Finally the time has come, we are at Schiphol Airport and the adventure is about to begin. A bit tense and curious we get into the plane. There is no way back now.
The heat hits us immediately when we get out of the plane. After a chaotic start to get the stamp in our passports, Barbara is waiting for us outside. During the ride to our accommodation the culture shock kicks in. It is extremely hot and what are all these staring Gambians doing along the side of the road. We let it all sink in and go to sleep with the sound of the mosque in the background.
The next days we had an introduction week through the Gambia. We stare our eyes out and feel more and more comfortable in the country every day. It took some time getting used to the heat (sometimes it is 38 degrees), eating rice with chicken from a shared bowl with our hands and to be the only white people walking around at the market. But in the end you can get used to everything.
It feels like we have been here for two weeks, we have done so much and gained so many impressions. We have driven around the country a lot, from the coast to the inland (a very hot trip of 7 hours). We visited schools, markets, community gardens and a hospital. Every place functions in a completely different way than we are used to so we have been learning a lot.
During the visits to educational institutions we immediately got a good picture of the way of teaching here. A lot of theory is forced upon the students and they have to repeat the teacher. The most important school visit was to the Armitage senior secondary school in Janjanbureh where we will be working on our project in the coming months. The first impression of the school is quiet, neat and organized. Very different from the other schools. This gives confidence for the upcoming weeks.
We are trying to slowly become locals by adopting their habits. Especially taking it easy, which sometimes means hours of doing nothing. Eating lots of rice with chicken. Shopping at the local markets. Processing Baobab fruits into juice and buying local fabrics and taking them to the tailor to design our own clothes. Washing our clothes by hand is still on the schedule.
The introductory week is over now, the real work is about to start. We will stay at the coast in Tanji for another 5 days and then we will leave to the inland for the next 7 weeks to work on our project. This time we will travel by public transport (7 seater Peugeot vans), so this will already be quite an experience itself. We are looking forward to work with the teachers and students in the coming weeks. It is going to be an experience which we will never forget.
