Hi Everyone,
sorry for my delay in posting a new post for a while now. I wish i could say i was incredibly busy every day, but the truth is i was just negligent.
We finished up our work in Sanyang last Friday (Jul 17). It was a bittersweet farewell, although we will be returning on Aug 2nd for Aminata's (the middle child in our host family) birthday; it was at the same time the last time we would walk up and down the streets talking to people and being a part of the community. While at times it was frustrating to not be able to go anywhere without being questioned, at the same time, we felt we had been welcomed and incorporated into the community well.
Our last week of work in Sanyang was a little frustrating, because 2 of the 3 days there wasn't work for us to do... Gammol had received bad information on a pump and when we arrived it was working without a problem. The garden, we reached a point we could no longer be of service to the garden and ended our work there a day early.
Last week we returned to Fajarra, where we are gonig to spend the remainder of the trip working with Concern Universal to re-design the Rope Pump they use.
We came on Friday hoping to get a start Monday. As with most things in Gambia, it runs a little behind. On Monday we met the 'shop' where we are going to be doing our work... it's an outdoor yard, with tools holed up in a shipping container. But they can weld and they can cut, so we're in business. The manager/owner there had to go get materials for us to use, which was Tuesday, then today is Independence day, so everything shuts down, ergo, we shall begin our fabrication tomorrow.
Since it was Independence day today, Megan and I went into Banjul to see the festivities. Pictures are/will be posted to picassa soon. I think it qualifies as the worst parade i've seen in all my years.
We arrived about 40 minutes late from when it was supposed to start. It hadn't started yet. We soon after we arrived, saw them march the army, police force, navy, national guard and anyone else with a uniform up the main road all in formation, then take their places... where they stood for nearly 1.5 hrs waiting for the president to arrive. That was the whole 'parade'. It was pretty interesting watching the president arrive. He has, at all times, a contingent of about 30 cars, plus police on motorcycle. To 'welcome' him, he arranged to have a massive crowd, probably numbering between 200 to 300 people, who they call the 'green boys', to run, chanting, singing, screaming and clapping alongside his car while he makes a 200 m drive from his residence to the end of the red carpet leading to Arch 22.
Both Megan and I commented that it's incredibly strange to spend so much time in a country with such blatant propaganda. The president actually authorized the printing of a cloth with his face on it, and a message stating that he's sent by god to lead the Gambians. Everyone we saw today was wearing an outfit made from this cloth. It's incredible how readily they have all swallowed up this stuff. Just imagine if you saw people on Canada day wearing a dress with Stephen Harpers smiling face on it. The idea makes me laugh out loud, bu there it's commonplace. I'm honestly startled by it. Everyone here honestly and thruthfully believes that he's solely responsible for all the benefits that come to The Gambia. On the side of every schoolbus it actually reads - donated by the president, as if he paid for the buses out of his own pocket, instead of using tax revenue, or aid dollars to purchase them. I agree it's great to have them, but the name of the president should not be attributed to their purchase.
Regardless... it was good to go and see what was happening in the capital. Shortly after we saw Jammeh, we left Banjul and just headed back here for the rest of the afternoon.
it wasn't quite what i would call a standard day, but had it's enjoyable parts.
In 3 weeks from now i'll be back in Canada and sharing all my stories with you.
I'm looking very forward to being home again. This trip has been a marathon.
Love,
Justin
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
One more week in Sanyang, then redesigning a rope pump for 3 weeks
Hi All,
So we have spent the last week in Sanyang, working with our partners The Sanyang Community Garden, and Gammol. We spent a day mixing concrete for the garden to build an access area to their garden for large trucks to drive on, and helped to fix an India Mark II pump with Gammol as well. Very laborious for sure, but rewarding to be doing something.
We had a recouperating weekend back in Fajarra where we met with our partner at Concern Universal about re-desigining the rope pump. We're going to take one of the ideas we had for improvement and build a prototype while we are here.
