A year in The Gambia

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A year ago today I was on a plane on the way to The Gambia trying to persuade myself that everything was going to be fine; that I wasn’t mad for wanting to leave my family, friends and job behind to come and live in some unknown middle of nowhere for a pittance. Now in two days time I’ll be heading back home. To say it’s been an amazing year is a bit of an understatement. I had no real expectations when I came out here because it was too difficult to imagine. All I wanted was to vaguely like the place and not feel homesick all the time. The job has had its ups and downs but I’ve met some fantastic people that have made everything worthwhile.



I’m almost as scared to go home as I was to come here. Is it possible to be really excited about something but dreading it at the same time? The thought of dark mornings, long working days and endless paperwork is not very appealing. From the sounds of it Mr Sunshine has forgotten where the north east of England is this summer so after a year in his company he will definitely be missed. Seeing all my friends and family, getting to walk Stan the dog and moving back to lovely Durham won’t be so bad though will it?



So my first aim for this year was, obviously, to save the education system in the Gambia! That done (and I didn’t even have to use my pack of laminating sheets!) I could turn my attention to my other great aims: to get skinny and tanned! Getting skinny hasn’t worked at all. With a diet of carbs, carbs and more carbs washed down with a daily dose of half a litre of vegetable oil I am absolutely no thinner than when I got here, less so if anything. I hope I will avoid comments such as ‘who ate all the African pies? Sarah did’ but I might not be far off. My first job when I get home is to rejoin the gym. The super tan hasn’t quite worked either. It’s not quite the done think to lie about ones compound in you bikini and frankly it was far too hot to even contemplate it.



My other, secret objective (or my friends would probably say, not so secret) however was to hopefully find some nice chap to be the love of my life. Having failed in the last two objectives I seem to have achieved this one. One out of three ain’t bad. At the end of October I will be flying back to Gambia to marry my lovely Lamin. A little birdy had told me before I came out that VSO actually stood for Valentines Service Oversees. Thank you VSO! So I’m not saying goodbye to the smiling coast or to anyone here, just a see you soon. In only 8 weeks time I’ll be back, for only a short holiday, but the first of many I hope. Seen as how I’ve really enjoyed writing this blog maybe I won’t make this my last entry. Maybe I’ll save that for after the wedding. I hope there will be plenty to write about after that or at least some nice photos.

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Comments

[Geraldine Hogan]

Delighted to hear your news Sarah hope you post lots of photos. Laura is getting married July 2013 xxxxx