A Long Overdue Allusion To Work

  Banjul, Gambia
Monday, May 14, 2007

My placement had a very slow start and for a while I wondered if my office had only requested a volunteer to have an extra person to contribute to the daily breakfast debate over the newspaper. There seemed little for me to get my teeth into and I spent most of my time getting to know my colleagues. I found this new work ethic very difficult to get used to.

Communication and forward planning were the main barriers I had in my office. . My lowest point came when I came back to work after having been off the previous Friday. Monday morning I saunter off to my office, only to discover it has moved. "That's odd" I think to myself as I wait outside for the gate to be unlocked, "I'm not normally the first one here". Ten minutes later, my confusion is compounded by observing through the window that all the office furniture is similarly absent. Remembering vague allusions to a possible relocation sometime in the future, the penny drops and I deduce the truth: my office decided on Friday to move on Saturday.

March led by National Army Band

This is no small task and I later ascertain the abruptness of the move is linked to the non-payment of rent, and an (unfounded) reliance on the indulgence of the landlord, but for now, they've moved and forgotten to tell me. Unable to raise any of them on the phone, I am reduced to wandering aimlessly about the streets, peering in windows and calling out "CPA? Anyone seen CPA?" in a pitiful but hopeful small voice, much as you would do for a lost cat. Eventually I run into other bewildered colleagues doing the same and together we manage to track down our new workplace.

Since then things have improved a million percent and I'm now involved in a range of CPA activities.

Bantaba March

Once a quarter, CPA organise a Children's Bantaba - a one day open forum run by and for children on issues that affect their welfare. Each Bantaba has a theme, previous themes have included child labour, or trafficking of children, this time it was to be the culture of silence that surrounds child sexual abuse.

Very pretty band

My highlight of the day was the opening street march. More than 100 proud children strutted their way for two miles along the streets, waving banners and distributing leaflets, whilst being led by the Gambian National Army Brass Band. Getting a bit distracted by the men in uniform I had to keep being shooed back to march with the children rather than the officers. At one point I found myself absent-mindedly chanting "Go Child Abuse...um hang on, that can't be right"

Child sexual abuse is a very real issue in The Gambia - the situation is exacerbated by the tourist industry which encourages prostitution of children but it is far from being just a tourist issue. Levels of poverty make it easy to exploit children whose families may support their kids having a 'patron' if it is going to enable them to pay for school, or contribute to the family income.

Child Participation is core to CPA activities

Combined with cultural notions of honour and the accepted practice of marrying off girls early (often to older, rich men) before they reach an age where they could risk fall pregnant out of wedlock, sexual exploitation of children is far from uncommon.

Another related tradition is that of FGM (female genital mutilation) practised by all bar 1 of the tribes in The Gambia. Each village will usually have a female circumciser who is responsible for ensuring the girls of the community receive the custom which can have devastating effects on their health, sexual and reproductive rights. Today in the newspaper was a declaration by a group of several female circumcisers who after working with GAMCOTRAP, a partner of CAP, have taken an oath to "Drop The Knife", denounce FGM and instead promote the rights of women and children in The Gambia. There is a long way to go in abolishing FGM, but this is a very important first step in the right direction.

toubab forced to dance in technical hitch break

Some of the issues CPA work on are quite difficult to deal with (like FGM) are quite difficult to deal with, but I'm happy to be working for an organisation that's trying to tackle them.