Favourite Gambian Recipes

Recipe for brewing Attaya

By Alhagie Njie EFA

In the afternoons in the Gambia it is a common sight to see a group of men sitting around enjoying, making and drinking this traditional tea

Alhagie frothing the brew

You will need:

Charcoal pot

Charcoal

Water

Small enamel tea pot

Small glasses

China Green tea (from the bitik)

Sugar

Clean the pot; add the water and the small box of Green tea.

Heat it to boiling on the charcoal pot; the leaves will turn in the water and then open out.

 Boil for 2 or 3 minutes.

Add a small glass of sugar and boil for a further minute.

Begin to mix by tipping the liquid from the pot, held high, into the small glass, to froth it. Tip the liquid back into the teapot and repeat for 5 minutes, adding small amounts of sugar to taste.

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The saying is that if you brew Attaya on your own, before you drink it someone will join you. The same goes for the 2^nd and 3^rd brews.

Matarr Baldeh with the first glass.

To keep the company with you, keep the mixing process going. People may leave you as soon as they have had their tea so use this strategy to hang on to their company a little longer.

Subsequent brews are made by adding more water to the leaves and re-boiling but adding far  less sugar on these occasions. The first two brews are usually served to me;, the first to the “big man” but there are women who like these strong brews too. The 3^rd brew is traditionally for women and the 4^th (when it is done) for children, because they don’t like to feel left out of this traditionally social occasion.

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Recipe for Fish Benechin

This is my favourite Gambian dish, especially when the fish is fresh as it often is along the coast south of greater Banjul area, at places like Tanji and Gunjur.

A delicious version was cooked for me by Jainaba and her mother Marie, with a little help from me.   Here is Jainaba’s recipe.

Ingredients

Onion                                                              White fish

Chili Pepper                                                     Rice (6 cups)

Black pepper                                                   Parsley (optional for stuffing)

Garlic                                                               Bay leaves                                          

Red tomatoes                                                  Oil (2 cups)

Cassava                                                           Salt to taste

Tomato paste                                                  Dry Fish (when available)

Aubergine                                                        Cabbage

Carrots                                                             Jumbo (traditionally used spice here in Gambia) optional

Jainaba, Head Chef

STEPS

1.      Clean fish and peel vegetables

2.      Prepare stuffing’s (pound parsley, chili, garlic salt, black pepper) , prick fish and stuff

3.      Wash pot and light the fire to heat the oil.

4.      Fry the fish on both sides until brown (the oil should be very hot in order to get the perfect colour)

5.      Whilst frying pound (using mortar &pestle) or Blend (using blender) the garlic, chili pepper, black pepper, onion and red tomatoes. Add the tomatoes paste.

sous chef

6.    Once the fish has been removed from the oil, add the pounded/blended stuff to hot oil and leave it to cook for 10 minutes.

7.      Add sufficient water to cook the rice, put in the fish, bay leaves, dry fish (if available) and vegetables (cabbage, aubergine, carrots, and cassava) and leave to cook for about 20mins.

8.      Clean and pre-cook rice in either a micro-waive or colander for about 8-10mins

9.      Remove all the vegetables and fish in a bowl or plate

10.  Then add the rice to the boiling pot to cook.

Marie with the finished dish

11.  Serve the dish in a large central bowl by putting the rice on first and then adding all the other ingredients together in the middle on the top.

12.  Everyone shares this food bowl by sitting around and helping themselves with either the fingers of their right hand or a spoon. Anyone lucky enough to have a sizeable piece of fish or carrot within their “portion” simply splits it and shares it out.

Farewell to Medina Sancha School

We set out at 7.30a.m. just as a downpour started. We had been hoping that the rains would hold off for a few more days, as access to Medina Sancha is by the South Road which is still sand for a considerable stretch. Our fears were groundless as it turned out because the rain, although heavy, did not last long and actually helped firm up the road surface.

Medina Sancha village lies at the end of a single sandy track, south of Kiaf, almost at the southern Gambian border with Senegal.  The drive took almost 4 hours and as we swerved and bumped along we could eventually make out, along the horizon, a line of huts to the right and school buildings to the left. Lamin was first to notice the straggling green line in front of the school. “The children have come out to greet you” he said.  He was right.

