Two Articles written by Malcolm Hodgson

THE GAMBIA AND IT'S PEOPLE – OUR IMPRESSIONS

Introduction

This was my first visit to Africa although my wife Helen was born there. All that I knew of the Gambia was what I had read in the guidebooks: the tourist angle. What I found was totally at odds with my expectations.

Please bear in mind that this report is based on a single two week visit, staying in the tourist area, and not a view based on years of experience.

Arrival

Helen and I travelled to Gambia for two week holiday in the third week in September 2005.

As we emerged from the plane at Banjul Airport we were hit by a wall of heat (40 degrees) and humidity. It was nearing the end of the rainy season and temperatures were exceptionally high.

On clearing passport control we had our first experience of the Gambian tourist culture. Unofficial baggage handlers grabbing our cases and demanding money, taxi hailers demanding money, unauthorised money exchangers and dozens of young Gambians trying to exchange piles of one pound coins for notes. This was to set the tone for our holiday, but I will go into more detail later.

We had pre-arranged collection from the airport by Seedy Gassama, a young Gambian who was to arrange some sea fishing and boat trips and it was with some relief that we sought the safety of his friend’s car.

The Bijilo Beach Hotel was immaculately clean and on a par with any of the Mediterranean resort hotels we had experienced. We were welcomed by all the staff.

The modern hotel was set in a beautiful garden, with pool, which led directly onto a white sand beach. Idyllic.

We were most impressed with our room, especially the flowers laid on our beds and on the balcony.

Apart from the harassment at the airport, we were well pleased with our first impressions and felt that we must have 'struck gold'.

Back down to earth

Venturing out onto the beach for an evening stroll, we were approached by a Gambian male in his early twenties, who shook us by the hand and appeared to want nothing more than to welcome us and speak with us. A ten minute conversation was concluded with a demand for money. As soon as he departed another one joined us and so it went on.

In the coastal resort area it was impossible to leave the confines of the hotel or walk in the town without the constant attentions of young Gambian males demanding money. Some responded to a polite refusal but many adopted a threatening attitude. At night it was even worse, and we were forced to avoid sparsely populated areas for fear of being mugged.

Within three days of our arrival, Helen declined to emerge from the hotel, other than by taxi. We were 'trapped'. Had a flight been available we would have flown home. Discussions with a couple of British families at the hotel revealed that they were on the second week of their vacation and were desperate to leave, vowing never to return.

The room cleaner sought payment for the flowers left in our room. The gardener sought payment for the flowers left on our balcony and so it went on.

Tourism

Gambia has only two sources of foreign currency, tourism and the export of groundnuts. Unless the problem of these intimidating con men (I think beggars would be mis-describing them) is tackled then I conclude that there is little hope for the future of Gambian tourism.

Earning a living in the Gambia

Hotel staff earned between £40 and £70 per month (together with meals). From which they had to support their families who lived in villages set back from the tourist resorts. Clearly this was not possible (as a bag of rice costs £14 and a year’s school fees costs £200) hence they are left with no alternative other than to use any means at their disposal, legitimate or otherwise to try to part tourists from their money.

In the course of the holiday over half the hotel staff approached us to sponsor one or more of their children through school.

There are an abundance of taxis for hire, for the most part dilapidated cars, which appeared to be running on fresh air with the fuel gauge on empty. Indeed, on occasion it was necessary to pay the driver at the start of a journey in order that he could purchase a gallon of fuel to deliver you to your destination. There was an obvious over supply of taxis (about one taxi per tourist). Many of the cars were owned by wealthier Gambians and the driver rented the car. Hence taxi drivers eked a living which left little scope for maintenance or even fuel.

Fishing was another major source of employment but this was primitive small scale fishing using drift nets. Open pirogues of fifteen to twenty feet put to sea with a crew of twelve, fishing close inshore. The meagre catches being sold to the local population each evening with some being smoked and sold to wholesalers. It was a major industry conducted on a small and inefficient scale.

Farming took place on a small and non mechanised scale both crops (rice being the main crop) or a few sheep or cattle being produced on what we would term a smallholding.

