First rains and everything since

Last Friday evening it rained. Big fat juicy drops accompanied by forked lightning. We weren’t expecting it. I had actually looked at the weather forecast earlier in the week, and despite the fact that it had predicted thunder and lightning for Friday, I didn’t really believe it. The cloud and thunder bolt looked so out of place amongst all the pictures of full sunshine that I thought it must be an error! I had also hoped we might have a few more weeks before the rain came. But rain it did, and it was quite exciting – although I am sure the novelty will soon wear off!

The best part was the immediate smell of fresh rain on scorched ground. The worst part was the smell a few hours later, once the damp reached and mingled with months of dirty sand, mud, rubbish and rot. I woke at 4am thinking ‘urgh what is that smell?’. It was so strong it actually woke me up as it wafted through my open windows. 

On Sunday we went fishing in Gunjur, a village between Sanyang and Kartong. As a hangover from Friday’s rain it was a slightly cloudy day, even a bit drizzly in the morning, but it didn’t stop us enjoying the beach. 

Nicola, Helen L and I spent hours bobbing around in the sea while the men fished. Around lunch time Abdou disappeared to the fish market and came back with a bag of freshly smoked bunga bunga fish, some onion, jumbo (stock cube) and chilli powder. The men took a break from fishing and we all hungrily peeled back the dried skin of the smoked fish, which were still warm from the smoke house, and ate them with chopped onion and seasoning.

Freshly smoked fish

Later on, Abdou and Lamin made a fire into which they buried the four cat fish that had been caught that afternoon. Once they were out of the fire, we sat down in the sand, peeled off the blackened skin and ate the perfectly cooked fish with more onion and jumbo, washed down with a Julbrew. It all felt very Robinson Crusoe.

Lamin tending the fish fire

Joe did two car trips, and once again the girls opted to go last so that we could go and have a few beers at the only beach bar we could find. It was technically closed for the end of season, but we managed to get a few bottles. They even lit a fire for us, and it was a nice place to wait for Joe to come back. Both Gunjur and Sanyang feel very deserted at the moment. We originally put it down to the fact that it was the end of tourist season, but have recently discovered that there has been an order to clear away all the beach bars as the land is wanted for hotel development. Only time will tell whether the resorts will be re-developed, but in the meantime it has given quite a ghostly feel to our last couple of fishing trips. Walking back down the pitch black beach guided only by our phone torches to meet Joe was a bit of an adventure! We were surrounded by hundreds of crabs scuttling around our feet, and had to avoid standing on dead fish left over from the village fishermen’s catch!

Work last week was really busy. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I led a team of volunteers through a group edit to finalise two training manuals that have been written as part of our project. With lots of different nationalities and fields of experience in the room it was a painstaking process at times as we picked through almost word by word, agreeing how things should be phrased and explained in a way that everyone could understand and make sense of. But we got there and I am pleased with the work that we managed to get done. The next stage will be training of trainers, which should take place at the end of the month.

On Wednesday evening I went to a Jaliba Kuyateh concert at Old Jeshwang School. It was an interesting evening, mostly just because of the opportunity to people watch and admire all the ladies outfits!

And then this Saturday I went with Helen to a Community Outreach Programme at the Jammeh Foundation Health Centre in Bundung. The day had been arranged by Gambian doctors as part of a programme to take health services out to the periphery centres. The team of medics, all from the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (I think), spent the day at the centre seeing patients of all ages free of charge. As with many of the services here in The Gambia, there can be barriers preventing people from accessing the main hospitals in the Kombos, including money, time, gender and concern about being in Banjul away from family and support networks. As a result, the centre was packed full of people all wanting to get checked out.

A busy waiting room! 

Helen and I were both really impressed with the facilities and the organisation of the day. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to help medically but was keen to go along and observe, just to see how things are done – and it was a great opportunity to see Helen at work. She did really well, and working through a nurse interpreter managed to see well over 40 patients in four hours. I tried to assist by handing her water, gloves, forms, and taking pics every now and again, but other than that I just sat and watched! We had a range of ailments including ‘fresh cold’, headaches, rashes, fungal skin infections and abscesses, and even a little girl who had been bitten on the face by her friend while fighting!

Dr Helen at work

The queue for the pharmacy!

Last patients of the day

Our consultation room - after all the
patients had been seen

After all the patients had gone we ate benachin with the other doctors, listened to some speeches (naturally!) about how well the day had gone, and made our way back home feeling sweaty, hot and tired, but happy to have been part of the programme. 

Waiting for benachin