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Gambia, Thes flagPublished: May 12th 2009Africa » Gambia » District of Banjul » Banjul
May 12th 2009

Remember my last entry? I did the same thing with Grade 5 today. So i have 9 more letters to share with you guys. Same edits, same deal as last time. Here goes:

Topic: Explain the customs and traditions of The Gambia to someone who has never been to The Gambia.

The costoms (costumes) in The Gambia are nice, like the traditional dresses. Some of the traditional dresses are made out of different things and the traditional dresses are used by some of the ethnic groups in The Gambia. When you are from another country, you can choose the kind of dress you will like to wear, But their (there) are rules in The Gambia, like when you are a lady you should not wear short clothes walking on the street. You can wear short clothes at the beach when swimming. Every friday some men wear "Khaftan" while the women wear "mallen".
There is an other thing that the elders don't allow, like when you met with an old man or woman you should greet him or her, because the (they) will think that you don't have manners. When you are eating with an elderly person you should not touch the meat or fish in side the bowl, you should wait for him or her to put for you. In The Gambia when we are eating we eat with hand, we all use to sit around a big bowl and eat together. There are traditional instrument that we use to play our songs and our local dance. The mandingo music is "sewruba" and "Barawulo", the fula "Nanjeerh", the wolof "tama" and "sabarr", the Jola "Bukarabu", the Serere "Ndaaga" and the Aku is "Asiko."
There are local dishes for each ethnic group. The mandigo's traditional dish is "tiya durango", the fula "lachari" Jolas 'caldou', the wolofs benachin and the Aku is the "plasas" or fufu. Benachin simiply (simply) means one cooking pot.
There are two main religions in the Gambia Islam and Christianity.
-Mariama Dibba

Dear Kate,
How are you. I hope you are fine. I am looking forward to see you. I want to tell you about the customs and traditions about the Gambia before you arrive.
Kate, The Gambia is a small country and we all have styles in each country. In the Gambia when a person wakes up in the morning the first thing he/she should do is to greet the elders in the compound and when greeting you have to bend down and greet. Also, if you are out of your house, if you see other elders greet and pass.
Also The Gambia has different tripes (tribes), like the Mandinkas, Wollofs, Sereres, Fulas and the Jolas and each tripes has their own job that they are interested. The Mandinkas are main for farming while the Wollofs are main for building boats. Also the Fulas are main of cattle harders (herders) and the Serere are for fishing.
In The Gambia, when eating with an elder person you should hold the bowl so that it would not move and you should look at where you are eating. Also all tribes have their own local dishes and they cooked it always.
Most of the peoples in the Gambia believe on main religions as we locally called it "Jalang". some people destroy peoples life because of Jalang and we always find the Jalangs at the villages.
We also have our traditional clothes which peoples wear. On Fridays all Muslims should wear an african dress and also when you are attending Funerals, Or Naming Ceremony. In our country, no one wears short short and pass our elders because it is not respect but you can wear it in your house. Every Gambians also have their own traditional costumes that use when acting a play, when dancing or when druming.
Kate, also our games are different from yours. Here we have football, rounders ball, basketball and tennis etc.
Our President is Alhagie YaYa A.J.J. Jammeh. The color of Our National Flag is Red, White, blue, white, green and all the colors have their meanings. Our vice president is Isatou Njie Saidy and they are helping to develop our country.
Our president helps to cure some sickness that peoples are having their problems.
Thank you so much and I am looking forward to see you.
From your friend
Fatou Ngoneh Camara (my cousin).

that's all for today because this keyboard sticks and it's really aggravating to type. i'll post the rest tomorrow.

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Kate MacDougall
My name is Kate, I'm 22 years old, and I graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder in fall of 2012. I am getting my Colorado elementary teaching license this summer, and am headed to Hungary in the fall to teach in a 1st or 2nd grade classroom for a year. I traveled for a year after high school as well, which is what all of my previous entries are from. Feel free to read and catch up! This blog is my primary way of staying in touch with people while I am away, but anyone is free (and encouraged) to read it. Enjoy!... full info
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Gambia, The
Gambia, The mapGambia, The flag
The Gambia gained its independence from the UK in 1965; it formed a short-lived federation of Senegambia with Senegal between 1982 and 1989. In 1991 the two nations signed a friendship and cooperation treaty. A military coup in 1994 overthrew the pre...more info
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