May
6
2010
There’s been much talk in the press recently about the way that money donated to charity is spent. On the television, Bob Gedlof is contesting reports that the money raised in the Live Aid campaign of the 1980s was diverted to pay for weapons. In the newspapers, Linda Polman is arguing that much humanitarian aid only prolongs wars and, on the radio, aid organisations themselves are suggesting that health aid only serves to let governments avoid their responsibilities. All in all, at a time when many people across the UK are already tightening their belts, we could be forgiven for further avoiding chuggers on the high street and cancelling our direct debits.
It was wonderful, therefore, to travel to The Gambia last month to witness the donations people make to VSO being invested at ground level through their volunteers and I was particularly proud that on this occasion the volunteers were my parents!
While I was only in The Gambia for a week, the trip reminded me how difficult volunteering in the developing world can be. While volunteers can steel themselves, pre-departure, for a life without plumbing and electricity and brace themselves for limited contact with loved ones, nothing can truly prepare you for the upheaval of moving your life to a country, culture and society that, ultimately, may not even really want you.
Consequently, rather than talk about the politics, the views, the roads, the houses, the teachers and the schools, which form the daily twists of Gambian life so usual to the Gambians but unusual to us, I would like to take this opportunity, instead, to thank the people who have supported Tom and Lynn financially and otherwise over the last year. While they signed up to the limited diet (and indeed were on their 37th meal of bread and beans on my arrival), the unreliable electricity and around-the-clock drumming, it is your support, good wishes and football reports(!) that have helped them through the unexpected, frustrating and sometimes harrowing times outlined in this blog. Gambia, whilst being beautiful and vibrant, and relaxing for
the casual visitor, is indeed a developing and sometimes extremely difficult country, but that is exactly why they volunteered and exactly why you helped put them there.
Thank to all of you. Sarah
Mientras yo sólo estaba en la Gambia durante una semana, el viaje me recordó como ofrecerse difícil en el mundo en vías de desarrollo puede ser. Mientras los voluntarios pueden el acero ellos mismos, la presalida, para una vida sin sondar y electricidad y prepararse para el contacto limitado con amados, nada puede prepararle realmente para la agitación de mover su vida a un país, cultura y sociedad que, por último, realmente puede no quererle hasta.
Consequently, rather than talk about the politics, the views, the roads, the houses, the teachers and the schools, which form the daily twists of Gambian life so usual to the Gambians but unusual to us, I would like to take this opportunity, instead, to thank the people who have supported Tom and Lynn financially and otherwise over the last year. While they signed up to the limited diet (and indeed were on their 37th meal of bread and beans on my arrival), the unreliable electricity and around-the-clock drumming, it is your support, good wishes and football reports(!) that have helped them through the unexpected, frustrating and sometimes harrowing times outlined in this blog. Gambia, whilst being beautiful and vibrant, and relaxing for
the casual visitor, is indeed a developing and sometimes extremely difficult country, but that is exactly why they volunteered and exactly why you helped put them there. by Sarah Wilson
Sarah
May
3
2010
The Gambia has gone bananas, or rather Mango! For the last few weeks when every tree in the region has yielded mountains of mangoes people have been going crazy. Young and old stand beneath trees throwing sticks into the blue beyond in the hope of bringing down an almost ripe fruit. Mangoes are eaten all day every day, indeed on Monday a large ripe Mango fell from its home in the sky beside my motor bike as I arrived at the office in the morning. Wonderful I thought. Before I had stopped the engine and dismounted a man who cannot have been a day younger than 75 ran across the compound to claim it as his. It occurs to me that the Gambians would win every Olympic running event if only there was a mango at the finish.
Mangoes aside, our four day workshops on leadership and management for 107 Head Teachers brought an end to a very hectic period. Lynn, Jim and I had worked solidly for sixteen days visiting schools, writing policies preparing training materials and completing the Region Six work-development plan for 2010-2012. The Director received high praise when presenting our work so we smiled quietly as we are the only people who know that it was our work which was presented. Frustrations of course continue. Our four day workshop on Leadership and Management in Schools almost descended into farce when on the final day, whilst giving a talk on target setting an SEO, Senior Education Officer walked in with a bag of money to pay those who had attended the workshop. He did not walk to the side, to the back or to a chair in the hall he walked up and stood behind me, right behind me! Guess how many Head Teachers could concentrate from that point on? It is a good job that I am a gritty type!
