news-23feb

Monday, Feb 18, 2002

Kate got us VIP tickets to the 37th anniversary of the Gambia's Independence from Great Britain. We were sitting in the main section of the National Stadium, on individual chairs, under a sun shade (after 10 pm, when the sun was high enough in the sky to be blocked. We got there about 9:30 AM, and left about 2 pm. For Gambia, it started remarkably on time - only about 30 minutes late. For most of those there, however, this was a long time to be in the sun, and many fainted and had to be carried off by the Red Cross

To read what the Observer had to say, click here.

The President of Senegal visited and participated, along with the President of the Gambia. In the photos below, President Jammeh of the Gambia is in white, and the Senegalese President is dressed in blue.

First there was a parade of arriving dignitaries, including the female vice president, all in humongous SUVs. Then the 2 presidents arrived in their motor-cade.

Next there was a review of the military units of the Gambia - the army is only 1000 strong, so we saw representatives from the police force, immigration service, prison guards, and fire departments as well. They did several different marches around the stadium while various military bands played. They ended by firing a salute. The review concluded with the Gambia's one jet fighter flying by the stadium - definitely the crowd's favorite!

Next representatives from about 70 local schools and voluntary societies marched by.

Finally, President Jammeh delivered his annual speech on Independence day. See the Observer (above) for a synopsis (the accoustics were poor).We met the Army PR officer acting as MC during the first half of the event, so we now have a friend in the Gambian Army who's promised to show us around. You can also see how colorful the other VIPs dressed.

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Just finished Tobaski over here - saw a ram sacrificed in our very own compound by our neighbor! Lots of blood everywhere, but surprisingly little noise. Three guys holding it down, the slaughterer used a simple knife across the throat. The festival has to do with Abraham being ready to sacrifice Isaac(?), but God intervening at the last minute and suggesting a ram more suitable than one's second born. Our neighbor Momodu invited us to stay and eat with him, but we had made plans already to go to the nature park. Apparently, it is a tradition to go around and give raw meat to those who do not have. Not sure where we'd fit in that hierarchy. Even though we earn less than $6 a day, as tuubabs, everyone thinks we're rolling in dough.

Actaully, we'd been hoping to avoid seeing the sacrifice, but our timing as a bit off. Kate pumped her bike tire during the bloodiest bits, but survived, and I think found it less traumatic than she had expected. Momodu was keen that we photograph the big moment. I captured several gory scenes on my digital camera, but won't publish the most graphic ones so the vivisectionist lobby doesn't picket this web site! Of course, witnessing the slaughter of animals for food is something that we from the west have conveniently outsourced, and live largely in ignorance of. Such slaughters happen all the time, just hidden away in factories and processing plants.

A ram is THE thing to buy for Tobaski - even better than a cow! And the price quadruples leading up to this weekend. At over 1000 Dalasi ($60), this can easily be several months wages. The governemnt loans people one month's salary to be repaid over 6 months in order to help citizens - whether Muslim or not--finance this purchase. All the extended family comes to visit. Momodu is the head man in his family, since his father died and he is the eldest brother, making him the host. So he was understandably quite proud of his ram (and that he could afford one)

A big weekend here - very little work is done on the week leading up to it, and most shops are closed over the weekend. Another tradition is that fathers buy everyone in their household a new suit of clothes - so every where you look, people (especially children) are out and about in their finery showing off! See pictures

We then went off to the nature park (Bijilo, just down from the big hotels on the coast, about a 30 minute bike ride for us) and had monkeys eating peanuts right out of our hands! Saw 2 kinds, the tamer green monkeys, who have real hands and short fingernails, and the shyer red monkeys, who we only saw up in the trees. Have photos of both, but the zoom lens (coming soon) should help a lot with the distant red ones. See pictures

We also spent some time on the beach chilling out. The beach was a lot quieter and more peaceful, as most of the bumsters were away for Tobaski, so rather less hassle. We're also finding that by greeting everyone in Wolof as fervently and as comprehensively as possible, most bumsters give up on us. The greetings are quite formal (and to us nearly meaningless), but they have a kind of rhythm that even the bumsters get sucked into. They talk to us in English - and we respond to them in Wolof. Many of them seem quite surprised! But of course we tend to wear far more clothes than the average tourist on the beach (esp the Scandinavians!)

I also did a bit of home repair - we had towel hooks hanging over our bathroom door, but they prevented full closure of the door. Given how much time I spend in there, this was obviously not ideal! So out came the trusty Leatherman Wave, and the combo of file and saw did the deed of carving the requisite grooves in the door jamb. Bob Villa eat your heart out. Of course in the heat and humidity, it was a tough job! I have new respect for the termites who are busy eating our house back into the dust it once was, and will soon be again. See picture (towards the bottom of photo page)

As for work, last week was a bit of a wash, what with independence day on Monday (see our impressions), and preparations for Tobaski starting immediately afterwards. GTTI was closed on Tuesday, and again on Thursday afternoon because attendance was so poor. Unfortunately, the internet was also down during this time, so web site building has been slow. But that explains a bit of the radio silence. Instead of writing everyone, I am trying to set up a site where we can post our news and pics regularly, and people can tune in to see whats going on. Hopefully you like it!

Had a few triumphs though - managed to get my laptop connected onto the school network for first time on Thursday pm - makes writing email a lot easier when can do it on my own machine, and not so in fear of the sudden power cut and losing all my work. Also moved into my new office - quite isolated, but I do have a very nice neighbor. Should be a good place to get quiet work done, but I shall have to work hard at getting out and meeting people and staying well informed.

Had another great moment today on the way to work. My bike broke - the derailer literally snapped on saturday - so took it to my bike repair "shack" just down from GTTI. They know me there all too well (my bike, while not exactly a lemon, has had more than its fair share of work already under my short ownership of it). The main guy seems to be from Mali - but I usually have better luck speaking English with the boys who hang around there, and he doesn't know wolof. 1st victory was he gave me a reasonable price for a used derailer - 45 dalasi, or about $3. I guess my bargaining on prior occasions is paying off, and its clear I'm not an ordinary Tuubab. But on a whim, as I was leaving, I asked him "Parlez-vous francais?" - and by God he does! So we had a long chat, suddenly able to understand one another (sort of) - between his accent and my brain, there was a bit of a disconnect, but it brought both of us a huge smile nonetheless! We live in an area where French is spoken a good deal, it turns out, so my French learned so long ago has been brilliant. And everyone smiles when I say my father is a French professor. I haven't quite worked out how to say you've retired yet, Pop, sorry!