A day in Gambia

It's Ramadan and in The Gambia the day begins early.  We get up at 4 am to prepare and eat a meal before our daily fast begins.  We might have rice porridge with sour milk and lots of sugar or bread along with tea.  Once we have eaten the meal, we have the 5 am prayers.  Our father goes to the mosque but we pray at home.  After prayer we go back to bed to nap before the rest of our day begins.  Once we get up we have many daily tasks -- sweeping the compound, taking the goats out and securing them with a rope around the leg and a stake in the ground, fetching drinking water in 13 liter bedongs (large plastic containers with a screw cap on the top), and fetching wash water from the well we have in our yard.  To fetch the drinking water I need to go to the public tap which is about 1/3 of a mile away.  Since 13 liters of water weighs a lot, I have to take a wheel barrow.  The tire is leaky so I usually have to pump it up before I go.  

After I return with water, I start washing clothes.  I do this sitting on a low stool in front of a big plastic washtub in the area in front of my house.  I use a bar soap made for laundry and an individual package if powdered detergent.  The water is cold and I use a brush to get the dirt out.  I wring the clothes out by hand and put them in another tub with rinse water and then wring them again.  Then I hang them on the clothesline.  Since it is the rainy season, I have to keep an eye on the weather and be ready to take the clothes off the line and put them in a tub if the rain is starting.  It can sometimes take two or more days to get the clothes dry.  

I don't have a kitchen so I go to the market every day to buy the ingredients for the meals I make.  Today I need vinegar and tomato sauce.  I go to the bitek (tiny shop that are all over the village) and the shopkeeper pours what I need into small plastic bags that he ties off with a knot.  I also buy some of the local bread that is made locally.  The baker has a large oven made from mud bricks and bakes hundreds of loaves every day.  These are sold for 5 dalasi each, about 17 cents each.  They resemble a standard baguette but are about half as long.  As the baker pulls them out of the oven he dumps them on the floor.  He brushes them with a brush as he loads them into cardboard boxes.  He straps the boxes on the back of bicycles that are used for delivery to the biteks.  If rain is threatening he will cover the boxes with plastic of various shapes and sizes.  

After I visit the bitek I go to the open air market. There I can see local produce for sale and my favorite staple Maggi cubes (Google them).  No meal is complete without at least one Maggi cube added.  The produce doesn't look much like I see in pictures from US markets.  Ours is much smaller and does not look so perfect.   I can also buy fish at the market.  Our fish comes from the river and is caught by my neighbors.  Some of them smoke their fish before they sell it.  I don't like the fish area because of all the flies but I often buy fish for our meals.  My favorite treat at the market is fried dough balls -- and I buy some for break fast.  My peace corps volunteer says they remind her of doughnuts.

After I shop I take a gelly gelly to Serekunda to sell mangoes that we raised in our compound.  I can get a better price for them in Serekunda than I can get at the local market, even after I pay for the gelly gelly.  Since it is Ramadan I do not have to fix food for the mid-day meal.  However I also do not get to drink any water and I am thirsty.

When I return home I clean the pans from last night's dinner.  I scour the pans using sand and water and soap to clean them.  Since I cook outside over a wood fire, I make a paste of soap and water that I rub on the clean pans.  This makes it easier to clean them the next day.

At about 6 pm I start making dinner.  I begin by splitting the firewood into pieces small enough to fit into the stove (think a large pot size stand with room for firewood underneath).  Once I have the fire going I start cooking.  It will take me about 3 hours to cook the dinner and I am feeling hungry and thirsty. Thankfully break fast is only 1 hour and 45 minutes away, when the sun is below the horizon.   

Finally it is break fast.  I have made tea with milk and sugar and bread and butter.   A special treat is ice water.  I bought a large piece of ice to cool the water.  Everyone is happy to break their fast.

My husband and family have gone to the mosque.  I remain behind to make sure the compound is secure but I say my prayers on a plastic mat.  When they return we will eat then dinner.  Then we will enjoy family time and go to bed at 11 pm.

It was a day in the life.