Trip to Ndemban

Our trip to the village was a great experience. We danced, shared food bowls, met with the village elders, and were shown around the farming projects and the new accommodation for what they hope will be an eco-tourism business.

After a rain storm as we travelled to Ndemban - this is a main road!

Huge tree in the centre of the village

Time for dancing. We never did work out why the viking costume!

Fledgling eco-tourism business

We were told that the children would be very interested in us and would want to hold our hands – which they sure did. One girl - Isa - said she wanted to be my friend, and stuck to my side all day. She even asked if I would take her home and be her mum! At one stage while we were walking she asked me what job I did, so I told her what I would be working on in The Gambia. I asked her what she would like to do when she was older, but she stayed quiet. I probed, asking if she wanted to be a farmer, or a doctor, or a policewoman for example, all the while thinking that perhaps I had asked the wrong question and that she hadn’t been encouraged to think about a career. But I was proved wrong when she looked up and said ‘I’d like to be the President’!

My new friends. 
The future Gambian president 
is holding the water bottle. 

For lunch we shared a number of food bowls – benechin, domoda and a Jola dish that I didn’t catch the name of. Food bowls are particularly common in the villages, rice or cous cous or similar is cooked with meat or vegetables placed in the centre. People all sit around the same bowl, often split male and female, and you eat from the section directly in front of you. Ideally you eat with your hand – always the right – but you can use a spoon (and are encouraged to carry one with you if you live in a village!). If there is some meat or veg in the middle the host usually breaks it up and scatters it around, but sometimes you might need to take some for yourself. If you do you must only use your right hand – which may mean getting some help from your neighbour’s right hand to tear the meat – and then you put some in front of you and throw the rest back into the middle. You must not pick from the centre and put it straight into your mouth as this is rude. I had a go at eating with my hand, but reverted to a spoon when it got messy!

After we got back I went for a quick beer with John and Patrick while I waited out a rain storm, and then did a bit of shopping. By the time I wanted to travel back it was dark and very wet, and I was struggling to get a seven seven as they were all going to Senegambia rather than Bakau. But a gelli drove past and shouted ‘Bakau’ so I thought ‘why not’ and jumped in. My first gelli experience – I wasn’t expecting to catch one on my own and in the dark but it was all fine and I jumped out right outside my door! 

Once home I watched a West Wing and chilled out before bed.