Flora, Fauna and Weather of The Gambia

A cashew tree

The cashew fruit and if you look very carefully you can see the cashew nut hanging below the fruit.

Muso - The Kitten Alex inherited off another volunteer. Taking in stray animals a very popular past time of volunteers. Then passing them along to the unsuspecting new comers. I am trying to stay as far away from this as possible as I have neve been violent and dont ever want to be but I think if I saw someone chuck a stone, hit with a stick or show any other act of violence towards a pet of mine that would be the trigger. And unfortunately that situation is a sure thing here.

A bush fire- I know it is a terrible picture but thought I would put it anyway. It was a massive ball of red on the horizon from our house. The bush fires are purposefully set. There is so much talk and it is part of the school curriculum talking about all the negatives of bush fires but as you travel around you seem then all the time and the scorched ground that is left.

The rains have come. I have a few videos of the rains and the thunderstorms obviously neither of which show their true force on my camera but will give you some idea. Unfortunately cannot put them on here as it is too much internet juice. I might try linking to them maybe.

My road after the rains. This would be more effective if I had a picture before the rains but too late now. I live in the compound you can see on the right and the Jawnehs live in the compound on the right.

As well as dodging the puddle I am dodging this little fella and the rest of his family who are normally found lounging in it. Its not only the pigs that enjoy the rains. The rains also bring out all the bugs unfortunately pictures are eluding me as: I dont have a suitable camera; Im not going to encourage bugs to come (well not intentionally); I normally run or kill rather than take a picture but I will try my best in the future.

Everyone loves Mangoes!!!

Its mango season and Mangoes are everywhere.

They are about 3p and thats if you have to buy them at all as there are so many you can just get them from a tree (or someone else will get them for you)

Trying to teach Marcus how to hedgehog his mango as he makes a right mess. Not the way the gambians eat them though. There seems to be 2 schools of thought ; eat like an apple just biting around the core/stone and then chewing and spitting out the skin; taking a huge cutlass to it and chopping off the skin then slices for yourself to eat off the huge knife making toubabs (white people) like me squirm, especially when its a 7 year old.

You sometimes get given so many mangoes you cant eat them all fresh (based on my calculations of no more than 2 mangoes a day otherwise funny tummy!!) so you have to do some cooking!! I have made mango chutney and if I get another batch before the end of the season Im thinking sorbet although as we dont have constant electricity im not sure this will work. We may have to eat it straight away!!

And there is no waste as all the animals love mangoes as much as us so as soon as they get a whiff of a mango being eaten they are there to hoover up the rubbish.

My Soma Family

Mr Jawneh and Marcus in his newly made Gambian outfit given to him by our family.

Faye Jawneh (Mum) and Mam Janko (baby boy)

Nyara (8) and Mam

The 3 Jawneh sisters - Mariamma (left), Adja (right) and Nyara (front).

Other People around the compound

Arabiatou

Wurri

Easter

The beach I spent Good Friday and Easter Saturday on.

Easter Sunday, singing after lunch. From left to right Be-cause people Jenny and Mick, Lucy, Dean, Max's friend and Max with the guitar.

Me and Lucy at British High Commision. Lucy got that dress made that day.

A lot, but not all, of the volunteers, the British High Commisioner and a few extras.

Wedding Day!! And yes this was for sale in The Gambia.

Watching the wedding.

Fun and games in The Gambia

This was Bradleys (son of a couple of volunteers) birthday party, so obviously as it was a childrens party we all had to act like children! After a game of pass the parcel and musical chairs we made a pretty impressive human pyramid!!!

I am not having to miss out completely on great music events. This is a great venue - just like a small greek ampitheatre. This is a senegalese band and they were amazing, mixing African and western music styles.

We can also make our own music! Raising money for the bee-cause. I will try and take more pictures of this place if I go back as it is like a hobbits home! The night involved some good people, food, drink, performance, sing-a-long, tug of war and finally the pushing of cars home as they stuck in sand.

This is the river Gambia. Me, Lucy and Marcus went to Tendaba, a village an hour away from us, on the river. It has a camp with little huts to stay in, a swimming pool and a restaurant. Sat on the pier playing cards into the evening with Pete and his Guests and some american travellers as well.

The Jawneh's oven. They are the local bakers and they let us use our oven which pretty much has just included jacket potatoes into our diet but on one occasion Marcus brought us a goodfellas pizza up from kombo in a cool bag for us to eat whilst watching goodfellas on his projector.

He was very happy! Unfortunately for us Marcus has now left with his projector so its back to small screen and no treats as he was always the provider of good coffee, skittles and obviously witty banter (Im aware Marcus might read this!!)

The closing night at the alliance until after the rainy season.

Although there are lots of very fun pictures on here this is actually how I spend most of my evenings and weekends. Sat reading a book, watching a storm, listening to music or playing with the children.

More of my daily life

My house-my front door and window

My bike

My office with a map of the region I work in.

Common wealth day - the children had beads or sweets! braided into their hair and dressed and did things linked to the culture of their tribe.

My home in Soma

I have 2 rooms and a courtyard/bathroom. It is on a compound (enclosed area) with 7 others exactly the same - like gambian terraced houses! Except Mine Lucys and Marcus are the only ones really who have furniture. The other 5 'houses' are homes to gambians. And our landlord is over the road with his family and I often go and sit under their tree with them. I am now part of their family as they gave me my gambian name. So for the next 2 years I am Kaddijatou Jownay.

My bed

Draws and bedside table. It is hard to give a full picture of my room as the mosquitto net is always in the way.

My shower. Meant to be just the bucket and a cup but I am cheating with a solar camp shower. Very luxurious!

My toilet. I left the cover down but all you are not seeing is a hole cut the shape and size of a bicycle seat. The pit is very deep so you cant see what is at the bottom which is very good! Although you can see the parts of the inside wall that the sun shines on and I couldnt go to the toilet all day when I saw a lizard in there!!!

My cooker, my kitchen cabinet and my photos.

My fridge and chairs opposite the cooker.

My Kitchen table, water filter, water bottles for collecting from tap in compound, petrol canisters and 2 of the many children who like to sit with us, read magazines and draw.

My last week in the Kombos

My language trainers and new that day african outfit - made to measure!

How we do our washing.

This is the bbq on the beach which became a bonfire once it was dark and the food was cooked.

My birthday

On my birthday we went to a rural village as we had not seen how most Gambians lived as we have been staying in the city. It was a really fun day.

This is Sonja (volunteer) and Janke (VSO secretary) enjoying the food bowl at the village.

We also enjoyed some traditional music and dancing which I will try again to add the video of later but right now it is failing.

 

First week

Some of the other volunteers I am working with.

A taste of Gambian life. Setting up for the fish market. It got a lot busier later and some people went down and walked around it and it was like a where's wally book but I didnt get a picture. The people in the sea are swimming out to get the fish off the boats which they put in big buckets on their head and then swim back to shore and run up the beach with it. They run for a reason as young boys will run behind them leaping up and smacking the fish bucket so lots of fish tumble to the ground and they run off with them as the runners have their hands busy so cant defend themselves.