Trip Diary 2010

Director, Shelby Tarutis', 2010 Journey to The Gambia
Shelby left Seattle to make a 2 month trip to The Gambia on February 5, 2010

February 12: - Made it to Dakar then overland to Gambia - no problem just a long dusty route. The ferry crossing was the worst - stressed animals, stressed people, overloaded trucks.  It took 5 tries  to make it dock. The weather is hot, hot. The evenings kind of chilly. I am tired but started working immediately.

Visited the Embassy and requested more visa pages - the French women at customs in Paris was so kind to say: "There's no place for me to stamp...you need more pages" ... pause ..... pause.....pause .....Do I turn around?  I thought........then I said, "you must be able to find a small corner", and she did reluctantly. A "whew" moment.

The office here needs renovating - ceiling tiles are rotted from the rains coming in through the roof, mattresses were thrown out because they were mildewed and the paint is faded with termite lines showing where they made home during the off season  ah, Africa. Will I get this done before the guests arrive - cheaply?

All for now...only an hour internet time today...more later.
love, For the Children,
Shelby

(Picture above is Shelby with her long time friend Kumina Jallow.  They met when Shelby was doing Peace Corps work in The Gambia in the 1980s.  They became fast friends and have been so ever since.  Kumina is a great supporter of GambiaHELP and Shelby.)
 

February 19: Hi from the Fam Sisters Internet Cafe. I have been busy deleting junk email - it even gets to me in The Gambia - only slower.  This cafe is down the street from the San Chaba office.  There are 4 computers that are working well.  I'm thrilled to have something so close.

Yesterday a mouse fell from my ceiling and scared me to death!   I'd never seen a mouse fly! 

I also had an adventure trying to charge the laptop. I fried the transformer or something. It's been a real trial getting it working again - note to self - bring extras parts next time.

Plans are to go up to Dankunku and surrounding villages on Mar 8th. We will stay 2-3 weeks up-country viewing projects and accepting proposals.  It is hard this year because I have to say no to so many projects - all good ones. The people are really crestfallen...processing my own feelings now.

Container due on Mar 15th. They did have it arriving in April, after I would have left. They pulled some strings and got the container moved onto another ship in Spain. Essa Camara is doing a wonderful job processing the duty waiver/port clearance. The guys at Book Production will provide a 4 wheel drive to get up-country.  Roads are so rough on cars here.  Given all the fares we pay for taxi transport could we could buy a vehicle?   Gambians tell me I can get a vehicle for $3.000 US dollars, but I have questions..

The Skills Center is opening when we get to Dankunku in March. A big party, drummers and dancing. I'm so lucky to have two photographers with me to take photos and videos.  Can hardly wait.

Shelby