Heads then began complaining that they had to leave early as their bus would not get them to their schools in time to start work on Monday. We finished early. Most Head Teachers including those waiting for a bus were still eating dinner in the office an hour later. “What? We missed the bus, oh, but food is so important.”
Following the workshop and demands of the previous fortnight Lynn and I left Basse for Kombo where she left on a flight for London. Our eldest daughter is expecting her second child mid May so Lynn wanted to be there to carry out her Grandmother, mother duties. The world is suddenly a very lonely place without her and my 13 hour drag back to Basse was maybe the most difficult journey I have made whilst here. I am only glad to find that she is safe and our 30 second phone call gave me more information about what is going on in the UK than any email sent by the family this year.
As I was welcomed back to Basse I was also greeted with the news that I am to run a four day workshop for Head Teachers starting on Thursday, on Leadership in Schools. Now where have I heard that somewhere? Yes we have to do it again. Nine months ago our then PEO, put in a proposal to do this workshop, the money has just come through and the office will lose it unless we use it. Consequently we are doing part 2 this week. Which reminds me I should stop now as I need to see an SEO about where to put his money this coming Sunday.
¡La Gambia ha ido plátanos, o mejor dicho Mango!
Durante las pocas semanas pasadas cuando cada árbol en la región ha cedido montañas de personas de mangos han estado yendo locos.
El soporte de ancianos y muchachos joven bajo el lanzamiento de árboles mete en los árboles en la esperanza del derribo de una fruta casi madura. Los mangos son comidos todo el día cada día, en efecto el lunes un Mango maduro grande se cayó de su casa al cielo al lado de mi moto de motor cuando llegué a la oficina por la mañana. Maravilloso pensé. Antes de que yo hubiera parado el motor y me hubiera desmontado un hombre que no puede haber sido un día más joven que 75 encontró el compuesto para reclamarlo como su. Esto ocurre a mí que los gambianos ganarían cada acontecimiento de marcha Olímpico si sólo había un mango en el fin.
Apr
26
2010
Four days of workshops on leadership and management for 107 Head Teachers brought an end to two weeks of solid work. Lynn Jim and I had worked solidly for sixteen days visiting schools, writing policies preparing training materials and completing the Region Six work, development plan for 2010-2012. The Director received high praise when presenting our work so we smiled quietly as we are the only people who know that it was our work which was presented. Frustrations of course continue. Our four day workshop almost descended into farce when on the final day, whilst giving a talk on Target Setting an SEO, Senior Education Officer walked in with a bag of money to pay those attending the workshop. He did not walk to the side, to the back or to a chair in the hall he walked up and stood behind me, right behind me! Guess how many Head Teachers could concentrate from that point on?
Heads then began complaining that they had to leave early as their bus would not get them to their schools in time to start work on Monday. We finished early. Most Head Teachers including those waiting for a bus were still eating dinner in the office an hour later.
Following the demands of the previous fortnight Lynn and I left Basse for Kombo where she took a flight for London. Our eldest daughter is expecting her second child mid May so Lynn wanted to be there to carry out her Grandmother, mother duties. The world is suddenly a lonely place without her and my 13 hour drag back to Basse was maybe the most difficult journey I have made. I am only glad to find that she is safe and our 30 second phone call gave me more information about what is going on in the UK than any email sent by the family this year.
Returning to Basse I am greeted with the news that I am to run a four day workshop fro Head Teachers starting on Thursday, on Leadership in Schools. Now where have I heard that somewhere? Yes we have to do it again. Nine months ago our then PEO, put in a proposal to do this workshop, the money has just come through and the office will lose it unless we use it. Consequently we are doing part 2 this week.
I must stop now as I need to see an SEO about where to put his money this coming Sunday.
Apr
14
2010
The Easter holiday in the Gambia is celebrated by both Christians and Muslims alike, everyone enjoys a good break and as schools were closed we took the opportunity of going down to Kombo to meet our Sarah. Arriving from a very cold Manchester Sarah found Banjul very hot. For us it was cold so we threw her into the back of a car and dragged her to the even hotter Basse. It was a joy to see her and her presence made the week fly. Her food parcels were to be seen to be believed, chocolate, wow I had forgotten what that was like. Funny though that during that exact same week our local mini market had Mars Bars, maybe out of date but certainly similar to the UK version.
