Blogs from Western Division, Gambia, Africa - page 2

Winter sun these days tends to rank higher and higher on a tourist's wishlist, and the option of spending Christmas Day on a beach in the Gambia almost seemed like the greatest christmas present that was never intended for unwrapping. The long-established Senegambia Beach hotel, which lent its name to the Senegambia entertainment strip leading off from the hotel, is one of the country's prime properties, and its beachfront location suggests why its popularity in the context of the entire country will always have the stamp of permanence. This was the most authentically African country visited to date, and sufficient evidence to suggest that the country, in land mass terms 'a finger in the mouth of Senegal', literally thrives off its income generated from tourism. Excursions are adequate, at least for a week-long visit, and the ... read more

One day I was hanging out at my friend Iris’s compound and a pathetic looking little street cat wondered in, looking for food and love. He was tiny, probably not more than 3 weeks old, scruffy, and terribly bug infested. I wanted to take him home and rehabilitate him, give him a bath and some food, and so I did. He hid under my kitchen counter for quite a long time. After my friends and I pulled him out we gave him a bit of a bath, it needed to be done or he would be horribly ill from all of the bugs he had. What we found under his puff of orange hair was nothing more than a few bones held together by some skin. He collapsed after we washed him, but was then brought ... read more

I live in the Tower of Babble. With multiple different local languages, mixed with some form of English, and a bit of French, it is a sure fire way to get lost in a sea of translation confusion. As Bill Murray and Scarlet Johnason were, I too am lost in translation. Take last week for example. I went to Sukuta (a village about half on hour from where I live) to visit friends. Most of them speak Mandinka (which I know only greetings and basic phrases in), Wolof (which I am SEMI proficient in), and “Gambian English”. When white, non-local speakers come into the mix, it can get a little messy. While trying to speak Wolof to the Mandinkas, the Mandinka speakers are trying to make me speak their language, and firing off what I am ... read more

I am seriously hungry right now, and have been for the past week. It’s a pretty viable assumption that I probably have a tropical parasite in my tummy eating all my food and giving me the runs. My friend had this problem while living in Mexico, and the local solution for her was to not eat for 2 days, to starve the little critters, and then drink vodka, to get them drunk and confused and kill them. It worked for her, so if my problem persists I’ll give it a go. In homage to my hunger, I would like to share all about Gambian food with you (partially because I want some, partially because it’s good). For breakfast people eat a multitude of things. The local bread here is called Tapalapa (which I’m pretty sure has ... read more

Some of you may know already that I have taken up teaching English for grade 5 at a primary school here. If you didn’t know that, now you do. It’s a pretty interesting experience. I thought this portion of my life would come much later. I also thought that me wearing gaudy gold jewelry to look hot would come later in my life as well…but I’m living in West Africa, and the time for both is now. There are 3 5th grade classrooms, with about 50 kids in each. They are with the same teacher for all subjects all day. They have break at 11:30, which consists of them throwing sand at each other in the open area, running up trees, and buying food/cigarettes for the teachers. They come back from break around 12, and break ... read more