Up country trip...

Before we all have to start work, VSO organised an up country trip so that the volunteers that are in the capital can experience life in the villages.  The trip was great fun! We all got to experience the ferry crossing from Banjul to Barra (which I will have to take when I want to visit the Kombo from Kerewan).  I was going to try to write something that would explain how manic the whole ferry situation was but I feel the photos tell a better story!  Previous volunteers were giving me advice about how to take my motorbike across… in a nutshell… squeeze yourself between two vehicles, pray they are not lorries, and don't panic if your bike doesn't start the other end… in fact I have been advised to make friends with the ferry guys at either end as they sometimes help you push it off if it doesn't start.  We went to a village called Juffure which is where Kunta Kinte came from (if anyone has read the book 'Roots' or remember it on TV) and also visited James Island where the slave traders kept the slaves before the middle voyage to America. It was a very interesting trip but parts were also very shocking and will stay with me for a while.