https://stevedrice.net/ 2026-04-30T02:10:11+00:00 https://stevedrice.net/ https://stevedrice.net/_media/wiki/dokuwiki.svg text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:07+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day1 Day One - Saturday, January 26th, 2002 - Fajara - Safari Garden Hotel Well the first full day in the Gambia did not start on a really good note. Steve's alarm did not work in the morning (or something) so I was woken up to “how quickly can you get ready? text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day2 Day Two - Sunday, January 27th, 2002 - Fajara - Safari Garden Hotel Breakfast was followed with a bit of work on the computer where I prepared some pictures I had taken yesterday on my digital camera to send to people by electronic mail at the local Internet café. They are a bit text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day3 Day Three - Monday, January 28, 2002 - Fajara - Safari Garden Hotel We began the day by following breakfast with a trip to the program office which is up the back alley, turning left on Pipeline (the big paved road at the end of the alley) then right onto Atlantic (the intersection of Atlantic and Pipeline is the small dirt road that leads to the ocean; Atlantic, for obvious reasons, follows the ocean north to Bakau and quite a distance south as well text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:08+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day4 Day Four - Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - Fajara - Safari Garden Hotel Ok, yesterday was not busy, today definitely was. We began quite early with me and Frieda heading up to see the nurse again. I needed to have a blood typing since I was unable to have it in England before I came here. She indicated I would have to actually go across to the MRC to have the blood test since she could not do it so she gave me a referral sheet so I guess I will have to do it tomorrow or something since we had t… text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:09+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day5 Day Five - Wednesday, January 30, 2002 - Fajara - Safari Garden Hotel Well, it started with another early breakfast so I could get over to the Medical Research Centre (MRC) for my blood typing before our first session began at 9:00. It was a nice cool morning as I walked north up Atlantic (again) to the MRC. As I entered the grounds and approached the text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:09+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day6 Day Six - Thursday, January 31, 2002 - Fajara - Safari Garden Hotel Well, today I was able to sleep in a bit as opposed to my previous early morning walks. After breakfast we split into our two language classes and began work on additional dialogue (oh, goody, still have not got the previous ones memorised!). text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:09+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day7 Day Seven - Friday, February 1st, 2002 - Sanyang Nature Camp After our last breakfast for some time at the hotel, a few of us headed off to the office to drop off our laptop computers before our trip since we would not be able to take them (we have been limited to text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:10+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day8 Day Eight - Saturday, February 2nd, 2002 - Sanyang Nature Camp Well, getting up this morning there was no water so I had to go with the rather cold option of throwing a bucket of it over my head. But it seemed to do the trick. Breakfast was late as the gentleman running the camp had to bike into town to pick up the bread. There were also a number of changes to the scheduled program for the day so, after breakfast, we started with a language class before heading off to the village where we we… text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:10+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day9 Day Nine - Sunday, February 3rd, 2002 - Sanyang Nature Camp It was strange, in the morning I thought I heard rain but it turned out just to be the wind rustling the leaves of the trees. It would be odd to get rain at this time of year since the rainy season is not until June or July but we were told that early in January there had been a freak spell of rain for three days but this is very unusual now during the dry season. After pulling myself out of bed and having a shower (the windmill seem… text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:10+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day10 Day Ten - Monday, Feburary 4th, 2002 - Sanyang Nature Camp A bit of an easy day really. It was very windy today for our language session which we held in a small, unused, building on the site (odd, that). The dust from outside and from the chalk that Alhaji was using was quite something in the text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:11+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day11 Day Eleven - Tuesday, February 5th, 2002 - Sanyang Nature Camp Another 7:30 wake up when I had a bit of a shower and decided to wear my complete outfit (including shorts) that I had purchased from Serekunda market the other day. Yesterday I had tried on the shorts and found that they were SUPPOSED to be that large and actually fit quite well (especially when you draw them tight with the draw string he had put around them). Breakfast included papaya and I don't quite know if I like it, a bit s… text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:17+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day12 Day Twelve - Wednesday, February 6th, 2002 - Sanyang Nature Camp Well, today was a holiday but it turned out to be not exactly much of a holiday. Well, we had nothing scheduled for today... It turns out that we were promised to play a game of football against the primary school (or at least a representative sample). Since none of us are football players (only two of us had ever played before) this was going to be quite an interesting event. text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:17+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day13 Day Thirteen - Thursday, February 7th, 2002 - Sanyang Nature Camp I did not really get a lot of sleep last night, I guess it has been the worrying about the homestay beginning tomorrow. A lot of us are nervous about the experience because of the artificiality of the experience and the awkwardness of the thing. It took 34 minutes and 4 seconds for bread to arrive today text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:11+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day14 Day Fourteen - Friday, February 8th, 2002 - Homestay - Sanyang Family Today has been a tough day. We were warned that the homestay would most likely be the most difficult and also, it must be said, the most rewarding (in its own way) part of our training. text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:13+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day15 