At Last

I know I've been silent for a while. Building has been carrying on throughout the year, and I've been mainly here, calling in on Skype, and feeling some pressure! We have our first group coming in December, and I'm excited about being in Gambia again. I enjoy our seasons here, but its always such a buzz to get that blast of heat as you get off the plane, and be suddenly strolling around without masses of clothes. !
Looking forward to seeing my American friends who are coming, and longing to swim in my neighbours pool!
I'm hoping to spend time in the balafon village, Welingara and hang out under the hot tin roof with all the children and elders watching my progress.
I was looking at the photos taken in Tripoli last December especially the ones taken under the HUGE portrait of Gadaffi in the airport waiting room. I remember thinking what an amazing people, Libya rocks! A lot has happened since then.
Soon I will have some photos to show of the new buildings.

Now What?

So after the holidays..some of the men are now back on the land. Its getting harder and harder to feel like I know whats going on. Building by phone? It cant be. I feel a trip looming, oh good. No really, because the grasses, they need to be cut now, for the roof, and where to put them? We have no floors in the houses yet, and the pipes for the showers need to be laid, before this can happen. And the rains, you see, the rains will be coming, and so...I have to get there soon, and just look ar the work, say hello to everyone. Hmm all three of them. What started out as a group of seven guys, well now its three, the head builder, and the other two ..But thats ok, as the big work is done.
When I imagined the project in Albreda, I always dreaded this part. The building part. It takes so long, its so well, material! I'm used to spirit people, not sacks of cement. hey well it must be good for me in some way....And then just when you think you've finished, theres more, always more money needed for increasingly smaller things. Even when the building is finished, then theres the beds beddings, and oh my god, the kitchen. Better not go there. I manage not to panick by just thinking of each next step. How many more readings will I have done by the time the rooves are on. Roofs? Not had to use the plural of that word much Yes we have eight small roofs and one huge one to go on the central roundhouse
Well I could drive myself mad thinking about grass cutting, or just give up and buy corrugate! The dreaded stuff. No I;ll wait a bit. The only two good things about corrugate are one,, it seems to last for ever and two, the sound of the rain beating down on it like thunder....

meanwhile here in Wale

February, nearly at the end of the winter. I've been organizing some events so I can pay for the next load of building work, and its going really well. I'm now doing monthly psychic days in Carmarthen, and tomorrow I start my first development group. A huge step yes, and I'm really thrilled to be working with a very exciting group of women who have booked for the 10 week course.
The builders are still at the Gamon in Senegal, not sure yet when they will be back, but I want to be ready for them.
On another note entirely I/ve asked my friend Lorraine to help me with fundraising  for a boat, one of the large fishing boats, and an outboard motor. We need our own transport, so that we can take people from the airport by river, and its a much more relaxing way to travel.We also want to take people to James Island a half hour boat journey from our land at Albreda.

FEB1st

Oops, I've been a bit absent from this blog for awhile, just getting my head down so I can send money to the guys at Albreda.  The walls are plastered and now just waiting for the plumber to come and lay the pipes. The builders are going off for a week to the GAMON in Senegal, which is kind of like our Glastonbury Festival, or Edinburgh rolled into one. They'll be celebrating the birth of the prophet, with people coming from all over Africa, bringing stuff to sell. Its in Tivaouane, which is there home town.There will be lots of music and drumming, and the BIFAL Muslims will be out in force too, with their amazing clubs that they swing around you can hardly believe how they can lift them off the ground.
I'm missing Albreda though, and whilst spring is coming along ok here in WALES, its lovely in fact, but I miss that cool river Gambia, and the fresh fish and the lovely smiles and energy of the builders , and the  children, and all the people, goats, donkeys and chickens.
Grass hat been cut for when we are ready to thatch the houses. I'd like to be there then . With tickets at the silly price of £90 return, to the Gambia at the moment, that's with Thomas Cook, I could easily nip there in May, and take some stuff out with me too, like sheets. I fancy cotton sheets. Just about everything else is gettable from Gambia, like kitchen stuff, beds, doors. Oh maybe I'll bring some locks with me. It seems like you can only get Chinese locks in Gambia, and the are more like ones you get in crackers.
Its funny running a building project by phone, but now were getting used to it, so its strangely easy. Better not speak too soon, but really our builders there are amazing, and full of joy in their work. Lovely vibes in the walls and floors, will be there for us to draw on when we come.

Three weeks later

Unable to get any connection for this blog...three weeks later I'm back, snowed in and getting ready for Christamas,  I had a wonderful time at Albreda, and brought a team of builders from Senegal to the compound, and they are still there building. They are amazing, and everything is of course done by hand, in the boiling sun. They are incredibly professional and experienced, and the cement mix is very strong, as it will need to be against the salt thats in the water.
We have foundations dug for eight houses and one huge round house that goes in the middle, as well as and a cafe down by the water.
The round house is 15 metres across. I have to confess I really didnt know what a meter was, and found the variety of languages and currencies quite challenging.  French, Wollof , and English are the languages I can rely on a bit, and Dalasi, Cefa, pounds and dollars were reverberating. I finally got the hang of it.!
I know what a ton of cement looks like too, and we have so far used 14 tons of it, not to mention the sand and gravel.
My favourite was being visited by the fishermen who bring me shrimps, and I cant wait to share this incredibly fresh food, fish, fruit, and cllimate with my first guests next December

Just Beginning

Wow! this means "yes" in Wollof. Yes I have some money to go ahead with this project.  I'm calling it River Gamiba Roots
I've been dreaming it for a longtime now. Fatou, kind woman who kept watch over the land for me has passed away. I still sense her presence there, inviting me with her smile, and her bowl. I want to fill this bowl with all good things: for the village, for the visitors, and the children of the future.
The land is on the river Gambia, and opposite James Island. Twice weekly, tourist boats visit this place, where once slaves were transported, having been stolen from their homes and villages.
Celebrated in the book Roots, by Alex Haley, this village, Albreda Juffure, now has a slavery museum, a cafe, and an American statue with the caption "never again". Otherwise life goes on as usual in this quiet fishing village.
The land is visible on Google Earth, at Albreda Juffure, just to the left of the long jetty. You can see some trees in the corner.
Before houses can be built, we need to stop the water coming in, using rocks. My friends Batch Ngom and Modou Jobe are coming to meet me, and bringing a team of guys to help raise up the land and make it water safe. Batch is our inspirational djembe teacher, Modou Jobe will be supporting us with transport and translation.