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Since arriving in his accommodation in Kerewan, Nathan has been painting a picture on one of the walls in his house. Nathan is a wonderful artist (even came to The Gambia with paints!!) and has a background in graphic design and the painting on his wall is technically and artistically impressive HOWEVER the subject of the painting is somewhat 'dark' to say the least.
It depicts (so far as it's a work in progress) a monkey painting a picture of a machine that appears to be producing human internal organs. There is a ribcage central to the picture and various arteries connected to different parts of the machine. There is also a rather evil looking emaciated monkey in the picture who is eating a human brain?
As I said before the actual artwork is superb though the content is a little disturbing. When he has completed it (which might not be for a long time as it’s so huge and detailed) I will be sure to take some pictures and put them on the blog!
Anyway, as Nathan knew that my birthday was approaching he offered to paint me a picture of some sort (I think he meant on paper but I decided to take advantage of his kind offer and suggest that he paint something on one of the walls in my house for me)! Nathan was most obliging and once I told him what I wanted he began work the following day. Needless to say I decided not to have the brain-eating monkey and went for something much more British!
It took two days to complete and he really did do a wonderful job! All the visitors to my house have been suitably impressed though very few actually know what it is!
As part of the celebration rams are slaughtered and the number and size of the ram(s) that you have determines your family/compound wealth. Some families can't afford a ram others can only afford a small ram or a sheep but I’ve been told several times that nobody should be without meat so therefore wealthy families give some of their meat to poorer families (whether this actually happens and how much they give I really don’t know).
Well Ceesay Kunda is a considered wealthy compound (something that Dad and Step-dad are very proud of) and Paul tells me that last year they slaughtered 5 rams!!! Paul also told me that the slaughtering of the rams last year made him feel quite 'uneasy'. They are killed on the compound one at a time and I’m told that it's a bloody affair! It's a special event and everybody on the compound comes to watch (Paul also said that some of the children do impressions of the dying rams?!!!)
Well a couple of nights ago I heard some strange noises from outside so I went to see what was going on. The men of the family were 'ushering' some rams into the compound (5 for Ceesay Kunda and about 6 for the shopkeeper to sell). They were big rams with impressive looking horns and some of the women told me that they must be from Senegal. (I've noticed here that everything grand, expensive, different, extravagant etc is believed to have come from Senegal)!
As I went to have a closer look at the rams I couldn’t help but feel a little bit sorry for them! They only have about a week left now!!!
For the actual Tobaski celebrations I have some friends coming over from Kombo (Tom, Berni, Pete and two of Pete's friends from England). They want to experience compound life during Tobaski (the slaughtering of the rams included) and Nathan has very kindly offered to help me accommodate them all.
At the weekend I was in Kombo and decided to visit the Fajara War Cemetery. I've walked past it several times and have always intended to have a look around but for various reasons it just hasn't been convenient. However this weekend as I walked past I suddenly felt overwhelmed by the urge to spend some time there.
As I opened the gate and stepped inside it was like entering a new world! The noise and hustle and bustle of the street seemed to stop (or at least I became oblivious to it).
It's a fascinating little place and I was surprised to see that there are actually 63 British soldiers buried there! Check out the link below.
This must be Mandinka for ‘knock-knock’. It is what people say when they knock on your door and what the small children say as they walk into your house!
Recently I cut up an old mosquito net and hung it from the front door so that when I’m inside the house (cooking, working etc) and it’s really hot, I’m able to leave the door open.
Unfortunately to the children on my compound this seems to mean that my house is ‘open’ and they just walk in without even bothering to say ‘coᶇ-coᶇ’!
I even saw little Kaddy wrapping herself round and round in my net as though it was an additional toy that I’ve left out for them!
Obviously I’ve had words but when my words are in English and they only speak Mandinka it can get quite tricky. I say ‘hani’ a lot (that means ‘no’) and then I usually repeat the action saying ‘hani’ again which they think is hilarious! They know!!!!
Ceesay Kunda is a lively compound with lots of noises throughout the day and night. Most of the noises I have become accustomed to now such as the ‘call to prayer’ sounding out through the loud speakers of the mosque at various times of the day; parents banging on the doors and shouting in an attempt to wake those who find it difficult to get up for the 5:45am prayer; the pounding of rice and cous from the early hours on the morning; the music from the radio and evening chatter from those enjoying attayah; the greetings of those returning from the fields or gardens and the sound of children playing.
However recently I heard an unfamiliar noise coming from within the compound. There was beating of a drum and cheering and shouting and it sounded like a celebration was taking place. There was excitement in the air and the shouting and singing got louder and more and more drums began to beat at a wild and ferocious pace.
I wondered what this sudden and unannounced celebration could be so I left my house and followed the noise. Just around the corner there was a group of children from the compound. Two were seated on chairs side by side and in front of them was a little table with toys on it (they were actually from my toy box but they were laid out on a little material covered table as though they were gifts). The remainder of the children were scattered around beating water cans with sticks and doing Mandinka dancing around the children on the chair.
When I appeared the shouting and singing got louder and a wave of energy came over the children whose movements and actions became even more animated and exaggerated. Some of the children called out my name and as I walked towards them with a bewildered look on my face one of them smiled and said reassuringly, ‘marriage’.
With that information and further examination it became clear that the children had staged a wedding. I’ve never been to a Mandinka wedding so I wouldn’t like to say how accurate the drama was! Everyone was really excited with perhaps the exception of those I identified as the bride and groom who looked a little overwhelmed!
By the time I returned to the celebrations (after going to the house to get my camera) the hysterical atmosphere had reduced considerably and the children were more interested in posing for a picture rather than allowing me to capture the scene!
Recently Fatoumata borrowed my phone to ‘listen to music’ as she was working. When she returned it there were two new photographs on the phone (neither of her)! They both really made me laugh so I thought that I would share them! The first is of Ajebintou ‘posing’ and the second is of baby Mama!
Halloween is not something that I usually celebrate and it’s not even known over here however Courtney was visiting Paul for the weekend and we came up with the wonderful idea of making pumpkin lights. Sadly we didn’t have pumpkins so we had to make do with incredibly small butter nut squashes!
It was quite tricky given their size and I was very pleased with my efforts (Courtney did several all of which were very impressive but as an American she had an unfair advantage in that she’s been celebrating Halloween and carving pumpkins from a very early age)!!
The whole process took about half an hour (including taking pictures) and that was the end of the Halloween celebrations. Oh how I missed the kids knocking on my door asking for sweets in return for not vandalising my processions!
All the butter-nut-squash together!
(To give you an idea of scale the faces are sat on tin cans at the back and 'jenga' pieces)
