Training of Trainers - a week in Njawara

Last Sunday I went on trek. We were running a 5 day training of trainers’ workshop on business and group management skills.

I was picked up from my house at 9am by Abdoulie and Ba Sarjo, and joined Martin, Munya in the back of the VSO pick-up. We were really lucky with the ferry and drove straight on – departing from Banjul at about 9.45am. On the ferry we met up with Aloysius, and once we reached Barra we all piled into the pick-up and drove for a couple of hours to Abdoulie’s village. Here we were promptly joined by many very excited children, who Martin did a great job entertaining! 

Reserved at first...

...but Martin soon won them round with the tried and tested
method of showing
the children pictures of themselves

Martin soon had the children hanging off his every word or movement, and before I knew it we were teaching them games like ‘what’s the time Mr Wolf?’ and blind man’s bluff. It was great fun! 

After games and some domoda for lunch we set off for Njawara Agricultural Training Centre – our home for the next 5 nights.

We greeted the other volunteers - Shimoni, Edwin, Godfrey and Jane, who were joining Martin, Munya and Aloysius as trainers for the week - and were allocated to rooms...

My cell! 

Prisoner cell block H

and shown the facilities…. 

Beautiful shared shower

And the delightful shared toilet!

... pretty basic to say the least. Last time I stayed at NATC I was in a VIP room, but this time I wasn’t so lucky! Thankfully fellow volunteer Jane had a nice room so I was able to use her shower instead of the shared shower which had a big open window at chest height! That said, for the last three mornings there was no water anyway, but at least I had a slightly nicer place in which to have a bucket bath!

After finding our rooms we all went for a walk around Njawara, and then Martin and I went to look at the students' garden where they do the practical work for their agricultural courses. I tried my first cashew apple and liked it! I ate quite a few during the week, they taste a bit like a cross between a plum and a peach – you can’t really chew the flesh but they are very juicy and refreshing to suck the juice out of.

The week of training went well. I was asked to chair the opening ceremony and invite Abdoulie and the Governor of the North Bank Region to speak. 

From then on I chaired the whole 5 day workshop, explaining the timetable each morning, introducing the trainers (VSO volunteers), time keeping, making housekeeping announcements, and then coordinating meetings each evening with the trainers so that we could all plan the timings and structure of the next day.

The trainees were great. We had about 20 farmer extension workers who were the core training group. These are the ones who will now go out and train others on what they learned through the week, as part of the step down training for the GCP project. We were also joined by about 8 or so students from NATC for many of the sessions, so on average we had about 28 in the room, which made for some good discussions and group work.

Me and Jane - VSO volunteer and trainer 

One of the participants brought her 8 month old baby with her, who was very cute and became my ‘husband’ (quite often here if a baby boy smiles at you or likes you they say he is your husband, which does feel a little bit creepy if I'm honest!).

We were well looked after by the ladies! 

It wasn’t as hot in Njawara as I had expected it to be, but the mosquitoes were killer! We were even getting bitten all the way through the day, and at night I was happy to retreat under my mosquito net to escape the biting for a few hours!

The black dots on the wall are mosquitoes!

My respite from the biting!

It was a really packed week and I think we were all shattered by Friday. We left at about midday and got back to the Kombos at about 7pm. I dived straight in the shower to wash 6 days’ worth of DEET off my skin, and was very happy to be back in my own bed that night!

(Thanks to Martin for some of these photos!)

Bakau beats

Any one who lives in Bakau quickly gets used to the sound of drumming. If I were in a film drumming, alternated with singing from the mosque, would be the soundtrack. On Saturday evening it seemed like the volume had been turned up. I decided to stand on my balcony and take a video, to try and capture the sounds and images of the children dancing in the street below. 

An hour or so later I realised that the rhythm and the squeals of delight from the street had intensified, and when I looked out of the window I could see loads more children dancing to the beat. 

I could also see that some masquerades had arrived. 

I realised that the children were dancing in the street to taunt the masquerades, who would then suddenly charge at the children and try to capture them! The children would run and scatter, leaping over walls and running across roads to get away. After capture the masquerades would drag the children behind a curtain that had been put up. Who knows if they were ever seen again! 

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

Everybody's talkin' at me

Some mornings everyone wants to talk to me, and some mornings I am mostly ignored. This morning it seemed like everyone wanted to say hello. This is how my walk to work went today.

I leave my flat and go to my tapalapa girl, Amina, who sits on the street corner below my window.

I greet her; “salaam aleekum – naka suba si?” (How is the morning?)

She say’s “uh uh Naffie – today we speak Mandinka not Wolof!”.

