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Published: September 10th 2011
Today we visited the village of Ndemban to get a taste of village life in The Gambia. We set off early in a little minibus and drove for about an hour out into the countryside. When we arrived at the village we were told not to drive down the small road leading to the village because the women had prepared a welcome celebration for us. We piled out of the bus to be met by about 30 women and goodness knows how many children all dressed in the colours of The Gambia and chanting traditional songs. They were really into it, blowing on their whistles, stamping their feet and dancing around the instrument that one of them was playing. We slowly made our way up to the village school where the rest of the village had gathered to welcome us and get a good look at all of us. Don't ask me what the horned hats and the beard is all about, I have no idea. It didn't distract from how wonderful it all was. They carried on singing for nearly an hour, encouraging us to join in by the end.
We then met the elders of the village who told
us all about their community and then we went off on a walk, with a good chunk of the village population in tow, to see some of the projects they were working on. One of which is small houses for tourists to come and get a true Gambian experience. Get yourselves booked up!
We had our first glimpse of The Gambian river. Lots of children went for a swim. Apparently there's no hippos or crocodiles in this part of the river but there are water snakes. Needless to say, I gave the swim a miss. Tempting as it was in the heat. I have to say I don't think I've ever sweated so much in my life. I have no idea what the temperature was but it was bloody hot! Still though, no one fails to remind me that it will be hotter still in Basse. I can't wait for that!
Lunchtime what interesting. Gambian's often eat their food from a shared food bowl. We were given about 25 food bowls between the 15 of us and encouraged to tuck in all together. As my hands were disgustingly grotty I chickened out of eating with my hands and used a
spoon.
We then had another meeting with the elders and yet more singing and dancing. The whole day was just amazing. The welcome we had was like nothing I've ever experienced before. It was like we were royalty. I got very snap happy with my camera. All the fabrics of their clothes are just stunning. I could have taken hundreds more. I've put some on here but there's plenty more on my facebook page.
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Mel
non-member comment
Language lessons
Sarah, love the story so far - especially the boy on the plane sitting randomly on your lap. Your photos are great, and it sounds like you are really busy. How are the language lessons going????