After the short introductory period of just under two weeks, we traveled back to the inland of the Gambia again to start our project this time. It is our first time on the Gambian public transport and we are a bit overwhelmed by the number of cab drivers who approach us and try to get us to join them. When we make our way through the crowd, we think about Barbara's offer to send someone along to help us. However, we declined this offer since we would have to leave really early (6 am). In retrospect, this perhaps wasn’t such a bad idea.
When we arrive in Janjanbureh after a tough negotiation and a long ride in the 7 seater the next problem was already waiting for us. The lodge that Mr. Puye (our contact, a teacher at the school) had booked for us turns out to have been rented to the campaign team of the president who is trying to get some more votes a few weeks before the elections. Fortunately, Mr. Puye is well known on the island and he quickly manages to arrange another accommodation for us.
From here we start with the preparations of the workshop. The content is largely already known from workshops in previous years. It is now up to us to determine if any important information is missing, who will take on which classes, and how we will manage the entire workshop logistically. We try to involve the teachers who will be helping us as much as possible in these questions, to make sure that they also feel completely at ease with the workshop and that in the future they might even be able to teach it themselves when we are back in the Netherlands.
Then the moment has come, the first day of teaching the workshop in which all three of us will take on the role of teacher for the first time. A bit nervous, we walk from the lodge to the school where Mr. Puye accompanies us to the classroom. Today is all about getting to know the students and there will be little to no theory involved. After we have introduced ourselves and the teachers to the class we also ask the students to tell something about themselves. We immediately notice what a motivated group we are dealing with and it is very nice to see how many students raise their hands when we ask a question.
In following days we discuss various business related topics. We tell the students about management, marketing and finance. The intention is that we review the content with the teachers before each lesson, but the collaboration differs with both teachers. It is also very interesting to see how differently the teachers address the topics in their lessons. Where one of them literally reads his booklet to the students, the other one asks a lot of questions to the class and tries to involve everyone in the lesson. When we want to talk about this briefly, it turns out that the teacher is not very open to feedback so we decide to leave it for now. Once again, it turns out to be more difficult than expected to really get through to the Gambians.
It is already time for the last day of the workshop. We thought we had an extra day, but with the elections coming up, the students unexpectedly get an extra day off. Today is all about developing a business plan and presenting it to the group. It is noticeable that the students are not used to giving presentations because some of them even present with their backs turned to the class. To motivate the rest of the group to give feedback, we use different attributes that symbolize certain characters: the person with pink glasses who can only respond positively, the honest king who can be both positive and negative and the devil's advocate who doesn't think it's good at all. Again, this is completely new for the students and it takes some effort for us to make clear exactly what the intention is.
The election period has started which in The Gambia means that the daily life stops for a few days. People stand in line to vote for hours and stay awake at night to follow exactly how the results are going. In contrast to the previous elections everything goes quietly, which gives us the opportunity to take it easy for a couple of days. We hang out in our hammocks, go to the beach for a day and participate in a traditional batik workshop. For the first time since our arrival here in the Gambia, we visit the most touristic part, also known as the Senegambia strip. On the one hand, it feels good to be back in a more familiar western environment, but at the same time, it's a strange idea that most tourists lock themselves in here for a week and get little to nothing of what the real Gambia has to offer.
After the elections, we travel back inland to continue our project. Upon arrival we are informed that we are assumed to lead the weekly assembly (meeting where prayers are said, the national anthem is sung and important announcements are made) and hand out the certificates of the workshop while doing so. Fortunately, we manage to talk it back to a short presentation and draw lots to see who will have to give it.
After the certificate ceremony during the assembly, we bring the students together one last time for feedback on the workshop and to ask who would like to continue the project for a few more weeks. The purpose of this is to work with the students who are motivated enough to expand and professionalize the school shop. Somewhat to our surprise, it turns out that every student who participated in the workshop also wants to continue the project. We still have to see how we will approach this further, but all three of us are very much looking forward to the time ahead of us!
