Im still alive!
Trip Start
Jul 14, 2007
1
2
Trip End
Aug 04, 2007
Sanyang,
Gambia
Monday, August 6, 2007
There are 19 of us adventure-minded individuals who have arrived at the same time in the Gambia to spend 3 weeks building and carrying out FOCUS training course for the youth here. All together we are motley crew from corners of Canada including Myself from Kimberley and another girl from Victoria. We make up the BC portion of the group. As well there are 9 youth and leaders from Scotia and 8 members from the Yukon.
Our entrance to The Gambia was memorable for the fact that our plane landed in what appeared to be a lake. "Oh yes, the rainy season lasts from May until November so it wont be so hot" I remember boasting to people before I left. Did I take into account what this meant? Nope! The rain that greeted us into the country obscured the ridiculously disproportionate length of the runway which I'm told was built by NASA to provide an emergency landing site for their space shuttles should one ever be needed. The Gambia has only a few paved roads, but it does have a role in international space exploration activities; just one of the many entertaining contradictions I have come across so far.
When we arrived here we were greeted with the fact that money defiantly speaks in country's like this. our original site is now a eliminate mine so we were shuffled down a few hundred meters. to add insult to injury the national bank here has never heard of a bank draft, so our $20 000 for building supply's was floating around somewhere without us. eventually we got our money, about a week before the trip is to end. so were all in overdrive now!
The camp is amazing, right on the beach. we have succeeded in putting up the walls to the first building and the roof will go up in a few days. also we have started putting up the fence and it should be finished in a few days. the bathroom and showers have the foundations made and we just have to make a few hundred bricks....by hand to finish off that project.
one very important thing we have learned is that "Canadians have watches but Gambians have time" I am in a new time zone, GMT or Gambia Maybe Time. if you are told to be somewhere at noon, finish your lunch and be there by 2ish and you will be early. unfortunately the counters in the Internet cafes arnt like that and i have to finish up. I just want to say thanks to everyone who helped me out with this journey, I am having an amazing time