There is now less than a month until we are back home. It's strange to think how fast it seems to be going by, but at the same time, to reflect on how long since I saw any of my friends or family, makes the trip seem as though it's just crawling by.
There are a few more pictures posted up of a lightning storm we got caught in last night, so I snapped some very sweet pictures wiht my camera by using an exposure time of 2, 5, or 15 seconds. Have a look and enjoy. I'll post more pictures and blog posts once we return from Sanyang this weekend.
Miss you all,
Justin
So we have spent the last week in Sanyang, working with our partners The Sanyang Community Garden, and Gammol. We spent a day mixing concrete for the garden to build an access area to their garden for large trucks to drive on, and helped to fix an India Mark II pump with Gammol as well. Very laborious for sure, but rewarding to be doing something.
We had a recouperating weekend back in Fajarra where we met with our partner at Concern Universal about re-desigining the rope pump. We're going to take one of the ideas we had for improvement and build a prototype while we are here.
There is now less than a month until we are back home. It's strange to think how fast it seems to be going by, but at the same time, to reflect on how long since I saw any of my friends or family, makes the trip seem as though it's just crawling by.
There are a few more pictures posted up of a lightning storm we got caught in last night, so I snapped some very sweet pictures wiht my camera by using an exposure time of 2, 5, or 15 seconds. Have a look and enjoy. I'll post more pictures and blog posts once we return from Sanyang this weekend.
Miss you all,
Justin
Saturday, July 11, 2009
What a wild week....
My apologies for the delay in posting. It's been a bit crazy, but the week has resulted in some amazing opportunities (are you hooked yet?).
So we finished our time up at the Njawara Agricultural Training Centre (NATC) on the North Bank. As i wrote previously, the facility is well run, well managed, staffed by highly qualified individuals and dedicated to fulfiling it's mission of reversing rural-urban migration by providing rural farmers the tools and skills necessary to move from subsistence farming to full productive farming.
Unfortunately, neither Megan nor I are keenly interested in agriculture, but did still manage to have an enjoyable time there, learn a few lessons, and meet some wonderful people.
While we were there we also became quite adept at surviving without electricity, cell phone service, occasional running water, or internet. I have never in my life been as hot as I was there. If you don't believe it can be that bad, I broke into a full body sweat while I was writing in my journal! Now holding and manouvering a pen is a strenuous activity.
The trip back from Njawara was pretty much as close to "Trains, Planes and Automobiles" I've ever been.
We had to wake up at 5 AM to catch a bush taxi at 6 am. The bush taxi was complete with a live goat tied to the top of the vehicle. We arrived at the ferry terminal just in time to get to wait nearly 2 hrs for a ferry to arrive, and managed to wrangle a truly great seat in the open air top of the boat just as the sky opened up and poured down on us a massive storm. I was actually dripping wet. It took us another nearly 2.5 hrs to make the crossing, disembarke teh boat, negotiate a cab to Serrekunda, and find my way to clean, dry clothes and a shower.
Needless to say, that by 11 AM,I was pretty well ready for a drink.
Monday mornning we met with a new contact we made, Paul at Concern Universal. Concern universal is a British NGO that works to alleviate poverty, promote equality, improve health and sanitation and deliver safe drinking water throughout Africa.
We met with paul to hear about a problem he has with a rope pump (google it for more information). Most rope pumps being used cannot be used past 25 m because the column of water is too heavy and the losses of water too great to make it useful.
He posed to us the problem and wants us to work ot extend the pump to 40 m deep. Its a completely appropriate and necessary project that both Megan and I are inspired to work on.
We have decided to cut short our time in Sanyang by 2 weeks so we have an opportunity to work with Concern. So we will work in sanyang this week and next, then return to Serrekunda around the 19th of July and remain there until we come home.
Needless to say I'm incredibly excited about the prospect of working on this project and we have already come up with 5-6 interesting modiifications we are excited to invesitgate further.
