Gambians have a great sense of humor and make us laugh frequently, sometimes on purpose, and sometimes by miscommunication and mandenglish. Here are a few things we thought were funny lately:
When showing Sibou how to mix the dough for pancakes using a fork, she looked at me and with dead seriousness asks me, “What should you use if you do not have this type of spoon?” (I told her to use the beater she carved out of a tree branch the previous day).
The day Osama was killed; I asked Sibou if she knew who Osama Bin Ladin was. Her response: No, is he a president? (I think its great she doesn’t know who he is – why does she need to know that?)
Solo was talking about his good friend and told us “Me and him – Oh, he is the SIM card to my mobile phone”.
A woman braiding my hair stopped braiding and very seriously asked me what kind of oil I used to make my hair grow so long and how could she get some of it.
A Peace Corps trainer came to our site one day and left us with this proverb: “Habits are like hairs, you can shave them off, but they will always return”. Thanks Momado.
I was walking in the village with our 2 youngest kids and another young kid runs up and tries to hold my hand with Al Sana – he slaps her away and says ‘No, I own Kaddy’ and her response was ‘No, the village owns Kaddy!’
Mama Kewo (grandpa) was walking by our compound after Al Sana and Binta got their bath and I overheard them playfully insult Mama K by saying “Your mom’s a mosquito!” – in mandinka (I Na susulaa!)
Gambians love Obama. There is Obama stuff everywhere. We’ve seen obama attaya, obama oil lube, and lots of Obama shirts. One shirt had a picture of Obama that read “U.S.A. For President”, and another read “Obama, He touched everyone”.
Once during training village, Ben and another volunteer were walking around the village and were walking past a large, intimidating Gambian man. As they both passed him giving him the usual greetings, they noticed he was carrying a pink pre-teen girls back pack. Nicceeeeta!
Al Sana getting bathed.
Wrapped in fabric after bath time!
I hear a 'kong kong' at the door and see Al Sana standing there like this with his broom.
Sibou getting mangos from the tree with a stick with cashew trees in the background
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