Saturday (Day 8) Homeward bound...

My last day had come and it was bitter sweet. My week had (as promised) been life changing, I had learned that those with nothing can be the most generous and that there is a simpler (and warmer) way to live....

I was excited that we were taking Fattie and the boys to the beach but as we were waiting we got the awful news that one of the sponsor kids had been hit by a car, that was all we knew so we waited to see if we were going to make a hospital visit instead of hitting the beach. A second call told us the person that has hit him had driven straight to hospital and there were no broken bones, just severe grazes. To Ginger and Sol every S4K child is theirs and I joked she would be a nervous wreck when all 200 of them are in their teens! So a bit later than planned (Gambia Time yet again) we headed off to Sol's family compound where our kids were

waiting, When I saw Fattie I was so happy because she was wearing a beautiful dress that we had bought for her all those months ago, she had matching hair bows, sun glasses and even though the sandals we got her were way too big her mum had managed to find some shoes that almost matched...she looked amazing.

We all sat in the back of the car looking out of the windows and playing 'round and round the garden' on each others palms..Fattie and Dawda are particularly ticklish.

Although she only lives a couple of miles from the sea this was Fatties first time, and only her brothers second. The boys were really excited once we hit the sand but Fattie seemed very reluctant so we sat on a sun bed for some time just taking it all in, then we took a walk down to the sea. It was very calm and holding my had she stood a few inches in the water, that was fine but each time the small waves went out they took some of the sand from under her feet and she really didn't like this, clinging on to my hand for dear life. After a few minutes we decided to go and dig a hole which was much more fun, then we collected shells and cuttlefish to decorate it with.

We hadn't thought to bring anything with us for the kids to do so we muscled in on another family that had buckets and spades, it took a while but the quality of sandcastles rapidly improved and we soon had a medieval town. Bakary then decided any that weren't perfect had to go and our town became a hamlet...Fattie was not impressed and gave him a right telling off. It was lovely seeing Ginger and Sol having a couple of hours off, they work incredibly hard and as surrogate parents to 200 kids are never off duty. All too soon it was time to pack up and drop the children off. It was also time to say goodbye to Sidat who had become a good friend, we exchanged gifts and Ginger joked about my bride price, which we decided was 2 cows 3 goats and a few chickens...which beats Ginger's lone camel!!

Chef Badjie created another benachin masterpiece and it was time to finish packing my bag and head for the airport......

A few people had said to me knowingly 'Africa gets in your blood' and they were right, within hours of being home I was on the internet looking at flights to get me back to my Gambian family. Next time I hope to stay for much longer, living with the Badjies and volunteering at Model School...but no, I am not a teacher!

Friday (Day 7) Our last visits

I had been looking forward to Friday because that is the Badjie bin day and I wanted to get a photo of the bin man, we had seen him around a few times but always on the move. No specialised recycling lorries here, no wheelie bins hydraulically emptied high above their heads, just a man and a donkey! He must have thought I was very strange asking him to pose, and it was also strange watching him take away the cardboard boxes that had started their journey in the homes of excited sponsors.

Today was a little more leisurely, just two schools in the morning and a general distribution in the afternoon. Sol loaded up the car and we collected Sidat, (by now a permanent fixture) and we headed of to the first school. It must be so hard to keep these little schools going, they rely totally on the fees

they charge but can't charge much as the parents couldn't pay, they have to either build the school themselves or rent off the government and pay all the wages for the teachers as well as general upkeep and maintenance, it is no wonder Ginger and Sol get a standing ovation every time they visit.

There were a few S4K kids to check up on and some resources to give out. As it was a small well disciplined school this was done pretty quickly and the song singing kept to a minimum. I think we were in and out in about 40 minutes (which was a record) and then off to find the new school.

 Now one thing I hadn't appreciated about the roads in Gambia, apart from the few main tarmac ones, there are no roads. There are dirt tracts that come and go, with no real signs and no junctions, when you turn from a main road to a dirt track you just bump over the edge and very often the wind and rain have eroded the dirt away so there is a huge dip. In some places I noticed it was now impossible to turn off unless you were in a 4x4.