This was a sight I shall never forget.

The youngest children at the end of the welcome line

As we got out of the car, the children started singing and clapping a welcome.  Alieu Bouy, the young headmaster, strode forward to welcome us, his big smile splitting his face. The tiredness of his heavy workload showed on his face but his passion for the school, as always, lit up his eyes.

We walked along the “welcome” line, talking with bemused children who had not yet mastered English; Lamin assumed the role of gift bearer and Sarah that of photographer.  At the end we met the Alkalo  (the head of the village),  the equivalent of the Chair of Governors, Ustas which the title given to the Islamic teacher and  finally the Mothers’ Club.

After this warm welcome we gathered in a natural weave external room, the ultimate in demountable classrooms. This was the ECD (Early Years) class, but instead of the tiniest bodies, it was filled to capacity with the largest: parents and villagers. At the front were a line of chairs that signaled this was going to be a far more formal occasion than I had anticipated.  

Ustas,Chairman, Alkalo, me, Alieu with children

There were three speeches:  Mr Bouy’s, Alkalo’s and mine, during which we exchanged gifts, handshakes and laughter. Mr Bouy had to act as translator too and he did very well until I praised him as a wonderful leader, ideal to take his young charges into the future. “I can’t say that”, he said. When I told him to do as he was told, the villagers got the message without need of translation, and responded with applause. They think the world of him! Quite right!

I was the first to receive a gift. Laughter quickly broke out again as Mr Bouy could not resist helping me undo the shiny parcel. Inside was a tie die dress and wrapper skirt which were just my colours, if not quite my size!

The most obvious things I presented in return were large plastic boxes, a lidded bucket and a woven plastic carpet. These are all things I bought for myself when I came out last September, the carpet brightened the sitting rooms of both my homes and the boxes have made useful rodent proof storage for food and clothes. Now that I am leaving it is time to pass them on. The boxes contained useful bits and pieces for the ECD class: a ream of paper, card, pencils, glue, felt pens, blu tack, sticky backed plastic etc. I had also made a long concertina book, telling the story of a child growing up in an African village.

My second gift was not new either, having been pre-loved as is the saying these days. It was the reconditioned laptop donated by a Head teacher friend when I holidayed at home in February.  Originally this was intended for another head teacher but these plans were thwarted by the generous gift of a brand new one from an English university.

Mr Bouy was absolutely thrilled with this surprise gift. His archaic model became unusable some months ago and this more powerful, compact one will make his life so much easier. 
However there was another gift : a donation of 50,000 Dalasis.

A similar tank

This wonderful sum was raised through promises from friends back in the UK to support the water project for the school.  Thank you all so much. I do so hope you are as delighted as I am with the outcome. This will have an enormous impact in this extremely poor district, improving both pupil welfare and education.

Although not finished yet much progress has been made and the bore hole has been dug, inside the school perimeter fence, going down nearly 80 feet.  The money raised by us will erect a tall tower with a tank on the top, so that pupils can draw the water off by tap. This is quick, supporting hygienic practices and is also so much safer than a well. 
My intention had been to leave something here in memory of my late husband Keith. This project seemed ideal as all throughout our long marriage Keith’s hobby was plumbing  both in the house and outside in the garden..  Alieu Bouy knew all this and had a surprise in store for me.  

He led me over to the school fence and as I watched he planted a line of mango trees dedicated to Keith, on either side of the bore hole. In only two years they will provide the children with shade and delicious fruit, all thriving due to the new water supply.

Over these ten months I have often thought of how much Keith would have wanted me to stay safely tucked up at home. In fact his wonderful brothers: Les and Rob have often reminded me of what his views would have been.  

But I know they will understand now.  







People like Alieu and the community at Medina Sancha deserve our help. They are truly remarkable, determinedly overcoming the odds to improve the lives and futures of children.

Action Aid Adventure

At Kadijatou’s invitation I joined her organization’s work to support training at Albreda /Juffereh on the North Bank of the River Gambia.  Juffureh, an ex-slave trade port, is situated adjacent to a small island in the middle of a wide point in the river. In the past, this island made a convenient holding location for slaves until ships could take them off. Juffureh life is now centred on agriculture and tourism.