Sadly Sarah had to fly back to England after a week but she had the opportunity of enjoying the wake up calls of the Mosque, the donkeys, hens and the pounding of rice. At night when she was tired she enjoyed the sound of naming ceremonies, weddings, drum practice and the compound television which has only got one volume, very very loud.
The weather is beyond anything I have experienced at the moment. We cannot sleep it is so hot. Our bodies are constantly wet from the heat, the water from the tap is hot and the fridge complains when it is turned on for its alloted twelve hours a day of electrictiy.
We are about to embark on nine days of solid workshops which will mean that we only have had two weekends off since February 1st. Last week we rewrote the regions education development plan in two days. We collected data from every school and began the preparation for our imminent Head Teachers conference.
What is it like to be cold?
Sarah has said she will contribute to this week’s blog so I will close now and get ready for this week’s training which involves another seven days of constant work with little rest in between. More about that later. BTW the photos on the right should now stop on mouse over.
Apr
4
2010
The Gambia is a young almost childlike country, immature in its thinking, its desires and its understanding of the processes which it needs to go through in order to really grow up and become a fully fledged nation. At the moment it still believes in Santa Claus or to be more exact the World Bank, the UN, Unicef and the myriad of NGOs which are seen as benevolent aunts and uncles with very deep pockets and the resources with which to indulge this and other expectant nations. Consequently those of us working here who come from the west are expected to dip into our pockets whenever somebody asks and thus feed a seemingly insatiable appetite for money.
Whilst I believe that this image of the Gambia is correct it fails however to come close when one considers the real wonders of childhood. Childhood for me was a time of exploration, imagination and discovery, a time when all things were possible and my own curiosity drove me to try things, go places and challenge myself in so many different ways. That desire is lacking here.
Schools across the Gambia constantly fail to capitalise on the enquiring minds of the young that desire to find out and make sense of their world. Babies, toddlers lead the way in living lives devoid of stimulation and in school students as young as 5 or 6 will sit alone with nothing to do for hours. On one trip to schools in the very east of our country I came across a class of 50+ under seven year old children sitting waiting for their teacher to do something with them. I toured the school with the Head Teacher, watched a lesson, and finally arrived in this ECD, Early Years Development class. The children were sitting, not fidgeting, not talking although some whispered amongst themselves. They did so quietly. The teacher said he had finished lecturing them on the letter K and was now doing his reports. Still they sat. I gave every child some bottle tops, cards, pencils and or paper. Still they sat. I built card towers on one desk and houses on another and drew pictures on a third. They sat and watched. They did nothing. As I left them they waited for their teacher. How sad it is to see childhood without curiosity, without ambition and without dreams?
As I left the school everything was being put away by the teacher. The children were still sitting.
Mar
26
2010
Sorry for the lateness of this week’s blog but we are still trying to catch up following a 6 days of workshops over 7 days. Our first was a practical workshop on the science of classroom teaching, the second a reading course we organised and ran last week for 120 teachers. The week was very intense and involved lots of practical activities as well as teaching so by Friday we were on our knees – 14 hour days for 6 days not to be recommended unless completely mad or VSO volunteers! We managed at the eleventh hour to get 3 newly arrived volunteers, two from another region, some 6 hours away, to help out and they were fantastic – especially as they had only been in their placements for 2 days!! The good news too is that by delivering the same message over a prolonged period, when we visited schools this week we could actually see some of our ideas and efforts being put into practice in the classrooms albeit incorrectly in some cases but, hip hip “Hooray!”
Well, someone just turned the thermostat up here in Basse and hot has become hotter! The nights are still and baking and the fan just blows around hot air – never thought we would miss the English weather! Schools break up next Wednesday so we are going to the Kombo that week and meeting Sarah at the airport on 5th. We will bring her back here for a few days then Tom will take her back and see her off. After her stay in Eritrea she will probably think we have it easy – after all we do have electricity for a few hours a day and a cold tap in the ‘bathroom’. Being an animal lover she will also enjoy the wild life running and landing in and on our roof! We are really looking forward to her visit.
Our new volunteer, Cemali, (Jim), arrived last week and after being thrown in at the deep end with the reading course is now on a long distance trek with Tom visiting outlying schools. The schools are not that far away in terms of miles but on sand dune bush tracks with moon craters every few yards the journey is long and uncomfortable. The last car that went out had 4 punctures that day and not a ‘Tyres R Us’ in sight! The driver usually ends up making do with whatever he has in his pockets!
