What a week!

Well, it has certainly been a busy one! It genuinely feels like I have been here for three months rather than just over three weeks. I am settling in really well, and have to remind myself every day that I live here now.

I started work on Monday – an easy day to ‘meet and greet’. Tuesday was also an easy day, which was good as I had been out dancing until 3am on Monday to celebrate Nigerian Independence Day! On Tuesday afternoon I went to the health centre to visit one of the group members who has contracted malaria since we have been here*; he was in his own room and conditions were fine, but it was nice to be able to give him some company and take him some bananas.

John and I went for lunch both Monday and Tuesday at ‘Omar’s Peace Corp place’. You can have a Gambian dish of the day, plus fruit and a bag of water for about 60p. Monday’s choice was chicken yassa with rice (chicken cooked with onions and a kind of mustardy sauce) and Tuesday was chicken stew with rice. As we were eating, the chickens that run around your feet (and I presume later go in the pot!) were picking up any spilt rice – first mother and chick, and then dad joined in too!

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were a lot busier work wise after a meeting with the VSO country director on Wednesday morning. I supported her to meet a deadline for the World Bank, and it was nice to get involved and see how the project links me and all the other agricultural volunteers who are here together.

Thursday also involved a trip to the British High Commission (which is next door to the VSO office) to meet with the Vice Consul and his staff. The building is set in amazing grounds with a swimming pool, and overlooks the sea – not a bad place to be posted if you work for the FCO! Speaking of the VSO office, it’s a lovely place that we are feeling quite at home in after spending two weeks there for in country training. The garden is full of banana and papaya, and it all feels very tropical!

Friday afternoon was spent at the beach, and then I had an early night – imposed by a lack of food, water and electricity, but welcomed after a week of late nights. The electricity and water has been really intermittent over the last week – the weather has been scorching hot and the thunder and lightning really dramatic as rainy season comes to an end, and I think the storms have been knocking out the power, internet connections and water. We are all getting good at having bucket baths and remembering to fill up our jerry cans and drinking water for the fridge when the water comes back. You never know at the moment how long it will last!

*On Thursday another guy became the third member of our group to be diagnosed with malaria – those pesky mosquitoes are dangerous at the moment!