First day in Farato

Daily Newsletter
from Yalding Nursery & Basic Cycle School, Farato,
The Gambia

Day 1 - Tuesday, 25th March

Smooth journey and flight with amazing views over the desert and Atlas mountains - such swirls of sandy colours set against dark relief of snow capped mountains.  We are travelling with George, a graduate from Sheffield University who has been working on GamBLE’s Income Planning Group for the last six months.  It is his first visit to The Gambia, although he worked as a student in a school in South Africa.  He has volunteered to spend 10 days in Farato with his camera, making an album of pictures to show school life, village activities and individual stories.

We were met at the airport by Modou Lamin, our trained Bursar and Moses, our Head Teacher plus, of course, Abdouli, our regular driver for 11 years.  But the greatest welcome came from the pupils of the Upper Basic School who had assembled at the gates with placards stating “Welcome George!”  We walked down the line of the welcoming party rather like dignitaries but with the added touch of warm smiles and hugs for Tony and I.  We sat to listen to a beautiful speech from the Head Girl, Ameniata.  Baba, the Grade 6 teacher also spoke of the strong relationship between Yalding School and the work of GamBLE and how much everyone benefitted from the education and new ideas that GamBLE continued to bring to the teachers and pupils.  It was very moving (embarrassing, actually) for Tony and I but a wonderful and humbling surprise for George, who made a short but excellent response.  Then we took him to Tonka Kunda (our house) through the verdant garden - a joy to see okra, aubergine and sorrel maturing, after the struggles of the last year to try to grow vegetables to sell for school funds.

A Grade 8 pupil prepares the ground for vegetables - this is the beautiful okra plant with a tiny bud of okra on the left of the flower.  Ready for eating in a day or 2!

It was very dusty in the house and all the shutters were closed as our Peace Corps volunteer, Alassan, who has been living there since January, is away on trek.  So we began by opening them to let in the light and air.  The next thing that happened to me was like a slow motion action movie:  the entire window frame came away from the wall and seemed to enwrap me from head to shoulders.  I could only respond by shouting “Help!”

Although it was a shock, my only injury was a cut or two on my wrist and I recovered immediately.  We are now left with just the open window and metal bars - no screen, but apart from extra dust and dead bougainvillaea flowers blowing in, it is not too much of a problem!
Then we swept and tidied, sorted out our provisions, unpacked the school materials we had brought and then walked through the village to find rice, fruit, peanuts and margarine.  So many people greeted us along the way, mostly by name and we stopped to chat and pass the time of day. and to introduce George.  By the time it was 7 pm and getting dark, we were ready for a beer and supper.  I cooked local spaghetti and covered it with some pesto sauce that I had brought from UK, sprinkled with dried cheddar shavings that we bought in UK.  Beer was warm because we had no time to buy ice.

Day 2 - Wednesday, 26th March
Call to prayer was half an hour late but we were all awake by 4 am anyway because we had gone to sleep at 8.30 last night.  Breakfast on the verandah of the usual tapalapa (fresh french bread), local margarine and our own marmite, plus the bananas that Moses had saved for us from the school garden, covered with Tony’s UK yogurt.  George was escorted by Abibatou, the Deputy Head, to be introduced to the assembled school.  I then took him round the classrooms to be introduced to all the pupils and teachers.  He soon settled into the role of photographer which involves chatting to people and getting to know everyone.  That involved the typically Gambian pastime of sitting under a mango tree, drinking green tea (atayah) and passing the time of day with Kebba, the caretaker and Modou Lamin who cannot get on with his office work if there is no electricity.
Tony and I met with Moses to catch up on what has been happening in the 6 weeks that we have been in UK and there was a healthy balance of achievements with challenges.  Kemo is definitely trying to manage the UBS (Upper Basic School) more efficiently and effectively and the peer monitoring of teachers is proceeding according to the format and programme with the teachers responding well to helping maintain and even, increase learning standards.

………..to be continued