9th February 2019
We live in a suburb of Banjul, the capital city of The Gambia, in a district called Fajara. It’s a beautiful neighbourhood of blue skies and white sandy lanes that criss cross each other under towering flamboyant trees.
There is very little traffic here so the silence that lies over the area is only broken in the mornings by the plaintive bleating of a flock of goats passing by or the crowing of a rooster in the distance. In the evenings the mullah’s call to prayer sometimes echoes from a mosque in the neighbourhood and you occasionally hear drums beating at night if there is a party or a wedding celebration.
Jordan and his friend Kenny strolling along the sandy lanes of Fajara bringing back memories of a childhood and adolescence spent walking the gravel lanes of suburbia growing up with my brothers and cousins in Nugegoda in the sixties and seventies.
These bright orange flowers have blossomed overnight to smother the entrance to Marina International Junior School which is only a five-minute walk away from where we live.
Paul, Rai and I often spend time at the Junior School during the weekends brightening it up with lots of displays. This is one of our efforts!
We drop in at Mama’s at least once a week. It is an open-air cafe and bar set in a big garden with spreading trees and has a lovely laid back atmosphere by day and night.
In the neighbourhood is also this run-down place on the verge of collapse……
