Kanilai International Cultural Festival

Hi to everyone in sunny Devon and Cornwall from sunny Gambia!

It's great to hear you've had some sunshine.  Thought I would tell you all about an amazing weekend I spent down in Kanilai, the home village of The President of The Gambia.

The Kanilai International Cultural Festival started last weekend and runs until 7th June. It is a showcase of the best of African culture along with other invited performers from overseas.

His Excellency generously throws open the gates of his grounds and offers this free festival to everyone.
I saw troupes of Gambian singers, dancers and performers representive of all the tribes along with the National Troupes from Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Mali and Mauritania.

It was simply amazing, a fantastic experience to be recommended to anyone visiting The Gambia.

This week Jermaine Jackson is performing a tribute to Michael Jackson at the Independence Stadium, another popular venue in the Gambia for National and International stars.

Tending the compound

Spent Saturday weeding, watering, sweeping and planting my very neglected compound. Sunday saw me with a dozen children sorting out boxes of books and resources, spring-cleaning the classroom and finding items to donate to other schools. This morning at the crack of dawn 20 bright faces appeared to carry 500 books to their school, Madiana Primary. I have donated lots of books to them and the teachers have organised a library system which is working really well. I also dropped off two huge boxes of Maths resources to Brufut Secondary School this afternoon. This is all possible due the continued support of Trevor Anderson and the ladies at Oxfam on Mutley Plain who send us out boxes of books to help in our quest to improve literacy in The Gambia. Thank you Trevor and Co, it really is working!
Till next time
Debbie

The treats of home

I had a fabulous treat on Friday, courtesy of the lovely Adelia Chamberlain at Amber Health and Beauty, Mannamead. In my previous life, I used to visit Adelia frequently for relaxing massages, highly-effective but not quite so relaxing waxing and the most amazing pedicures. Since I moved out to The Gambia I have totally abandoned such wonderfully indulgent experiences and so I was ecstatic when Adelia invited me over to sample some of her latest treatments. Here is a picture of me being pampered with a delightful facial, which I have to say has visibly rejuvenated my sun-baked skin. With deft hands she cleverly reshaped my slug-like eyebrows using the threading method which was highly effective and made a dramatic difference to my droopy eyes. After a totally relaxing aromatherapy massage, I felt like a new person. Thank you Adelia, you knew how much I needed a treat after all the hard work in The Gambia and I enjoyed every moment. The treatments available at Amber are too numerous to list here but check out their website at www.amber.gb.net.
I can't write about Adelia without also mentioning her husband Frank and son Kieran. When we were organising the first container of charity goods going out to The Gambia in 2008, Kieran turned out loads of his unwanted clothes, books and other possessions and donated them to Gambian Projects. Frank made sure the whole family had helped us by selflessly giving up several hours of his time and energy to help pack the 40ft container. Frank, being Frank, took over the organisation of the packing and did a sterling job in half the time it would have taken had he not been present.
My heartfelt thanks to all three of you. If there were more people like you in the world, it would be a better place!