3rd March 2019
It was William’s birthday today and we all went to Sheraton Hotel for their famous Sunday Brunch Buffet. We teased him about it being a birthday to remember because of all the tumultuous happenings that led up to the weekend: the fracas on Friday, the farcical proceedings and the fallout from that – i.e. – school having to be closed on Monday 4th and Tuesday 5th March in order to buy time to file a restraining order on the court injunction to re-admit the expelled student to Marina school – before re-opening school on Wednesday 6th March.
We had a good time laughing over what had happened over the past 48 hours and joshing William about how he might well have ended up in a Gambian prison! However, we all felt an undercurrent of apprehension because it can be extremely nerve wracking to be hauled up to a court of law and accused of wrongdoing when one is completely innocent and a foreigner in the country. Suddenly one feels very naked and vulnerable!
William has taken it very well and has shown admirable restraint and fortitude throughout the entire episode. However, it must be terrible to be out on bail in alien territory for a crime he did not commit and have his freedom of movement curtailed since he is not allowed to leave the country until the next hearing on March 18th.
When I messaged the news on WhatsApp to Lokumalli and Mahangu, they were aghast. Loku gave me some excellent legal advice (Paul thinks Ruvan leads a double life – as a laid back university lecturer by day and a very astute legal eagle by night – hehe…) and Mahangu made me laugh out loud by commenting that I must be feeling right at home in The Gambia because of all our national experience of injustice in Sri Lanka…..!
4th March 2019
We woke up late as we didn’t have to go into school today. Paul went in to meet the senior management team of the Junior School to bring them up to speed on what was happening.
There is an emergency PTA meeting called for this afternoon where parents and teachers will gather together in the main school hall to discuss their options and what the school strategy will be if the parent still insists on forcibly sending her expelled son to school when we re-open on Wednesday 6th March.
5th March 2019
Today Paul is accompanying William to the British High Commission (which is just around the corner from where we live) for an appointment with the High Commissioner whom they both met at a dinner hosted by Prince Charles when he and Camilla arrived in The Gambia last November on a royal tour of west Africa. They are trying to ensure that William’s British citizenship will help protect him from whatever injustice is being hatched against him by the parent of the expelled boy.
6th March 2019
The teachers all heaved a big sigh of relief when the expelled boy did not turn up at the school gate this morning. Life at Marina has returned to normal – thank goodness! The High School students slipped quickly back into their exam routine and the school day proceeded smoothly and ended with our usual After School Club programme.