So we were heading down one of these dirt tracks, past some men felling a tree when it dead ended, We turned round and asked the men for directions to the village and we followed their instructions but missed the turning which was just by a wall so we turned around again, took the turning and drove straight on for a mile or two. By now we were getting a bit wary so when we passed a lovely young girl walking along the road we stopped for more instructions, she actually lived in the village so we gave her a lift home. The school was quite small and built just behind the headmasters house, he had a little veg garden fenced off with the smallest banana tree I have ever seen. His school was lovely, only a few years old and he had a sign above the door listing the 'friends' that had helped build it. Ginger asked if he already had support but he explained they helped fund the building but that was all. It was still nice to see others (in this case Germans) were willing to help this incredibly friendly little country.

We were shown round and gave out the books and pencils we had and Ginger explained that once a school is on her radar she doesn't walk away and that whenever she could she would help him out, I thought the poor man was going to cry.
As we were now near the home of one of Gingers kids we nipped in to drop off a much needed toothbrush, how she keeps the small details of all these kids in her head is beyond me!

The small settlement (not big enough to call a village) was right on the Senegal border and it was good to see border control posts and little medical offices where anyone wanting to enter Gambia had to go through rudimentary Ebola checks. I must admit to being quite taken by one of the soldiers and persuaded him he wanted a photo taken with the Toubab!

The general donation of clothes started quite well, a few came over to the car and were given a variety of items but soon the word spread and there were kids running over from everywhere, soon followed by their mothers. Sol and Sidat tried to control things by making them line up but when that many people get that excited they just don't listen. Ginger shines in these conditions, where as I tend to back away and hide ...or at least 'protect the car' We made sure the soldiers got the pick of the men's clothes so they were happy..

Ginger had been in touch with a toubab that had rescued a pregnant mare who had been overworked as a beach horse. She now had a 4 day old foal to look after and we had planned to go visit and give her some money towards expenses. We had an hour to kill so went to 'Wild Monkey' for a cold drink and to use their free wifi so Ginger could update her facebook pages. So many phones are needed on different networks as the signals are so unreliable...while she was updating I got to try on a curly wig, and absolutely LOVED it!

Time had come to visit the new mother and foal, called Princess. She seemed very well and took a fancy to my top!
After a nice walk on the lovely, near deserted beach we  headed home for food and Sol treated me to Senegalese Wrestling, the first time the tv had been on. We then went on to watch a film, eat more lovely food, help Denba with his schoolwork and fall into bed, happy but sad that my last day was coming.

Thursday (Day 6) Time to be a teacher!

OK, the time had come for my teaching practice at Model School. Ginger and I had given much thought to what I was going to teach....Maths was an option but neither of us were any good and I didn't want to be shown up by a bunch of kids, English would be ok, but even better would be music! We got together some simple instruments from her stores and headed off to see if this is where my future lay. Sol had decided to go and hang out with his family until summoned by a text.

We arrived at the school to a scene of absolute chaos. Their headmaster is critically ill at the moment, fighting 4 deadly diseases and the teachers are trying so hard to carry on without him but the odds are stacked against them. The government had decided this would be a great time to take several of them away for hours each day on a training course, as well as that it was time for everyone to sit exams. When we arrived the teachers were all crammed into the small overheated office trying to figure out why the laptop (donated by a sponsor) was totally dead. The kids were having their break outside, waiting to be called to sit their exams and the questions were still in longhand on sheets of paper waiting to be processed!!!

We immediately leapt in to action and figured out the computer was plugged in to an extension lead with a dodgy socket so we did some rearranging and thankfully the laptop sprung back in to life. Now the pressure was on to enter 10-15 pages, get 30 odd copies of each printed off and settle the kids to work.. no time for maraca's then...

