A Busy Day

Tuesday was a busy day.  Ruth visited the Royal Victoria Hospital in Banjul with Gibril Faal to see Dr Jammeh.  She gave training to some of the Doctors and Nurses on Diabetes awareness and treatment.

The rest of the group were invited to visit the Lord Mayor of the local council.  We were welcomed by Mr Sanyang the Chief Executive Officer of the Council.  He personally showed us around various offices and departments at the council centre.  We met the Chief of Police, Head of Finance, Head of IT and several other officials.  We were even allowed in to the local court house.  A number of the employees and officials mentioned that they where previous members of the President's International Award and had attended the skills centre which was good to hear. Several offered their help for the future. At the end of the visit Ann gave a small speech recounting some of the history of the links with the PIA and thanked the CEO for his time.  Ros also spoke and thanked the CEO on behalf of all the current visitors and original Duke of Edinburgh / Presidents award project members.  The Mayor was away on official business for the day but Mr Sanyang made us very welcome and thank you to him and his staff for their time in showing us around. Shona was official photographer for the visit.

The CEOs Office

In the afternoon it was back to work at the skills centre.  Neil, Mark, Emma and a couple of the field offices (but really mostly Neil!) painted the main reception area of the skills centre.  When finished it was a big improvement.

You've missed a bit

And then there were 10.

On Monday Simon, Katarina, Siobahn and John sadly had to return to the freezing UK (Robert and Jennifer left on Saturday) - still lovely and hot here.  The rest of us continued jobs and teaching at the Skills Centre. Ros, Mark, Ruth and Ann went to Serekunda to visit Lye Faal's family compound following an invite from Lye's cousin Gibril. They were very welcoming a cooked a delicious Fish Benechin.  We were introduced to several of Lye's relatives (sisters, cousins) and we all had a good laugh looking at the photos taken in the same compound 25 years earlier.  Thanks to Gibril and the rest of the family for there hospitality.

BBQ at Sid's

On Saturday evening (bit out of order I know) we were all invited to Sid's house for a BBQ.  Finding Sid's house was interesting - he doesn't have an address!.  But he does have a big 3 storey house and had cooked chicken with noodles and chips.  We met Mary's "Special friend" and Solomon cooked extra chicken on the BBQ (well nearly everyone helped cook it - Solomon set it on fire a few times!) - but it was delicious.  Towards the end of the evening Scottish Folk songs broke out and collectively we nearly knew all the words to some of them.  A great fun night.

Master Chef

A Lovely Couple

Cultural Evening: Sunday 5th December

Sunday evening was “Cultural Evening”.  A mixture of Gambian and Scottish Music, Dance, Song and Food.

The evening started with presentations to Abdoulie Bah - for his fantastic efforts and energy over the past 25yrs in developing The Presidents International Award Scheme and developing the Skills Centre.  Presentations were also made to the people who completed the Duke of Edinburgh / Presidents Award Gold standard expedition.  4 days of heat, dust, walking mixed in with great experiences of the local people and culture.  The six were Emma, Jade, Mairi, Maimuna Joof, Binta Danpha and Saidou Jallow.    Alasana and Sadibou also escorted the group so a big thanks to them for their help.  The presentations were made by Alexander Cummings, the Deputy Director of Duke of Edinburgh Scotland who is visiting and providing some training for local field officers.

Next on the agenda was a dance and drama presentation from a local performance group they performed a mixture of traditional and modern dance, song and drama.  At times fast, energetic and fun – at times thought provoking.

Neil, Mary and others did a great job cooking up the meal. Chicken Benechin, Gambian vegetables, Spaghetti Bolognese, Cous Cous, Salad, onions and gravy with specially imported Haggis!  A great combination.

After the food Mairi played a number of Scottish songs on the Violin and piano (talented girl and a photo model – ask Ruth), some accompanied by Andrew on the African drum and his guitar.

Alex and Shona then did a fantastic job getting everyone up and teaching the whole group (maybe 50 people) a selection of Scottish Country Dances, can’t remember what they were called but we finished with Stripping the Willow.  A wonderfully enthusiastic, chaotic, energetic 8 minutes and everyone managed to go down the hall doing it right!

Throughout most of the evening the slideshow was running of pictures from 25 years ago at Penyem and pictures taken by John from the current visit.  Solomon and Sid haven’t changed a bit – same can’t be said for the rest of us (hair loss for some of us!!).  Soloman sorted the music system in true Solomon style!

A quote from Sadibou is: “It was fantastic, interesting, full of Culture and very educational” – couldn’t agree more.

The evening closed with thanks – the visiting Gambian dancers were really elated with learning the Scottish dances and meeting us all.  But of cause this was absolutely wonderful for us….the hard work and jollities continue….

