A month has passed since I caught the plane home. The time has just sped by and I can’t quite believe I have already been back here in Kanifing for a week and a half. The UK holiday was much needed, as despite all my Gambian adventures I achingly miss friends and family while I am here. Meeting up with so many of them in February was wonderful, especially being there for the birth of my grandson, Alexander, on Valentine’s Day as well as big sister Lucy’s second birthday. As she grows I can tell the story of how I flew home from Africa to play with her so that Mummy and Daddy could go to the hospital for Alexander’s arrival!
I cannot recall how I have spent the bonus day, other leap years have brought but I know I will never forget February 29th 2012. It was the last day of my holiday and I was staying with Mum. The day began with tea in bed and during the morning Ted and I walked across the soft soil of the fields down to the beautiful old village church and the pretty churchyard and cemetery. We spent the afternoon chatting before a favourite dinner: salmon, salad and jacket potatoes. Then I enjoyed a soak in a deep warm bath.
These things are no longer “ordinary”!
Neither is the bakery section in Tesco’s. Out shopping one day, I caught Mum and Ted laughing at me as I stood transfixed by the incredible range of breads on offer.
Well, now I have returned to the Pink Palace, tapalapa bread, much higher temperatures and intermittent electricity. I have also rejoined the team at EFA, Education For All , working alongside GTU (Gambian Teachers’ Union) and FAWEGAM, a wonderful group campaigning for women’s rights. Last Friday night I was invited to join their party for a fund raising dinner at one of the Senegambia hotels. It was a very successful event with the president’s wife alone donating D100,000 towards a building project. I enjoyed the company, delicious food and range of music but have to admit to an inability to appreciate the Wolof comedian.
All the Gambian women looked spectacular, dressed in a myriad of colours; fabrics and impossibly high heeled shoes, shimmering with sequins and glass.
I wore brown – an English pheasant amongst birds of paradise!