We've been in Sanyang for 2 days now adn are getting settled back in our Host families home. It's nice to have the kids around and we are generally enjoying our time and work here.
I'll post some more probably when we've moved back to Serrekunda (unless you're really lucky :)
That's all for me now. I hope all is well at home.
Love,
JP
So we finished our time up at the Njawara Agricultural Training Centre (NATC) on the North Bank. As i wrote previously, the facility is well run, well managed, staffed by highly qualified individuals and dedicated to fulfiling it's mission of reversing rural-urban migration by providing rural farmers the tools and skills necessary to move from subsistence farming to full productive farming.
Unfortunately, neither Megan nor I are keenly interested in agriculture, but did still manage to have an enjoyable time there, learn a few lessons, and meet some wonderful people.
While we were there we also became quite adept at surviving without electricity, cell phone service, occasional running water, or internet. I have never in my life been as hot as I was there. If you don't believe it can be that bad, I broke into a full body sweat while I was writing in my journal! Now holding and manouvering a pen is a strenuous activity.
The trip back from Njawara was pretty much as close to "Trains, Planes and Automobiles" I've ever been.
We had to wake up at 5 AM to catch a bush taxi at 6 am. The bush taxi was complete with a live goat tied to the top of the vehicle. We arrived at the ferry terminal just in time to get to wait nearly 2 hrs for a ferry to arrive, and managed to wrangle a truly great seat in the open air top of the boat just as the sky opened up and poured down on us a massive storm. I was actually dripping wet. It took us another nearly 2.5 hrs to make the crossing, disembarke teh boat, negotiate a cab to Serrekunda, and find my way to clean, dry clothes and a shower.
Needless to say, that by 11 AM,I was pretty well ready for a drink.
Monday mornning we met with a new contact we made, Paul at Concern Universal. Concern universal is a British NGO that works to alleviate poverty, promote equality, improve health and sanitation and deliver safe drinking water throughout Africa.
We met with paul to hear about a problem he has with a rope pump (google it for more information). Most rope pumps being used cannot be used past 25 m because the column of water is too heavy and the losses of water too great to make it useful.
He posed to us the problem and wants us to work ot extend the pump to 40 m deep. Its a completely appropriate and necessary project that both Megan and I are inspired to work on.
We have decided to cut short our time in Sanyang by 2 weeks so we have an opportunity to work with Concern. So we will work in sanyang this week and next, then return to Serrekunda around the 19th of July and remain there until we come home.
Needless to say I'm incredibly excited about the prospect of working on this project and we have already come up with 5-6 interesting modiifications we are excited to invesitgate further.
We've been in Sanyang for 2 days now adn are getting settled back in our Host families home. It's nice to have the kids around and we are generally enjoying our time and work here.
I'll post some more probably when we've moved back to Serrekunda (unless you're really lucky :)
That's all for me now. I hope all is well at home.
Love,
JP
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Living without a mirror
Ok, this is going to sound very conceited and self centered, but for the last week, while we were in Njawara, we have had no access to a mirror.
Just stop for a moment and think of how many times in a day you look at yourself in a mirror.
When you first get up
when you get out of the shower
when you put on makeup (some of you)
In the front hall before you leave
in the car
in windows as you pass
that's just getting out of the house. For the last week I have not seen myself at all. I didn't even know how badly I needed to shave until I got back to Fajarrah today and looked at myself. It's pretty scary.
I guess this is just one more of those realizations I've had on this trip that sometimes its very easy to let go of all that, without even really realizing it.
This hopefully will go down as the strangest blog post I've made yet. It seems that way writing it.
Just stop for a moment and think of how many times in a day you look at yourself in a mirror.
When you first get up
when you get out of the shower
when you put on makeup (some of you)
In the front hall before you leave
in the car
in windows as you pass
that's just getting out of the house. For the last week I have not seen myself at all. I didn't even know how badly I needed to shave until I got back to Fajarrah today and looked at myself. It's pretty scary.
