Gambian Dress

I thought I’d better post a photo of my first Gambian dress. As I only have one at the moment I wear it only on Fridays, which is the day all Gambian’s dress up to go to the mosque.

Gambians are mostly Muslim which means they pray 5 times a day. That means that I get woken up anywhere between 5.30am and 6.30am by the mosques calling for prayer. They say prayers at all times over loud speakers which blast the prayers all over the neighbourhood. At the start I was waking up at 5.30am (I think one of the mosques near me has their clock on the wrong time because most of them go at 6.30am) with the mosque, but now I just put the MP3 player in my ears and go back to sleep. Christians definitely have an easier life than Muslims. Students are always late to my classes at all times because they have to wash so that they can pray. The times I know for sure are prayer times are 6.30am, 2pm, 5pm and 8pm (the call is going up as I type).

Anyway, Gambians dress beautifully at any time. The markets are full of fabrics of all shapes sizes and designs (there is even one with severed fingers on it, and one with the president’s face). The women buy the fabric and take it to the local tailors (there is one every couple of shops or so) and get them made into the most amazing outfits. Every Friday, however is a special day when the women and men all dress up spectacularly. So I make the effort to honor their day as well.

The outfit in the photo was my first and successful attempt at getting a tailor made outfit. The second outfit was not so easy. I bought material for a skirt and lining material for the lining and a lightweight shirt. When I got back to the tailor however I had a lined shirt and a skirt made out of lining (completely see through!). The shirt was so out there I couldn’t really wear it (plus it would be so hot) so the tailor got some more material and made it again. The shirt ended up looking like a pajama top and the skirt was so tight, I will have to keep running for a few more weeks to wear it!!! Anyway I wasn’t going to complain twice. I am just weary about giving the tailor expensive material (I bought the next dress readymade – it works out about the same price, they just aren’t as nice and are imported from China).