On Thursday we heeded advice to avoid the Banjul-Barra crossing which had once again been reduced to one ferry, meaning long, hot and uncertain delays. So we headed off along the indirect route: eastward along the south road to the mid-country ferry crossing at Farafenni , and then the north road back westward towards Juffureh.

This meant that our excursion became a journey down memory lane for me.  By memory lane, of course I mean the red sandy soil landscape and often  red sandy road surface too. The few downpours we have had are not yet sufficient for green to become the dominant colour but it won’t be long now.

We even stopped to eat lunch in Soma, where I originally lived for a while.  But the journey in a 4x4 Toyota was a world away from my geli-geli trips. The Action Aid vehicle was fast, comfortable and spacious with air conditioning and an excellent driver, Massay. Wonderful!

Sadly our unexpected diversion via Soma left no time to make calls on ex-colleagues and friends, so we pressed on, stopping only for lunch and to buy 21 fresh mangoes for 50D (just over £1). Our route change gamble paid off, helped by catching the arriving ferry at Farafenni;  just over  6 hours after we left Kanifing, we arrived  at the Kunte Kinte Guest House at 7.30p.m. Gambian Tourism businesses are rare and sadly this one had obviously seen better times but we were able to make the best of it and settle in to our individual round huts.

Later in the evening in the guest house bantaba, we met with the two cluster monitors, KK and Seho, who had requested support with the training. Over hot tea we planned the schedule for the next two days  aimed at supporting community participation in education for 20 delegates: four each from five schools. We set a task to make clear each school’s score card. This is a new country wide initiative to encourage greater community involvement in local schools. The A4 size score cards give a range of information about standards in the school, district and region.

We stopped work and went to bed at 10.30 p.m. I had forgotten how much hotter and airless it is up-country – especially as the guest house generator went off at 11 p.m. This meant a night with no fan and no light!

Breakfast on Friday was bread with raw onion and a shrimp (prawn) omlette.  

The training, in the bantaba of another nearby guest house, started only a little late, immediately half the delegates had arrived.  It pays not to be too pedantic with time in Gambia; people’s lives are fraught with difficulties, as a result of underlying poverty. On this occasion it meant most people walking for many miles and well over an hour to get to us. Gradually, with the training underway, latecomers arrived without embarrassment and greeted each of us in turn, as is the tradition, before taking a seat. The concrete bench seats were set within the open circular walls of the bantaba, as four curved arcs.

Automatically women grouped together on one side and men on the other.  All the three teachers with us were young men. Their help was invaluable as with only one exception, the others were illiterate. Because of low literacy rates, registration at the training was by thumb print and all the score card information is given pictorially.  The intention of our training was to explain these symbols so they could be remembered and used, enabling each delegate to transfer this new knowledge to their own school, understanding strengths and weaknesses. Presentations by delegates on planned action, making changes to improve matters at each school brought the training to a conclusion on Saturday afternoon.

We had no flipchart stand but Seho improvised with one plastic table on its side on top of another, using  my blutak to hold up sheets of paper. He also used the roof supports as display spaces when needed.

Increasingly, throughout the two days, Seho and KK became more skillful in making their training truly participatory, endorsing the overall purpose.  Delegates also became involved and confident; making contributions and presentations. In many cases their joy at “reading” symbols was as tangible as the realization that they had suggestions for solutions to problems too.

This made the training a success for KK and Seho and a pleasure for Kadijatou and me: a small endorsement of  VSO plans for greater integration with other NGOs in future.

Ensuring everyone was well fed on both days was important. A breakfast of sardine and raw onion tapalapa sandwiches was served at 10 30a.m. arriving in the traditional way: a large dish balanced on the head of the delivery woman.  A bucket of sweet tea came too. This was scooped out in plastic mugs and distributed.

Both days ended with shared food bowls of sauce on rice. On Friday Kadijatou and I enjoyed chicken benechin with everyone but on Saturday , we elected to make a quick exit to give us a better chance on the Barra to Banjul ferry. We were in luck and our entire trip home, despite over an hour on the river, took only 3 hours.

