I had decided that I wanted to go to mass on Sunday so after a little bit of research I discovered that the closest Catholic Church was in a place called Bakau. Various people informed me that it was about a ‘20min’ or ’30min’ walk depending on who you spoke to. I decided to leave myself 45 which incidentally is how long it took!
About 20 mins into the walk, the heavens opened and the rain turned the sand path into quick sand. It came so suddenly that by the time I had reached for the umbrella in my bag I was already soaking wet.
When I eventually arrived at the church, it was opposite the street market in Bakau. I arrived just as they were singing the opening hymn. The church was small and in the typical style of buildings here (concrete blocks covered in plaster and then painted – usually white or yellow). Inside there was a central aisle with rows of wooden pews either side. It was quite warm and there was a pungent smell of damp and body odour. On the walls were wonderful paintings of Mary (the patron Saint of The Gambia) and one of Jesus (with very red lips!) I originally sat on the aisle-end of the pew, but as the service went on, more and more people came and I was eventually squashed down the to the wall end! At a guess I would say (by the end of mass) there were about 130 people there (but I’m actually really bad at this type of estimating so I will make a real effort to count next week!!) There was quite a range in wealth and class from the market vendors to those dressed in Western-style clothes who turned up in huge 4-wheel drives.
The service itself lasted 2 hours!!! It was in English with just one of the readings being in a local language (I believe that the whole mass will be in local languages once I am in the North Bank Region where I will be living). The sermon was fantastic. Fr Peter (the priest at the church) read out a letter from the Bishop about funding. The Bishop is calling on Gambian Catholics to contribute some of their wage towards the church.
After the priest had finished the Bishop’s letter he then gave his own sermon about ‘Santé Marie’, Saint Mary and the Feast of the Assumption. It very good, though delivery was totally different to any church I’ve been in before. After mass, the priest introduced himself and asked me about myself. Another guy - who it turns out was Senegalese - chatted to me for a while too.
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