Pageant News

Because the flight times have changed (no Thomas Cook, so we were flying with TAP) I did not have to leave the hotel until 11pm. I was very kindly allowed to retain my room until then (thank you, Sand Beach) so I made a couple of final visits on the Tuesday morning, then visited Linda to sort out the money side of things and did my packing in the afternoon.

My first visit was to Yundum Barracks Lower Basic school, where I wanted to do several things: one was to give some really nice blouses to the female staff there, which could be used as a ‘uniform’ for special occasions.  Many schools like to do this sort of thing and we had been given a large number of these blouses by Ashtead Choral Society, who were changing their own uniform.  We could only take seven out with us on the plane, due to weight restrictions, but fortunately this was precisely the number of female teachers at this school!  Not only that, but the mix of sizes that I had selected to take, exactly fitted these ladies – they were really thrilled with them.  I asked them to explain to the Nursery and Upper Basic female teachers that some more would be arriving in due course – this was just the advance group!


Next, on to see progress at the library – it is really coming on apace and looks to be well built.  I expect they will be needing the third instalment payment very soon. The photos show the front and right hand side of the building – the latter shows the three-cubicle toilet block jutting out from the side of the main structure and the large pit that has been dug as the soak-away.

Lastly, the garden, financed largely by Worldclass at Bishops Waltham Junior School.  To show you how fast things grow in The Gambia, the first photo was taken at the start of this visit and the second one of the same beds eighteen days later! As you can see, the garden is being carefully tended by the students – each bed is looked after by a particular group and competition is fierce as to who can grow the best produce. When one considers that this was just an unfenced, bare, sandy patch in November, the progress is remarkable.
The second visit (my last one of this trip) was to Kumoo Kunda, the bee farm.  As previously reported, we had been to see the Pageant-funded apiary at Mayork Lower Basic school and I now wanted to do two things: one was to ask for two ‘catcher boxes’ for that apiary, to enable the school to ‘catch’ any wild swarms that appeared (one had been seen before our visit to the school, but they had failed to entice it to enter a hive of its own free will – hence the need to ‘catch’ it); the other was to ask for an estimate to set up a small apiary at the nearby Upper Basic and Senior Secondary school – this new apiary would be close enough to the established one for the bees to go backwards and forwards between them, so would not have to be as large to be a viable concern. The Principal of the more senior school is very keen to have an apiary there, so I know this will be a popular move – we hope to receive the estimate soon.

So, the end of yet another Gambian adventure – thank you to Linda, both for looking after the money side so well in our absence and also for her company at dinner on several occasions.

Last, but by no means least, my VERY grateful thanks to Wandifa, Abdoulie and Yankuba for their tireless efforts during three hectic weeks and for their kindness in looking after me so well during my last ‘solo’ week.  They are such a good team… and we do have a lot of laughs along the way.  Here’s to the next time…..

This is Pippa signing off – but I have to add one more photo.  We all decided it was the advertisement of the trip… I will never look at snails in quite the same way again!!

Up at the crack of dawn… before it had cracked, actually, as we left the hotel at 5.20am!!  Even so, we were still too late to catch the first ferry as it was pulling away from the dock when we arrived at 5.45am! It transpired that only one ferry was working that morning, so it had left Banjul early enough for it to be the (slightly before) 7am ferry from Barra. It returned quickly enough for us to leave Banjul just before 7.30am, so we were in Barra just before 8am – not too bad (but we could have had an extra hour in bed!!)

First stop was to buy a sack of rice, a gift to Wandifa’s brother Bakary and family on behalf of Andrew and Kathy.  Then off down the ever-worsening sandy road to Albreda to the Lower Basic school that we have been supporting for several years. We saw the female staff quarters, now being used by one female teacher and three trainees – the ceilings that we gave the funds for in November had been completed and looked very good. All the inhabitants were very happy with their rooms – and the male teachers said they wished that theirs were as nice!!  The photos show the competed building and one of the ceilings.


