03 February 2018
3rd February
Markets and sponsorship
We went to Mama’s last night for
dinner. The fish buffet was excellent with a wide variety of fish and shellfish
along with salads, rice and rosti potatoes. The centrepiece was a whole
ladyfish. The ladyfish is probably the best known and loved fish in The Gambia,
but like most largish fish is rarely seen cooked whole, so for food lovers here
is a picture of the one we had last night.
On Saturday morning our first port
of call was Royal Albert Market in Banjul. Pippa, Kathy and I went to a stall
that sold traditional Gambian cooking pots and pans. We were looking for a
wedding gift for Yankuba and Fatou. Yankuba is of course one of our Pageant
agents and as a student was sponsored by Pippa and Ian. Fatou was our sponsored
student and was one of the first to be sponsored under the Pageant scheme. We
bought them two cooking pots and a pan and at the same time bought some more
from money donated to Pageant under the ethical gifts scheme. We will give
these to families much in need of them. While we were doing that, Wandifa and
Abdoulie went off to buy some mosquito nets and buckets, again from money
donated under the ethical gifts scheme.
We then visited a number of
compounds in Banjul to see students and their families and give out sponsorship
money. We had already received most of the student letters to sponsors and also
many school reports the day before as Wandifa and Abdoulie had collected them
early for us to look over. While parked outside one compound a large flock of
vultures arrived on a neighbouring rooftop and we thought you might like to see
a photo of some.
We had a brief visit from Modou
Jeng, a sponsored medical student who is now nearing the end of his studies. He
is very excited at becoming a doctor in the Gambia.
Heading out of Banjul we stopped
to buy some “ethical gifts” watering cans and then visited a few more compounds
to see students and pay out more sponsorship money.
On the way back to the hotel in
the late afternoon we passed a shop selling small chairs suitable for nursery
or lower basic school children. We had tried to buy some of these in November
but the deal had fallen through when the shop holder unexpectedly put the price
up after agreeing a sum. Wandifa negotiated a good price for 40 chairs of good
quality which will be sent to Yundum Barracks School.
Tonight is a quiet night at the
hotel before hopefully visiting our sponsored students and friends tomorrow.
