My House

My rusty shower
My living room/kitchen (note no kitchen sink!!)

My Bedroom (my wardrobe is hanging up - not my washing!)

On Tuesday I moved into my house. It was great to finally be able to unpack my stuff! VSO drove me out to Brikama, although I have to say I didn’t fill up much of the ute. My next door neighbor, Amy, told me I’d be able to get most of my stuff in Brikama. VSO gave me a grant to pay for the things needed to set up house.

The first thing we did in Brikama was to go to Gambia college so I could meet Mr Korita my boss. We had a chat about what my job would be and then we drove to my house. It was a bit of a letdown after seeing Amy’s house, but I guess that’s the difference between one that has been set up and an empty house.

The house was really dirty but I was really lucky to have my furniture and bike already there. I thought it all looked great until I realized my kitchen table was up to elbows, my kitchen chairs were normal so the whole thing didn’t match, my food storage unit was a set of drawers and my wardrobe was something more like a sideboard.

It sounds bad but mixing and matching does wonders – I moved the drawers to my room and the cupboard to the kitchen, I set the table up as the kitchen bench I didn’t have and moved the kitchen chairs to the coffee table (I haven’t had a kitchen table for the last three years so I am sure I can cope!).

Then I went to the bathroom and discovered the toilet didn’t have a lever to flush it (then I saw the bit of string – I have to lift the lid off and pull the string up – odd but manageable), and none of the taps on the sink or shower worked. The other bathroom was more of the same – and the shower heads look rusted over. It looked very doom and gloom – however there was a little tap in the wall that turned out to be the water supply. That added with the wrench that Amy had left for me meant that I could get my sink to work and I found if you leaned heavily on the shower and turned it – that worked too. I ran the water for a while to get rid of the rust and now it all works!!! I am not going to worry about the other bathroom for a while and I have found out that the landlord has bought two new taps for my bathroom so I just have to wait for a plumber. The plus is that Brikama’s water supply is a lot more consistent than Kanifeng!!!!!!!!!!

So I swept up the floor with a broom that I had bought and washed out the fridge. Then Amy came home from work and took me to the market to bargain my way into owning a small kettle, saucepan, frypan, a few buckets and some sharp German made knives. She also took me out for tea then helped me to mop out the house. A good start to Brikama I say!!!! The best bit was that all night we were interrupted by kids upon kids who had come to check out the new Taubab (Taubab – comes from the word Two Bob which literally means that the kids see white people as people who will give them things). The gate to my compound is cast iron and all night it constantly squeaks with the number of people who come in and out to visit.

My other neighbors are Annem who was also fantastic in helping me settle in and introducing me to the neighbours (For those of you who can remember Anne was the lady I was emailing before I came to the Gambia) and Mr Tourai. My Tourai is a single man who looks after the compound. He is a teacher himself and is very keen to help me in all areas. He is especially good at reminding me to keep my house secure. The night noises freaked me out a bit the first night but given that I have two locked cast iron doors and bars on all of my windows I feel super safe inside the house.