A breakfast stop was next – the café at Juffreh provided the usual excellent cheese omelettes and chips all round – and then on to see Bakary with the rice.  To say he was pleased would be a huge understatement – he said he had been on the point of contacting his eldest son for help as the family had completely run out of rice… and then we arrived.  I thought you would like to see just what a sack of rice looks like… and how heavy it is, being carried in by Abdoulie and our North Bank driver, Alieu. While we were there we found a couple of little boys to whom we gave hats, knitted by one of the lovely ladies of the Southwater Welcome Club – and very cute they looked, too.

Back up that dreadful road to Barra, where we called in to Barra-Essau Upper Basic school. We have four sponsored students at that school, so it was good to catch up with them.  I also wanted to see the (excellent) headmaster there, who we have known for several years, to see if there was anything that we might be able to help him with.  He told us that the school might be moving to a different site in the relatively near future, so making any improvements to the current site could be a complete waste of money. Very frustrating for him, as he does not really know what is going to happen.

Back on the ferry to Banjul, reaching the hotel a little after 4pm – pretty good for a North Bank day.  A good shower and hair-wash was essential… and, as ever, the shower floor resembled a beach for a little while!  It is certainly a hot and sandy experience…

posted by Dave for Pippa

Wandifa had decided to call as many as possible of the students whose photos were still needed to come to his compound on the Sunday morning, in an effort to get as many done in the shortest time possible.  A good idea, I thought… but how many would actually turn up?

We set off, having to drive an even more tortuous route than usual, as many roads had been closed or cut down to one lane only because of the marathon. When we arrived at Wandifa’s compound I was amazed to see a really large number of students already gathered there – the photo shows the large ‘Pageant family group’ including those who greeted us… and about ten more arrived during the next hour. A very good idea – we will try that again!

We then did a bit more family visiting and had the pleasure of delivering a bike to a young lad whose results had been outstandingly good for the past few years – this is the boy supported by Ian’s bursary and I know he would have been very pleased to be able to donate this gift as a reward for such a sustained effort.  The photo shows the pleasure with which the bike was received – he said he was the happiest boy in The Gambia that day!

A full day of filling in some of our gaps, so up and down the very bumpy side roads to visit a lot of families... mostly those where children had not been present to have their photos taken on previous visits. Some students seem to be particularly elusive, whether by accident or design I am never quite sure.

As we went round the various townships it was obvious that the Banjul marathon, to be held the following day (Sunday), was engendering considerable excitement and enthusiasm. It is only the second time that this event has been run - the first one was last year - and a large number of regular marathon runners from many countries had entered (three Americans were staying at our hotel). There were several other events taking place at the same time...a half marathon, a 5Km run for juniors and a 4Km walk. We met one of our sponsored students who had entered the 5Km run and was very excited about the whole thing.

When we got back to the hotel I found that Max, the hotel owner, had offered to provide a pasta supper for the Gambian marathon runners. The bantaba had been filled with rather more tables and chairs than usual and vast vats of pasta - a spaghetti Bolognese and a chicken and vegetable dish - were on offer, served with bread and salad. Hotel guests were invited to join in and, having decided to eat in the hotel that night anyway, I accepted the offer.

Very tasty food and a great atmosphere... although some of the participants did not quite understand about the food side of things and went home with their (china) plates!

At the end of the evening I was surprised to see one of the organisers coming across the floor towards me, saying "Pippa, how good to see you"...after a few moments I realised it was Mr Jawla, the very good sports teacher from Bakalarr, who has now risen to the lofty height of Deputy Director of the National Sports Council. It was so good to see him after a gap of about fourteen years...the ability of Gambians to recognise people never ceases to amaze me.

posted by Dave for Pippa

[Pippa now takes over with posts for our blog. She will be sending text and photos to Dave who will do the actual posting. Photos for her first posts will follow later.]

Kathy and Andrew having departed in the early hours of the morning, we had a rather later than usual start to let the Gambian guys recover from their midnight trip to the airport to see them off.

We then sat in the very pleasant bantaba (meeting place) at the hotel and did some much needed admin. Catching up with all the payments, letter forms given out and returned, photos taken...and then listing those still to do took quite a while, so once we were satisfied that we were up to date we called it a day.

