Another catch up post!

I haven’t blogged for a very long time, owing to my work load really. But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it won’t be long until things calm down a little. I also think that in some ways the gap between posts reflects how settled I feel – it seems so normal to be here, and as a result it is slightly harder to blog about what is now everyday life. So I have saved up different bits of news for this post, and will give a roundup of how things have been over the last few weeks. 

Socially things have been great! We got away last weekend and went to Kartong for the cultural festival. We stayed at Boboi lodge and had a great time chilling on the beach, body boarding, barbequing fresh fish, and watching the cultural dancing in the village.

Abdou and Dodou

Abdou and Jas - maaan! with Nicola and Graeme 

Body boarding time!

This weekend has been a long weekend in celebration of Gambian independence – yesterday (Monday) was a public holiday to mark the 48^th independence anniversary and today was announced as an extended holiday day at the last minute (of course). Due to the impending deadline of the Annual Partnership Reviews I went in to the office today and did a half day – working until about 2.30 when I felt it was time to get out, hit the beach and join  my friends!

It has also been a time for goodbyes – except this time it’s some of our group (or intake) that are leaving… Jasmine last week and Graeme today – so we’ve been having dinner at Aso Rock so that they can have their fill of tomato stew before they leave. Patrick – one of the volunteers from our September group also left today. He didn’t feel like the project was going anywhere and I think he felt too frustrated to stay. It’s a shame to see a member of the group leave, especially as I think the project is starting to turn around, but he’s happy to be going and that’s what matters most I guess.

Work wise, as well as being busy, I do feel like I am getting somewhere. We held a quarterly review meeting last week for the project partners, at which I presented the highlights of the quarterly report that I had put together. The presentation went well and I can see how much my presentation skills and confidence in public speaking has increased since I have been here – probably as a result of doing all the partnership review meetings. We did two more reviews last week which takes us up to 20 meetings now – just five more to go! And we also had our three month volunteer review (five months in!) which gave us all chance to present what we have done so far and reflect on our objectives for the remaining time that we have.

And best of all… the mangos are coming! I have loved seeing and smelling the mango trees in flower, and now little tiny mangos are starting to appear. I can’t wait until there are so many that you can just pick them off the tree wherever you are! 

Baby mango

Finally proof that (palm) wine is medicinal!