Ginger quickly finished and printed out the first set of questions and the teachers and I distributed them among the 4 classes. The Gambia school system is very different the the UK one. Kids only start school when their parents or sponsors can pay the fee and are immediately suspended if the fee's are not forthcoming. This means it is not unusual to have children ranging from five years to twelve in the same class, and if a child shows particular promise he or she can be moved up a year or in exceptional cases two.

As I patrolled the class assigned to me, being careful only to help with reading the questions, not giving the answers I kept an eye on a lad of about 10 who was drawing a beautiful diagram of the female reproductive system but was horrified when he labelled the ovaries 'apples'...should I step in and put him right or was that helping too much? In the end I wandered over and tapped 'apple' a few times and shook my head, unfortunately I didn't get the chance to see what he did as another teacher came to relieve me.

I dashed back to the office to see how Headmistress Badgie was getting on, amazingly she was nearing the end of the pile so I help by dictating for a while then took over while she printed and collated.

By now the nursery school next door were on their break so I went to find my L'il Fattie, she came running over and took my hand to drag me off to meet her friends, once more introducing me as 'her toubab'. After a few minutes her teacher came over and I was able to explain the misunderstanding of earlier in the week. She was a little shocked to learn that in fact I was a cook in a nursing home, not a teacher but didn't ask me to leave so I think all was ok.

When I got back to the office Sol had turned up with extra paper (mobile phones are a wonderful thing) and we were ready to leave. Ginger had been given more exams to transcribe and this she promised to do by the following morning, and drop them back on a memory stick. 

 Now we could go collect Sidat, more for my benefit by now than any toe protection duties as it was looking much better. The outlying village we were due to visit was where his mother came from and he explained to be he would be highly thought of for bringing such wealth to the village. On the way we would pass a small school that had 4 sponsor children attending so the plan was to check on their progress and distribute some lovely exercise books to them, with some not so nice (but very much needed) books going to the other kids.

This school was fairly new and had just 4 small classes all with the obligatory tin roofs, as was the custom we were treated to their whole repertoire of English songs but these little guys didn't sing them but shouted as loud as they could, Ginger and I smiled and clapped after the first four but they then went on to sing their National Anthem, complete

with salutes. After the 2 chorus I had to make my excuses and leave before my ears started to bleed and I joined Sidat and Sol who were deep in conversation with the headmaster, admiring his tiled floor. Ginger explained later that all the money the school had from fees had been used on the classrooms and toilets so the office was just a rough shed like room complete with dirt floor but eventually he had saved up enough for the 15 or so floor tiles he needed and he had laid it himself just recently so no wonder he was proud. On the way back to base I got the chance to snap an advert on the side of a van that had been making me giggle every time we passed.

For some reason I have no record of what we did for the rest of Thursday so I will just say I am sure it was hot and we did something amazing......and carry on with Friday x

Wednesday (Day 5) Birds and baboons

Today was one of the days designated for a tourist trip and I was very excited. Ginger probably less so as we had to be up and on the road by 6am!

I was wide awake by 5am and just lay in bed listening to the prayers from the mosque broadcast by load speaker, the birds were already noisy and the baby next door was...yet again...crying. Looking out of the window I could see a full moon and hundreds of really bright stars, there is so little light pollution that every night was spectacular but this one seemed even more so.

Against all the odds were actually made it to Makasutu on time. Sidat had come along and we sat in the back eating Polo's for breakfast. We arrived just before 7am and it was just getting light, our guide for the day was a lovely local man whose name was also Sol Badjie, he soon arrived with 3 more customers, men from The Netherlands.

We had just set off into the bush when a troop of monkeys ran across the dirt path we were following, there must have been 15 or so and they made an absolute racket, the largest one brought up the rear, making sure none of the babies got left behind.
We walked for about 2.5 hours and it was almost magical,

Sol and Ginger got to spend quality time together away from the worry of their 200 children and Sidat and I tried in vain to find the eagle owl that we had been told lived near the path. In total we spotted 26 different types of birds and many interesting insects.
We were also due to go out on the river later so while we waited by the pool of the hotel we had nice cold drinks and dangled our very hot feet in the cool water. Well Ginger and I did, neither of the men can swim (like most Gambians) so we kept threatening then with swimming lessons, I must say neither of them seemed too keen!

