We climbed into the refurnished bus again to head for another school about an hour away. Two Gambian teachers were with us and I mentioned something about how hard Africa was hit by Ebola & AIDS and boy did that set off an interesting discussion!
Rog wrote about it:
"One of the local employees of MyFarm was pretty irritated by the fact that the western media portrays Africa in such a negative light. He says that the media makes it sound like the entire continent has Ebola, war, corruption, etc. In reality those problems exist in a few countries here, but not all. By comparison, when Russia attacked Ukraine it was not seen as war all over Europe. Corrupt leaders here encourage the media to portray Africa this way to bolster assistance from wealthy countries. And then they pocket the money!
The media lumps all of Africa into one bunch which is so very unfair. ". He vehement about how wrong that was. Both teachers felt Gambians are very caring people who take care of their own. Ebola, AIDS and malaria effect only a small percentage of Africans and tiny number in Gambia. Both teachers are involved in groups to help with enviromental issues as well.
Rog noted that it did seem that:
"Only in a place with a failing economy would you find people using things that most of us would not consider keeping. We are told that the only people here that have any extra money are those who earned it in Europe. It feels like hand to mouth survival for most…and they do get the food they need from their gardens and the sea."
Gambians we've talked to would agree with this.
After crawling out of the firetruck, we saw hundreds of kids who were being herded back to their classrooms by a man with a long stick. We quickly set up our activities (similar to last week) and soon every spot available spot had a kid there. Three of the teachers joined us at the activity table. All three had babies either on their laps, on their backs and/or nursing them. They said their babies come to school with them everyday! A groups of kids were selected to stir up a cake which they put in the solar oven. Later they ate it and we got some too. It tasted like a warm, soft sugar cookie. Mmmmm! About 2:30, we met with the principal who asked us about our experience. He was very happy we provided this opportunity as they get so little in their classrooms with few text books & 45 kids (and teachers who have their babies with them).
We were exhausted when we got back about 4pm. Sally, our cook had saved us lunch (dried fish & rice) which Rog ate and I stirred up some egg salad.
We rested, showered & tada…Rog found some corn to pop in a cupboard & since Karl's folks had sent home 3 extra Diet Cokes for me…I was in heaven!
Final interesting tidbit from Rog:
The shape of Gambia is very unique. We were told that the British wanted to control the river because of the valuable slave trade that was happening here. They set the boundary of the country by sailing up the Gambia River and fired a cannon away from the river. Wherever the cannon ball landed determined the boundary line. It is easy to see that this must be true when you look at the shape and compare it to the river.