Ah… I haven’t officially been taught Mandinka, but have picked up a little, mostly from her, her sister and her mother who all take time to teach me something as I buy my breakfast. So I run through my Mandinka greetings – Sumo lei? Ibi-jay! (How are you? I’m fine) and Kourtonantay? Tanantay-ay! (Family is good? Yes, they’re fine). I’m not sure if these are correctly written, but this is what it sounds like to me! Then she says “Iki ay ma ley?” (Where is your husband). She always asks me this, so I learned to say “Abakonotaley” (He is upstairs). But today she taught me “Atata Banjul” (he is in Banjul) so I take my breakfast and walk off, repeating this to myself to try and remember it. Atata Banjul, atata Banjul.

Next I walk past a lady sitting outside her compound selling small bags of charcoal, and onions and chilli peppers from her garden. She has been quite smiley over the last few days and today we talk – this time in English. “How are you? I am fine. How are you? I am fine. Are you fine? Yes I am fine!”. This goes on for what feels like five minutes. I don’t often speak to women – they are the last to talk… men first, then the children. The women are more reserved, they mostly just watch and listen, so when women speak to me I try and make more effort. She tells me she is called Sirra, and I tell her I am Naffie. She thanks me for talking to her, and I start to walk away. Then a man who has been listening to our conversation from a few metres away calls out “so Naffie, what is your surname?”. I answer “Sagnia”, smile and walk off.

Next up I have some ‘good mornings’ from men standing around in the entrance to their bitiks, and a few cries of “yangee kuul?” and “yangee fine?” (are you cool, are you fine?). One man shouts after me “where are you going?”. I yell “work” and walk off, thinking ‘leave me alone!’ but trying not to look irritated. I pass more women, walking back from the health centre with their babies, and they say ‘good morning’ and smile at me. Then three school girls say hello and shyly ask me my name. I tell them and get their names – all quite unusual (not the more common Fatou, Isatou and Mariama for example) and the only name of the three that sticks in my head is Mama. I ask them if they are friends and they tell me yes, they are in the same class, and they are now walking to the hospital.

I say goodbye and start to walk away, when a man starts shouting out of a car window to me “hey hey, excuse me, hang on a second”. The car pulls up but I continue to walk because I already have a feeling I know where this is going. It sounds like he has something important to ask me, or needs directions, but I know it will just be ‘hello, can we be friends, what is your number’. Sure enough he gets out of the car and jogs after me:

Him: “Hello, my name is Alhaji, what is your name?”

Me: “Nice to meet you Alhaji I am Naffie”

Him: “How are you?”

Me: “I am ok. Do you want something in particular or is this just a chat?”

Him: “Just a chat”.

Me: [silent groan] “Ok well I have to go to work. Goodbye”.

I get into the office and do all my greetings in Wolof, with the security guard, Alieu, Ba Sarjo and Jankeh. Then I greet Ebou, who is back from Dakar, with a sweaty hug and sit down feeling exhausted, with a handful of new words and names going round my head, ready to start the day! 

Mango heaven

Now that the novelty of fresh juicy mangoes being readily available has worn off a little bit* I have been experimenting with ways to cook with mangoes and/or incorporate them into meals. Yesterday when I got in from work I was feeling hot, dusty, thirsty, and very hungry. So I diced up a mango, some onion, tomato, cucumber and hot chilli pepper, sprinkled it with salt and pepper and a generous squeeze of lime, and devoured the plate in about two seconds flat! It was zingy, delicious and refreshing, and sitting here at my desk (feeling a bit peckish) I can't wait to get home and re-create it! 

* but not much! I still love the fact I can walk down the street eating a mango like an apple, either for free or bought from a lady for 10 pence! And this is only just the start of mango season! 

Back in the swing of things

Well, I feel fully integrated back into life in The Gambia. Dinners, drinks, meeting friends, market shopping, Wolof conversations and lots and lots of greetings (which I missed while I was back in the UK) have all merged back into my reality, and it feels like I never left. The only evidence is my slightly better stocked fridge and alcohol store (thanks to duty free) – and the pile of new shoes at my door!

Bakau fish market

I had a nice moment on Tuesday when, after meeting Helen for dinner and a drink at Bakau guest house, I came home and ate a grapefruit for supper. There was no light, so I ate my grapefruit by candlelight. Firstly I had to laugh at the fact that I had used my new grapefruit knife – one of the more random things I picked up during my trip to England (thanks to Mum and Dad for sourcing one for me!). I eat a lot of grapefruit here, and every time I do my mind flicks to a grapefruit knife we used to have at home when I was a kid. When planning to move to a country where many people have very little, I didn’t imagine that one of my realisations would be how useful a grapefruit knife is, but there you go. I wanted one, I got one, I used it and it made me happy! As I enjoyed my grapefruit in the dark, I reflected on the fact that I had been lucky to eat a wide range of delicious food during my trip to the UK, but sometimes the simplest pleasure comes from the humblest action, and eating a sweet grapefruit that was still warm from the day’s sun was enough to make me smile.

