18th March 2019
Tonight we’re celebrating the Head of High School’s release from the case filed against him in the Banjul High Court.
The teachers all turned out in full force at the High School early morning and then went to Banjul in time for the 9:30 am court hearing. We all crowded into the courtroom but were then asked to go upstairs to Court Room No: 1 which was a much more spacious one that could accommodate the large numbers of people who had come to the hearing.
The lawyers presented their arguments but the judge wanted to deal with one thing at a time and delivered a very wise decision regarding the contempt of court that had been accidentally committed on the 1st of March. He released the Head of High School from the bail that he had been granted on the occasion of the first hearing and stated that he need no longer appear in court because the case would be taken up in future hearings by the lawyers who represented the school.
Paul and I were also very happy that water from the mains had been pumped into our two big water tanks last night and we had running water again (albeit briefly) after three days of using water stored in buckets.
What happened was that early this morning before we left for school and the courts, our power supply short-circuited and we were without electricity for most of the day. Since there was no electricity, there was no way for the water in the tanks to be pumped into our taps – hence we were back to using water from our buckets!
It sometimes feels like we live from one disaster to another here in The Gambia!
However, all’s well that ends well and by evening we had a NAWEC electrician called Bakary come in and fix our electrics – and although there was a short power cut soon afterwards – we were thrilled when the fans started working again and we could pour ourselves a cup of tea!
It has been a hectic and hair-raising two weeks with the severe lack of water from the mains supply, an increasing number of power outages, the court case, mid-year examinations and Paul’s sister & brother-in-law visiting us in The Gambia.
So we’re happy to be home free now!