Mr Sallah, the head at Nemasu had arranged a Jolly Phonics trainer to come in today and train both Naata and Nemasu staff. Mike is going off shopping for
supplies for the next 2 weeks when he and Faith will be ‘up country’ Faith wanted to attend the course, so Steve, Kebba, Faith
and I piled into the truck along with all the tools for Naata, and set off for
a 9am start at Nemasu. A Gambian 9am start, we arrived at 9.15am and some of the teachers were still missing! They turned up before 10am. Faith
attended the course whilst Steve, Kebba and I went off to Naata, buying cement
on the way. Everything has gone up this
year, cement, the majority of which is imported, has risen from 215 to 250
dalasis per bag. Anything coming from
outside the country (which is most things) has risen by at least one third this
year. Ibraima, the caretaker at Naata
and Sanaba were waiting for us and the three of them unloaded the truck and
then started mixing the cement required to make the blocks to make the new seating area behind the school. The wheelbarrow bought on Thursday was
declared unfit for purpose, too flimsy, so Steve and I set off to take it back. We went via Denton
Bridge as Steve wanted some peanut
shells to make compost in the garden. On
reaching the peanut shell area it was obvious that the plastic sacks piled up
had degraded in the summer as they were all split and spilling out. So 3 of the
peanut ladies, Steve and I spent an hour filling new sacks mostly with our
hands, dirty work! We loaded the truck
and set off to change the wheelbarrow, the shop keeper was very nice about it
and found a stronger one from a colleague, but again the price has risen. Next week the container is due, and so now we
start the run around with the paperwork required. The customs declaration is now done online by
the shipping company, but they cannot do it without the shipping manifest,
which is now due today. We then have to
apply for a duty waiver, but cannot do that without the shipping documents and
the customs declaration. As we are away
on Monday, Ousman has offered to go to the shipping company for us, and then on
to the Ministry for the duty waiver. To
do this he needs papers from me showing the container number and the list of
goods aboard. We had arranged to meet
him at his college which he attends on Saturday mornings. We got to the college and rang him, only to
find that it was break time and they had gone to the book shop to buy
books. Nothing is ever simple here, we
set off to the bookstore and found him and handed over the paperwork
required. Then back to Naata with the
wheelbarrow, then off to Nemasu to collect Faith. The training was due to finish at 2pm, but true to form they were just having a
break for prayers and then going to start again. Faith decided to come back with us anyway and
have a rest at the house this afternoon, as she had a tummy upset, probably
brought on by breakfast at the school.
We are going to wait to see how she is before travelling tomorrow. A light tea at Timeless, Faith felling
better, but we will give it until 8 in the morning before we pack the truck for
travelling.
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