Odds and Ends

It's so strange—you get used to everything!  I was standing in the lobby talking to people on my way home from dinner.  The power went out, its pitch black, nobody even mentioned it and we just kept up the conversation and the power came back on in a few minutes.  Three weeks ago, when the same thing happened, it was all we talked about and someone suggested that we carry our torches (flashlights) and we all thought that was a brilliant idea!

Talking to another team member,  I mentioned the lack of compassion and nurturing of the children here and she pointed out that they don’t have that luxury.  Getting through the day is hard and to be so emotionally involved can prove to be heartbreaking and would wear you out.  There is just too much to cope with here for women.

I went for a walk Sunday morning and the bumsters are out and about!  OMG, they are a persistent group of guys!  And they absolutely refuse to take “go away” as an answer to their constant harassment.  “White boss lady, you don’t think I harass you?”  “ I just want to be friends and just walk with you.”  “Why aren’t you nice?”   “It’s nice to be nice.”  That’s the motto of the bumsters—It’s nice to be nice!  .  I have found that I don’t make eye contact with people and sometimes feel like I’m missing part of the experience of Gambia.  It’s a shame, but it encourages the men that hound us constantly.  I can now walk from the hospital to the hotel and respond to “ hi, pretty lady, how are you?” with “fine, thanks” or just ignore them and never look anyplace except where I’m walking.  Now that everyone is used to Mercy Ships being in town, we hear requests for drugs that people can't afford to buy (for pretty legitimate reasons like asthma,  antibiotics and malaria), sidewalk consultations of all kinds of problems (some pretty funny!), and it really shows the lack of available health care in the country.

Tipping is not a custom here, but with all the tubabs, the Gambians have caught on to the fact that we do tip and what is a small amount to us is big money to them.  It’s almost time for our departure and our room cleaner and waiters have become very ingratiating. They make their presence known, smile, touch, smile, talk, smile, and hang around  more than usual.  I think it's demeaning to them and it bugs me and at the same time,  I feel so cheap to give the guy who's cleaned my room daily and served me coffee every morning the equivalent  of $3 for the month!   It used to be that the hotel was a refuge, now it just magnifies the have and have not-ness.  An Indian doctor from England said it is the residual of a colonial culture of master and servant--maybe.