We're now well into the mango season, something I missed out on when I arrived last August. They are literally everywhere - it doesn't seem to make sense that such a juicy fruit is now available when it hasn't rained for six months! We can get mangoes in Soma market, in the office and from friends who bring us plastic bags that are stuffed full. We've had so many mangoes that Ellie has even managed to make mango chutney (see Ellie's blog ellieshepherd.blogspot.com). We also managed to make mango sorbet in our fridges (it helps clean our palettes between courses!) The mangoes taste amazing too - an aromatic treat, definitely worth the mess you make. Apparently if you eat more than two a day you'll be using your pit latrine a lit bit more than planned!
Enjoying a mango cake at the solar bakery.
As mentioned in my last update Region Four of Gambia's Educational Directorates had the honour of holding the national CCM (Coordinating Committee Meeting). It has been a long standing tradition that the region's VSOs take the meeting's minute (great!). The format of the CCM covered five days with OFSTED style school visits made on the middle Wednesday (a breather for us). The Minister for Education and Permanent Secretary would be joining the one hundred strong committee. Our offices received new drapes and a lick of paint – which actually included the trees outside! We were kicked out of our very own office; it would become the dinning room for the VIPs (not us). On the plus side we got a brand new “remote controlled” a/c unit installed. It goes down to 16C but nobody keeps the flipping door closed long enough for us to achieve this! I also had issues with queue jumping at CCM lunch time but I put this down to a combination of heat and my Mefloquine anti-malarial medication (also known as Loopy Larium!)
Guess who's not taking the minutes properly - wrong - it's me as I kept getting support calls.
During CCM we also had the pleasure of Lynn's company (see Lynn's blog lynngambia.blogspot.com), she's a VSO working in Banjul for SQAD (School Quality Assurance Directorate - Gambians’ love acronyms). It sounds a bit like a SWAT team though! As Lynn is a city-mouse we thought it best if she had her own latrine, so she moved into country-mouse Ellie's quarters (Ellie used Lucy's bamboo bed). Ellie did provide basic latrine training though. Lynn also brought a very welcome supply of hard-to-come-by provisions from Kombo (including Skittles for everyone!)
As the FA Cup final (if I can bring myself to mention it again) would be kicking off on the Saturday following CCM week, I managed to acquire a lift from Lynn's team back to Kombo. Soma's premier video club unfortunately doesn't serve cool draught beer - it doesn't serve any refreshments for that matter. I also didn't want to get on board a big green bus anytime soon. Cup final breakfast consisted of a full English at Big Ben's - they have real sausages and bacon! The game would be watched at my usual hangout of Francisco’s with a healthy number of other VSOs all pretending to be Stoke fans (apart from Paul who's uncle supports Man City!). Fair enough the better team won (there you go Jerry) but we didn't have £300,000,000 to spend on players (thanks stato Keith)!
Apart from the football result I really enjoyed the weekend. I also managed to catch a lift back to Soma from a Swedish NGO called "Future in Our Hands". Lucy quite often helps them out with visits to schools in our region. As I had recently run out of gas for my cooker (yes all that cooking done from August on one tank) I seized the opportunity to acquire a 12kg canister in Kombo. The guys at FIOH were really helpful and I also managed to fill one of Lynn's cool boxes with extra chilled food. The highlights being frozen chicken and real mature cheddar cheese!
I also managed to purchase a frozen Goodfellas pepperoni pizza for cinema night in Soma (see Lucy's blog lucyrpowell.blogspot.com). We were going to watch the gangster movie Goodfellas so the pizza seemed a good idea - I know it's a bit cheesy! Thanks to Ellie's mum for "pointing out the obvious" - I was considering doing a "Ray Mears" and digging a pit oven in our compound before filling it with charcoal. The fact that we lived next door to a bakery with a 24-hour oven seemed to have escaped us. Before the pizza we'd already managed a few baked potatoes and a stuffed butternut squash.
Quick take the photo, that's a hot saucepan lid I'm holding!
The CCM minutes have finally been completed - all 54 pages plus 31 appendices! Our office is back to normal and pretty much all of the British High Commission PCs have now found a home throughout The Gambia. I've had notice from the High Commission that more PCs are available so it looks like my work will be cut out for a while. In the next few weeks we're also planning a road trip to Janjangbureh (Georgetown) and we have another VSO Educational Conference in Kombo! The rains will also be due so things will be changing…
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