After an hour or so waiting in the sun our dugout canoe arrived and we were off through the mangrove trees, we passed an oyster camp and saw some ladies collecting them with the big scimitar and collected 3-4 more bird species for our list. We came to rest near a clearing in the bush where an outdoor restaurant had been built with huge wrought iron tables and chairs.                         We sat chatting and watching the baboons while a local man played the kota, a 21 string traditional 
West African instrument and sang songs about the Mandinka and Jula tribes. There are seven native tribes in the Gambia and they all have their own language which can make meetings interesting as unless you know the person you don't really know what language to talk. Most people speak several and there is Wolof which seems to be quite universal. Unlike some African nations there really

doesn't seem to be any animosity between the tribes, everyone is accepted for what they are, and on a side note women are treated as pretty much equals, no need to walk a few steps behind or hide your intelligence here, although Sidat did explain that women and men attend the mosque at different times but that is more because the men would be distracted by the women leaning forward to pray than anything else!

It was still only early afternoon so we visited another village to give out clothes but they were quite orderly and there was barely any danger to 'the toe' at all. We dropped Sidat off at his gym and headed home.

When we got back to our compound I had to admit to Sol that I had lost my camera and ask if he could put the dogs away so I could search the car. He was so worried that he had a good search himself and when he couldn't find it he contacted his Mum, so they could search their compound, it was like the twilight barking from 101 Dalmations as word spread that my bright red camera was missing. Several people contacted us to say they had looked everywhere but couldn't find it and I had just about given up hope when I had a eureka moment.....it was in the mango tree!!! I had balanced it their while I swept out the compound and it had been there overnight, luckily it was still there and the word went out to stand down all search parties, from that moment on whenever something couldn't be momentarily found it was suggested we look in the tree...

So can you remember the guy called Richard on the plane that I had arranged to meet? Well today being Wednesday the time had come for my 'date' My lovely hosts were going to chaperone me just in case and after a nice cold shower and 10 minute tart up I was ready to go.

As we were on 'Gambian Time' we got there a fashionable 30 minutes late but he was still there watching football (bad start) We joined him and quickly ordered our food, the first red flag should have been that he ordered cheese baguette and chips, WHY when you are in a country with an amazing cuisine of it's own would you do that? Anyway we sat chatting for a bit and it soon became very apparent that one word fitted him well, and that was 'knob' he was apathetic, racist and boring..not to mention incredibly rude. In the 4 days that he had been there he had done nothing other than cruise a few toubab bars and watch football. Obviously that is fine if that is all he wanted to do but on the plane he told me he came over to help out in schools and generally make himself useful. As soon as was humanly possibly I explained we had been up very early and although it was only 9.15 I was exhausted and ready for bed. Outside I apologised to Sol for exposing him to such a pig and we headed back to our lovely home, with me appreciating even more the experiences Sol and Ginger were enabling me to have xx

Tuesday (Day 4) And the schools just keep on coming...

Woken early again by the dawn chorus of mosques and bird life. Sol loaded up the car for our scheduled visits. First we were going to Model School, this lovely school is where most of the sponsored kids go, with the help of Ginger the headmaster has managed to upgrade from a two room shack with basic 'hole in the ground' toilets to a building with both nursery and infant departments as well as proper toilets. After the school we were picking up Sidat and heading out to another new school and on to a remote village to donate a sack of rice and give out general clothes to villagers.

In the back of the car I was frantically pumping up 20 footballs I had brought over. But I only had a cheap ebay hand pump and it took ages, with the balls getting noticeably smaller each time! When we got to Model School the kids immediately started chanting Gingers name and getting very over excited a couple of the teachers had to resort to brandishing their big sticks to regain their attention. In a classic 'lost in translation' moment Ginger introduced me to the deputy head as 'Liz, she would like to come out and help in your school' but what he heard was 'Liz, who is a teacher in England and would like to volunteer at your school'....BIG difference. Either way I was told I would be very welcome any time and they hoped it would be soon. It was suggested that as 3 of the teachers would be away on a course that Thursday I could have a practice session to see if I liked it. Ginger thought this was a brilliant idea and promised she would have me there bright and early, there was far too much giggling for my liking!!!

