Building a school in Dairuharu, Brikama

Posted on May 27, 2010 by Kathryn Burrington

Earlier in the year we received a letter from clients of The Gambia Experience telling us about a nursery school that they had visited that was in desperate need of assistance.

As it happened I was visiting The Gambia myself the following week and took the opportunity to pop into the school. We weren’t exactly sure where the school was… somewhere in a district of Brikama called Dairuharu but after asking around we were taken to a family compound. What I found really shocked me. I was shown into a dark, tiny room with one of the walls looking as if it was about to collapse. My lower lip started trembling as I made out 15 children, with their teacher Amie, sitting amongst the rubble. I’ve visited many schools in The Gambia but I have never reacted like this before. Pulling myself together, I had a long chat with Amie and the children and, although I didn’t make any promises, I said I would try to help.

There are over 100 children in the area that need a school. The villagers had built the original building in mud bricks but did not have the money to finish it before the rainy season and the school fell down.

All that's left of the original building

Amie, Fatou and the headmistress, Yama, are trying to continue with the school in the room I saw which is in someone’s compound but apart from the terrible conditions the owner now wants the space back.

Me and the teachers

As chairman of a community group called “Nyodema” (which means “Helping each other” in Mandinka) I told the rest of the committee about the school. They were just as concerned as I was, however, we do not have anyone based in The Gambia and have never been involved in a building project before. We felt it was too much for us to take on alone. What to do?
We approached the charity, Karmic Angels, and when we told them about the school they selected a project manager to oversee the building work if we could raise the funds.

In April Shelagh (Nyodema’s treasurer) and I returned to The Gambia and met up with the Alkalo (village head), teachers and parents as well as Lamin and Pa Louis from Karmic Angels.

Pa Louis, Amie, Yama, Fatou and Lamin with the children of Dairuharu

I’m happy to say that we have already started fund-raising and so far have collected over £2,000 thanks to the generosity of our supporters and the Gambia Experience’s clients who first told us about the school. Our aim for 2010 is to build the first classroom (with proper foundations and cement rather than mud blocks) and purchase the necessary desks and chairs etc.

Next month Nyodema is holding their annual festival “Nyodema by the Sea” – all proceeds from the raffle will go towards re-building the school.
More information on the festival, Nyodema’s weekly African drumming workshops and Gospel Choir, as well as their on going health and education projects in The Gambia can be found on their website www.nyodema.org

West Africa visits the Sussex Coast

Posted on March 4, 2010 by Kathryn Burrington

West Africa visits the Sussex Coast

Brighton Fringe Festival this May promises to be as exciting as ever and includes a number of events with an Africa theme including comedy, ballet, live music and workshops.

After last year’s stunning fringe debut, Africa Unite returns again on 11th May with a musical journey across the continent. With live sets by Bakk Lamp Fall (Senegal) and Sakama Live Showband (Tanzania) you can expect an evening of sun-soaked African beats and an unbeatable vibe.

Bakk Lamp Fall

Further highlights of the festival for me will be the West African percussion and dance workshops on 8th May (led by Ali Bangoura from Guinea Conakry) and the group harmony singing on 15th May.

For more information on these and other events at the festival please visit www.brightonfestivalfringe.org.uk

Festival of Tobaski 28th November, 2009

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Kathryn Burrington

Even during breakfast at our hotel, there is an air of excitement. Many hotel staff wear their finest clothes - the ladies in beautifully embroidered dresses.

Once a year, about 70 days after the end of Ramadan, virtually the whole of The Gambia holds a barbecue!

This is the festival of Tobaski (also known as Tabaski or Eid Al Adha) when families ritually slaughter a ram in commemoration of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only son to God, who at the last minute exchanges Abraham’s son for a ram. It coincides with the end of the annual Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca, one of the pillars of Islam and very much encompasses another one of the pillars, the giving of alms.

Every married man or head of household is expected to buy a sheep (ideally a ram) or other suitable animal such as a cow, goat or even chicken if that’s all they can afford.