An extra and unexpected lovely memory to bank, just before I leave.

Preparing to Leave

It is June, the month I can say I shall be returning home; even if my plane will be taking off literally at the 11^th hour of the last day of the month. I marked the turn of the calendar by giving thoughts to packing up. As is customary I will distribute or throw away things I brought or bought when I first came out last September.

It feels akin to drawing up a list of bequests.

In the main my clothes have survived well, considering the harsh conditions – especially the floor scrubbing brush that Awa uses to clean them and the Soma practice of drying them on bushes. Never-the-less I will discard many, with Awa’s help. They will either be passed on for extra wear or relegated to cleaning cloths. As the mother figure to an extended family, Awa will also put my linen to good use.

 

Awa, ready to go home and changed out of her work  clothes
 

My two pairs of leather sandals have been ideal African foot soldiers and have much life left in them still, thanks to the excellent repairs undertaken here. These valiant soles (sorry!) will be coming home with me.

Spare medicines and my unused first aid kit will go to a VSO friend who is an under-resourced A & E doctor at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital in Banjul.

After Lilli’s relocation from Basse and her marriage to Kebba, she says she will make good use of all the kitchen equipment in their flat in nearby Kotu.

It is highly likely that Sarah too will be moving down to Kombos from Basse. She has applied for a second year, to continue her very successful Early Years work. No doubt it would make her life easier to inherit some of my things, rather than transport a load from up country.

Other possessions will be leaving gifts to neighbours, work colleagues and friends.

Although I am making these plans now, I will not enact them until the last two days; Friday 29^th, my last day at work and Saturday 30^th. The reason is that nothing is a luxury; none of it can be spared while I am still here.

So on my last Saturday, 30^th , tea and biscuits will be on offer throughout the day at the Pink Palace with the guarantee that no visitor will leave empty handed!

The Pink Palace: sadly my part is the lower floor, behind the formidable wall.  

 

I have always tried to maintain a positive view of life throughout my time here and to reflect this in these blogs, either ignoring or making light of the inevitable challenging side. However, I will never again take for granted feelings of personal safety and the social systems that promote order, care and opportunities for the individual.

The challenges do ensure that every VSO volunteer leaves the Gambia the better, having discovered new personal strengths and abilities, as well as an appreciation for what is truly valuable.

All that sounds rather stuffy so here are some other thoughts:

I have been sustained by:

1.     Samsung notebook (Thanks Dom)

2.     Contact with home : Emails (Thanks to so many wonderful folk), Skyping (thanks Greg /Sarah and Agnes), letters (thanks Mum), Parcels from home (thanks Mum, Janet and Chris).

3.     Gambian friendships both in Soma and Kanifing

4.     VSO friends, their humour and the unstinting support network they provide.

5.     Radio (especially marvelous Radio 4),

6.     Books (I’ve never read so much in so little time– sadly mostly by torch or candle light, necessitating a visit to the optician a.s.a.p.)

7.     Pink bucket (just wide enough for my long feet!)

8.      PG Tips

9.   Work.  Practices at work are very different to those I’m used to but progress still brings huge satisfaction

I am looking forward to:

1.     Getting picked up at Heathrow

2.     Meeting up with so many people I love and miss.

3.     Hearing “Hello Gran”.

4.     Walks: countryside, beaches, cities, Hadrian’s Wall (part of)

5.     English weather (the novelty will probably soon wear off)

6.  British culture – all levels from pubs to theatres/ galleries but especially Village Hall events and The Rex

7.     Resuming hobbies (especially U3A, cooking, sewing and gardening)

8.     The Olympics, mostly on TV but the Marathon “in the flesh”.

9.     Ordinary life – which I will never view as quite so ordinary in future.

 As Andrew Marr says “It is an incredible piece of good fortune to be born British”.  I would also add “and a privilege to live in Britain”.

The above list notwithstanding, it has also been a privilege and piece of good fortune to have worked here in Gambia for 10 months, especially as my placement brought both up country and urban experiences. 

