This morning I finally succeeded in calling my contact, teacher Mr. AM and I am so excited! Already tomorrow I will meet him at the School in Bakoteh. I am hoping to meet up with the principal cause I need his written consent to start the process. I also contacted my Gambian “assistant” Ms. WEN, who also will be joining us. The taxi driver, who is my neighbor, will be driving me to the meeting. During the evening I was preparing everything. I am really looking forward to it!
Then…
We went to Bakoteh early in the morning because of the traffic. Just outside the school there was no proper road and many cars got stuck in the deep sand. It took us nearly an hour before we reached the school. We still managed to arrive 30 minutes early and therefor had to wait in the hot taxi car for Mr. AM to arrive. We entered an empty schoolyard full of palm trees and sand. A few young students were sitting talking, and gave me a curious smile along the way. On the second floor Mr. AM opened the door to the teachers’ office. I gave him my gift I had brought from Sweden; some office supplies such as paper, notebooks, pens, pencils and two pair of glasses. Mr. AM also dropped some troublesome news, that because of the hard conditions for teachers in The Gambia, the union had called for an urgent meeting. It was most likely there would be a strike! He couldn’t provide me with further information regarding a possible upcoming strike, due to negotiations still in place.
Let’s hope for the best, he said smiling, I think it will be OK. I suddenly felt very disappointed and frustrated. I thought to myself, have I travelled so far by car and for no use at all? My assistant Ms. WEN arrived a little later. Her younger daughter had malaria and they had stopped by the hospital. The girl looked very weak upon arrival at the school.
On my way back towards the compound, I bought a local mobile phone for local calls, without needing access to any Wi-Fi connection. This was necessary to be able to reach the important people with whom I needed to make appointments with. For my own sake, I cross my fingers there won’t be any strike next week…and for the teachers, I do hope the government will accept their demands.
The goats within my compound have been washed with a special soap to prevent more attacks of vermin which smelled disgusting. I’ve been coughing a lot lately, and at first, I thought it was the special goat soap that was causing it.
After reading the label on the spray bottle against mosquitoes, that this was a very strong product, which should only be sprayed on your body outdoors, I realized that this must have induced my coughing. Since then, I have sprayed only outdoors, and haven’t had any cough since.
