alive and well and TOTALLY relaxed

back to the old haunt in fajara having dropped jason off at the airport after a wonderfully relaxing week together. it's strange to know he's still sitting in the banjul airport as i type this, so close, yet so far.

first of all - AGAIN, thank you for your generosity - money continues to pour into my account making this nursery a reality and i am fired up to get back to the village and let them know it's 'game ON' !! seriously, we are well on the way to everything we want and need and hopefully even more in the pot for potential projects (like, oh, funding a pump so that the school can water their own garden project and have food for lunch!) so THANK YOU to everyone who has made a donation - it will go a LONG way here! and to those who would still like to give, please do, follow the blog post below for how you can help!

and - (no pressure jason) - but jason said he'd get some pictures up here on sunday when he returns - so watch this space for pictures of my compound, the village, the nursery project, the school, and other snaps of african life. he may also write a guest column on his experience this last week - so look out for that too.

it was a lovely week. now that he's gone, it feels like it flew by - but actually, we both commented on how the time was going by relatively slowly. though everything goes by relatively slowly in the gambia. i picked him up from the airport and we drove to the hotel bungalows i'd booked for two nights on the beach in fajara. on sunday we got a taxi into the village where everyone was excited to see him and meet him, shouting 'joysun joysun' at him most of the day in their high pitched voices. it was (i thought) a perfect day, because not much was going on - so it was a chance for him to see a typical day in the life. in fact, it was sunday and we were meant to work on the nursery - but a grandmother in the village had died that morning and they were burying her at 5pm (muslims don't wait, they get them in the ground straightaway), and there was another funeral ceremony for someone who had died 40 days earlier (i think the mourning lasts for 40 days - but not sure of the background on that one) - so in fact, ebrima told me, it was a sad day in the village so no one could work on the nursery. but this afforded us much more time under the mango tree. jainaba went all out with an amazing chicken lunch for jason and me (they ate fish, as usual) and we had attaya and another sweet milk drink (lei), he got to meet all the kids and (i think) also fell in love with little fatou sarr. no adoption plans underway (yet) - though we talked about sponsorship a lot.

monday i took him to school for a quick lesson (spelling test and a few songs)so he could see my class before we had to catch the gellah gellah to brikama. he could hardly fit into the seat of the gellah gellah with his long legs so thereafter, we decided taxis were worth the extra cost for legroom! but at least he got the experience. we then went to the tailor to pick up a few dresses and skirts i'd had made, and talked ourselves into getting him an african outfit made as well. (though have both since decided he should probably not wear it on the streets of milwaukee, nice pj's though!)

and from brikama, went to sandale eco-resort where we instantly decided that we'd stay four nights instead of the three we'd booked. i'll let jason describe that in more detail, but suffice it to say, it was absolutely amazing - probably one of the coolest places i've ever stayed - and we were the ONLY guests. literally. so we had at least 5 full time staff looking after us, breakfast, lunch and dinner. our own private chef every night. the beach was steps away down a seashell lined pathway and we had our own private dipping pool. it's not officially open yet ... so they are viewing this season as a training - but we were happy to let them practice on us!

lots of food for thought for us this week. and it was fun to watch jason's mind whirring about everything one could do to solve issues and alleviate extremities (a combination of a good heart, a generous spirit and a top-notch MBA, methinks) - and then to see him understand, through talking to the africans we met on the journey, some of the small complexities i've been facing here and how things aren't always so simple. or more to the point, logical. we had some great conversations about the state of the world, and what we could do and should do, as americans, as humans and now as friends.

i read a lovely quote in a book my mother sent (thank mom!) about a migrant worker's experience in california that really stuck with me about my time here in africa. it said something (paraphrasing badly as i sent the book home with jason when i finished it) along the lines of 'do not confuse simplicity with poverty, nor convenience with wealth.' of course money is desperately needed here, and we cannot igore the plight of the developing world simply because we do not share the same doorstep, but there are some ways in which these africans are far richer than we in the west. we saw that in the beauty of the untamed beaches, the smiles of the villagers, the eagerness at which they truly want to know us, our beautiful names and where we come from.

we also had some nice red wine, a few julbrews and some amazing candlelit dinners. all in all - i think it was as much of africa as was possible to taste in seven short days.

and now i return to my african reality. one final night here in town catching up with my friend sandra and her 79-year old british sugar daddy (not really, but she does have a older friend and we do let him buy us a drink now and again). and tomorrow will be back to makumbaya in a gellah gellah (no more taxis) where i will resume work in full force on the nursery project.

again, thanks to those following me on this journey and supporting me in your thoughts, well wishes and contributions!