Naming Ceremony and Halloween

 I was very lucky and was invited to a naming ceremony in a village outside Farafenni. One of the American peace corps host mother had given birth to a little girl. The tradition is that the woman should stay inside the first week after delivery, and then they have a big party and the baby get a name. This was a big celebration. Loads of people and loads of food.. In this bowl they have meat, vegetables and sauce at the bottom and rice on the top.

 The cooks. My engagement in gender equality meets certain challenges unfortunately. The women cooked for hours. When the food was ready, the men came and picked it up. Then the men ate, and when they were finished we women could eat. Then the women did the dishes.. Well, to be fair the men did slaughtered the cow. So they did actually contribute. But I wish everyone could eat at the same time anyway.

The best of Africa! Colors, smiles, dance and African drums.. Amazing! Check out the video and enjoy! I wish I could do these moves!

I was told that for one of the tribes (especially Wollof), the women have some long underwear under their skirt. When they want their husband to visit them for the night (men can have 1-4 wives and live in his own house or share his time between the wives), they lift up their skirt a little so he can see the underwear. During the dance they sometimes lifted their skirt up, but I didn't get the chance to see it unfortunately. I have heard that clothing is very pretty and I am still looking out for these pants!

 The American girls made a potato and cheddar soup that was sent from U.S and served it to the guest. Most of the Gambians did not like it. A old lady looked very angry after tasting it, she obviously didn't like it all! I loved it

I had a bug invasion some days ago. I always have some bugs in my room, especially cockroaches seems to settle here.. But this evening there were bugs everywhere. I kept on wiping the floor for two hours continually and the amount was not reduced. It was weird. I used a lot of insect spray and when I turned off the lights they finally decided to stop their invasion. Above are the dead insect that were lying on the floor the next day, killed by my precious insect spray.
 

I accidentally bumped in to a Norwegian couple -a doctor and a social worker, and a nurse and a surgeon from from England. This happened in my "missing-home-period" and meeting them was a huge comfort! The lady beside me made sure she gave me some "mummy-hugs"as she called it, cause she was sure I missed my mother:) And she was right, it was exactly what I needed! I loved to be able to speak some Norwegian as well. These people does an impressing job for for mercy ships in West Africa.

I went to Janjangbureh island with a group of peace corps to celebrate halloween. Watermelon was a good substitute for pumpkin. 

 Preparations

The locals does not know what halloween is so the peace corps people had some trouble explaining their families here what they were up to. And it seemed like we were entertaining the people on the island.

 

Some the best costumes. I will post a picture later that will make this costume make perfectly sense!

Dirty laundry. The Gambian way!

I was told about the party a couple of days before, and had little time to plan for the happening (my first halloweeen!). With some idea input from Lato, some fabric from the tailor and the rest taken from my "office" stationary, I went as my facebook profile.

Dinner at Sambas. These are my favorite hang-out friends and it will be very sad to leave them, Wesnic and her two kids.

In a little while...