I've finally made it to my "house" in Soma. It took about 7 hours to do the journey of a little over 100 kms! Most of the time was spent waiting for the Banjul to Barra ferry as the north road is by far the better route (fully tarmac-ed to Farrafenni). We also had to drop off a fellow volunteer en-route in Kerewan. The system of loading vehicles onto the ferry seemed to have nothing to do with reservations/time of ticket purchase and a lot to do with something else. The trip itself got rather alarming at one point when the supposedly stationary vehicles behind us started to nudge our pickup closer to the ferry's edge and a trip to see the fishes! From Farrafenni we headed back south and crossed the Gambia river again. The road is very poor here (a great shame) and the 16km distance took well over an hour.
My "house" is part of a compound (the name used for the walled area of land surrounding a building of numerous family members). The slight difference here is that the compound is only being used my VSO volunteers & nurses working for Riders for Life (motorbike medical assistance). It therefore means it's reasonably quiet without kids but it doesn't have the Gambian vibe other volunteers have experienced. The power/water supply is much better than in Kanifing (which is now being renovated) - water from a stand pipe seems available 24/7 and electricity is available from 7pm until 3am and then 9am until 4pm. I've charged our meter with 100 dalasi (£2.50) which seems to last a week! The compound looks completely different to the photos you may have seen - as it's currently the rainy season everything is green and lush. Half of our compound is being occupied by a ground-nut (peanut) crop.
I'm currently the only volunteer on site - I'll be joined by Kate & Lucy next week (w/c 12th) as this is when the schools open. I'm not that lonely as another volunteer lives in a nearby compound. The Gambians are also very friendly - as one of the only toubabs in town I barely walk 10 feet without kids shaking my handy or locals asking "How is the morning" or "i saama" in Mandinka.
Getting used to the latrine has been interesting - together with bucket baths out-back in my alfresco bathroom. My predecessor left me a "leave in the sun" warm-up camping shower (thanks Kanti) so it's not all cold water at 7.30am. I've also worked out that having a shower at the same time as a tropical downpour makes a lot of sense (although the thunder/lighting can be a bit nervy at night). Work starts next week - 1 month completed, 5 to go (and then I extend or head to another part of the world).
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