Dear Friends and Family, The internet cafe in the village closes very soon so the team has written up a few words of wisdom and funny memoirs by which we have come to know The Gambia. We hope you enjoy them :)


YOU KNOW YOU ARE IN THE GAMBIA WHEN......

• Wild boars charge you from the underbrush and you scream, thinking it is a pack of wild crocodiles. --Kathryn
• A baker's father pays for his small daughters eye medication with six loaves of bread. ---Dr. Jarvis
• You take a shower our of a bucket while still in your clothes in front of a bunch of villagers.---Traci
• Alll articles of clothing, including underwear becomes communal, because your airline decides to go on strike and not transfer your luggage.--Amanda
• The ocean is a five minute walk away, but you have to walk through a chest high river to reach it.---Luella
• All of the children are waiting outside the school gate for two hours before school starts just so they can be the first to see the "two bobs" (white people), even though they may have a several mile walk to school.---April
• You sleep with a bat in your room, but its alright because you have a mosquito net.---Katherine Zarbano
• You shower with a blanket taken from the airport and find it normal to see a kid drinking water from a windex bottle.---Sarah
• You get carried into a canoe to cross from Banjul to Barra and a bird poops on you.---Amanda Yoczik
• You wash your hair with bar soap and dry yourself with a t-shirt, but are incredibly grateful for the shower.--Lori
• When your heart is filled with more love than you thought possible.---Lori
• When you have to wait 40 minutes to flush the toilet.---Olu
• When you start using blankets as clothing because you havent changed in five days.---Courtney
• When you become a pro at hand washing your clothes.--Tori
• When you are trying to dance and all the children are laughing at you.---Ziana
• When regardless of all this you do not want to leave.--Ziana
• You teach nursery children how to play Simon Says and they are all laughing at you because you look ridiculous.---Amanda
• When a bat nose dives your mosquito net and almost hits your face.---Chelsea

And thats not all....nope. We look forward to telling you the rest of our stories....after we shower off the stink of nearly a week :)

--Sarah Azevedo