Goats on the side of the road are no rare sight in the Gambia. But the month of November has seen a huge increase in their numbers due to Tabaski - the big Muslim festival of the year, celebrating the story of Abraham being summoned by Allah to sacrifice his first born son. Just as the deed was about to be completed, Allah seeing Abraham’s devotion told him to save his son and sacrifice a ram instead. Buying a ram can be an expensive purchase – up to 5,000 dalasi for a big beast – about £140 but even more difficult that buying the ram is getting it home.

Rams are not known for their ability to walk to heel on a lead. They will push and pull for all their worth to get away from their new owner. One poor man so exasperated trying to walk his ram home flipped it onto its back, tied its legs together and hired a man and wheelbarrow (no man and van here). A very undignified final journey.

Me and my motorbike - a Love/Hate relationship

OK, so motorbike training last week had its good points and its bad points. I was able to start the thing and balance well. I found I could change through the gears and not stall the bike or fall off. I love the feeling of being on the open road with no traffic, goats, children, chickens, dogs, donkeys etc. to make me have to think about the mechanics of the beast. It’s fantastic to be independent and be able to get to places like beautiful beaches off the beaten track without having to walk miles in the sweltering heat and I’m really happy that I have cracked a new skill at my age. On the down side - it scares me to death. I fell off five times – nothing serious – and found it really difficult to manoeuvre round corners at slow speeds. I didn’t succeed at the downhill exercises and if it wasn’t for Sal my trainer I would have given up on the Thursday. On the emotional/psychological side, I am on two wheels, not strapped in feeling vulnerable as a soft boiled egg in the middle of the traffic in The Gambia.

This is a place where cars do not need MOT certificates, indicators have been replaced by horns hooting at everything that moves and overtaking mirrors are a thing of the past.

I’m sure that as I get more used to the red devil – YAMAHA AG 100 for anyone who is interested – I will learn to conquer my fears but at the moment I’m wondering if I will ride it at all. Old dog – new tricks! - photos to follow.

I had a particularly restless night last night due mainly to the fact that I start my motor bike lessons tomorrow. The worries are:
Will I roast to death in the helmet and jacket?
Will I have to ride along Kairaba Avenue (the equivalent to Marble Arch)?
Will I fall off?
After considering all these options my concentration shifted to the various noises coming into the bedroom from outside. It struck me as a kind of African trifle with many different levels of noise that continued all through the night.
At the bottom end were the hundreds and thousands of bull frogs with their deep resonating croak.
Then you have the dogs which bark to each other all night long.
In the middle are the various insects and grasshoppers which sit in trees making a constant chirruping noise reminiscing of old western movies.
The cockerels of course, have to join in with the conversation as do the birds as dawn approaches.
And finally at around 5am the Imam calls the faithful to prayer through his very efficient PA system.
I lay there remembering with fondness the double-glazed UPVC perfectly fitted windows of my little bungalow in Poole. Where one silent, gentle movement of the handle would eradicate all noise forever.
The next thing I knew it was morning and the African trifle had somehow lulled me off to sleep.

Koriteh marks the end of Ramadan

10th September was the feast of Koriteh which celebrates the end of Ramadan. We were invited to eat with the Mr. Jarju and his family. Mr. Jarju is a lecturer at Gambia College. We were kindly invited into their home where the children made us very welcome. We were special guests and so ate first at a table. We ate noodles, mutton and vegetables from a communal bowl. After our meal was over the rest of the family ate sitting on the floor also from a communal bowl. Once everyone had eaten their full the family dressed up in their very best clothes and set out to visit friends and family.

I have been in my house in Brikama now for nearly two weeks and am starting to feel part of the town. My house is big with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. I don’t have much furniture at the moment so am rattling about a bit in it. Our compound has five houses. There are three VSO volunteers, the caretaker and gardener, Mr. Touray and a couple of guys from Nigeria. The local children come in often to chat and offer to run errands for a few dalasi
There are only a handful of white people in Brikama so we soon become known. The market is still a bit of a maze. I’ve set out on 6 or so occasions to buy vegetables and have got lost each time. The pathways between the stalls are very narrow and badly pitted. Also full of puddles after the rain. Still I have always managed to buy what I needed and made a handful of new friends along the way. Start work on 13th – enough lazing around – holiday over.

Never work with children and animals

The kids here love to shout out to the white visitors. They call us Toubabs. It's done in the most friendly way with a big toothy smile and a wave. There are little ones everywhere and as in most countries they love football. The smallest piece of land and a deflated ball is all they need.

One thing I am finding difficult is watching the many stray dogs on the streets. Some are in pretty good condition but others are obviously struggling. I made the mistake of making eye contact with one last week and he now follows me whenever we meet up. He's a good looking black and tan mongrel with half his tail missing. He looks up at me with his bright eyes and wags his stump as if to say "you'll look after me won't you??" I try to ignore him but as in true dog style he is loyal and looks out for me every day. The Gambians can't understand this relationship and find it outrageous that Westerners will spend £100s on their pooches and moggies. I can't help but agree with them here but I so miss having a cuddle with Dilly on the Sofa! Think I might have to bring one or two back with me.

Transport

Very few people in The Gambia own their own cars - just as well that the public transport system is affordable and efficient.



If you want to get around in Banjul you have two options. You can take the yellow and green taxis or the gelli gellis both of which act more like buses. The taxis cruise up and down the main roads picking up and dropping off passengers as they go. You can hail a taxi at any point and your journey will cost about 5 delasi ( around 10p) . You can share your journey with up to four other people.



The gelli gellis run the same kind of system but cover longer journeys. These are Volkswagen campers or similar with a selection of bench type seats fixed into the back - room for about 12 people. Both are quick and cheap. Cool ehh???

This is the class of 2010 who arrived from London on 12th August. We're mainly involved in primary teaching and will shortly be going our separate ways. Some staying in The Kombos which is the Western region and some more intrepid VSO vols heading up country. Good luck guys.

Internet access is proving to be quite a problem. I takes 20 minutes or so to get to the internet cafe from home and there may be little or no signal. The connection is also very slow - each click of the mouse can take 30 seconds. So I apologise for not replying to everyone individually. Might be sorting this out soon with a super dooper new phone.

Otherwise, West Africa is still vibrant and amazing. My mandinka is coming along nicely

Wollaroo be naadi? Wollaroo be jan.

How is the evening? The evening is here.

Learning to ride a motor bike next week. Should be interesting.

Settled in but not organised

Have arrived safely in West Africa but can't really say that I am organised. For instance, have just found this lovely internet cafe with connection after settling in at two others where the WiFi wasn't working. Was about to cut and paste my carefully worded blog but it is saved on my laptop which I don't have with me. So for now - The Gambia is colourful, noisy, hot and humid. Gambians are friendly, happy, helpful and in the main very, very poor.

I promise to be a good blogger and will try to work out how to add pictures next time.

7 weeks to go

It's been nearly a year since I started this journey by filling in an online application form to VSO. One step at a time has brought me to today, 24th June 2010 via interviews, training sessions, team building weekends and lots of paperwork and on 12th August I will fly out to Banjul in The Gambia. Big adventure for me and something I've been thinking about doing for years now.

Mundane jobs like renting out the house, selling the car, getting rabies jabs fill my time for the present but I know that not far away is a huge adventure - I think I'm prepared. EEEEKKKKK!!!!!!!