Tourism tends to attract shops and service industries. We found that almost without exception the shops were sparsely stocked and the service industries had neither suitable premises or equipment (e.g. the car wash bay comprised a piece of waste ground and ten males armed with buckets and cloths to wash a single car). ‘Garden centres’ had been established at the roadside between Senegambia and Banjul to supply the tourist development, but here again it was on a small scale, a garden centre comprising a few dozen clay pots with one or two of each plant or shrub.

Services

The major roads are tarred but mostly riddled with potholes whilst all side roads are dirt roads which in the rainy season become flooded and many become impassable. Most electricity is supplied by generators. There were streetlights in the urban area of Senegambia (the main tourist area), but these were never lit (apparently the generator had broken down).

The water supply to our hotel was both clean and reliable.

Refuse disposal lorries collected the refuse from hotels and restaurants on a regular basis, but adjacent to each town was a refuse tip directly on the roadside, which was picked over by both the poorest people and the vultures. We were shocked to see a public refuse tip, complete with a diesel excavator which pushed the refuse into the river.

Industrial dereliction

The ground nut industry was in evidence, a large groundnut processing factory was situated near Denton Bridge on the Bakau to Banjul road. But the factory was in a very poor state of repair and most of the barges (which brought the groundnuts down the river for processing, had sunk and were lying in the mud corroding away.

Throughout the lower reaches of the Gambia River sunken vessels of all types and sizes were to be seen projecting above the water in various states of corrosion.

The resort of Bakau tries to blend tourism with fishing. The stench or rotting fish was overpowering. Most of the fish are landed directly on the beaches, due to the fact that the pier, built of steel in colonial times is so badly corroded that warning signs have been erected. Even so, the pier is still used by hundreds of people each day picking out the less corroded areas of the walkway.

I visited Bakau market, a huge collection of shanty type stalls selling fish, meat, produce and very poor quality mock designer clothes and shoes. Hygiene conditions were appalling to our ‘western sensibilities.

The largest market is at Serekunda, hundreds of stalls of corrugated, steel, wood and polythene sheeting over a couple of square miles. We decided to visit the market but on arrival it was a sea of red mud over a foot deep, and a seething mass of humanity jostling for space. Helen was afraid to get out of the taxi so we just drove on.

We visited the Tanji fishing village (recommended in our holiday guide). The smell of rotting fish was overwhelming. The people processing the fish squatted in the mud surrounded by swarms of flies.

Education

Every Gambian who we met (and we met very many) spoke fluent English. Those we had conversations with were without exception intelligent. Most were educated. Most were politically aware.

The Gambians we met knew what life is like in the developed world and wanted that life. The tragedy is that most realised it was unattainable.

What a scandalous waste of education and talent to have intelligent, literate and numerate people doing the most basic and menial of jobs, for pitifully poor wages.

Even worse, those who use their eloquence and intelligence to prey on unsuspecting tourists, the so called 'bumsters'. What a tragic waste of education. However, one can understand the logic of their actions, when they can make several times the income made by legitimate means extorting money from tourists.

And yet, without exception every Gambian who we met realised that education was essential to their future. There was a real hunger for education as it would provide a passport to earning a living, albeit that the living may be clearing tables or cleaning the pool in a local hotel. Or in the case of the girls, cleaning hotel rooms or becoming the concubine of some sad over sexed middle aged Brit with an appetite for 16 to 20 year old Gambian girls. (This practice was widespread and indeed young girls were encouraged by their families to attach themselves to a white man, as this would provide a meal ticket for the entire family).

Conclusions

Having spent many hours both discussing and pondering upon the solution to the problems of the Gambia, I concluded that the improvement one person or even a few hundred concerned people could achieve would be but a drop in the ocean given the scale of the problem.

The Gambians consider education to be vital to their future and for this reason, Books Abroad must continue to offer what help we can. The Gambians I spoke to, again without exception felt that the provision of free books to their schools was a most valuable contribution.

The question of the cost of education has to be tackled; some charities are providing free education in their sponsored schools. The Gambian government pays 50% of the educational costs of girls (no aid for boys), but even so the cost of education is to great for most Gambian families to afford. Even the most able of Gambians cannot for the most part afford to go on to further education without the aid of an outside benefactor.