I guess this is just one more of those realizations I've had on this trip that sometimes its very easy to let go of all that, without even really realizing it.
This hopefully will go down as the strangest blog post I've made yet. It seems that way writing it.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Njawara - It's hot, but we like it
We've gotten ourselves quite settled here at Njawara. The first two nights were somewhat unbearable because of the heat. We're in a hut with a thatched roof, so to keep out the mosquitos, you have to close the door/window, but that makes the room basically a closed oven. I woke up drenched in sweat the last two nights. Also, because of the solar power, the fans don't work at all. Last night I kept my window open and made sure to seal my mosquito net completely. It helped immensely with the heat. Still swated a bit, but it was manageable.
Tonight we're starting to get a very good storm roll in, so i think it'll be plenty cool enough. It came up in only about 30 minutes, from a clear sky to completely stormy. I'm a little worried about the thatched roof and being water-tight... I'm hearing drops coming through... I'm goign to close up my computer adn write more when I'm certain of being dry.
Miss you all...
OK... so the storm has now passed. it's Thursday morning here.
The Thatched roof wasn't exactly water tight lets say. I had a number of drips that
came through the thatch, but only a few that came through the second ceiling they put in (made of old rice canvas/woven plastic bags). All in all it was a pretty wild storm. Megan and I went out after I turned my computer off and took some pictures. It was good even for a storm in Canada (think the one or two really wild ones we'd have throughout the year). The storm really helped to cool the weather down here and I actually only woke up once last night. It feels wonderful to have a good night sleep. The current here even on for at least 4-5 hours (the two previous nights we had 45 mins and 13 minutes respectively). I think it's because only Megan and I are here now. The two nights prevously there was a permanent VSO volunteer and another guest staying here. Plus I think one might have been using a hair dryer.
But I've digressed... We're really enjoying our time here. It's unfortunate that the work here isn't more engineering related, because the facility is well equiped and even more well run, the people here are very nice, the local villagers have been incredibly welcoming and we've shared many laughs with them, even last night over attaya, long into the night.
We've mostly been working in the community garden here on every day tasks. We did get to repair a water hand pump they have here. It had broken a few days previously and I was inspired to take something apart, so we opened it up, fixed the belt that had fallen off it's track, replaced it and watched as the water started to flow (pictures will follow when the internet allows me to upload).
Today is supposed to be chicken day. The centre has a small chicken nursery they buy 1 day old chickens, nurse them for 1 week, then deliver them to the surrounding communities. Megan and I are really looking forward to it. Tomorrow we have normal work in the morning, then a chance to take a river tour up and down the river (not The Gambia River, there is a small tributary only 100 m behind the centre here. I'm not sure the name, but will try to look it up when I post pictures).
Saturday we're going to go on a community/farm tour to see the operations of some of the graduates of NATC (Njawara Agrictultrual Training Centre), and what they have done with their training to improve the agricultural practices of the local community. Then on Sunday we are heading back to South Bank.
We would like to spend more time here. I've actually gotten quite used to not having electricity. (Last night the power came on around 8, and both Megan and I barely touched it until we went to bed to charge her cell phone and I had my fan going while I slept). Unfortunately, it seems strange to look this far out and say we're running out of time, but we're running out of time. We want to get back to our projects in Sanyang, as well, the other guest who was here the night before last works with a group called Concern International. She has a contact there with some serious sounding engineering problems (how to draw water from a 30 m deep well with no electricity), and another potential contact at a government office in Brikama looking at and developing new appropriate technologies for use throughout the country.
We may be altering our schedule 3-4 more times before we actually leave here, but that's what we pretty much expected.
Ok, time to get started on my day. I'll post more when I can.
Justin
Tonight we're starting to get a very good storm roll in, so i think it'll be plenty cool enough. It came up in only about 30 minutes, from a clear sky to completely stormy. I'm a little worried about the thatched roof and being water-tight... I'm hearing drops coming through... I'm goign to close up my computer adn write more when I'm certain of being dry.
