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on Lynn Sellwood (The Gambia), 25/Jan/2011 10:57, 34 days ago
Matt, me and Jenny behindMy current visitor is my son, Matthew. I am delighted he is here, not least because he had disavowed air travel on the basis that it was not good for the planet. He is a very easy going guy and quite able to look after himself but somehow the“mummy gene” just had to kick in and threatened to make things difficult if it were not for our sense of humour. I couldn’t resist checking that he had a hat, a towel, malaria tablets, water, suntan lotion, deet, enough to eat and money before he came and then compounded the error by asking the same various questions every day since he arrived! Is there something very odd in the relationship between the mother and her son? I have just finished reading “Freedom” byJonathan Franzenwhich touches on this issue, among other things, and I’d welcome opinions on the issue and the book when you’ve read it.Home made veggie curry So, apart from him being a vegetarian, which is not easy to accommodate in The Gambia, we have hit the ground running with a tour of my local area including the Serrekunda market to buy material for his African suit and an extra bedcover for his bed because it gets chilly at night at the moment.We have been to the fish market and because it is Matthew we have found the nearest bookshop,Timbooktoo, and beach, Lebayto, with shade and a hammock!He is struggling, as we all do, with the causes of the poverty in this country. It is obvious that the Trade agreements are largely to blame for the current situation and that European colonialism has a lot to answer for in terms of the past but what to do now is the real problem. I have come to the conclusion that I am powerless to affect the global economic system and only combined Africa can address that issue so I am content with helping in the way I can by affecting the daily lives of people I come into contact with. It may be a bit of a sticking plaster mentality but it is all I can manage in the face of the issues. Check outAid Watchfor some ideas. But, if you are minded to send or raise some money just send it to me and I will use it wisely. I can give you my bank account details by request to my email address.Mick, centre, and others trying to fill the wheelbarrowOn Sunday we had a fantastic day visiting some English friends, Mick and Jenny, who came to The Gambia to promote bee-keeping through another fantastic project calledBeeCause. They came to The Gambia with their two young childrenTheo and Maya and took over a couple of hectares of land by the river which had a couple of derelict buildings on it and have slowly turned it into a place to live and work. They trial different methods of keeping bees in Africa with the purpose of demonstrating to local farmers how they could increase theirincome through the sale of honey and wax products.Tom, asleep....chillin'We went off for the day to look at the site and to see how we could help them through marketing or volunteering with a machete. Matt has offered his services with a machete having had some practice in Guatemala and Belize some years ago.More preparation There were three other VSO volunteers, Bernie, Pete and Tom. An ex Peace Corps, David, from San Francisco, another British volunteer called Gemma forConcern Universalwith her French boyfriend, Cedric who turned out to be a good fisherman and agile in the trees!Mick, David and big Pete After breakfast we made a picnic and went for a trip on the river to place bee boxes in the mangroves and to do some chillin’ and fishin’. Except for Matt who concentrated on the chillin'.Bernie and Matt The bee boxes attract bees with the wax inside and the idea is that you attract a colony for transfer into one of the many types of hives being trialled in the apiary on the land.Cedric, Gemma and MickGetting the bee boxes into the mangroveAnd tying them on!Just to keep you up to date with other developments.......I have had a very kind man called Colin donate the proceeds of his fund-raising (£333) into my account while we wait for the charity bank account to go live. It will be used to the benefit of Campama School. The Gambian Cricket Association is in contact with Sunshine with Smiles and it looks as if Southeastern Trains is minded to allow Andrew unpaid leave to accompany the teamto the T20 in Ghana. The kitchen at Sancho Njabo School is almost finished and I am awaiting an invitation to the official opening. I have put a Nursery School in Dorset in touch with a school here in the Gambia so they can forge a mutual relationship of support and interest for the children. I havealso found a local community Health Centre near south Senegal as a repository for health equipment.And, my car is really nearly ready for action! There is truth in the saying that GMT really stands for“Gambian Maybe Time” but somehow I have been quite happy to wait and I know that eventually the car will arrive in working order and be legal to drive. For those of you that know me that is a real change from the past when I was always so eager to get everything done at once.