One of the Senior Education Officers is recruiting new teachers today. There was an announcement on the radio last night for people to apply today – everything is last minute here and no one is given any notice of what is taking place. Our reading course was announced on the Saturday prior to its start on the Monday and that was considered good notice. Anyway, to be an unqualified teacher here you need a minimum of 3 NAT passes – slightly above the level of year 6 SATs in the UK, (if I am being kind) and those passes can be in any subject – Islamic studies, Agricultural science, woodwork etc. These prospective teachers are not even assessed on their levels of English so they can be working at levels the same or below that of the pupils they are teaching. Little wonder that standards are so low and the levels of English so poor. This being the end of term every school is doing exams. They mark exams out of 20 and give a percentage. i.e. 19/20 = 95 percent; 5/20 = 40%. Hmmm did you get that? ah yes, by awarding discretionary marks for effort you can ensure that every child gets to competency level and therefore not have to speak to his parents. I wonder if the UK teachers would like that idea?
We still eat very little meat here in Basse, the occasional scrawny chicken and chips at the fast food 4 star salmonella place but mainly veggie stews, curries etc from canned vegetables and tomato paste – amazing what you can concoct from a limited larder. There is however one thing that I will never master out here and that is the plastic bags of drinking water. The locals can neatly rip the corner off a bag and drink every drop whereas I manage to shower myself and all around me before even getting the bag to my lips! I’ve seen guys on push bikes complete the task cleanly and efficiently whilst I continue to mop up around me!
Mar
14
2010
There will be times in anyone’s life when strength deserts them energy is lacking and motivation has been lost. Such an occasion came last week when we witness the barbarism of the country in which we are working. It is at times such as these that when one realises the value of friends and family. That one post brought an unprecedented number of comments on the blog, emails of support and words of wisdom from people we have neither met or know. Yet somehow they touched our hearts and were a real factor in our decision to stay. Going back to our compound that evening was difficult. Leaving it and returning the next night and for the following few days was also hard. We wondered how we would feel if we met the aggressor, he being one person we had spoken to on a number of occasions. It didn’t happen. We met neither the husband nor the wife and the first mention of the incident in the compound came when on the Landlords wife walked into our home and sat down. She said in English which is barely better than my Fula, the locally spoken language that she wanted to apologies because her son had hit his wife. She explained that, “This woman was a bad woman and she had another man’s telephone number on her mobile.” That said she promised that it would not happen again and then stood to leave. We have been fully aware that she too was the victim of similar abuse although we had never seen more than stroke, so we simply parted with a quiet hand shake and the words there can be no excuse, and of course should it ever happen again we will leave. Saying that we would leave the compound is a big threat here in Mansanjang, VSO pay good rates for rent and so our departure would create financial hole within the compound’s finances even though the Landlord is relatively well off.
Before the visit of the wife Lynn and I simply wrapped ourselves in work Starting earlier and leaving later thus avoiding having to meet members of the family within the compound. We needn’t have bothered however for certainly they were avoiding us. The normally morning cries of “ Sira, Alpha, are you off to work, how are you, how is your day?” have stopped. We have not been asked to share food with them or sit and watch TV with them, which although we had not done often was part of our daily conversation.
So gradually life returned to normal. The victim, it appears has been moved out of the compound and the son in on a business trip to Kombo.
We returned to running staff development workshops, Pedagogical workshops and are now preparing for a five day workshop for 120+ on Roads to Reading. This is a multi layered cross platform approach to reading that we put together ourselves some years ago trialling and testing in Russia and the UK which bridges the gaps between Phonics and other programmes such as Reading Recovery and approaches. We have seen radical improvement in reading standards using our methods and now are to test it again in this most difficult of regions.
So life goes on. The children remain lovely, demanding yet happy smiling and innocent. Adults continue to smile appreciate our contributions and suggestions before going off and doing they we like.
So yes, we are still here but most certainly because of your letters your emails your support and your wisdom. From those of you we know thanks you with all the love in our hearts. From those of you we do not know you have taken up a special place in our lives, we appreciate you and have now added you into our circle of special people we wouldlove to know. Thank you all.
