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Arrival and settling in
Tuesday 15 November
Travelled with Sandra Curtis, a friend of
very long standing, from London Gatwick - a good trip. Arrived a bit
late, but NO hassle at airport with customs / Immigration. Met as
usual by Gambian Experience couriers with cold water and the best
fans in the world. Arrived at the Corinthia Atlantic Hotel, Banjul,
with a very nice room on the ground floor, overlooking the
pool, as requested. After supper Sandra was introduced to
Julbrew.
Wednesday 16 November
Kemo arrived at the hotel with Muhamed Lamin,
his second son, to welcome us. The Pageant T-shirts were a surprise
gift to Wandifa and Kemo.
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Kemo's second son
Muhamed Lamin |
Kemo, Pippa and Wandifa
in Pageant T-shirts |
Pippa and Sandra went in to Banjul to bank
the money for the children and schools projects, and to change some
£s for dalasis – exchange rate 47.5 dalasis to £1. Just a short
outing this time – Sandra's first trip into Banjul, but she managed
to buy a pair of sunglasses and a hat for VERY good prices! Kemo &
Pippa spent the afternoon entering up all the sponsorship and
project funds in Kemo's data file. This now takes some considerable
time.
Thursday 17 November - Latri Kunda Health
Clinic & Banjul University
Visited Latri Kunda Health Clinic to
give donation on behalf of Sarah Everall, who wished to give
something to mark the occasion of Safiya Kandeh's Naming Ceremony.
Safiya is the daughter of a Gambian man, Ebrima Kandeh, who has
married a friend of Sarah's and now lives in UK – he originally came
from Latri Kunda and Sarah's donation aims to be of practical help
to people of his home community. We went to Latri Kunda and met the
Clinic Administrator, who was delighted with Sarah's gift. Together
we made a list of items that were most needed and then Kemo, Sandra
& Pippa set off in a taxi with one of the Clinic Nurses to purchase
as many of the listed items as possible. We went to various shops
and to the market and managed to buy the major part of the listed
items. We took them back to the Clinic and gave the remaining money
to the Administrator so that she could buy the rest of the items in
Banjul market.
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Clinic Administrator
receiving certificate |
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from Kemo, describing
the gift |
Kemo buying goods for
the Clinic |
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Kemo buying more goods
for the Clinic |
goods taken back to the
clinic |
After a quick drink in a shady café we took
10 of our donated Olympus compound microscopes to Banjul
University, where they were received with enormous enthusiasm by
Dr F Jonsyn-Ellis, the charismatic head of the Biology Department.
We also took instructions for both setting up the microscopes and
for caring for them – these had been written specially for us by
Peter Evenett of the Royal Microscopical Society. We left one set of
instructions with each microscope - Pippa was asked to visit the
micro-biology class the following Tuesday to talk to the students
and to see how they had got on with setting up their new pieces of
equipment.
Kemo & Pippa then spent another couple of
hours at the hotel, mapping out the itinerary for the visit... would
we fit everything in?...
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