Miss you all...
OK... so the storm has now passed. it's Thursday morning here.
The Thatched roof wasn't exactly water tight lets say. I had a number of drips that
came through the thatch, but only a few that came through the second ceiling they put in (made of old rice canvas/woven plastic bags). All in all it was a pretty wild storm. Megan and I went out after I turned my computer off and took some pictures. It was good even for a storm in Canada (think the one or two really wild ones we'd have throughout the year). The storm really helped to cool the weather down here and I actually only woke up once last night. It feels wonderful to have a good night sleep. The current here even on for at least 4-5 hours (the two previous nights we had 45 mins and 13 minutes respectively). I think it's because only Megan and I are here now. The two nights prevously there was a permanent VSO volunteer and another guest staying here. Plus I think one might have been using a hair dryer.
But I've digressed... We're really enjoying our time here. It's unfortunate that the work here isn't more engineering related, because the facility is well equiped and even more well run, the people here are very nice, the local villagers have been incredibly welcoming and we've shared many laughs with them, even last night over attaya, long into the night.
We've mostly been working in the community garden here on every day tasks. We did get to repair a water hand pump they have here. It had broken a few days previously and I was inspired to take something apart, so we opened it up, fixed the belt that had fallen off it's track, replaced it and watched as the water started to flow (pictures will follow when the internet allows me to upload).
Today is supposed to be chicken day. The centre has a small chicken nursery they buy 1 day old chickens, nurse them for 1 week, then deliver them to the surrounding communities. Megan and I are really looking forward to it. Tomorrow we have normal work in the morning, then a chance to take a river tour up and down the river (not The Gambia River, there is a small tributary only 100 m behind the centre here. I'm not sure the name, but will try to look it up when I post pictures).
Saturday we're going to go on a community/farm tour to see the operations of some of the graduates of NATC (Njawara Agrictultrual Training Centre), and what they have done with their training to improve the agricultural practices of the local community. Then on Sunday we are heading back to South Bank.
We would like to spend more time here. I've actually gotten quite used to not having electricity. (Last night the power came on around 8, and both Megan and I barely touched it until we went to bed to charge her cell phone and I had my fan going while I slept). Unfortunately, it seems strange to look this far out and say we're running out of time, but we're running out of time. We want to get back to our projects in Sanyang, as well, the other guest who was here the night before last works with a group called Concern International. She has a contact there with some serious sounding engineering problems (how to draw water from a 30 m deep well with no electricity), and another potential contact at a government office in Brikama looking at and developing new appropriate technologies for use throughout the country.
We may be altering our schedule 3-4 more times before we actually leave here, but that's what we pretty much expected.
Ok, time to get started on my day. I'll post more when I can.
Justin
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
In Njawara
Hi everyone,
We have arrived in Njawara. the facility here is quite impressive, they have a large garden, several apprpriate technology water projects, a chicken nursery for income generation, and guest houses as well.
I'm seeing alot here that I think Sanyang could benefit from. We'll see how much we can take with us there.
We have a pretty good accomodation here. There is running water, and occasionaly electricity. It's a little rustic, but we're dealing well enough. We've decided to only stay here for 1 week, before we return to Serrekunda and onto Sanyang for the remainder of the trip.
I have no current now, so my battery is about to die. We also, from solar power, have some limited access to e-mail, so hopefully I can get this message sent out tomorrow.
If not... well good luck. You'll just have to wait to read how awesome it is.
P.S. Today is the half way mark of our trip.
Cheers,
Justin
We have arrived in Njawara. the facility here is quite impressive, they have a large garden, several apprpriate technology water projects, a chicken nursery for income generation, and guest houses as well.
I'm seeing alot here that I think Sanyang could benefit from. We'll see how much we can take with us there.
We have a pretty good accomodation here. There is running water, and occasionaly electricity. It's a little rustic, but we're dealing well enough. We've decided to only stay here for 1 week, before we return to Serrekunda and onto Sanyang for the remainder of the trip.
