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.