07 April 2012
Day 9
Today we went to the Sheikh Hatab Memorial Nursery school to attempt our first ever PAGEANT sports day with help from our good friends Sainey and Musa. We divided the top nursery class into 4 teams – red, yellow, green and blue and started with a running relay race. Next it was onto the first round of the sack race! Excellent enthusiasm was shown, coupled with some real skill. The children then attempted to run a relay balancing a turtle bean bag on their heads. This was followed by an over under balloon race – during which only one team managed to pop their balloon! After more rounds of the very popular sack race, it was time for our finale... the egg and spoon race. Awards were given out for all the teams – medals for 2nd, 3rd and 4th and trophies for the green team who were the winners! Our PAGEANT star of the day was Yankuba who showed amazing enthusiasm and had a wonderful way with the children.
Afterwards, we made the short journey to Sainey's mother Kaddy's compound for a delicious lunch of ladyfish, spicy rice, cassava, bitter tomato, cabbage, aubergine, onions and beans prepared by Sainey's older brother Musa who is a chef on the Senegambia strip. Our next stop was Jambanjelly to visit the women's group to whom we had recently given PAGEANT loans and to give them some photos of the happy occasion. We played with the delightful children who particularly liked Page's tickle monster!
We then called in to see Wandifa brother Baba's family, the proud owners of the PAGEANT goats from last year. His children were very pleased to see us, especially Fatoumatta, who read to us with beautiful expression and phrasing – a very intelligent young lady! Our final stop of the day was the market to collect 64 mosquito nets to take to Jarreng and Jarra tomorrow. After some super negotiations from the boss lady, we settled on a good price and strapped them safely to the roof rack of the minibus. After a lovely pool-side dinner we are busy packing for our trip. We set off for Tendaba early tomorrow – our first leg of our long Jarreng journey. Here's to some slightly cooler weather...!
