Home Again.

Back home after two wonderful Gambian weeks. Very hot weeks, but rewarding. I did like the accommodation Adama had found for me - it even had running water and electricty most of the time. I like Bakau; not a tourist town but a fishing village come market town. It even has Timbooktoo, an air-conditioned bookshop with a coffee bar - I wish Warrington had its equal!
I spent several happy days living in Mandinari as guest of Ebou. He's decided not to try to enter Europe by the back door, thank goodness. I'm trying to help him set up a little business so he can feed his family.
GOES managed to help a small boy with a horribly swollen and ulcerated leg to receive medical attention. Poor kid had been suffering for twelve months while his mum hoped he would get better.
We helped several schools with funds, and made contact with a number of other charities in the same line of work. I sometimes think that every other person on the Banjul flight is engaged in an attempt to improve life for Gambians, and it infuriates me that the British government has done so little. I stood in the Military cemetery at Fajara and looked at the war graves of young men who had given their lives for a far-away country. I wept for their dedication and devotion to an ungrateful nation which makes it difficult for their descendants to visit their "motherland".
Memories? Lots of laughter, babies, wonderful food and kindness. Photographs back on Tuesday, and the skin infection should have cleared up by then!