Caught in bed

Soundtrack: Tool – Lateralus

Things you normally take for granted in the Western world such as electricity and running water are not always available here in Africa. We have at least three to five power failures during the day and more often tap water is not present.
What I bet you don’t want to live your life as here in Africa is a donkey. It must be the worst thinkable, these creatures are probably one of the most hardworking animals in Africa, if not in the world and it looks like they are least appreciated. Back in Europe you will hardly see one, and if you do, farmers often have them for no reason what so ever. In Africa, the continent of the rocking sun, they are used by the farmers and village people for almost everything, mostly you see them on the side of the road pulling the cart full of luggage while the drivers in the carriage are  beating the shit out of them, while they are working hard underneath the burning sun. When these poor animals aren’t working they will be placed directly in the sun, with their front legs tied together so they can’t run away. If the donkey is really lucky it will be under a tree protected from the killing heat. Life as a donkey must be pretty shitty, especially in Africa, I recon they are hard animals to cope with the enviroment and the way they are treated. You also see starving dogs on the street with open wounds caused by fighting with other dogs for food to avoid starvation.
I didn’t expect to get my camera submerged in water while staying at David’s place, neither did I expect that we would have a break in into the house on a dodgy Saturday morning. When that was said I had a splendid time with David and family and expect to see the great doctor abroad in the future. David showed and teached me more of Gambia and Africa during the 17 days I stayed in Kololi compared to what I knew from the 2 months I had spent on the continent. David asked me what I wanted to see while I was there. My first answer was that I wasn’t interested in any tourist areas. Instead it ment seeing the hospital in Banjul where his Gambian brother Essa worked and doing a one day tour up country side.
Gambia is considered as one of the poorest countries in West Africa. The life expectancy age of its people is 58 years old. Many locals live on rice with sauce and if they are lucky they can afford some fish. Their homes if they have are small sheds with tin roofs where whole families live. The major income comes from tourist’s fishing which is almost taken over by Senegalese people and small farming.
David a 63 year old American guy who decided to change his  life and settle down in West Africa and make a difference. As I recall by reading some of his book called Toubab, his mum had told him “I would like to save the world, but someone else has to do Africa. David had written “Mum I got your covered”. David was a warm person who took great care of me, but I also like to think that I gave him something back for the days I spend at his house and with his family. I liked his great sense of humor, always up for a funny story, a joke or play for me on his old guitar from his days as a protester against the Vietnam war. Normally I reckon not many people would do it like David, but because of him and his help, effort and devotion to the Gambian people, things are improving. During his years living in Gambia David was adopted by a poor Gambian family living in the slums of Banjul and he got married with a lovely Fulla woman named Binta from Guinee Conakry.
David is a CEO for WAME a non profit organisation operating in West African countries (West Africa Medicine & Education) beside of that he also do charity for the Danish Gambian Friends Organisation.
While staying in Kololi, Ian from UK showed up. The day I left Palma del Río in Spain, this great fella wrote me an email to see if I were up for some company. Ian was 10 days behind me which meant I could hang out in Kololi with David for some time, before Ian would get his butt down here on his Yamaha XT660Z Tenere. It is not the first time Ian has travelled for a long period. He has done the east way around the globe to New York with Kudu and has good knowledge of travelling and how to behave among the locals. This time Ian is getting the full value for his money as he is on his own and can decide what to do. Last time he travelled in a large group of 16 people. Now he is living out his own journey and on his own, except from my interference from time to time ;oP
Ian a fire fighter from Heathrow airport is not just any typical British bloke, he is probably the best company I could have wished for. He defiantly shows potential to become a great friend once we spit up in Cape Town in June and he fly back home. Though he is an old bastard with 36 years on his passport I think we have a lot in common. Good sense of humour, probably as sick as it can be, which fits mine pretty good and with the same kind of fascination of birds as I. I recon David can agree on that. When it comes to navigation Ian is not the guy you want to guide you home in a foreign city late night, not even in daytime. On the fifth day he was in Kololi we went over to Ray’s place. Ray is a pensioned bloke living in Gambia with a young bird. Unfortunately he broke his hip 9 weeks ago and was mistreated on one of many bad medical clinics in Gambia. Ian decided to stay with his fellow country man while I wanted to head home and hit the sack at David’s place. Two hours later I am starting to get SMS’s and calls from Ian that he is lost in Kololi. I had specifically given him clear instructions 3-4 times before I went home, and still the British trail-finder gets lots in the total opposite end of town. I ended up hunting him down in a wrecked Peugeot 205 in the middle of the night, finding him in  a gas station down the Kololi main road sitting with the locals. After that I didn’t have much fate in Ian’s navigation skills, and instead kept wondered how the bloke found his way down to Gambia?
Most of the mornings we spend together with Lilly a girlfriend of Binta living nearby of compound. Lilly was out of work and Ian and I were longing for some breakfast that looked just a little bit like the full English. She was a champ doing the breakfast for us each morning and made quite a few bucks on it as well, as we decided to pay her 100 Dalashi each morning for   her effort. A Gambian salary can go as low as 600 Dalashi per month which is 16 Euro, if you are one of the lucky few Gambians to have a job. I once thought that Gambia was the most nicest country in West Africa, I now know that I am wrong. It is destroyed by too many tourists. Many bumsters hang around on the street corners and in the tourist areas looking out for some quick earned money due to a stupid tourist coming by. It is said to be the paradise for divorced women looking for a good time. Just as many men are  seen walking around with Gambian women looking for a better life in Europe. For me it doesn’t look like real love, it rather looks like a solution for getting a better life, not saying I would be any different if I were in the situation of the Gambian people. But what that made me feel most sick, was seeing how some white men treats the black women in the discotec’s when I took David’s wife and friends out for an evening. It was like walking into a butcher’s shop looking on what kind of meat you want. But at least show a little dignity you bloody Dutch guy doing the Netherland – Banjul challenge.
A couple of days before Ian and I were ready to pick up our Nigerian visa and start the bikes up, we woke up by David and Binta talking loudly in the morning. David came into our room saying “Guys, somebody has busted into the house”. We immediately got out of bed. I felt it like it was a bad movie, but soon realized that this was the real thing. We both got our head torch lights on and went out to take a look in the garden. The bikes were still there, and everything seemed to be okay, even the gate into the compound looked as no one had gone through. Back into the house I quickly scanned the room, it looked  messy like we had left it before we went to bed. Only thing that didn’t seem correct was the position of my iPod, they had tried to steal it, but dropped it close to the door, before they had fleed out of the door. Instead they had disconnected David’s laptop , where the computer had been. The guy most have had balls the size of coco nuts and just as hard to do a job like that while two big blokes like Ian and me were sleeping in the same room half a meter from the computer. In fact I heard him or they come into the room because of the noise from the door, but thought it was David coming in to work on his computer as he so often did during his sleepless nights. I am sure it must have been some people with knowledge to the house and that we and the laptop where there. If we were there it probably ment the possibilities of getting a big score. Next day Ian ordered and paid for a new laptop for David due to his financial situation which I tought was a beautiful move from Ian.