news-upcountry

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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Whenever I went on a business trip back in the US, Europe or the UK, my mother, ever hoperful, would remind me of all the cultural and historical sights my itinerary would take me near, and encourage me to go visit. Alas, in over 6 years as a management consultant, I never once managed to make such a detour (except on training courses, but that's another story). Kate's first overnight business trip in the Gambia was an entirely different story, however. It was so eye-opening in fact, that Kate insisted Ben come join her for the last few days. I'll let Kate describe the trip in more detail, but here's a first crack at getting the news and pictures out.

Kate spent 6 days upcountry, mostly at the far eastern end of the Gambia, "monitoring" investments (loans and grants) SDF has made to village groups. This involves checking to see what they've done with the money, what successes they've had, and what problems they've encountered. This part of the Gambia is quite remote and basic. We had been warned that each mile further inland to the East one goes, the temperature rises 1 degree! This is not such an exaggeration as it sounds (even though we were 400 km inland)! A whole different type of heat. At night, the water in the shower was decidedly heated just by being in the pipes all day!

Kate was based in Basse, perhaps the 3 or 4th largest town in the Gambia. Getting there, however, is a real ordeal, as the roads are terrible! Kate arrived there the first night at 2 am, despite leaving our neighborhood at 5 pm! It took me 11 hours on the (express) bus - and I was told we were lucky, as the bus hadn't broken down once! The "highway" is being tarmacced, and for long stretches it is little more than a sand pit. There seem to be large numbers of big westen style catepillar tractors and steam rollers, but apparently the project is, typically, way over time and budget. Even where most of the road is still intact, the potholes from the rainy season are severe and unpredictable. Luckily there are few other vehicles, as drivers veer madly from one side to the other seeking the best course around the holes and ditches, often driving half on the shoulder. The worst is to be behind another vehicle, as the dust cloud carriers behind for a hundred yards, and close behind is like a sandstorm, totally blanketing the windshield.

Its definitely Darwins rules on the road - god help anyone on foot, bicycle, donkey cart, motor bike, or small car - the buses and big NGO 4x4s rule the road, and enforce their way liberally with the horn (or at night horn and flashing headlights). One of the biggest changes is the dominance of the donkey and cart as a primary means of transportation. Apparently a donkey costs about D800 ($44), and the cart D3000 ($166) - at these prices, even we could afford a donkey (but haven't seen any where we live in the captial area). The donkeys looked docile enough, but every morning we were awakened by mad braying - sounds a bit like very very loud complaint followed by plaintive snorting. Not exactly pleasant, but at least a change from being awakened by the roosters and the neighboring Imam!

From Basse, Kate and her colleagues would set out to visit various remote villages in the surrounding area. The locals have rarely seen white people or "Tuubaabs" (apparently a corruption of "two bob," which is what the first British colonists seemed to say a lot or so the story goes. As Kate says, lucky it wasn't the Americans who colonized the Gambia, or we'd all be known as Two Bucks!). There is a certain age when a village child has never seen a tuubaab - usually between 1 and 3 years old, and is old enough to notice - the result is lots of tears. Poor Kate made at least one baby cry in every village! (see photos of village life) The people in the village, primarily women, were understandably very grateful towards their beneficiaries - and greeted us very warmly, often with special dances. This area is primarily Mandinka and Fulla, so our basic langauge lessons in Wollof proved little help at all. But Kate's colleagues translated sometimes, and we gradually picked up the gist. We took tons of photos so Kate can produce a Success Brochure to help SDF get its next round of funding from various donors and aid agencies. Maybe not so different from her last job, trying to get venture capitalists to invest in her company!

We ate mostly local food - mostly a communal food bowl of rice and peanut sauce with meat called Domodo. They eat it with their (right) hands - we were thankfully given spoons. We also discovered Affra, grilled goat meat that is simply delicious. Breakfast was usually french bread with meat or fish and mayonaise. The bread is much better (denser) upcountry than it is in the capital area where we live - which I credit to the proximity to Senegal and good French baking traditions.

On the way home we stopped off to visit Kate's colleague Kibbe's second wife (Fanta). As you may know, the muslims here believe the Koran gives the men the right to have up to 4 wives, and most men who can afford it have at least 2. This tends to be less popular among the women folk, but there's little they can do about it. Among the richer families, most women insist on separate compounds at least, but in the rural arreas, the villages are made up of clusters of compounds, which are usually five small huts or so walled in by woven grass walls -- usually each wife gets her own adjoining hit. This practice tends to lead to very large families, which helps explain why 50% of Gambians are under 16, and the population is growing so fast.

To visit Fanta's house, we crossed the river at Bansang. The river is about 100 yards across, and very beautiful, and with a welcome cool breeze. Its a hand powered ferry, where the barge is pulled along a cable by the passengers! Each crossing takes about 10 minutes, and can hold 2 cars. A car costs D40 - or about $2. This part of the Gambia is very green - they grow rice for a few miles on either side of the river. Apparently hippos are common in this part of the river (this far upcountry its fresh water), but we never saw any. We did see lots of monkeys along the road though!

This trip showed us so much, we'll pause here and continue with another update soon...