I have no current now, so my battery is about to die. We also, from solar power, have some limited access to e-mail, so hopefully I can get this message sent out tomorrow.
If not... well good luck. You'll just have to wait to read how awesome it is.
P.S. Today is the half way mark of our trip.
Cheers,
Justin
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Another Week gone, and Monday is the halfway point
Hi Everyone,
Well today is the second of three "Clean the nation" days that we get to experience here, so for the next 3 hours, i'm locked down with practically no where to go or anything to do.
We've had a pretty good week the last few days here. We were back at WACD-TC for another module on Gender and Development. There was a great deal of interesting conversations and discussions that arose from the group, and we were able to learn alot about each other.
Lindsay has now departed to Malawi and will be staying there for the remainder of the summer.
Last weekend we had our Sunday Audience with Alkalo Bojang of Tujering (the alkalo is the village chief, Tujering is a village near Sanyang). In this village they have a system of restorative community justice, where any problems or concerns that the villagers have regarding property or land. Rather than taking their problems to the police and going through the court system, which is both long and expensive, village members can summon the other party to arrive at this meeting, held every sunday, under a Mango tree in the centre of the village, and a panel of 14 village elders (10 men 4 women) will hear and come to a conclusion about what should be done. Each of the involved parties signs a contract, usually with a thumb print and ink, as some will invariably be illiterate, and the decision is binding on the parties.
While we were there, we took in two cases, one over a construction project that was left incomplete well after the agreed upon date for completion, and another property dispute about the boundary between two compounds.
Both the issues were resolved without lawyers or judges, none of the parties had to miss work to travel 2 hours to Banjul, or pay for a lawyer to represent them, and the problems are, in some cases, solved in an ingenuous way... for the incomplete building, the rains are now coming, so construction can't continue until October, but the contractor has already purchased timber for the roof beams that he's going to be out nearly 1500 Dalasis for (about 1/3 of a months pay). One of the committee members agreed to buy the timber, as a means of settling the dispute (both could stand to wait until October, but the contractor didn't want to be sitting on so much lumber without being able to use it or make back his money). As I said, truly interesting.
We also took in a little toursit-type of attraction this week.
Megan and I went to a local distillery, where they make 9 different kinds of their own liqueurs. We tried several, including Gonjo (the juice from a hibiscus plant), Cashew Apple (the fruit on which a cashew nut grows; see the pictures for a better idea), orange-ginger, citrus, banana-pineapple-coconut, and three chocolate ones they make, Bailies, chocolate-mint and chocolate-orange.
Needless to say they were VERY delicious. I thoroughly enjoyed most of them, and am considering buying a few to take home. The best part is the owners, when they bottle the drinks (in recycled wine and beer bottles, so they divert from landfill), don't put either the word distillery or the alcohol content on the bottle, so as far as customs believes, they're just juice :)
If only the glass didn't weigh so much...
This weekend we are just relaxing and getting packed. Tomorrow (Sunday) we head for the North Bank. All that i keep hearing about it is that it's very hot! Joy!
I expect us to be there for 1-2 weeks, depending how organized and relavant the work there is. Both Megan and I are excited to get back to work in Sanyang with GamMol and the garden.
The trip to Jawara will be somewhat interesting... we may have to ferry/bush-taxi with our backpacks. This could be fun! I'm sure i'll have stories to tell from the journey.
I have no idea what to expect while we are there, especially as far as the internet goes. If we have it, i'll post/e-mail as often as I can. If we don't, i'll just have to wait until we return to Serrekunda or Sanyang and will at that time, post all my e-mails that I wrote while away.
As I mentioned in the subject line, the half-way mark of the trip is on Monday. In some ways it has gone by very quickly, in others it seems to have crawled by one hour at a time. I'm excited for the coming 6 weeks, and expect them to fly by, or at least hope they fly by. I do miss home alot, wish there were some way to transport home just for a weekend right about now. Well I'll deal with that, and keep going. This is why you buy a non-transferrable plane ticket. So you're stuck!