Habrá tiempos en la vida de alguien cuando la fuerza los deserta la energía carece y la motivación ha sido perdida. Tal ocasión vino la semana pasada cuando atestiguamos el barbarismo del país en el cual trabajamos. Es a veces, como éstos esto cuando uno realiza el valor de amigos y familia. Aquel un correo trajo un número sin precedentes de comentarios del blog, correos electrónicos del apoyo y palabras de la sabiduría de la gente que hemos encontrado ni o sabemos. Aún de alguna manera ellos tocaron nuestros corazones y eran un verdadero factor en nuestra decisión de quedarse. Volver a nuestro compuesto esa tarde era difícil. La salida de esto y la vuelta la próxima noche y durante los pocos días siguientes también eran difíciles. Nos preguntamos como sentiríamos si encontramos al agresor, él siendo una persona habíamos hablado a en un número de ocasiones. Esto no pasó. No encontramos ni al marido, ni la esposa y la primera mención del incidente en el compuesto vino cuando en los Propietarios la esposa anduvo en nuestra casa y se sentó. Ella dijo en inglés que es apenas mejor que mi Fula, el en la localidad lenguaje hablado que ella quiso a apologías porque su hijo había golpeado a su esposa. Ella explicó que, “Esta mujer era una mujer mala y ella tenía el número de teléfono de otro hombre en su móvil.” Esto dijo que ella prometió que esto no pasaría otra vez y luego tuvo la posibilidad de marcharse. Hemos sido totalmente conscientes que ella también era la víctima del abuso similar aunque nunca hubiéramos visto más que el golpe, entonces simplemente nos separamos de un diálogo inicial tranquilo y las palabras allí no puede ser ninguna excusa, y por supuesto debería esto alguna vez pasar otra vez nos marcharemos. El refrán que dejaríamos el compuesto está una amenaza grande aquí en Mansanjang, VSO pagan precios buenos por el alquiler y entonces nuestra salida crearía el agujero financiero dentro de las finanzas del compuesto aunque el Propietario esté relativamente bien desconectado.
Antes de la visita de la esposa Lynn y simplemente nos envolví con el trabajo que Comienza antes y deja más tarde así la evitación de la necesidad de encontrar a miembros de la familia dentro del compuesto. No tenemos que habernos molestado sin embargo para seguramente ellos nos evitaban. ¿Los gritos normalmente de mañana “de Sira, Alfa, son usted lejos para trabajar, cómo son usted, como es su día?” se han parado. No nos han pedido compartir la comida con ellos o sentarse y TV de reloj con ellos, que aunque no hubiéramos hecho a menudo era la parte de nuestra conversación diaria.
Entonces gradualmente la vida volvió a normal. La víctima, aparece ha sido movido del compuesto y el hijo en de un viaje de negocios a Kombo.
Volvimos a talleres de desarrollo del personal que corren, talleres Pedagógicos y nos preparamos ahora para un taller de cinco días para 120 + en Caminos a la Lectura. Esto es un acercamiento de plataforma enfadado acodado multi-a la lectura de esto nos reunimos hace algunos años trialling y probando en Rusia y el Reino Unido que rellena los huecos entre Phonics y otros programas, como la Lectura de Recuperación y acercamientos. Hemos visto la mejora radical de la lectura de estándares usando nuestros métodos y ahora debemos probarlo otra vez en esto el más difícil de regiones.
Entonces la vida continúa. Los niños permanecen encantadores, exigiendo la sonrisa aún feliz e inocente. Los adultos siguen sonriendo aprecian nuestras contribuciones y suposiciones antes de marcharse y hacer lo que les gusta.
Tan sí, todavía estamos aquí, pero el más seguramente debido a sus cartas sus correos electrónicos su apoyo y su sabiduría. De aquellos de ustedes sabemos le agradece con todo el amor en nuestros corazones. De aquellos de ustedes no sabemos que usted ha tomado un lugar especial en nuestras vidas, le apreciamos y le hemos añadido ahora en nuestro círculo de la gente especial nosotros wouldlove para saber. Gracias todos.
Mar
11
2010
There will be times in anyone’s life when strength deserts them energy is lacking and motivation has been lost. Such an occasion came last week when we witness the barbarism of the country in which we are working. It is at times such as these that when one realises the value of friends and family. That one post brought an unprecedented number of comments on the blog, emails of support and words of wisdom from people we have neither met or know. Yet somehow they touched our hearts and were a real factor in our decision to stay. Going back to our compound that evening was difficult. Leaving it and returning the next night and for the following few days was also hard. We wondered how we would feel if we met the aggressor, he being one person we had spoken to on a number of occasions. It didn’t happen. We met neither the husband nor the wife and the first mention of the incident in the compound came when on the Landlords wife walked into our home and sat down. She said in English which is barely better than my Fula, the locally spoken language that she wanted to apologies because her son had hit his wife. She explained that, “This woman was a bad woman and she had another man’s telephone number on her mobile.” That said she promised that it would not happen again and then stood to leave. We have been fully aware that she too was the victim of similar abuse although we had never seen more than stroke, so we simply parted with a quiet hand shake and the words there can be no excuse, and of course should it ever happen again we will leave. Saying that we would leave the compound is a big threat here in Mansanjang, VSO pay good rates for rent and so our departure would create financial hole within the compound’s finances even though the Landlord is relatively well off.
