The weekend before Tobaski the Peace corp volunteers, Jane, June and I planned a bike ride to Gunjur. It worked out especially well for me as I was to give a workshop to a student in Gunjur on the same day.
Gunjur is a beach side town about an hour’s ride by Gelli from Brikama. It is just over an hour’s bike ride from Brikama though you have to remember the weather is much hotter here than at home. Imagine riding a bike on a warm to hot summer’s day.
So a group of seven or eight of us on pushbikes (Jane joined us later on her motorbike) set off on a ride to Gunjur on the Saturday morning. We were a little late starting off and my workshop which was cancelled the night before, as the school had closed for Tobaski, was suddenly put on again fifteen minutes before we left (I have the feeling they made all the kids go to school just because I was coming – not that unusual actually). We had a few issues getting going and left an hour late, but the ride was a beautiful one through villages (with all the Taubab shouting you could ever want), and nice subtropical forests and farmlands.
We arrived at around 11.30 which was good timing for my workshop so the others went off to the beach and I went off to the school. I met this student randomly in Kombo one day and he invited me to his school to give him some mentoring. He teachers in an Islamic school and the teaching is so un-child centred I am happy to help especially as the student is so willing and the principal will be more willing to adapt if I go to the school. However the village is so often visited by tourists, who like to give things out to all the poor children, that the kids in the school are an extreme handful. The head was away when I arrived so the student took me to the office to sign in and had to actually close the door to keep the kids from mobbing me. He mistakenly didn’t take the key out of the door so the children then locked us in the office and he had to bang on the door for about ten minutes in order to get the cleaners attention. Luckily for me I realised that help was only a phone call away as I had ridden down with a group so I wasn’t worried.
I played maths games and then outdoor games with the children. Some of which i think the teacher will take on, though the whole time the children were extremely excited by the ‘Taubab’ and hard to control. Anyone who likes to go to poor countries and just hand out stuff please read this and rethink your actions, it actually damages the communities and only makes yourself feel good. It is much better to find a registered charity, and help them instead.
In the end I had to flee the school in order to let the teacher control his class again. The children were actually hitting each other with shoes and sticks if they felt I was paying one of them more attention than another or if one was sitting near me and the other wanted to be.
I was glad however to escape early and head off down to the beach. I got in one hour in the waves before it was time to head back again. It was so hot though that five minutes after you left the water you were dry and wanted to go back in. The whole time we were on the beach we were surrounded by a group of six bumsters who were just lying nearby, just hoping that one of us would fall in love and want their services. Ugh the tourist trade can be so ugly!!!!
That night was great. When we got back Katie, Whitney, Caroline and I caught a gelli to Senegambia to have pizza at an Italian restaurant. It was a nice relaxed evening as we were all tired and just wanted some nice food and a beer. The Senegambia area however is the main tourist area of the Gambia and tourist season has just started. Every restaurant was packed out with white people. We did mention that it was a crowd we fitted in with but not one we really wanted to associate with. Many of the tables had older obese men or women at them seated with younger attractive Gambian males and females. A phenomenon that has lead to the majority of the problems we experience as volunteers.
The absolute highlight of the evening was going to a gelati shop and having a waffle cone with walnut gelati – not an experience I thought I would have in the Gambia.
Gunjur is a beach side town about an hour’s ride by Gelli from Brikama. It is just over an hour’s bike ride from Brikama though you have to remember the weather is much hotter here than at home. Imagine riding a bike on a warm to hot summer’s day.
So a group of seven or eight of us on pushbikes (Jane joined us later on her motorbike) set off on a ride to Gunjur on the Saturday morning. We were a little late starting off and my workshop which was cancelled the night before, as the school had closed for Tobaski, was suddenly put on again fifteen minutes before we left (I have the feeling they made all the kids go to school just because I was coming – not that unusual actually). We had a few issues getting going and left an hour late, but the ride was a beautiful one through villages (with all the Taubab shouting you could ever want), and nice subtropical forests and farmlands.
We arrived at around 11.30 which was good timing for my workshop so the others went off to the beach and I went off to the school. I met this student randomly in Kombo one day and he invited me to his school to give him some mentoring. He teachers in an Islamic school and the teaching is so un-child centred I am happy to help especially as the student is so willing and the principal will be more willing to adapt if I go to the school. However the village is so often visited by tourists, who like to give things out to all the poor children, that the kids in the school are an extreme handful. The head was away when I arrived so the student took me to the office to sign in and had to actually close the door to keep the kids from mobbing me. He mistakenly didn’t take the key out of the door so the children then locked us in the office and he had to bang on the door for about ten minutes in order to get the cleaners attention. Luckily for me I realised that help was only a phone call away as I had ridden down with a group so I wasn’t worried.
I played maths games and then outdoor games with the children. Some of which i think the teacher will take on, though the whole time the children were extremely excited by the ‘Taubab’ and hard to control. Anyone who likes to go to poor countries and just hand out stuff please read this and rethink your actions, it actually damages the communities and only makes yourself feel good. It is much better to find a registered charity, and help them instead.
In the end I had to flee the school in order to let the teacher control his class again. The children were actually hitting each other with shoes and sticks if they felt I was paying one of them more attention than another or if one was sitting near me and the other wanted to be.
I was glad however to escape early and head off down to the beach. I got in one hour in the waves before it was time to head back again. It was so hot though that five minutes after you left the water you were dry and wanted to go back in. The whole time we were on the beach we were surrounded by a group of six bumsters who were just lying nearby, just hoping that one of us would fall in love and want their services. Ugh the tourist trade can be so ugly!!!!
That night was great. When we got back Katie, Whitney, Caroline and I caught a gelli to Senegambia to have pizza at an Italian restaurant. It was a nice relaxed evening as we were all tired and just wanted some nice food and a beer. The Senegambia area however is the main tourist area of the Gambia and tourist season has just started. Every restaurant was packed out with white people. We did mention that it was a crowd we fitted in with but not one we really wanted to associate with. Many of the tables had older obese men or women at them seated with younger attractive Gambian males and females. A phenomenon that has lead to the majority of the problems we experience as volunteers.
The absolute highlight of the evening was going to a gelati shop and having a waffle cone with walnut gelati – not an experience I thought I would have in the Gambia.
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