Pageant News

Thursday 23 Feb

We needed to get ready for the microscopy workshops we are giving on Friday and Saturday. Unsurprisingly, the van was not fixed so Jereh took us to Gambia college to set up. His taxi is not as big as the van so it was a bit of a squeeze to get all of us and the microscopes and kit in the car. We managed most of it and set off for the university in Brikama where the workshops are to take place.

When we arrived, James the science lab senior technician let us in and we arranged tables and chairs for 20 teachers and removed surplus furniture. We put all the kit into a secure store and were then very surprised because Mr Bah, the deputy head of science at Gambia college had arranged for some of the science student teachers, some of whom were attending the workshops, to clean the room for us. We noticed that the very nice ceiling fans that were working were very sandy and worried that it might fall on the microscopes when we switched them on.

We went on to Faks at Humanity nursery school to discuss the next project and his plans to put a shaded veranda over part of the school playground to provide shelter for the children when they are outside playing. We have agreed that Pageant will fund this project and made an initial payment of about half the totoal so they could start.

On then to Fatou Lisa’s compound. Fatou Lisa is the mother of Alaghie who is the holder of the Ian Howard memorial scholarship. We spent a nice time chatting and giving out presents before returning to the hotel.

In the evening we went to Shiraz, a nearby Lebanese restaurant, where we met with Linda and Mike and Patti. Mike is the former CEO of the US Peace Corps (Gambia). Since leaving that post he has formed a charity working in the Gambia. Patti is a sponsor of that charity and this is her first visit to the Gambia. Both had flown in from San Francisco the day before. We spent a pleasant evening chatting over a good meal before retiring for an early night as we had a 7.20 start the next day.