Ok, that's all for me now, hope to hear from you soon,
Love all,
Justin
Well today is the second of three "Clean the nation" days that we get to experience here, so for the next 3 hours, i'm locked down with practically no where to go or anything to do.
We've had a pretty good week the last few days here. We were back at WACD-TC for another module on Gender and Development. There was a great deal of interesting conversations and discussions that arose from the group, and we were able to learn alot about each other.
Lindsay has now departed to Malawi and will be staying there for the remainder of the summer.
Last weekend we had our Sunday Audience with Alkalo Bojang of Tujering (the alkalo is the village chief, Tujering is a village near Sanyang). In this village they have a system of restorative community justice, where any problems or concerns that the villagers have regarding property or land. Rather than taking their problems to the police and going through the court system, which is both long and expensive, village members can summon the other party to arrive at this meeting, held every sunday, under a Mango tree in the centre of the village, and a panel of 14 village elders (10 men 4 women) will hear and come to a conclusion about what should be done. Each of the involved parties signs a contract, usually with a thumb print and ink, as some will invariably be illiterate, and the decision is binding on the parties.
While we were there, we took in two cases, one over a construction project that was left incomplete well after the agreed upon date for completion, and another property dispute about the boundary between two compounds.
Both the issues were resolved without lawyers or judges, none of the parties had to miss work to travel 2 hours to Banjul, or pay for a lawyer to represent them, and the problems are, in some cases, solved in an ingenuous way... for the incomplete building, the rains are now coming, so construction can't continue until October, but the contractor has already purchased timber for the roof beams that he's going to be out nearly 1500 Dalasis for (about 1/3 of a months pay). One of the committee members agreed to buy the timber, as a means of settling the dispute (both could stand to wait until October, but the contractor didn't want to be sitting on so much lumber without being able to use it or make back his money). As I said, truly interesting.
We also took in a little toursit-type of attraction this week.
Megan and I went to a local distillery, where they make 9 different kinds of their own liqueurs. We tried several, including Gonjo (the juice from a hibiscus plant), Cashew Apple (the fruit on which a cashew nut grows; see the pictures for a better idea), orange-ginger, citrus, banana-pineapple-coconut, and three chocolate ones they make, Bailies, chocolate-mint and chocolate-orange.
Needless to say they were VERY delicious. I thoroughly enjoyed most of them, and am considering buying a few to take home. The best part is the owners, when they bottle the drinks (in recycled wine and beer bottles, so they divert from landfill), don't put either the word distillery or the alcohol content on the bottle, so as far as customs believes, they're just juice :)
If only the glass didn't weigh so much...
This weekend we are just relaxing and getting packed. Tomorrow (Sunday) we head for the North Bank. All that i keep hearing about it is that it's very hot! Joy!
I expect us to be there for 1-2 weeks, depending how organized and relavant the work there is. Both Megan and I are excited to get back to work in Sanyang with GamMol and the garden.
The trip to Jawara will be somewhat interesting... we may have to ferry/bush-taxi with our backpacks. This could be fun! I'm sure i'll have stories to tell from the journey.
I have no idea what to expect while we are there, especially as far as the internet goes. If we have it, i'll post/e-mail as often as I can. If we don't, i'll just have to wait until we return to Serrekunda or Sanyang and will at that time, post all my e-mails that I wrote while away.
As I mentioned in the subject line, the half-way mark of the trip is on Monday. In some ways it has gone by very quickly, in others it seems to have crawled by one hour at a time. I'm excited for the coming 6 weeks, and expect them to fly by, or at least hope they fly by. I do miss home alot, wish there were some way to transport home just for a weekend right about now. Well I'll deal with that, and keep going. This is why you buy a non-transferrable plane ticket. So you're stuck!
Ok, that's all for me now, hope to hear from you soon,
Love all,
Justin
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