Pageant News

Much cooler today, just 30C, which was very welcome as Brikama is always hotter than anywhere else in the Kombo region.

On the way towards Brikama, our first stop was a visit to one of our sponsored students.  Her family has moved since I last visited them and their present house is down a very long and bumpy sandy track... imagine our surprise to find that their little village is called something so appropriate!

sign for the village of Farato Perseverance

This family is one of the poorer ones that we visit, but always so welcoming.  They have a small garden in which they grow kassava (for home consumption) and pumpkins that they sell in the market.  

lady with a pumpkin

When we left, one of the older girls was pounding a mixture of onions and chillies to make a sauce for their lunch - very traditional.  

making the sauce

As we left we were discussing our ethical gifts and to whom we might give them...Wandifa in particular thought that this was a very deserving family so we bought a 50Kg sack of rice while we were in the town and delivered in on our way home.  The mum of the house was taking a shower when we got back to them...she was so thrilled with the gift that she dressed in her very best outfit for her photo with the rice. 

ethical gift - a sack of rice

Our  next stop, in Brikama itself, was Gambia College where we needed to discuss the February 2019 Practical Science workshops.  Nakulang, head of science, had returned from his trip to upcountry schools and was in his office when we arrived.  The decisions re dates, numbers of students were all going well until we called in James, the chief technician, to talk about room allocation.  The rooms we wanted were probably going to be available but James told us that the really solid classroom tables that have been there in the past have now been exchanged for some chairs, each with their own small 'book rest', to enable more students to fit into the room.  

new chairs at Gambia College

Nakulang had not been aware of this change and he was not happy about it, to say the least!!  He says that they will be able to get the tables back in there in time for our workshop...we will have to check up early in our February visit.

Then, a discussion with a senior student about his travel expenses and some more family visits... a day of cute baby goats, the first one a few weeks old, the other just a few hours old! 

baby goat - a few weeks old

baby goat - a few hours old

Last but not least, back to the beekeepers, where Seyaka, the senior man, was back from his trip.  We had some lengthy discussions about training and introducing beekeeping to different people.  He was very much in favour of school training and outlined a possible schedule and associated list of materials that would be required.  To set one school up with ten hives, protective clothing and the other items needed to look after the hives, collect the honey and wax, bottle the honey and utilise the wax (in body cream, soap and candles) will cost in the region of £400. 

Seyaka is going to present our proposal of a partnership, whereby the materials are provided by Pageant and the training expenses by the beekeepers association plus school community, to his board and will come back to us with their thoughts on the matter. A step forward, we felt, but we will have to wait and see.

A slightly later return to the hotel today as it was cooler, but not too late as we have a very early start tomorrow for an upcountry trip.  We will probably be late back, so there may be a slight delay before the next blog posting....