We did a quick walk round the school, with me being introduced to the kids as their new teacher and having songs sung to us in every classroom, Ginger the frustrated photo journalist managed to snap pretty much all of the S4K children and we gave out new exercise books.

The early afternoon found us at another new school where we distributed more general books and toys, with the promise of returning with cloth book bags and teddies at a later date. I cannot put in to words how grateful both the teachers and pupils are, many of the kids only have 2 books and a pencil yet they are determined to make the most of their chances. We watched the kids for a while and I saw one pencil sharpener get passed from desk to desk and the same with their one rubber.




Now it was time to deliver the sack of rice, it was a Christmas present from me to to a friend at work who is notoriously difficult to buy for. With Ginger's help she had chosen a little orphan girl who is being raised by her grandmother and is waiting for sponsorship. We had also put together a little backpack of clothes and goodies for her. I think of all the kids we gave stuff to she was possibly the most bewildered although the photo of her with probably her first ever dolly tugs at my heartstrings.

We had more clothes for general distribution and managed to give them out without too much chaos, Sidat did a good job controlling the older kids without having to resort to a stick (as their mothers often did, well threatening with it anyway) but at one point I turned around and saw several kids opening the rear car door and trying to get in, I told them off for messing and shoo'd them away only to find when we were all done and getting back in the car that they had put several oranges in the foot well, you can imagine how awful I felt. They had nothing and yet still wanted to thank us somehow....

With our duties now completed for the day we headed off to Sol's family compound where I was re introduced to all his family, I had first met them on day 1 when we had gone to pick up Fattie and Co. as their compounds are next door to each other. Most of my carefully learnt Jola words had vanished but somehow I had remembered just a few important ones. I was greeted with 'Cassemi' and had to reply 'Cassemi kep, cassemi?' which loosely translated means 'How are you', 'I am fine thanks, how are you?' The kids love to join in to practice their English but they don't realise there are separate words involved so just say 'Owareooo' which is adorable!

Fattie was there and seemed much more comfortable with me, Ginger overheard her telling everyone I was 'her toubab' and she always seemed to be right by my side. Someone decided I should have a go at drawing water up from the well, which was much harder than it looked, I recon it was about 40' deep and a full bucket of water is heavy!
While we were chatting and giving out the footballs, toys and clothes to sponsored kids that don't get gift boxes sent over a couple of boys came running in to the compound saying a kid from down the road had scratched the sides of the hire car.

They were sent off to find the guilty boy and bring him back, we inspected the car and the scratches were quite deep, causing a huge problem for Sol as he had been given a good price on the car and in return had promised to guard it with his life.

10 minutes later the posse appeared dragging the culprit along behind them. Apparently they had conned him in to returning to the scene of his crime by telling him there was a toubab looking for kids to sponsor...brilliant thinking!

Justice in Gambia is swift and effective, he was terrified with threats of the police and then made to do 100 squats, Sol said he would ache for days and never forget the consequences of his actions!

On the way home I was thrilled to meet Awa, an amazing lady who had polio as a child and is now forced to beg from her wheelchair. Ginger knows her very well and we ended up seeing her huge beaming smile every day. Her wheelchair has perished wheels and is no longer easy to wheel but the lovely sponsor of her daughter has bought her a replacement and it is on the way to her as I type!

Back to base for a well earned cold shower (no hot water at Ginger's house) and chicken yasser for tea, to compare with the one at Lamin Lodge...guess which one was best!
Sidat came over to join us ready for the very early start on Wednesday, and I mean early! We were off on a birdwatching walk at dawn...

