The first couple of days

Mum and dad very kindly took me to Heathrow in the early hours of Thursday (12th) morning and from there I got the plane to Brussels. In the boarding area I overheard some people introducing themselves as VSO so I thought I would join them. There are about 13 of us in total. 

The flight to Banjul was fine; it was only about half full. It made a 'stop' in Dakar (Senegal) which was really odd because I've never experienced a plane making a 'stop' before. About 3/4 of the people got off and then a cleaning team came on board. After about 45mins some more passengers got on and then we set off destined for Banjul!

Banjul airport was small, hot and sticky but it wasn't particularly crowded. As we were queuing to go through immigration you could see the 'bumsters' grabbing trolleys and looking eagerly at the new arrivals! I was able to carry my own bag and case and therefore was able to turn down the bumsters help. All of the VSO people stuck together as there was no VSO rep to meet us! The bumsters swarmed around us trying to change money, hold people's trolleys, asking for telephone numbers and making general conversation. A little off-putting but quite timid by Sri-Lankan standards.

Once the VSO pick-up trucks arrived the bumsters went crazy trying to load our bags onto the back of them. Then they went round the group asking everyone for money, even people who they hadn’t helped (like myself). Some people caved in and gave them money, I heard others saying things like, and ‘no I’ve already paid 3 people for that'. I'd been taught well by my worldly friend Donna and remained polite and firm repeating 'no, I carried my own bags'. After a while the trucks set off down quite an impressive looking dual carriageway with the bags and cases flying all over in the back of the trucks. I kept a close eye on mine and the fact that it didn’t fall out defies gravity!

A little while after that, we turned off the main road and went down a side street. The bit of road at the top of the street quickly disappeared and the rest of the road was a combination of rocks, rubble, sand and holes. I have been told that this is pretty much what most 'roads' look like outside of the Kombos area (the sort of tourist north east coast area). We pulled up at a hotel (which we have been told we will be staying at for about a week). 

The hotel is basic but clean. The rooms have an overhead fan (subject to when the electricity is working) and a mosquito net. The first night at the hotel we all had a meal together which was really nice. It's actually Ramadan at the moment and the people here don’t eat or drink (even water) during the day so it's pretty quiet with most people appearing to be using as little energy as possible.

The following day we went to the VSO office. We had introductions and were shown around. We then spent much of the day filling in forms, immigration forms, identity forms, bank forms, medical forms and many more. We haven’t actually finished them yet and will have to go back on various different days to get id-cards and register at medical centres. Looking at the timetable we've got quite a busy 2 weeks ahead (the 4 week 'in-country' training has for some unspecified reason been reduced to 2 weeks).

Today we met up with some current volunteers and were shown around the Kombos area. Our hotel is near Fajara and today we went to Bakau and Serrekunda (though they are in the Kombos they are not really tourist areas). We experienced a market, some very busy streets and we travelled by 'bush taxi' (which is just like a taxi but you pay a fare per person and the driver won’t go until the taxi is filled with 3 other people) and also a 'gelly gelly' (which is like a minibus which they cram as many people as they can in to and they go on certain routes). It was all quite exciting though really hot and crowded. There were hardly any white faces around and people reacted differently to you. Some ignored you, some looked intrigued, some wanted to talk to you and many wanted to sell you something!

I've found a bookshop near the hotel that has wireless internet and this is where I am right now writing this blog entry. So far my experience here has been good. I could definitely live in the Kombos area, however, people (current volunteers) keep telling me 'it's not like this in Kerewan', 'you don’t have this in Kerewan', 'you should buy that here because they don’t sell that in Kerewan' so I’m getting the impression that Kerewan is going to be pretty basic!!! 

We will be staying at the hotel until Wednesday and then the volunteers who will be living in this area will go to their houses and the rest of us will stay at theirs or stay in the VSO house. I think we have an up-country visit timetabled soon. Will try my best to keep in touch. Thanks for your lovely messages on my blog, made me quite emotional reading them. Thinking of you all. xxx