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Birthday Week – 150 and counting

Those of you who have been reading our blog will understand that we have found the Gambia to be tough. We have also found the work frustrating and the demands relentless. It seems as though we now work a ten day week, writing plans, observing lessons, supporting school, training head teachers, repairing computers and running workshops. This, Lynn’s birthday week, could not have been busier and it seems a long time since we enjoyed a weekend. We had thought that people would be impressed with Lynn being 60 but birthdays are not important in the Gambia, nobody has birth certificates so when you ask somebody their age the best they can come up with is a guess. We have now found people who think Lynn is very young as they claim to be over 150 years old. So now we understand why in classes of eleven and twelve year old students, one or more of them looks and probably is eighteen or and nineteen but then, here, nobody minds. To the general public birthdays are non events. We did however mark Lynn’s special day with a special meal of beans on toast, lit three candles in the evening and enjoyed a wonderful bottle of Rioja which had been sent to us by our Spanish friends. We displayed a banner across the compound much to the amusement of the locals and tried to get everyone to say happy birthday albeit they did not get the day right.
Lynn has also found a new friend. Forgetting the lessons of the past when our daughter Sarah brought a cat back from Eritrea Lynn has now adopted a kitten called Baby. She found this at the bread shop and decided to buy it a tin of sardines. The shop keeper loves it but more so the sardines that Lynn buys it. “Baby won’t eat rice now,” says she, “buy more sardines for baby!”
Thank you to everyone who sent Lynn a birthday greeting it meant a great deal to her.
Esto, la semana de cumpleaños de Lynn y estaba muy ocupada. Los cumpleaños no son importantes en la Gambia, nadie tiene una partida de nacimiento tan cuando usted pregunta a alguien su edad el mejor ellos adivinarán. Esto explica por qué las clases de once y estudiantes de doce años tienen uno o varios estudiante que mira y probablemente es dieciocho o y diecinueve. Nadie aquí se opone. Celebramos el día especial de Lynn con una comida especial de frijoles en la tostada, encendimos tres velas por la tarde y disfrutamos de una botella de Rioja que había sido enviado a nosotros por nuestros amigos españoles. Mostramos una bandera a través del compuesto mucho a la diversión de los vecinos y tratamos de conseguir que cada uno diga el cumpleaños feliz aunque ellos no acertaran en el día.
Lynn también ha encontrado a un nuevo amigo. Ella ha adoptado ahora a un gatito llamado el Bebé. Ella encontró esto en la tienda de pan y decidió comprarla una lata de sardinas. El encargado de tienda lo ama, pero más tan las sardinas que Lynn lo compra. ¡” el bebé no comerá el arroz ahora,” ella dice, “compre a más sardinas por el bebé!” Gracias a cada uno que envió a Lynn un cumpleaños saludándolo significó mucho para ella.