Monday (Day 3) Bring on the schools

An earlier start this morning as lots to fit in. Ginger and Sol usually have to use the gilly gilly to get around, this can be any type of vehicle that holds as many hot sweaty people as humanly possible but as I had paid £40 to hire a car for the week (a Mercedes no less) it meant we could range much further afield and carry many more goodies. At the first school we gave out 'School in a Bag' backpacks.
This is a great scheme where people can sponsor a bright red backpack full of much needed supplies, including books, pens, pencils, math sets and a lunch box and water bottle.

Each bag is numbered so those that have donated can see who ends up with their bag. We then headed back to the ranch to restock with book bags for the next school, each one had a knitted teddy in it courtesy of the ladies of the W.I. We also collected reading books, exercise books and games.
We also collected Sol's best friend Sidat (now there was room in the car for him) as he was coming along for crowd control. The second school was a new one for S4K and the headmaster was thrilled to be told there would be more donations in the future. To say thank you we had some songs sung to us in English, accompanied by a very cool teacher and pupil combo on drums.

After the hard work of the morning we went to Lamin Lodge for lunch. Sol and Ginger don't normally have time for lunch and carry a pack of biscuits to keep them going but in honour of my visit and because the car was making their progress quicker we decided to treat ourselves.

 The Lodge is a rustic looking wooden building on the banks of the river among the mangroves, all very beautiful and tranquil. First we had to cross a very rickety bridge over the water and then climb some very wonky stairs to the third floor that was open on all sides to catch the lightest breeze, sheer heaven. 

We sat waiting for our food and watching the lady oyster collectors along the banks. I noticed that there were 2 other groups eating with an interesting dynamic, both groups were white but had one black person with them. Ginger explained this is the new style of 'bumstering' the government had clamped down on the men bothering holidaymakers on the beach so now they 'befriended' them and acted as unofficial guides. I guess if it is mutually beneficial it is harmless but over the course of the week I saw many young women with one, two and even three men in tow, this made me even more grateful to have Ginger and Sol by my side. As I sat there with Sidat by my side I did wonder if it looked like I had fallen into the same trap!

I ate ChickenYasser with rice, a traditional dish of mainly chicken, onions and mustard and very tasty. I also had my first 'Julbrew' which is the government lager, winner of many gold medals and pretty much the only option available. 

After dropping Sidat back at the gym he runs we visited Sol's family compound again, I was beginning to feel like family already and was welcomed like a long lost relative, the kids all running over to say 'howaroo' I felt a little hand in mine and it was Fattie just standing there claiming ownership. We only stayed for a few minutes because Sol's sister told him of a little girl, Aja, who had an infected finger. Her mum, Isatou does Sol and Gingers laundry at well above the going rate and this helps support the 10 people living in their compound, which is really just the empty shell of a building. When we got there Ginger cleaned the wound and applied some antibiotic cream and a finger
bandage. I had noticed over the previous couple of days that Ginger never went anywhere without a rudimentary first aid kit, comprising all sorts of bits and bobs, but she was very careful not to leave any medications with people unless they knew exactly what to do with it. For example one lady had painful knees and she was given some Ibuprofen cream to rub in 4 times a day. Also a boy we regularly saw on the street was being treated with Blistex whenever we saw him, from a nearly empty tube, this was particularly frustrating as I had left a full one at home. Anyway, back to Aja, we had a bag of clothes for her in the boot and she was thrilled to bits to receive a few new outfits and a Beany Baby.

By this time it was getting a bit late and we started thinking about food, it is not very easy to plan ahead when you don't know what will be available so we headed off to the fish marked with a loose plan to have butterfish. When we got there the butterfish was gone but some nice looking saltfish was available, head chef Sol had never cooked this before so as the fish boy was filleting away another lady talked him through the recipe.

I watched for a while then retreated to the car which was parked in the shade. Ginger and I sat chatting for about 30 minutes (Gambia Time) and then Sol wandered over with the fish boy, who proceeded to tell me how much he loved tall women and that he couldn't concentrate on his filleting because I mad his brain go crazy....he then offered me his bracelet and made me promise not to forget him! So that was my first experience of being 'bumstered' although I like to think I bumstered him right back as I had been admiring his bracelet and had planned to buy one, so he saved me a few delasi.

