Paul Penrose is paying me a visit at the moment so I thought I’d blog some of the things we have been doing. One thing that is interesting is how I was caught out by the cultural differences on his first night when I thought I would cook Domoda (a local peanut dish) for tea and invite Mr Touray and Jagan over to meet Paul.
Mr Touray lives 10 meters from my front door so when the Domoda was ready, around 7.30pm when I told him it would be, I poked my head out and told Mr Touray it was ready but still hot. He was sweeping his house so he said to let it cool for a bit and he would come over. At 8pm I had served it up and Paul and I were sitting waiting and I poked my head out and Mr Touray was just washing up for prayer. Then at quarter to 9pm I gave him another reminder and he said Jagan was having a bath so they would be over when he had finished. So Paul and I sat and waited and then we heard noises and all of Jagan’s friends came to visit. So Mr Touray came over and said Jagan would be over later. Sound rude?
Actually it was me who turned out to be rude. In Gambian culture if it is time to eat you should invite everyone and share what you have. So really I should have invited all of Jagan’s friends over, served the food up in a big bowl and we would have sat around eating with our hands. I didn’t because I find it so culturally different it is awkward for me (I had only cooked for four not ten young men) and also I am from a different culture and so will be forgiven but I don’t want people to show up for dinner every night (which will happen if word gets around). Also it is normal to say prayers and wash before you eat so since prayer time is at 8pm it is unlikely that a Gambian will show up for dinner before 9 o’clock.
In addition to all of that, Jagan’s friends also laughed at Mr Touray being invited over for dinner, because that day I had also given him bananas as a thank you for helping me with something. Because I am a single female and he is a single male, inviting him over for dinner with the added detail of the bananas. actually means I am courting him. Of course again being from another culture I am forgiven for my mistakes!!
Before the disasterous dinner party Mr Touray took Jane, June, Paul and I to visit Kabafita his old school (Mr Touray got a transfer to a new school the start of this school year – which started last week). I thought the photos might be an eye opener for the difference between schools at home and schools here. The classroom is in operation – it has no furniture because the school has no furniture. The student’s parents need to provide their children with a chair and a desk, and so the children usually take them home on the weekend as the classrooms are not locked.
The other photo is of my ‘little squishies’. This little study group has decided to come by at five o’clock each night for booko – much to my delight!!! They are three and four year old girls and we sit for about half an hour and they ‘draw’ with the pencils (we are working on drawing circles at the moment) and we read two storybooks that I have made in their local language. Unlike my previous study group disasters these kids are really well behaved and like to snuggle up for a story and don’t wish to be rewarded with minties. I really enjoy reading with these kids.
Mr Touray lives 10 meters from my front door so when the Domoda was ready, around 7.30pm when I told him it would be, I poked my head out and told Mr Touray it was ready but still hot. He was sweeping his house so he said to let it cool for a bit and he would come over. At 8pm I had served it up and Paul and I were sitting waiting and I poked my head out and Mr Touray was just washing up for prayer. Then at quarter to 9pm I gave him another reminder and he said Jagan was having a bath so they would be over when he had finished. So Paul and I sat and waited and then we heard noises and all of Jagan’s friends came to visit. So Mr Touray came over and said Jagan would be over later. Sound rude?
Actually it was me who turned out to be rude. In Gambian culture if it is time to eat you should invite everyone and share what you have. So really I should have invited all of Jagan’s friends over, served the food up in a big bowl and we would have sat around eating with our hands. I didn’t because I find it so culturally different it is awkward for me (I had only cooked for four not ten young men) and also I am from a different culture and so will be forgiven but I don’t want people to show up for dinner every night (which will happen if word gets around). Also it is normal to say prayers and wash before you eat so since prayer time is at 8pm it is unlikely that a Gambian will show up for dinner before 9 o’clock.
In addition to all of that, Jagan’s friends also laughed at Mr Touray being invited over for dinner, because that day I had also given him bananas as a thank you for helping me with something. Because I am a single female and he is a single male, inviting him over for dinner with the added detail of the bananas. actually means I am courting him. Of course again being from another culture I am forgiven for my mistakes!!
Before the disasterous dinner party Mr Touray took Jane, June, Paul and I to visit Kabafita his old school (Mr Touray got a transfer to a new school the start of this school year – which started last week). I thought the photos might be an eye opener for the difference between schools at home and schools here. The classroom is in operation – it has no furniture because the school has no furniture. The student’s parents need to provide their children with a chair and a desk, and so the children usually take them home on the weekend as the classrooms are not locked.
The other photo is of my ‘little squishies’. This little study group has decided to come by at five o’clock each night for booko – much to my delight!!! They are three and four year old girls and we sit for about half an hour and they ‘draw’ with the pencils (we are working on drawing circles at the moment) and we read two storybooks that I have made in their local language. Unlike my previous study group disasters these kids are really well behaved and like to snuggle up for a story and don’t wish to be rewarded with minties. I really enjoy reading with these kids.
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