A few of my neighbours here in Kanifing

 I would say to anyone with the chance to do something similar “Do it”. Just make sure you have the back up in place to sustain you while you are here and to return to when it is all over.

Life will never be quite the same!

Siphonophores, Bumsters, Bras and Deluges

The past few weeks have brought varied experiences.

The first I will tell you about happened the weekend before last. A group of us decided to spend the best part of Saturday at The Scene; a beautiful self-catering beach location with glorious pool. Most wonderful of all is that we had exclusive use of all facilities as the holiday season is over.  During the afternoon four of us took a long beach walk along the water’s edge, just as the tide was receding.  Suddenly the others pointed at my feet and began shrieking. This made me hop about without really understanding what the fuss was about. Luckily my jig resulted in me avoiding the danger………………… a Portuguese man-of-war.

The first thing to say is that it is very beautiful; the second thing is that it is very venomous and the third thing is that it is not a jellyfish! It is a siphonophore, an animal made up of a colony of organisms working together. Once we got over the shock, we noticed that there were a number along the seaweed line.  We admired each in turn and made our way onward more carefully.

After a while we were approached by a local beach worker. Many of these can be very helpful and polite but there are also considerable numbers who are extraordinarily pushy and who do not readily accept no for an answer. These are called Bumsters.  All levels of hospitality are on offer.
Today’s encounter was with one of the most tenacious of these! After so many months of living here we usually take such approaches in our stride and shake them off without a second thought. Sadly the last of the tourists has flown, leaving our would-be host with no other potential customers but us.  Eventually we had to resort to an extremely angry response to shake him off.  While we all understand that a developing country provides too few ways to earn a living, the experience was most unpleasant and we returned feeling we had encountered two troublesome characters on the beach!

A few days later we had the first of the downpours, complete with spectacular thunder and lightning. It is not yet the rainy season but this was nature’s shot across the bows to let us know that it is on its way.  The temperatures, humidity and mosquito count are all on the rise too, necessitating an increase in the amount of salt/sugar solution we drink to avoid dehydration.

Just lately too we have had to endure sudden long bouts without electricity. Usually it is the electric fan (or office air conditioning) that is missed more than the light but of course modern life without computers is very challenging and so power cuts are upsetting because of their loss, most of all. My laptop has a wonderful battery that keeps going usually sufficiently long to get me through but recently the laptop itself broke down for a whole week. For a while, when I thought it was beyond repair, I felt absolutely desolate…………………………But as you can see, I found a company who could get it working again – almost perfectly but with a few added foibles. As it forgives me mine, I accept these gladly, happy to be reunited with my personal post office, newspaper, radio, photograph album, video-phone, work station and cinema.

Last Thursday morning a friend  from the neighbouring GTU offices invited me to go AWOL for a few hours  on a gely trip into Banjul to an Aladdin’s cave of a fabric shop.  My purchase was quite subdued given all that was on offer and it was easy to see why Gambian woman wear such extraordinary clothes: often coming to work looking like red carpet evening guests. While we were at the market my friend took the opportunity to shop for underwear. Although a professional woman she finds new bras too expensive and so we visited a “good as new” stall. From habit I asked about size and began inspecting labels. She did not know her size and chose by inspection of stretchiness, hooks in good order and judgment made by ramming her fist into the cups.

Finally I want to tell you of much success with a project we started back in February. EFA had received a large package some moths before, containing details of this year’s Global Action Week to take place in late April. The focus was Early Years Education. My first task was to strip back the enormous amount of text to a few paragraphs (Whatever else Africa is short of, verbiage is rarely one!) Such campaigns traditionally involve gatherings, speeches and food. A generous budget enabled these arrangements to be made without trouble. However the added difficulty this year was that we also had to involve Children’s art work, without a budget.

We decided on the relatively inexpensive idea of using  children’s school art for regional displays during Global Action Week and re-using it to make a greetings card or book advocating for more investment in Early Years Education. So after the GAW festivities we needed the artwork to be sent to us.