However, education alone will not solve the problems.

Outside investment is essential to re-build the country's infrastructure, rejuvenate and modernise its industries, establish new industries and provide a means of harnessing both the talents of it’s people and its material resources.

Otherwise...

It's existing industries will continue decline, its tourist industry will founder and its people will become increasingly disillusioned and frustrated.

The frustration and disillusionment was apparent in every conversation I had.

The young people of Gambia are not uneducated; they are not content to eke out a living. Thanks to the media they know what life could be like and as a consequence their expectations are increasing. If the developed world cannot come up with a way of at least demonstrating that their expectations will ultimately become reality, then I fear for what might happen.

I may one day return to the Gambia. Not as an unsuspecting tourist wearing the rose tinted glasses of the tourist brochures. Not to spend two seeks hiding within the confines of a 'westernised' hotel, but prepared for the real Gambia. I don’t think Helen would ever wish to return, as the experience was too painful for her.

I end with a quote from Helen, who having been born in Bullawayo, Rhodesia, was returning to Africa for the first time.

'I expected things to have improved over the past forty years. In fact they have got worse. Forty years ago, the Africans respected white people. Now they see them as meal tickets.'

Malcolm Hodgson


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THE STRAND SCHOOL

We set out to visit the Strand school escorted by our taxi driver 'Gabba' and 'Ibram' who worked at the hotel.

Reaching the school was not easy as many roads were impassable due to flooding and those which were passable were a sea of red mud.

We passed through a variety of villages, some no more than corrugated iron shanties, the better ones being built of concrete blocks.

Finally we came upon a pristine white building with newly painted red and white roof and its own compound (yard).

As soon as we arrived we were met by Muhammed Barry, the headmaster of the Strand school. I concluded that he was expecting us, but I have no idea how this could be as it was only the same morning that we decided to visit.

Strand school is a primary school (4 to 11 year olds) comprising four classes of 40 children each class. We were led from class to class. All the children greeted us warmly, although as will be seen from the photographs, some of the children were a little fearful of us, especially when it came to being photographed. Others were clamouring to have their photograph taken.

Each class sang a song or did a recitation for us, to show how well they were learning to speak English (English is the second language of most Gambians).

The final class was the new intake of four and five year olds who had started school three days before.

On entering the classroom they all rushed forward shouting 'Two bob, Two bob'. (the Gambian name for all white men). Mr. Barry was somewhat embarrassed, especially when he had difficulty restoring order. He explained that after only three days they had not yet learned to sit at their desks.

It was the sight of these tiny children, all dressed in their school uniform that brought a lump to my throat. I confess that it was a very emotional experience.

For a small group of dedicated people in Huntly and Rhynie to work selflelssly for children such as these. Children living thousands of miles away and who have nothing is a truly remarkable thing.

I only wish more people who help Books Abroad could have been there as I can think of no better motivation.

Mr. Barry took us to the library, and there were the Tunnocks Tea Cakes boxes from Books Abroad. The books had only just arrived and were still being unpacked. He informed us that the library is not only used by the school, but is open to all children and adults in the area and is well used.

Next he showed us the well, which was sponsored by another charity and which provides clean drinking water.

Finally we visited the 'canteen' this comprised an open fire place on which was sited a cauldron containing what looked like porridge, being stirred with a huge ladle by the school cook. Every child at the school is provided with a free meal at dinnertime.

We had no wish to overstay our welcome as we had undoubtedly disrupted the school day.

As we bumped down the potholed track Mr. Barry stood at the school gate and waved us goodbye.

On the wall of the school was the school motto 'Love for Mankind'.

I don't know if Books Abroad has a motto, but I think we would be hard pressed to find a better one.

The Strand School is just one of hundreds of schools supported by Books Abroad. That one visit to that one school convinced me that not only is the work of Books Abroad worthwhile, but it is genuinely appreciated.

During our visit to the Gambia, we concluded that Africa faces overwhelming problems and we could not conceive a solution to those problems, such is their enormity. However, there is no doubt whatsoever that education has to form the major part of any solution. The work being undertaken by Books Abroad is invaluable.

Malcolm Hodgson