We were up and organised this morning with the truck as we
were travelling up country to Jamwelly today.
Doug, a new contact from our local bar, who spends 10 weeks here each year, wanted to come and
help with the building work, and so he arrived around 8.45am and we all piled into the truck and were away by 9.30am. The
travelling today was mostly uneventful, the road is almost finished now, and
the Senegalese are not coming through the crossing point at Soma, so the queue
was relatively small. We waited about
half an hour and then crossed to Farafenni where we stopped for our usual
omelette sandwich and coffee, did some shopping and then drove on to Jamwelly,
arriving around 4pm. The builders have almost finished the
plastering, so Doug was straight in to the temporary classrooms to see their
handiwork and to help finish the job. We
got the beds set up for the night and met with Channeh the head teacher to
discuss the progress in the school. The builders finished for the day and we all sat around waiting for dinner which was being
cooked for us by the school cook and two of the teachers. The chicken, which had been running around an
hour ago, was prepared and the dinner arrived around 8.30pm, by which time everyone. including the builders had
showered. The 6 builders are sharing one
of the classrooms and so Steve and I were in another, Sheila and Fiona in the
third and Doug in the office.
The British contingent retired about 10pm, Steve, tired from
the driving, was straight to sleep as was I, but the others were kept awake by
the builders who like most Gambians retire late, sitting round a fire, talking, laughing and
drinking local tea until the early hours.
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