Penyem continued

There were several classes at the school, all well organised and resourced. The teachers had lesson plans and all the equipment and teaching materials were kept in the Dream centre. All the children were taught English and would not leave the school until they had reached a good level in their writing and reading. The primary school is a 2km walk along a hot and dusty road, so the children were only moved to this school when were they considered ready in educational terms and also physically strong enough to make the journey.
At the end of the school day the children were all given a meal.

After the school visit we went back to the hall and presentations were made. Our group gave gifts to the women of the village, educational materials for the school and some photographs from our visit 25years ago. The village elder was interested in the 3 framed enlarged photos which we have left with them. A donation was also made to the village bee project and they in return gave some of the delicious honey.
Once the formal presentations and speeches were made it was on with the party. In the hall Marie and Jane played some traditional Scottish tunes on their fiddles, and Shona and Emma did a belly dance. Outside the villagers danced and danced, dragging us all in the show our dancing skills!
One of the highlights was the slide show and a collection of enlarged photos showing people from the village from 25 years ago. This caused much laughter as people recognised themselves from all those years ago...

Penyem visit 25 years on for many of us!

Yesterday was an AMAZING day! All of us plus several Gambians from The President Award Skills Centre set off to Penyem village.  We had a minibus that Sid organised, the pick up and a car. We travelled about an hour on tarmac roads driving through Brikama.  The market had the same smells as from 25 years ago but it was huge with many many market stalls and obviously a place of much business.
The tarmac road then ran out and we bumped our way along the dusty road to Penyem.  200yds before the village we stopped as the "welcome party" had started!  The drums drummed and the people danced and we " bobbed" our way into the village.  The little children from school met us as well and most of us "Toobabs" had a child holding each finger. This continued for some while as we progressed into the village.  The elder of the village then met us. The dancing then continued and we were given a formal greeting before we had a tour of the village.

The tour was really interesting- we saw the hall where we had our accommodation 25 years ago.  Then it was " Neil's" kitchen which looked remarkably the same.  A eating hall has been developed.  On our way round it was amazing to see the village's development.  They no longer have to collect water from 3km away , they have a few solar panels which power the pump for the water tower and they now have a tap as well as the pump!

The medical centre we built has been improved with the addition of a veranda and the floor had been tiled.  It is now used regularly as a "health post" with a resident retired doctor who is now operational as a nurse. Another room was the Headteacher's office and the school has been built.  It is for 3-8 year olds and 152 children attend from the Penyem and the nearby villages. The classrooms were inspirational with great use of the walls and roof.  They had a lot of artifact up to help the children.  Drawings, numbers, words etc.  Songs and sayings were a big part of their education.....

How's the Snow in the UK?

So far we have spent a day visiting the Presidents International Award Skills Centre, Bakau meeting the main Gambians who are looking after us.
The Skills Centre has a hall which was hired out on Sunday for a Baptism. The young people cooked a meal for the families after the service.
We have seen the participants making furniture, doing motor mechanics and respray of vehicles for who ever bring their cars to be repaired.  There are cooking classes, tailoring, computing, technology theory, etc.

First thing Monday morning Morven, Ruth, Ann, Jenni, Ros and Shona set up the Well women's class. Many issues were brought forward by The Gambian women relating to work and  health.
Simon, Neil and Abass shelved a stock cupboard.  Mark was setting up more computers - power supply for 10 more is being put in today and tomorrow.  Robert and Jenni helped Asmau understand and develop the accounting systems at the Skills Centre.  John ran a photography/camera workshop.  Students were asked to take photos that represent the Gambia for them. Siobhan,Katarina,Ros, Jane and  Shona went to visit a Nursery School and a Secondary Technology School.  "Tobab", "Tobab", "Tobab" at the Nursery School and they all sang "Row, Row, Row the Boat", "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes".  The older class of 6 yr olds were trying to write "My name is ...".  The SOS High School was a very happy place.  500 students  attend in the morning and 500 different students in the afternoon.  It was very interesting - in Technology theory class there were 50 boys and 1 girl.  We visited a year 12 Chemistry class.  2 girls I spoke to both wanted to be nurses.  There are 3 of our British girls doing their Duke of Edinburgh expedition out here.  They walked 8 hrs yesterday starting at 4:30am due to the heat.  They are doing very well under extreme conditions.  They are staying at schools in different villages overnight.  The Mums in our group met the girls at the local village and met the elder of the village.  He granted everyone visiting there the freedom of the village.  We meet them at Penyem on Thursday - we cannot wait to see Penyem after 25 years!
The heat is extreme here -so far away from your icy and snowy conditions.