The deadline was last week and I want you to know that a deluge has arrived from up and down the country. The response is thrilling!  All week deliveries  were made by people bringing envelopes, bags, packets and rolls the many miles to the office by gely-gely , motor bike or on foot, as well as a few by car. The contributions are almost all in coloured pencil or wax crayon and many are tracings. The quality and condition of the paper varies hugely. Funding and resources are scarce of course and few schools have the means to give truly creative opportunities. The deluge of pictures has taken me back to my days teaching in Early Years where effective cutting, combining and bordering can create an attractive and unique effect. It will take me many days to put everything together with original photos donated by Child Fund and add text. The aim is to make a poster size card / book , for presentation to the First Lady on June 16^th, Africa Day of the Child.  I will take photos of every page and am hopeful that one of our partner organizations will post them on the Internet.  If you are reading this, Sarah Jeff, I want you to know how much I wish you were here!

Post Script : (added on 13th June) Here are the promised photos - at last I've got round to taking, uploading and learning how to post them!

The Greetings Card is quite large
as you can see here. Mariama,
on the right who helped
with its compilation is showing it
to FIOHcountry director, Kristina
and  Aminata, a member of her team.

The Front Cover

The Back Cover

The card is introduced by Momodou's Plea for greater equity in schooling across  income groups.
The next page details the contents.
Pupil voice make the six demands for Early Years Education ; better resourcing, full policy implementation, integration for mild Special Educational Needs, Education access for those with severe disabilities, child centred curriculum and additional teacher training for Early Years.

  The Joy of Going to School

Learning in an Early Child Development Class

 Teaching and Learning Resources


 Disability is not Inability

The School Garden

 Lunch and Hygiene

Learning Through Play

Physical Exercise

 Community Support:

Participatory Performance
Monitoring      and
 
Mothers' Clubs

The training

Most training I have delivered up until now has been one-on-one which is time consuming and can be dry, lacking the energy of group collaboration. However, at last, after so many months of striving we have managed to run two consecutive days training for eight people at the same time, a thrilling advancement. 

Those attending were mostly head teachers or deputy heads. Of course it would have been better if we had had an even larger group; we did invite more but some could not come at the last minute. If we had been able to book the larger hall belonging to the organisation next door, we could have increased the numbers invited but sadly the hall was not free. Indeed it seems rarely free although in principle I am “most welcome”. On this occasion it was being used by the auditors. As there were only three of them, I feel some negotiation could have taken place but I have learned that if senior officials are involved, negotiation is not a usual option. Highly important folk wear their stripes proudly.

Luckily, although small, the EFA building has a meeting room and a small open reception office with three other offices coming off these two. More than this, staff of every rank share responsibilities with good humour.  This meant that we could, with a bit of effort, run our training in-house and “entertain at home”. Alhagie, the messenger, whose desk is in the reception area, happily gave up his space so that we could serve refreshments and lunch from his desk.  Mariama, Assistant Finance Officer, set everything out beautifully on cloths and trays.  Lunch orders were placed (and chased up) by Jainaba, Finance Officer. Matarr, the director, who prefers co-ordinator as a more modest title was an enthusiastic co planner and presenter.

With some modification to the layout in the meeting room we were ready to roll.

It is not uncommon practice here for training to comprise an extensive power point presentation, every word of which is read aloud as projected. Often, the presenter faces the screen rather than the audience. Matarr and I agreed that such an uninspiring style was not for us. The power point we wrote was not for projection but to keep us on task and provide a record for the file. We referenced our delivery to carefully handmade charts and posters displayed on the wall behind us, recognising that most people are visual learners. We also had hands-on materials for each delegate too.

On the first day, when we thought we had covered all eventualities and just before we began, THE POWER WENT OFF! We hardly missed a stride – this is far too common an occurrence!

Mariama and Alhagie miraculously produced flasks full of hot water for tea, I have no idea where from. My wonderful little Samsung laptop’s overnight charge, could be relied upon to last the day if need be.  Only the air con had to be done without; not easy because the temperatures are building noticeably now.

It was only the inevitable late arrivals that caused us to start rather later than planned but so little, it could be regarded as Gambianly punctual and as is traditional in an Islamic country we opened with prayers. Ostensibly these are to seek blessings for the day ahead but I also took the opportunity to count the blessings already received, not least EFA colleagues here and Dom, who set up my laptop back in the UK.

