23.3.14 Sunday. Jamwelly

As it is Sunday we don't have to rush to arrive at the schools before they finish for the day, so we met Christine and Olivia just after 9 for a leisurely drive up to Jamwelly.  It is so much better now that the road is tarmac all the way to Soma, just before the ferry terminal.  The drive took 3 hours and then we jumped the queue into the priority lane for the big ferry.  Olivia has never been to Gambia before and she was fascinated with all the sights and sounds at the terminal.  There are sellers of everything you can think of, towels, shoes, hats, material, torches, even viagra!  One of the regular sellers is a man with a bicycle selling the local juju, to attract a crowd he has two pythons, one 3 metres long which he puts on the floor, and a small one about 2 metres which he drapes around his neck.  He plays music through a loudspeaker and puts the snakes head into his mouth.  Most Gambians are frightened of all snakes, and gather round in amazement at his 'brave feat' with this snake. He then sells them juju to protect them against snake bites, knives, and other dangers.  The python of course is harmless, but most people don't realise that.  Finally we crossed over to Farafenni and went to buy vegetables for our evening meal before stopping at one of the local cafes for coffee and a sandwich.  At last we set off on the final leg of the journey to Jamwelly and the nursery school, arriving around 2pm.  We were met at the school by Musa the caretaker and the little dog we had rescued which has grown to almost double in size over the last 3 weeks.  Tiger is now happy and healthy and made a big fuss of us all before settling back down.  We got our bedding arranged for the night and then sat down in the shade, it is much hotter than Kololi in this part of Gambia, so we sat and chatted and drank the last cold drinks we had brought, we will be on warm water now!  Channeh and Oumie came into school to see us, they were attending a naming ceremony in the next village, and wanted us to walk back over with them.  We decided to wait until 5pm when it would be cooler.  We set off for the short walk to the next village and joined in the celebration for a while with the villagers, each of us being introduced to the new baby.  Back at the school we sat and talked with Channeh, Oumie and Tunko, (teachers from the school) later Musa's daughter in law arrived with our dinner, and then it was a shower and an early night!