Friday prayers for the Gambians and an afternoon by the pool for me completed an unusually restful day...and very welcome it was, too!

posted by Dave for Pippa

Although I said I had posted my last blog for the trip, Dave kindly reminded me to reveal the answer to the mystery veg. The Gambians call it a bitter tomato as it looks like a standard to large unripe tomato. It isn't a tomato, though, its an aubergine , but it is indeed very bitter. It forms an essential additions to such dishes as benachin. Attempts to grow this in the UK have failed, but for those who like the taste of The Gambia there is a variety of aubergine called Turkish Orange, which has a very similar taste and bitterness. We grew it very successfully last year, both in a greenhouse and on the patio in pots. You can get the seeds from Amazon and eBay

Andrew

We spent a very interesting day at The Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust. The trust is a UK charity based in Surrey and run by Heather. They have two sites in The Gambia and we visited their site at Makasutu about 20 minutes drive from Brikama. This site is their newer one and opened in 2017. They have horse boxes and stabling there and are currently looking after  57 horses and donkeys  there as well as 4 camels and a number of dogs that need some kind of health treatment or assistance.

The trust looks after maltreated and sick horses and donkeys and can provide a sanctuary for these, as well as for older animals who are no longer able to work on the farms.

We were shown around by Paul who is the yard manager and is also a paravet. He started there as an apprentice 6 years ago and clearly loves his job. As well as horse boxes they also have  an animal hospital which we were able to see around. At that time they had 2 inpatients. A dog with botulism, caught, they think, from eating a dead turtle on the beach and a donkey foal that had been hit by a car.


After a while we met Heather, who had arrived from the UK the day before, and we had very good discussions with her.

One of the reasons for the visit is that PAGEANT has decided to pay for 4 apprenticeships at The Trust. This sill give great skills to some local people. Wwe also arranged for Mo Lamin, Wandifa's eldest son to visit the site on Saturdays to learn about handling donkeys. Mo Lamin has always been interested in donkeys!

The trust maintains strong lists with UK institutions. Vets from the UK volunteer to come and work at the sites and they are also regularly visited by students from British Universities whos spend a period of time here learning first hand of diseases that affect animals in The Gambia, something they can only learn the theory of when in the UK. Of particular interest is the treatment of trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) caused by infection from the bite of the tsetse fly. This is a major cause of death of farm animals.

Overall a very rewarding visit. You can find out more about the trust and its work at: www.gambiahorseanddonkey.org.uk.

Tomorrow Kathy and I start our journey home although Pippa is staying for a further five days. We don't have anything planned for the day other than some admin tasks, so this will be my last blog for this visit. It has been a very successful visit. We do however hope that the weather is a little cooler next visit. Usually it is about 30 to 32 degrees Celsius (86 to 90 Fahrenheit). This year everyday has been about 39 or 40 degrees (102 to 104 Fahrenheit), just a tad to hot! Anyway we have enjoyed writing this blog and we hope you have enjoyed reading it

Andrew & Kathy

Both of these were relatively quiet days. On Monday Kathy and I stayed at at the hotel all day. We sorted through all the kit we had left, microscopes and accessories and made some logical sense out of them and listed what we had. This will be invaluable for the future.

Pippa, Joe, Wandifa, Yankuba and Abdoulie went to Yundum Barracks schools to give some physics workshops to some of the students there. They gave two workshops there.

Tuesday was Independence Day, which is a public holiday so all the schools, businesses and a lot of shops are closed. It was also Joe's last day as he was to leaving to fly home that evening. We therefore had a rest day and went to the Calypso Bar which is at the point where the Gambia River joins the Atlantic Ocean. The bar there overlooks a lagoon and we had lunch whilst watching the crocodiles that live on the banks of the lagoon and were entertained by displays of a very wide range of birds flying overhead and fishing


We went to Samba's Kitchen in the evening. Joe wanted one of their excellent fillet steaks before he left and we then had an enjoyable time listening to the live band before walking back to the hotel to say our farewells to Joe