Our workshop was to trial paperwork designed to support effective school management processes. It doesn’t sound the snappiest of themes I grant you, but the enthusiasm was tangible and everyone worked hard and with humour throughout.  At one point I noticed that one of the men was squinting to read the papers that were almost touching his nose. Luckily I had my spare specs in my bag. No-one commented on how he looked in my rose pink glasses with lace decoration on the arms!  

The end of training feedback on both the main purpose and also our hospitality was resoundingly positive and so Matarr can go ahead with plans to present a report at the national education meeting in mid May, only nine days away. Next week will be busy!

As well as the report to write and the power point to produce, there will also be follow up work with the attending heads in their own schools. I also expect a “training re-run” request from those who could not come.  This will have to be later and at one of their schools in order to keep costs down. Despite much effort our in-house training was not cheap; there are a variety of expectations and costs that must be met notwithstanding a nil budget!

There are other activities and initiatives in hand that will ensure very full two months ahead. This is a personal deadline as my plane home takes off eight weeks today.

In Praise of Taxi drivers

The Gambian tourist season here is now largely over: the most popular time for visiting The Gambia is between mid November and the end of April. Then the temperatures and humidity levels are kinder and it is outside the rainy season.

This is the time of year when taxi drivers prepare for the leaner income months ahead.

Their services will still be needed but at the more usually modest seven-seven rate.  The difference between a seven-seven and a taxi is generally how much of a tourist the customer appears or chooses to behave.

The main artery from Fajara down to Westfield is the Kairaba Avenue. Here are the main larger shops and junctions off to Senegambia and Serrakunda. This road is always busy, teeming with traffic, much of which is coloured yellow and green: the taxis.

The drivers have a system of beeps to communicate with others. They beep to let pedestrians know they have space aboard; they beep when approaching a small junction to warn other vehicles, they beep to admonish and to greet. In short they beep almost continuously, adding to the cacophony of the traffic. (Perhaps this should be called car-cophony.)

Taxi drivers eyes light up when “toubabs” (fair skinned folk) hail them and they are hugely disappointed, sometimes even quite bad tempered, when we demand a seven-seven fare like the locals. This fare of 7 Dalasis will take one person any distance along a set route, rather like a bus journey. After an evening out, though, especially when coming home alone I always get taken all the way to my door, and I am happy to pay taxi rate which is negotiated before we set off. This is called a town trip and gives the passenger exclusive use of the taxi whereas a seven-seven ride allows 3 other fares to be picked up too. It is a very effective system for all.

But the taxis do so much more than simply carry people around town.

They are also the removal men and quite small taxis with roof bars can often be seen dwarfed by a three piece suite on the roof, or the boot hatch wedged open by a fridge in transit.

The other day on my way back from St Therese’s Upper Basic School, a taxi drove by with a dozen lengths of drainage pipe twice as long as the car itself balanced precariously on the roof. Cars in all directions stopped as the taxi with its cumbersome load turned, across the traffic at a busy junction. The arc of turn was impressive.

With very little notice taxis will take people on long distance runs up country or even for a few days away in neighbouring Senegal. The taxi driver becomes guide for the short holiday and many even manage without accommodation. Such long distance journeys are challenging because of the condition of many of the roads. The south bank road is still sand along a third of its length and will deteriorate rapidly in the fast approaching rains.

The taxis also serve as breakdown vehicles and most carry tow ropes in the boot for this inevitability.

But recently I have found another taxi function. As a consequence of becoming an unofficial guest house proprietor, thereby producing more waste than was expected, my landlord has given over the task of rubbish removal back to me. A waste collection system has not been fully established here so this presented me with quite a problem. I did not want to add to the growing abuse (or existing vulture colony) of the large area of undeveloped land at the rear of the Pink Palace and so had to find a solution. As you would have guessed by now this solution was a taxi driver – in fact he is the messenger at the office who operates a taxi as a second job in the evenings.

So once a week I get a lift home and my rubbish cleared away to the official site in nearby Bakau. Of course it gets a “town trip”.