Before the visit of the wife Lynn and I simply wrapped ourselves in work Starting earlier and leaving later thus avoiding having to meet members of the family within the compound. We needn’t have bothered however for certainly they were avoiding us. The normally morning cries of “ Sira, Alpha, are you off to work, how are you, how is your day?” have stopped. We have not been asked to share food with them or sit and watch TV with them, which although we had not done often was part of our daily conversation.
So gradually life returned to normal. The victim, it appears has been moved out of the compound and the son in on a business trip to Kombo.
We returned to running staff development workshops, Pedagogical workshops and are now preparing for a five day workshop for 120+ on Roads to Reading. This is a multi layered cross platform approach to reading that we put together ourselves some years ago trialling and testing in Russia and the UK which bridges the gaps between Phonics and other programmes such as Reading Recovery and approaches. We have seen radical improvement in reading standards using our methods and now are to test it again in this most difficult of regions.
So life goes on. The children remain lovely, demanding yet happy smiling and innocent. Adults continue to smile appreciate our contributions and suggestions before going off and doing what they like.
So yes, we are still here but most certainly because of your letters your emails your support and your wisdom. From those of you we know thanks you with all the love in our hearts. From those of you we do not know you have taken up a special place in our lives, we appreciate you and have now added you into our circle of special people we wouldlove to know. Thank you all.
Mar
5
2010
Perhaps I should not be writing this tonight. Some of you will say I should wait a while and write without passion, maybe in the cold light of day. Yet I cannot.
Tonight I witnessed a beating of such savagery that I do not at this moment know if I can stay here. Lynn and I had been asleep for almost two hours when we were awoken by screams. The screams were only broken with cries of “why, why why?” The sound of these screams were such that I got out of bed dressed and went to the window to find out what was happening. Three metres across the compound through an open window I witnessed a large man beating his wife with a stick. I can still hear in my mind the smack made as the stick hit the near naked body. A thin whip would have been bad enough but this was a brute of a weapon. The man, a muscular giant was thrashing the woman as she screamed. Other people from the compound were arriving at the window and watching. None were intervening. People from the village were arriving to see what the screams were. None were intervening.
I have rarely in my life felt as impotent as I did tonight. I am ashamed of myself for I grabbed Lynn and we left the house and compound to walk around the village. We had been told that this is a country where somebody can beat up his brother’s wife and his brother would not intervene. Tonight we saw the truth of it.
I am sickened, shattered and torn. As Lynn and I returned to the house the screaming had stopped and the man was sitting outside his home seemingly being consoled by family members. Maybe that is not fair because I do understand their language. How the woman is I do not know.
What will happen now I do not know. I, no we have tried so hard for these people but perhaps you have to be made from stronger stuff to see this and live with it. In a country where you can divorce your wife with the words, “I divorce you, I divorce you I divorce you.” At this moment in time I see no place for me, for us or for civilised people. Your thoughts are welcomed
Soy enojado.
Esta noche atestigüé a un hombre que pega a su esposa salvajemente. Lynn y yo habíamos estado dormidos durante casi dos horas cuando fuimos despertados por gritos. ¿Los gritos sólo estuvieron rotos con gritos “de por qué, por qué por qué?” El sonido de estos gritos era tal que salí de la cama adornada y fui a la ventana para averiguar lo que pasaba. Tres metros a través del compuesto por una ventana abierta atestigüé a un hombre grande que pega a su esposa con un palo. Todavía puedo oír en mi mente el golpe hecho cuando el palo golpeó el cerca del cuerpo desnudo. Una fusta delgada habría sido bastante mala pero esto era un bruto de un arma. El hombre, un gigante muscular azotaba a la mujer cuando ella gritó. Otra gente del compuesto llegaba a la ventana y mirada. Ninguno intervenía. La gente del pueblo llegaba para ver cuales los gritos eran. Ninguno intervenía.