Grapefruit by candlelight

Friday was fun. I had a good day at work. I don’t like to blog too much about work, not because I am always on the beach drinking and having fun (I know that is the impression my blog gives, as a few of my friends have commented!) but because it’s difficult to get into details on a public blog. Sometimes it’s just not interesting to write about (I mean not many people would want to write about what they do at work all day, or read about someone else’s work) and sometimes it’s a bit too sensitive to write about, and I need to be discrete. But on Friday I had to draft a response to an assertion that the VSO programme office didn’t agree with, and I loved it! It was like being back in London, with a short deadline to respond to a parliamentary question or something. I really enjoyed the challenge, and the reassuring feeling afterwards of ‘phew I can still do this stuff!’.  

After work I went to the beach and saw how quiet it is now that the tourists have gone. It’s like when we first arrived, miles of sand scattered with Gambians doing exercises and that’s about it. I then went to Nicola’s to eat a huge pile of vegetable chilli and drink vodka (thanks to Helen’s own duty free haul).

Please note, the food wasn't just for us girls! 

During the evening we planned a day trip to Sanyang for the next day. Joe drove us (in two trips which was very nice of him) and we went in ‘waves’ – one pickup at 8.30am and the next at 9.30ish. The fishermen went first, which gave Helen and I time to meet Traffic Light, have a coffee and by breakfast for everyone, before Joe collected us and drove us down the coast. Sanyang was beautiful, nicer than Kartong I think, as it is in a lovely cove. We fished (well, I didn’t), swam (the sea is getting really hot again) sunbathed, drank rum, and ate lobster salad. Bliss. 

Sun-worshipping cows (not me and Helen!) 

Lamin looking professional. Lamin is 'ital'. 

Watching the wrestling practice

My first trip back to England

Apologies for the blogging hiatus – I skipped out of The Gambia to England for a couple of weeks to catch up with friends and family, and EAT! As Gambians would say - I have definitely 'added' over the last two weeks! 

I set off on Friday 3 May with Gambia Bird, flying overnight via Sierra Leone. The plane was pretty quiet until we reached Freetown, where it filled up quickly. The flight was fine, the only interesting part being the fact that I was complemented not once but twice on how I had tied my wrapper, by a Sierra Leonean man and woman! I don’t know if they do it differently in Sierra Leone but they were both pretty impressed that I had tied it myself!

Once I landed, I was met at the airport at 8am on Saturday morning by my best friend Alex, who quickly whisked me away to Southampton.  My only real moment of reverse culture shock came as we stood in Waitrose on a busy Saturday morning! I was overawed by the choice and the amount of people, but soon got over it and focused on choosing cheese and wine! We hurried back to Alex’s house and had an indoor picnic…

Feast!

Can you tell I have missed cheese?

The two weeks passed in a blur. I spent the first week and a half down in Christchurch and Southampton, mostly staying with my Mum and Dad in their caravan (sleeping under piles of blankets, sleeping bags and duvets!), with Alex and Eddie, and a few nights with my aunt and uncle. I ate so much delicious food, and stocked up on red and white wine!

Mum’s home-made steak and kidney pie

I spent my last few days in London, in a whirlwind of shopping and meeting friends. On arrival I took my suitcase to my friend Chi’s before dashing off to meet Sue for a quick drink, and then Nicola, Zoe, Toni, Adam, Tim and Alex in Shepherd’s Bush for – you guessed it – cheese and wine! On Thursday I shopped like a demon, met Paul and Athene for lunch at Nandos (mmmm chicken!) and then went to Jonno’s in the evening to meet him, Alex, Ebony, Dagna, Vicki, and Cormac. We ate Thai food and drank champagne – bliss.

Jonno

Vicki, Alex, Ebony, me and Dagna

Friday was coffee with Jonno, lunch with Faraneh and more shopping, before dinner with more friends back at Chi’s house! It was great to catch up with Chi, her Alex, Ceri, Vac, James, Shahana, Aneta and Takako! And yes… we drank more champagne!

Chi cooked up a storm

I managed to get in some quality play time
with my buddy Isla!

I had a fabulous time in England, but I also really missed The Gambia. It wasn’t just the weather, I missed the colours and smells, the greetings, and the of course all the friends I have made here. It’s such a different way of life, you cannot really compare, and as much as I soon felt at home in London (speeding around, marching up and down escalators on the underground etc) the first thing I thought when I landed in Banjul was ‘it’s nice to be home’.

I won't miss the cold English rain!