The sounds of Africa

Waking in the morning to the sounds of rural Africa is amazing.  The first sounds I hear are the loud speakers from the local mosque (a block away).  It starts with Allah and goes on from there.  I obviously do not understand what they are saying since it is Arabic but it does continue for quite awhile.  That is enough to start the animals.  The roosters have to greet the morning of course and there are a lot of roosters.  At this point the donkey behind my compound feels the need to bray, which is a sound that has to be heard to be believed.  Some times it sounds like the donkey is in pain and others it sounds like it is angry.  We were walking down the road one day and a donkey came out into the road and gave us his opinion of the toubabs (white people) walking down the street.  I also had a day in which the donkey was calling to another one and it was answering, all in the horrible sounding braying.  

The donkey(s) are then joined by the bird calls.  There are so many different calls.  One of them sounds like it is saying How are you in Wolof.  The insects join in the chorus, buzzing and humming, and then the chickens add their own two cents.  BTW, chickens in The Gambia are completely free range.  They are free to wander in and out of the compound and just come into a holding area for the night.  From what I have seen the people generally do not eat the eggs.  They just grow more chickens.  The eggs we eat are actually imported from Holland.  Don't ask me why that is just how it is.

I have my first day at the World Food Programme tomorrow.  I am sure that I will have a lot to say about that.