Another month has passed. I have been busy with moving house, getting back to work after my accident, and a welcome visit from my parents.
For more about my house and the district where I live see Latrikunda .
Thank you to all who have emailed or added comments here. It has been good to hear from you.
It is a month since I added to this blog. Apologies for my long silence. This was partly caused by being in a road accident, and it has been difficult to get near the internet.
I have now added three pages:
Sights and Sounds. Read about my early impressions of The Gambia, in the first three weeks.
Upcountry Journey. Read about my trip inland to the rural areas upriver (with pictures).
Two accidents. A little information about the accidents involving me and another VSO volunteer.
I have now been here three weeks, and our training programme proceeds with continuing high quality. This week, amongst many things, we have looked at HIV-Aids and Gender within Gambian cultures, relating these issues to our work placements. I am pleased to have such thorough preparation for my work here.
Last weekend The Gambia celebrated 42 years of independence from Great Britain. On Saturday I took the opportunity to travel to a beach a few kilometres south of the urban Kombos. Journeys like this are not necessarily straightforward, with little private transport and no buses or trains. So accompanied by another new volunteer I took a bush-taxi to Tanji, a fishing area on the coast (pictures below). Bush-taxis are minibuses that follow a particular route, and you can flag them down at any point. They usually travel very full, and it is not uncommon to carry live chickens and goats in addition to people. Once we found a bush-taxi that was heading our way (which took a while), it was a thirty-minute trip, initially along a bumpy dirt-road, but eventually on tarmac. In Tanji we chatted to the Senegalese fishermen, who were landing their catch and beginning the process of smoking the fish, and then walked to a deserted beach and found a quiet place to rest in the shade. As the tide receded it was possible to paddle far out in the sea, amongst shellfish, jellyfish and other strange water-borne life.
Perhaps my blogposts so far make it sound like I am on holiday; I hope not because we are actually working quite hard, but if you think I am skiving then I can reassure you that the orientation period is three-quarters finished, and I will begin work properly at the beginning of March!
On Sunday I will be going upcountry to Janjanbureh for a while, where our training concludes. There, I will have to adapt to another language. The Wolof I have been learning here is mainly spoken here in the Kombos (and also in Senegal). Mandinka is more useful upcountry so before I go I will learn the appropriate traditional greetings, and whilst I am away I hope to learn a little more than that.
Thank you for the emails and texts I have received. I may be out of touch now for a little while, but will update you again on my return.
It is now two weeks since I arrived in The Gambia, and I am now approaching the midway point of my in-country training. This week I have been sharing a house with Rolando, Vicente and Jacqui, all newly-arrived volunteers. Also living with us are several lizards, and a dove that nests in the attic.
We have learned to find food in the market, to haggle for a reasonable price, and to cook with unfamiliar ingredients; mundane stuff perhaps, but necessary both for survival and sanity. We have learned to cope with regular power cuts and sporadic interruptions to the water supply. And I am getting used to a diet without dairy products, which are pretty hard to come by.
This week’s training has included sessions on disability and child protection, both of which include universal concepts that are the same as those I have dealt with in the
UK, but also have culture-specific elements that I had not considered before. We had a health briefing with the nurse at the British High Commission; there are some weird diseases available here. We had a session giving advice for Living in The Gambia. And in the remainder of this week I have attended classes for learning Wolof, the main language in this part of the country.
Last weekend I travelled by bush-taxi to Abuko Nature Reserve a little way south of here, where I walked though quiet tropical forest and watched herons, kingfishers, crocodiles, a monitor lizard, and zillions of large ants. I have included some pictures of this trip below.
And – oh yes, nearly forgot – I opened a bank account yesterday. First time I have been asked in a bank to draw a map of where I live as part of the application process. But it’s this kind of thing that makes it interesting being here.
Don’t forget about me. Do email. Thank you.
I have now been in The Gambia now for one week, the first of four weeks of orientation and in-country training before I begin my post at the Department of State for Education. This week we have looked at issues of culture, personal and national security, the various activities the three VSO programmes here (Disability, Education and Sustainable Rural Livelihoods), health, and have also had help getting used to living here on a day to day level.
Four new volunteers have joined in this session, two from the UK and two Filipinos. Tomorrow we move from our hotel accommodation and for the next two weeks will share a house in the Kanifing area. During this time our training will focus on Language. Currently I am learning how to greet people in Wolof and Mandinka. After that our final week of training will be up-country in Janjanbureh (Georgetown), before I move into my own flat and start work at DoSE.
Thank you to everyone who has emailed or texted; please keep it up!
Below are three early photographs for you to look at. The rally cars are from the Plymouth to Banjul rally (link to their website elsewhere on this blogsite). Last weekend I was roped in to driving some of these cars to the national stadium, where they were auctioned. A third phase of cars left the UK a week ago and should arrive towards the end of February.
This is it, then. I depart for The Gambia tomorrow morning. I think I’m ready.
I am very excitied to be leaving at last; preparation for this trip has been a marathon.
I will add to this blog when I can, perhaps every month or two. I hope I might receive emails, letters, (presents…? visitors…?) to keep me going.
Enjoy your cold wet country.
Justin
For those of you planning a visit, I have added a page of details to help you organise your trip.
Also, I have added a page of details about various project relating to work in The Gambia.
Today I have updated the Flights to Banjul page, where you can now find the following additional information:
…so, start planning your visit to The Gambia…
How do I find other pages?
You can now find links to all other pages from the JITG Hub .
Happy New Year!!
Do you know Guinea from Gabon?
Does Zambia share a border with Zimbabwe?
And where is Comoros?
Click here to attempt the Africa quiz.
What’s New?
Today you will find two new additional pages.
A list of Aid Agencies involved in international development.
You can find out about the work of each organisation on their websites.
Click here
Information about:
- volunteering in international development
- campaigning on behalf of the world’s poorest people
- resources to keep you and others informed about development issues
Click here