Day Fifteen - Saturday, February 9th, 2002 - Homestay - Sanyang Family Last night there were dogs barking at one another all night as well as bedbugs in my bed. Not so good as I am now scratching all over, especially around the ankles. I only hope I can get them out of all of my belongings. I guess this is quite common with the hay mattresses and pillows that are used. text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:13+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day16 Day Sixteen - Sunday, February 10th, 2002 - Fajara - Safari Gardens Hotel I got up at the same time as yesterday again today. This time NO swimsuit (call me an exhibitionist but it is VERY private in the bath area anyway though a bit awkward pulling up water from the well with only a towel around my waist). I began to pack up my things, taking down the mosquito net, killing as many of the bed bugs as I could leaving red spots all over the net. text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:14+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day17 Day Seventeen - Monday, February 11th, 2002 - Fajara - Safari Gardens Hotel After breakfast we had our first session on gender issues which was very good with a representative from a local woman's group giving her perspective on various issues (including the one that always seems to come up when our group talks about this: FGM). It was a bit rude though that some people from the hotel were talking very loudly outside of the room where we were talking as they got their breakfast even though the… text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:14+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day18 Day Eighteen - Tuesday, February 12th, 2002 - Fajara - Safari Gardens Hotel Today after breakfast we headed off to the office where we were given a bit of a discussion about development issues and the main reason we are here to do our jobs: assist in the development of the country. This is of primary concern as representatives of VSO. We need to promote local development in our respective positions hopefully by leaving our expertise behind in the people we work with. Many of us are working w… text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:14+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day19 Day Nineteen - Wednesday, February 13th, 2002 - Fajara - Safari Gardens Hotel Today was the first day of a two-day employee/employer conference in Banjul. We were picked by Lynne up just after breakfast and we were taken into Banjul to the Royal Victoria Hospital. The traffic was very busy as we pulled into the gates of this old colonial-style hospital. We parked in the car park and then wandered around the side of the buildings, along a dirt road, and up an outside staircase (lots of those … text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:15+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day20 Day Twenty - Thursday, February 14th, 2002 - Fajara - Safari Gardens Hotel Today was the last day of the employee workshop and it was a shorter day (thankfully). The air conditioner in the meeting room we are using is very loud but it is so hot we need it so the trade off is heat or being able to hear text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:15+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day21 Day Twenty One - Friday, February 15th, 2002 - Fajara - Safari Gardens Hotel Well, today is the day that I finally move into my new home for the next two years. It will be nice not to be living out of a suitcase but actually in my own house. I will be able to have my privacy and be able to do what I want when I want to do it. Ah, freedom! text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:15+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day22 Day Twenty Two - Saturday, February 16th, 2002 - Kanifing (Home) Today was the first full day in what is to be my home for the next two years. I slept well despite the late night at Deep's party and got up at 8:30. There is not really a lot to do in the house so I read after having my breakfast of fresh bread, oranges and bananas. There is a text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:16+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day23 Day Twenty Three - Sunday, February 17th, 2002 - Kanifing It is Sunday so it was once again rugby day down at Leybato so I was at the beach for much of the day catching up with the other volunteers about their houses and what they were up to. On the way back from the beach I stopped by the Internet café that is just around the corner to quickly check my e-mail then I stopped by Harry's which is just a bit further along (past THE traffic lights) then made my way home to find that the electrici… text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:16+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day24 Day Twenty Four - Monday, February 18th, 2002 - Independence Day - Kanifing It was nice to be at my house this weekend because this was a holiday and gave me even more of a chance to get “settled in”. VSO has given us really about six months for this, not expecting that we will get any text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:16+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day25 Day Twenty Five - Tuesday, February 19th, 2002 - First Day of Work - Kanifing Today was my first day (proper) at work. I was out of bed early again (it is hard NOT to get up early when the sun is coming through the windows without any curtains at 7:00 every morning) and I was off to the Bitiko for some bread and soft drinks for breakfast. text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:17+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/day36 Day Thirty Six - Saturday, March 2nd, 2002 - Kanifing I have been here for more than five weeks now. The house is really coming along. I still need a curtain for the bedroom and it would be nice to have some carpets for the floor (they look really bad without it text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:07+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/introduction VSO Gambia Journal Introduction This journal is of the first few days of my trip to the Gambia with VSO. For a detailed description as to why I am doing this, please see here. In a nutshell, I have decided to take a two-year break from my “normally text/html 2015-10-02T20:12:18+00:00 Anonymous (anonymous@undisclosed.example.com) https://stevedrice.net/travel/africa/gambia/journal/sidebar * VSO Gambia Journal * Day One - Saturday, January 26th, 2002 - Fajara - Safari Garden Hotel * Day Two - Sunday, January 27th, 2002 - Fajara - Safari Garden Hotel * Day Three - Monday, January 28, 2002 - Fajara - Safari Garden Hotel * Day Four - Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - Fajara - Safari Garden Hotel * Day Five - Wednesday, January 30, 2002 - Fajara - Safari Garden Hotel * Day Six - Thursday, January 31, 2002 - Fajara - Safari Garden Hotel * Day Seven - Friday, February 1st, 20…