It's Nice to Be Nice in Gambia: Book Launch

I can't believe it's already been 2 weeks since my last post, where does time go!? So I have been meaning to tell you all about my book launch with was held a 10 days ago at Tanji Lower Basic School. Tanji is a fishing village about a 20 minute drive south along the coast. This is the first real event (apart from mural paintings and drama performances) that I've organized here and although it really wasn't a big event it took LOTS of organization. The main hitch was funding so it took quite a while to work out all the money but thanks to a small grant, cheap food, drink donations and some money from my family I managed to get it all together...

Students came from 8 different coastal schools

The morning started with a hectic trip with Sheriff, a guy in my office who helps out with... well anything really. So sor the past 3 weeks Sheriff had been calling "a guy" who was organizing 7 buses for us to rent in order to transport all the attending students to the event. Despite the multiple calls when I arrived at 8am to meet them all at the "garage" (also known as an area on the side of the road that is packed with people, buses, animals, sellers etc.) nothing was really organized. It was a little (ok very) crazy and I had little hope that the 7 drivers were going to make it to the various schools and the get the kids to Tanji but by some miracle they all turned up - even on time!

"Bakary in the boat"

I headed down to Tanji - via a very rushed trip to the supermarket to get last minute ice for the drinks - and everything started to come together. People began arriving, all the kids were there, the school was ready and we managed to start only 1 hour late which by Gambian standards is a good effort. Luckily I had hired a drummer who kept the crowd entertained and the students dancing. The event began with various speeches from the head of WWF here, representatives from the education department, environment department, the US embassy, myself and the Tanji Principal - who spontaneously broke into song at the end! Except for the wind blowing sand everywhere and the increasingly hot sun all was OK - some of the speeches were a little long but we managed to wake the crowd up with a entertaining drama interpretation of Bakary and The Dolphin by a local drama group. Despite my homemade costumes they were wonderful and even finished with a song.

The Gambian Youth Actors Association

All the press arrived and this week Bakary and The Dolphin has been on TV, in multiple papers and I even read it on the radio. So I am happy to report that everything is going to plan. Gambian events are fairly relaxed so it didn't matter that we started late or that we had to move the main table several times because of the sun. After the event, food and drinks were served and things started to get a little hectic, especially around the free sodas... luckily the principal welcomed the chance to take control and I was able to quietly escape knowing that everyone was happy.