Tengo raramente en mi vida sentida tan impotente como hice esta noche. Estoy avergonzado de mí ya que entusiasmé a Lynn y dejamos la casa y compuesto para andar alrededor del pueblo. Nos habían dicho que esto es un país donde alguien puede dar una paliza a la esposa de su hermano y su hermano no intervendría. Esta noche vimos la verdad de ello.
Yo soy puesto enfermo, roto y rasgado. Cuando Lynn y yo volvimos a la casa que el grito había parado y el hombre se sentaba fuera de su casa aparentemente consolada por miembros de familia. Tal vez no es justo porque realmente entiendo su lengua. Como la mujer es no sé.
Lo que pasará ahora que no sé. Yo, no nos hemos esforzado tanto para esta gente pero quizás usted tiene que ser hecho de la materia más fuerte ver esto y vivo con ello. En un país donde usted puede divorciar de su esposa con las palabras, “divorcio de usted, divorcio de usted divorcio de usted.” En este momento no veo ningún lugar para mí, para nosotros o para la gente civilizada. Sus pensamientos son dados la bienvenida
Feb
28
2010
Today, coming back from a tailor’s home, my sandal came off. Not a very remarkable thing you might say except that had you heard my screams as the scorching sand almost took a layer of skin from my feet you might have understood, yet all around me children were running, playing, rolling and jumping with apparently little problem. My respect goes to these Gambian children who not only run but play football with nothing on feet in searing heat on a carpet of scorching sand.
I had naively thought that riding my motor cycle would provide some relieve, believing that the air rushing by might cool my body which constantly feels and some would say looks, like a chicken in a spit. It does not. Rather riding a motor bike is like standing in front of a hot hair dryer which is blowing sand in your face.
I was returning from the tailor because Lynn decided that she would like a pair of trousers made locally and in light cotton. We chose some lovely material from the market paid an astonishing 60 Dalasi for two metres, plenty big enough for a new slim line Lynn and went to the tailor. Lynn took a pair trousers that she liked so he could use them to find the exact fit. In the Gambia men do not measure other people’s wives. Anyway we were promised that they would be perfect and ready next day if needed. Two day later half the material had been used to produce something that we would have called ‘hipsters’ in the 70s. They were tight around the waist to Lynn asked that they have small V put in them to allow for movement. Next day they came back with a two inch wide panel slotted in down the outside seam of each leg. Suddenly they looked like 1980s bags and still the waist was too low. Lynn asked that the waist band be lifted so they were comfortable and the V put back so they fitted properly. They came back again with the inside seam now sewn so tight they resembled 1950s drainpipes. Consequently I was sent to the tailor’s home to have him put them right. Now you will know that what I know about tailoring can be written on the back of a stamp and still leave room for the Lord’s Prayer but I waited to see him open every seam and sew one leg as requested. The machine he was using was the most dilapidated broken and useless sewing machine you could imagine yet here he was repairing it as he went. The drive belt turning the wheel from the machine broke three times while I was there and each time he sewed it up with a minimum of fuss and bother. Like most Gambians he seemed very adept at repairing anything. I am sure they could fix a broken carburettor with a bit of string and a paper clip. Anyway we now await the new trousers which apparently will be delivered tonight before five.
Sorry for the missed blog last weekend. Lynn was quite ill for five days and unable to keep anything down or in for long. The heat made lying in bed very uncomfortable for her and the lack of power for 12 hours a day meant that she got no relief from our fans. Even taking a cold shower is of no relief as water coming from our taps is often too hot to shower in.
One last disaster befell us while Lynn was ill as I decided to restore my laptop to its factory condition after a number of problems caused it to become very slow. Of course I backed up our data, went through the wonderful HP procedures and low and behold I have a new quick and restore laptop, without emails, addresses or contact details. Now who can I blame?
Please forgive us if you have emailed recently it is possible that we missed your mail or deleted it. We would appreciate an email from you to confirm your address. Cheers.
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Leaving everything we love to work in the developing world is going to be very challenging. Share our journey here where we will place photos and comment as often as events permit.
Voy a tratar de escribir un poco de información para nuestro blog en español. Si usted puede leer esto y ve algunos errores que haya cometido por favor perdóneme y luego dígame cuales son. Pondremos fotos e información sobre nuestro trabajo aquí.Blogroll
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