Charging Down the Home Strait
on Lynn Sellwood (The Gambia), 21/Jan/2012 12:13, 34 days ago
It was really palpable as New Year came and went that my perspective on this episode of my life shifted. I can see the end, which comes in May. It’s not that this has seemed an endurance test but I have been managing my life with new and transitory friends in a challenging and different environment and now I am able to reflect on it, knowing it will soon be over. I have very mixed emotions; on the one hand I have missed my friends and family, on the other I know I will miss the new friends and colleagues here in The Gambia.So this blog entry will try to look at where I am now......• I ask myself what I have achieved and I’m not absolutely sure. I have managed to lead a national initiative to improve community involvement in schools which, if embedded, will make a lasting difference and help drive up quality.• I have helped a couple of schools to get some more resources. I have noticed that the resources do make a difference but even more is the impact on the staff and children that somebody wants to help. Teachers have often said, “the British are very good people, they are helping us and they don’t even know us.” Without sounding ridiculous I am proud to be part of the British culture which is essentially caring and open-minded. Thanks to those people who have sent books or money. The latest donations have enabled Campama school to improve its kitchen to enable the WFP school feeding programme to commence.• I am happy that we have helped Lamin to own his own taxi and become independent. We have changed his life and he is incredibly grateful for the opportunity we have given him. The day he opened a bank account and used his signature instead of his thumbprint was so memorable because I hadn’t realised what it meant to him. He asked me to walk away while he sat in the car to reflect on his good fortune. Apart from paying back the loan (the first £250 went back this week) he wants to show his appreciation but doesn’t know how to.• I have helped VSO shape its new Gambia strategy in collaboration with VSO and partners. Its new focus will be on Youth which makes up nearly 50% of the population in The Gambia and is a time bomb here and in other parts of the world. No jobs, poor education, no resources and access to the globalinternet revolution is an explosive mix, even in this tolerant society. I have also helped on a World Bank bid for funds.......I ask myself what I have learned and I think that some of it won’t be obvious until I return but• I have learned that I don’t want to need TV. I want to have non TV evenings so that I can do the reading and writing which has become part of my daily routine. I want to find the time, as I do here, for more socialising and“hanging out”. The writing course for the OU has been challenging in so many ways.• I don’t need so much “stuff” but in looking forward I know I will relish constant electricity and hot showers as well as non-guilty trips to the supermarket. I will not waste so much money in the future and will try to be more mindful of conservation of energy resources.• The struggle for women’s equality is not yet won. I have been living in a culture which struggles to accept the equality of women with men. My own situation as a white, western woman is seen as an exception, while the majority of women here hold the burden of domestic work, childbirth (average5.6 children born to each woman) childcare, are subject to polygamy with or without their consent, and are 75% likely to have a form of FGM performed on them while under the age of consent. Feminism should reach beyond the borders of the west and look at the struggle of women elsewhere in the world.Here are some photos of the last few weeks.......Here are a couple of photos of colleagues who came on trek round the country to spread the word about community involvement. These two are Head teachersSainabou Lowe and Fatou Jobe Cham, Headteachers on trekKaramba Sonko, devout and charming and able, a great asset to the National Steering GroupThere follows a couple of photos showing children in an up-country school getting their rice for lunch as part of the World feeding programme operating in Gambian schools. The girl is holding a food bowl which will be shared by sqatting around on the ground in the traditional style.Some girls cover, others don't.Here they are, tucking in!Christmas Lunch, Philipino style at Max'sGetting messy with karaoke, Dean, Marielle,Lucy and MickEvenings at Franco Gambienne are always interesting but this night was special. Sona Jobarteh is one of very few female kora players. She is amazing.Sona JobartehBakau drummers as the supporting actChristine and Martyn came back for a second visit to The Gambia. They stayed at Sandele, MakasutuMandina LodgeandSitanunku Lodgeand we had a wonderful final night at Coco Ocean.Inside the lodge at SandeleMy lodge at Mandina Inside my lodge at MandinaSo, I am ready for the last leg. I have got to submit a final piece of writing for the OU, I am planning the trip to Uganda in March, I am expecting Andrew to visit in February............see you all soon!