In Transition.....

Recently, five young people came to stay in the house where we have been living during our in-country training and also while we wait for accommodation. VSO uses the house for volunteers in transition, usually for a couple of weeks, during initial training, if they are destined to work in “up country,” meaning rural areas.  In our case, since the original accommodation arrangements for our placement didn’t work out, we will probably end up spending one–third of our stay here waiting for a place to live and work. 

Of the two men, both doing IT, one is from Kenya, and the other from Indonesia, also a David. He is to be the trainer for the same project we work on. 

There are also three women staying here, one is from Glasgow, Scotland, one is English, and the last, is a woman born in Brazil and raised in England. 

You can imagine the morning rush as seven people vie for the two bathrooms, each with his or her habits and need to wash some clothes, have breakfast, etc.  Luckily, they go to training about 8:30am to 4:00pm and we stay at here, so we can wait until after the rush. David sometimes works on the computer early in the morning before others get up.

On Saturday the two of us went to the market to buy fabrics.  We bought several, doing a lot of bargaining. We only bought inexpensive stuff, not more than two dollars a meter. I bought for myself fabric to make a skirt, a top shirt on top and a pair of slacks.  I will use my own clothes as patterns for the tailor rather than asking for Gambian style clothes.  The women wear narrow skirts with top blouse that are both very tight all over. Many of the young women are slim and tall and look wonderful in these clothes, but I wouldn’t.  They use locally printed fabrics that are colorful with multiple patterns and colors and wrap a piece of cloth on their heads. They look stunning! The fabric is stiff due to the use of wax to make the batik pattern. 

I bought thinner, softer cotton and already have a dress made which would be great in the hotter season coming soon.  We also bought fabric for making a Caftan for David.  On Friday you see many men wearing them, and most outfits are very attractive. David thinks he can use that on formal occasions as he did not bring over a suit.  We will go to the tailor next door tomorrow.  The tailor charges about ten dollars for making a dress (it is cheaper in the rural areas, but right now we are staying in the city.) 

The meals have turned into events for our little group.  David, the other David, from Indonesia, found a Chinese grocery store where he can buy ingredients suitable for his cooking.  And he is a cook.  He is a man of many talents. Last night we celebrated Valentines Day.  Gambians never miss a holiday or a celebration, so yes, Valentines is on the calendar here. I (David) went to the store to buy some little things (artificial roses) for the ladies living here now.  Also I bought a big bar of chocolate for the other David because he has been so good to us with his cooking. Ilana prepared tabbouleh and a potato salad.  David prepared vegetarian spring rolls, the best you ever tasted, a noodle dish with mushrooms, and a kind of dish from summer squash, something quiet to clean the palate at the end. The spring rolls came with a spicy soy based sauce and the noodles with a clear sauce made from stock, I believe.

It was a real feast and everyone had a wonderful time. Johnny, the Kenyan joined in for the first time.  Other nights he has been out crawling pubs and watching football games, which he is passionate about. They want to have another feast tonight, this time inviting the three additional new volunteers who already have housing, so have not been part of this little tribe to the same extent.   This will make us ten. David will be the lead cook and Ilana will probably do something as well. We were told that after this week, the volunteers will disperse to their assignments unless they need motorcycle training, which takes another week. (It turns out that they will be here much longer because of a scheduling problem with the British High Commissioner.)

oooo

I went to pick up a caftan using the fabric we bought and had sewn at a tailor down the street.  It turned out well.  It is something to wear at an occasion since I didn't bring a suit. A lot of Gambian men wear them, especially on Fridays.  I want to get a Muslim hat as well.

We were planning to go to Brikama today to have a look at how the preparation is progressing for our move there. On the way I saw a sign for a solar restaurant.  We went up a side street to check it out.  It was a quite interesting experience.  Here is a web site.  Check it out!

http://www.tiloo.ch

(Use Google to translate this from the German.  It comes out in pretty good English.)

The next stop was the Alliance Francaise. This is a wonderful oasis, a nice escape from the dust, noise, poverty, chaos into a different world.  Ilana enrolled for French classes. 

Then we had lunch at the cafe. A European plate was 150 D.  This is about $5.00.  There was an African plate as well for 40 D, or about $1.25.  We ordered the African, not knowing that it was fish on rice, a kind of Gambian broken rice with a few vegetables.  The fish was quite good. I ate Ilana's fish and she ate the rest.

It was getting quite hot.

We walked the rest of the way to Westfield, a major hub of traffic.  I felt like we were in a movie.  The crush of people, cars, smells, noise, it was overwhelming.  We found a gelly gelly going to Brikama.  

These are vans that are supposed to hold 14 passengers.  There were 23 in ours.  

 We were on seats as small as could be for people in the back so at least people didn't have to crawl over us when entering and leaving.  There are two workers for these vehicles, a driver and a conductor, though there is another name for him here, the boy. He collects the money, opens and closes the door. And he yells out the destination, looking for riders. Stops are frequent. The cost to Brikama, 40 km was 15 D, $0.50. The vehicle came to this country used, the entire interior was gone, and there were holes in the floor due to the wear of many feet. Most vehicles have writing in German, Dutch, French, depending on the country they came from. Ours belched smoke because the diesel is beyond worn out. 

Ilana was quite worried because it turned off the main road to pass through inner neighborhoods to catch more riders

When we arrived at NARI in Brikama, Mr. Mamadi Kejena greeted us.  He is the man at the reception desk at the National Agricultural Research Institute headquarters in Brikama.  He is so warm.  He is so helpful.  He made us feel welcome and good, glad to be there even though the journey was a bit harrowing. (I had been dreading riding in these vehicles.  It is sort of like a first dive into a cold swimming pool, a bit shocking, I guess.) 

(The views are our own.)