While Ginger was editing her photo's and I took a cold shower (heaven) Sol started preparing the fish, soon after Denba turned up and we tucked in to yet another wonderful meal. An hour or so later while we were relaxing I looked over at Denba and he had fallen into a deep sleep, so being the responsible adults we were we piled many things onto his head in a weird parody of Buckaroo and took many photos.

By now I was thoroughly knackered and crawled off to my bed....

Sunday (Day 2) Meeting L'il Fattie and Abuko Nature Reserve

Finally the day had come to meet Fattie and her family. I woke too early and laid in bed listening to prayers over the load speakers from the nearby mosque, followed by raucous cockerels and then a crying baby in the compound next door (where Denba lives)

The plan was to leave at 9.30am but I had a very early lesson in 'Gambia Time.' Ginger gets 1 hour of internet connection every morning and this is essential for her to update her facebook group on how their kids are doing and post all the photos she has taken and edited the day before. One thing I hadn't been told is they have a couple of dogs called Skinny Minnie and Bongo, Skinny is no longer skinny and is quite feisty as she is an ex street dog that had been abused and taken in by Ginger, Bongo is her son and friendly but boisterous and noisy. This is relevant because I couldn't leave the house until they were put in the enclosed patio and I had been given the 'all clear'

Anyway we managed to leave at 10.30am and drove approx. 20 minutes to the compound that Fattie's family live in...a compound is the name for a walled area with accommodation in it, Ginger and Sol only have their house in the compound but most have several families in, sometimes related but not always.

I was slightly nervous of meeting Fattie's mum, I didn't want her feeling condescended to, the last thing I wanted for her to believe was that this big white woman felt she couldn't manage to care for her own children but I need not have worried.
She was lovely and all smiles, thanking me in her broken English. I gave her the clothes so agonised over in Asda and they seemed to go down very well. I had also brought things like TY's, vitamins, toothbrush and paste, scissors, shower gel and of course the footballs.


We had arranged to take Fattie and her 2 elder brothers Bakary and Dawda to Eagle Heights.
If you get the chance you MUST visit, based in the Abuko Nature Reserve and run by a team from the UK they are planning to restock the country with big game animals over the next 10-15 years. Currently they have the only Lion in Gambia, a 4 month old male cub called Baba and a couple of cheetahs to start their breeding programme.
(Thanks to Ginger Badjie from Skoolz4kids for letting me steal her photos)  I don't think the kids had been there before as they were very wary of the animals, Bakary in particular wasn't keen on the birds of prey getting too close and Fattie REALLY didn't like Baba the lion.

After we watched the bird display and met the big cats we had a nice cold drink and strode off into the bush to find crocodiles, Ginger was in charge and we followed the number signs to the Darwin Field Station, supported by the University of Warwick. It was incredibly hot and the crocs were mostly under water but we did see some snouts poking out!

After the excitement of the animals it was time to get the kids some food so we stopped at a local roadside cafe so they could eat. While we sat there was a lot of commotion on the road and suddenly 3 trucks with machine gunned whizzed past, followed by several cars with blacked out windows, an ambulance with its sirens and lights going, another couple of blacked out people carriers and 2 more trucks with machine guns...apparently the president Yahya Jemmeh was passing through, I think he had heard I was in town and was coming for a look...                                     


When we dropped the kids back I was taken to Sol's family compound which was nearby and introduced to his family, they are LOVELY, so kind and welcoming to this complete stranger.
After meeting everyone and spending a couple of hours just chillin' we headed back to base for food. Chef Badjie created a masterpiece called Benachin, a one pot rice dish made with beef. Denba came round to join us and after helping him with his homework the previous days traveling caught up with me  and by 8.30pm I was ready for bed, I left Ginger on the sofa editing her photos from the day ready to post online in the morning.