Great Events
on Lynn Sellwood (The Gambia), 29/Feb/2012 17:28, 34 days ago
People come and go in our lives over time but it is more concentrated here. Lots of people have fixed term contracts and you meet at the beginning, the middle or the end. These intense collisions serve to focus your thoughts on who you are and how you present yourself (consciously or unconsciously). I am struck by the transitory nature of friendship and how this can be positive and not a cause for regret just because your lives only touch fleetingly.Cultural MixOne such friend is Max, a VSO volunteer from The Philippines, a place I knew very little about except the stories of Imelda Marcos. Through Max’s friendship, not only have I been introduced to a whole new culture but also have met new friends. Max left The Gambia after working with theWomen Farmers, having been here for three years.Dean, Konstantin, Max, me and Summer He was one of the most gregarious outgoing people I ever met and one who seemed to make time for everyone. His leaving do was typical; a feast on the beach during the day and partying all night at the Senegambia strip. He is missed.Lots of food....The new friends are other Filipino’s who live and work in The Gambia, managing road-building, working at the University, being a chef, buying fuel for power stations and a host of other things that make a country work. Every Sunday the Filipino community and their friends meet for Sunday lunch and a spot of afternoon karaoke.No Woman, No CryLuisa and me, jiving! If you’re in the mood you can indulge in a little dancing, too. The food is magnificent, the company warm and welcoming.At El SolAnother VSO volunteer, Summer, is also under the wing of the Filipino posse and she celebrated her birthday in style at El Sol, a Mexican restaurant with her friends. Summer trains Gambians in sign language so that the deaf community in The Gambia can communicate with each other.It is easy to dismiss family rituals like celebrating birthdays when your close family are not around and sometimes you can convince yourself that it doesn’t matter. It’s not true though. A pleasant night out with your friends, however transitory they may end up being, serves to reaffirm your sense of self. Look at your friends and you get an idea of who you are.The wedding partyAnother VSO friend, Vicky, got married to Nfamara on 29th February. They have been together for a long time and have decided to make this big step in their lives so that their relationship is not temporary. She is catholic, he a Muslim, so two types of ceremony were observed to mark the great event. In the town of Kerewan, Nfamara went to his local mosque and underwent a ceremony with the elders and the Imam while Vicky stayed in his family’s compound with his family and her friends from the town.Relaxed, after the ceremonyIn order to make the marriage legal for UK authorities and for their own peace of mind they also got a civil ceremony in Banjul. It is not easy or cheap. Various documents have to be produced along with two crates of soft drinks for the registry staff. The ceremony took place in a small room where three couples and their guests were seated. Vicky and Nfamara were second in line and all went well. They were pleased with themselves and their friends and family were there to support them. They face quite an ordeal to enable Nfamara to join Vicky in the UK when she finishes her placement. Did you know that spouses from overseas can’t work for two years.....how does that make sense? It puts even more pressure on a relationship which will have to negotiate cultural differences at every event in their lives.Talking of rituals.......the cricket season is back; so back came Andrew to coach the national team. The week sped by with every evening taken up with activity. A visiting team from Sussex arrived and played a game against the Gambians.The teams The Gambians won. Many of my friends were recruited as supporters and with the help of cucumber sandwiches, Pimms and a few beers the day went off very well. For some it was their first experience of a cricket game, the Irish, Americans and Canadians were confused but enjoyed the banter.Summer, Allana and AlexSupporter's ClubWork at Campama goes on. The new kitchen is being built so that the children can receive food aid. TheOrpington Rotary Clubhas donated£1000 to completely renovate the toilets which were getting into a very sorry state. So, kitchen and toilets...great events indeed!Making the bricks for the new kitchenRotten toiletsAs for me; I am about to complete 7 days of training with heads and School Governors as to how to run the School Performance Monitoring Meeting and the tickets have been booked to Uganda for our fact-finding mission to see how they do it. We leave on 14th March for two weeks....can’t wait......as I said “Great Events”.