Monday 24 January

A visit to the Standard Chartered Bank today to negotiate cashing travellers chqs & find they are charging a whopping 500 Dalanis. That is way too much, try the next bank and their charge is only 200 Dalanis. Yeah, I have a win. Calculate the least amount to cash to get me out of the country tomorrow, and then head off for a yummy lunch of Tiébou Dienn ( say cheb -oo-jen) in a baguette – better known to you as black eye beans followed by a green orange & tea – all from different sellers When I bought my orange the seller wanted 50 cfas & his friend said I should pay 1000cfas! I asked why and he pointed to my white skin. I said that he was being racist, but he didn’t seem to think so! We laughingly agreed to disagree & I paid 50cfas. Now the oranges may be green but they are actually very ripe. But what was fascinating was why they are sold peeled of their rind & not the pith – a very fine art, leaving the white oranges atop a nest of green peelings. Today I worked it out (because every time I asked I was answered with a smile and an offer to buy). These are very tough fleshed oranges, but when they are peeled, it is soft to squeeze & allows you to suck the juice out from the nick at the top, leaving the tough flesh behind. Brilliant!

Yamundow picks me up & takes me to Guide Headquarters – only up the road from where I’d been a few days earlier looking at the YMCA. The photos show the Leaders uniforms are tie dyed – very groovy. I am introduced to Guiding here – they run2 year levels of school for girls who have dropped out of mainstream schooling. They are educating them in hospitality cooking, serving & english language. Their current 2nd year has only 27 girls left unplaced for their practical experience, and apparently their reputation for reliable well trained girls is very successful. They are rightly very proud of this program, and the girls are all in a Gambia Guide Uniform. The many guises of Guiding is amazing. I take photos and find that they are battling one of our problems at home – maintenance of their property. They have a small kitchen & dining room shere the girls can provide catering to the many partners who hire out the hall on the grounds. Yamundrow presents me with a gift of a length of their uniform’s tie dyed fabric.
Fact: Gambia was England's claim on a river in the midst of the French colonisation of West Africa. After abolishing slavery, Britain set about capturing other nations slave ships & Fort James (as it was known) was converted from dungeons to a haven.