Tobaski is a public holiday and one of the major holidays celebrated by Muslims around the world. After open air prayers at the local mosque, families return home, kill their sheep and divide it into three portions, one to be kept aside for the family, one to be given to relatives and friends and one to be given to the needy. Indeed, the idea of sharing is the essence of the feast, bringing unity and harmony among family and neighbours and it is a day to forgive past wrongs.

In The Gambia and Senegal it is also the custom to offer food to anyone passing by and it would be disrespectful not to eat something, even if only a few mouthfulls. However, it would also be disrespectful to finish all the food as this implies that the host has not prepared enough food.

The waitresses join in the dancing to a local band

The lead up to Tobaski can be a stressful time for some, as the cost of a sheep can typically be twice a manual worker’s monthly salary. The cost raises steeply as Tobaski approaches. Everyone is expected to wear their finest clothes, preferably new. All compounds (family homes) are thoroughly “spring” cleaned.

Everyone spends the month leading up to the festival collecting coins as after the feast children are allowed to visit all their neighbours asking for Salibo (gifts). If you pass down the Kairaba Avenue at this time you’ll find it jam-packed with crowds of children around the ice-cream and cake sellers spending the “gifts” they have collected.

In the evening children are allowed to stay up late, while the adults sing, dance and chat while drinking numerous brews of ataya (green tea) and the celebrations can go on for a few days.

Jola Festival, 2007

Posted on April 29, 2009 by Kathryn Burrington

Jola Festival, The Gambia

In 2007 Nyodema’s first fund raising event included a photographic exhibition showing different aspects of Gambian life. With this in mind, we were invited by the Camarra family to a very important event – the initiation of their sons.

This is part of a large Jola festival with Jolas – an ethnic group present in The Gambia, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau – from across The Gambia (and beyond) gathering together.

It was the day after we arrived in The Gambia, so with no time to acclimatise we were up early in the morning to meet Lamin and to start the drive up country.

Most of the way the roads were good but eventually we reached the bumpy dirt tracks we’d been warned about. After about an hour of jostling along we arrived at the temporary village built for the festival near Kanilai. Thousands of people had formed an arena and various groups were marching around, singing and displaying banners. Outside the arena the crowds strained their necks to look on and many had climbed trees to get a better view.

We were lucky to be given permission to go inside the arena to get some better photos. Knife-dancers, dressed in baggy trousers that would give MC Hammer a run for his money, were dipping large knifes in holy water prepared by their marabouts. They were only too willing to demonstrate for my camera how the sharp blades did not cut them. Unnerving but fascinating to watch, they used everything from cutlasses and razors blades to energetically strike their bodies without ever leaving a scratch.

Jola Festival, The Gambia

Back outside the arena the atmosphere was just as exciting. With long strands of beads crossing their torsos the sisters of those being initiated danced to frantic rhythms tapped out on triangular chimes. Punctuating the drumming, whistle blowing, chanting and dancing, thunderously loud bags exploded in my ears as ‘canons’ were ignited (metal tubes stuffed with gunpowder that are pushed into the ground and light by a fuse).

The mid-day sun was now high in the sky and we moved away from the crowds to find some shade. Sitting on a rug under a tree, we chatted with passers by while a couple of little girls plaited our hair.

We were served a traditional meal of goat (hopefully not the cute little one I saw tied up earlier). Everyone gathered around a large bowl and using either hands or spoons tucked in. The families of those being initiated have to save for many years as they are expected to feed not only their relatives and guests but also the local villagers.

When we’d finished our meal I photographed group after group of family members and friends.

Jola Festival, The Gambia

Then came the initiation of the sons. Friends and relatives pinned money onto their clothes before they were hoisted on to someone’s shoulders and led out into the bush. Traditionally they would spend weeks in the bush with their older male relatives learning about their responsibilities as a man, so we were surprised when they came straight back again! Presumably the training is now a more ongoing thing.

Our driver wanted to get back onto the tarmac road before dark so all too quickly we had to leave. It really was a fascinating day and we felt very privileged to have been invited.

When we next returned to The Gambia a few months later we presented the family with a photo album to say thank you for a wonderful day.

For more photographs of this event, see the Nyodema Flickr stream.

For more information on Nyodema please see their MySpace page

For other festivals in The Gambia, see The Gambia Experience festivals page