The weekly email from the VSO office informed us that we needed to return to Banjul to complete our biometric ID card application on Thursday of this week. The travel time is typically 5 hours each way so Wednesday and Friday were also booked off. At the beginning of the week I'd made further progress fixing computers at the local school in Pakalinding. The headmaster of the nearby Madrassa also required my assistance and picked me up on his motorbike - a short trip down the highway without crash helmets!
We decided to take the early morning bus to Banjul (it's a big green US style school bus). Getting to the Soma bus stop at 7am gave us the chance of getting a seat - the bus left at 8am. We then had a very bumpy 3 hours on dirt roads before hitting asphalt an hour out of Banjul. I've never been so happy to see tarmac! The bus was very full with people in the aisles - it was absolute chaos when the bus stopped and people from the back decided to get off. The time past quite quickly but I would be planning an alternative route back. I did had a very well behaved chicken sitting behind me - not a single cluck and it was definitely alive! It is quite common to see goats and sheep tethered to the roof!
Back in The Kombos I made a bee-line for my hotel to marvel at the shower and WC. I was staying very close to the VSO office in a hotel run by a Swiss lady called "Mama". It was also refreshing to sleep in a room without a mosquito net - although the windows were fully screened. The process of getting our ID cards went without a hitch - half a day spent in Banjul at the immigration office. It was good to meet up with all the other new volunteers and exchange stories of the first few weeks at our placements.
The plan originally was to return to Soma on the Saturday - but this would change. Friday morning was taken up with a visit to the British High Commission on behalf of the University of Gambia to check out a room of recently decommissioned computers (no pun intended). The selection was really good and hopefully some PCs, printers and other bits should be making their way to the VSO! On returning to the office I struck Gambian travel gold - a delegation of members of parliament would be visiting Janjangbure in the east and would I like a lift as far as Farrafeni (only 16km from Soma)! Without much hesitation I agreed and found myself in a gelly-gelly (minibus taxi) getting priority at the Barra ferry (usually 3-4 hours wait) - the a.c. VIP lounge was also appreciated. We whizzed through every road-block until I jumped off at Kerewan to visit another VSO volunteer. Staying a couple of nights I got the chance to experience a wonderful Gambian compound family - 2 husbands, 4 wives and their 20+ children! I also experienced some Attaya - a strong green tea mixed with plenty of sugar. The process of making the drink by pouring the tea between various cups makes up an important part of Gambian socializing.
The final leg of my journey involved another gelly-gelly ride into Farrafeni - my luck continued with a half-empty, super fast ride. Things were going to change when I headed south to get a ferry back to the south-side of the Gambia (take this opportunity to have a look on a map). The ferry captain seemed to have great difficulty mooring his vessel - I think I counted at least 4 attempts. This then resulted in a truck getting stuck half-on half-off the ferry! After an hour the patience of the other inbound ferry (2 boats operate the crossing) disappeared as he steered into the grassy banks in an attempt to let passengers off! We finally got across the river - the captain this time made no mistake and rammed the ferry half way up the landing area to the concern of quite a few waiting passengers. It was good to be back in Soma in one bit.
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