girls are given advice and training on how to be a good wife by older women. The darker side of this tradition is the issue of female genital mutilation, still a common practice in Gambia. Many women in the countryside still face the prospect of this often dangerous and harmful practice. Whilst I’m doing my best not to judge the situation (I’ve only been here two weeks), when you hear the views of some men on the subject it’s difficult not to condemn the practice. As one male villager candidly told me, “if we didn’t do this then our wives would always be cheating on us”. A high price to pay for marital fidelity...

Going home – before we left the village we were all made honorary members of the community. Whilst it might sound cheesy/touristy, I felt it was a genuinely friendly and kind gesture. I hope I will have the chance to return to Ndemban and visit the few friends that I made during my time there. In some ways it is sad to return to the relative comfort of the big city, life in the countryside seems to be a lot more colourful and traditionally “Gambian”. Hopefully I’ll have the chance for lots more countryside visits soon!

Please feel very welcome to see more photos of my trip to Ndemban at: https://picasaweb.google.com/schliner/VisitToNdemban I hope you like them!

Lots of love and best wishes,

Robert

Settling in

So, I survived my first full week in The Gambia! I’m halfway through my training period and will be starting my job on Monday the 19^th. So, what have I been up to this week?

The big move – On Wednesday I moved out of the very nice surroundings of the hotel to my permanent abode. With trepidation I boarded the truck to set out into the great unknown. After a short drive I arrived at a small compound, which I will now be calling “home”. My flat is very nice, spacious and with electricity points in all the rooms. Most importantly all the windows have mosquito nets across them, so I’m in (relative) heaven! I share my compound with three other families, who so far seem friendly and welcoming. Yesterday I had my first “food bowl” experience with them, in which we all gathered around one shared bowl of rice and ate the contents together. No big cultural errors made so far! My general neighbourhood is quite nice too, I've got all basic shops I need and am relatively close to the centre of the city. The cherry on top of the cake is that two other VSO volunteers are close by too, so no doubt lots of consoling chats and cups of tea await...

Training – Our induction training has so far been jam-packed, we’ve had a lot of information/trips in quite a short time. So far we’ve looked at the politics in the region, the health issues, the issues surrounding education and disability in The Gambia, the past and present situation of international development aid to Gambia and VSO’s role here (VSO has worked in The Gambia since 1961!). Fear not, I’ll write in more depth on these subjects in the coming weeks. We’ve also has visits to the local health clinic, a bank (to get a local bank account set up) and the local police station – I now officially have “legal alien” status. Yes, as Sting and The Police once sang, #I’m an Englishman in Banjul#. We also had a visit to the British High Commission. Just as in Mongolia they have a bar inside their grounds – just in case the local supply of gin and tonic runs out.

We've also had some basic survival training, which whilst might be useful to some people seems a bit patronising to me! The high/lowlight of this was being taught how to safely light a gas stove... Obviously our Gambian colleagues have come across some foreign volunteers who really don't have a clue of how to live outside of the comfort of the Western World (or have simply never gone camping!). The rest of my week has been spent in:

Language classes – Gambia has many local dialects, and whilst English is the official language it’s important to speak a bit of the local languages in order to:

a). speak to the lesser educated people who don’t speak English

b). show that you’re making an effort (people seem to really appreciate when a foreigner speaks a bit of the local lingo)

c). show that you’re not a tourist (so I can stop people trying to constantly overcharge me!).

I’ve started learning Wollof, the local language here in the West of Gambia. Wollof has been influenced a bit by French, and is spoken both in Gambia and in much of neighbouring Senegal. The first thing that struck me about our Wollof lessons is that we have spent the last 5 days solely learning greetings. No “where do you come from?” or “how old are you?”, but rather “how’s your body?”, “my body’s in peace”. This question then seemingly has to be followed by “How’s your family?”, to which the response is “my family’s in peace”. This greeting ritual goes on for about 4 or 5 questions (“did you sleep well?”, “how’s the afternoon?”), and is genuinely practiced by all the Gambians I have met. Once the greetings are out of the way you can get down to business, but it’s seen as very impolite to get straight to the point!

As a person who doesn’t care much for the greetings we use in the UK (“how are you?” to which the person responds “I’m fine”, without either person really caring too much about how the other person actually is), I initially rebelled against this greetings culture. However, I quickly saw just how important it is to people here – it’s seemingly a way for people to acknowledge each other as an individual human being who demands respect, rather than just an object that you use to achieve your own personal goals. I’ve been told that Gambians find foreigners who simply go into a shop and ask the shop assistant for a drink quite rude – they’re not respecting the local custom / they’re not playing the game!

That’s it for now, but I’ll write another entry in the next few days – I’m going off to visit a local village community soon, I’m sure that will be of interest. Lots of love and a big hug, I hope that you’re all “in peace”,

Robert