Up the River Gambia

Fifth report 11 November 1998

Hi, we've just set off up the Gambia River this morning.  We have to make 60 miles by engine and so far the tide should have turned to help us but it doesn't show yet.  (I suppose it's slack and the river current is just against us.)

So far, since we arrived ahead of schedule (always well in a sailing boat) we have been made very welcome by the people of this country.  First we were met by a little work boat on Wednesday evening (4/11/98) and a lot of palaver about being met by all sorts of officials.  Happily, since we'd been at sea for three days and it was nearly midnight, this drew out so long that it was all postponed till the morning!

Sight Savers International made us very welcome and smoothed the path with immigration and customs in view of the aid we have on board for their hospitals.   We were given the weekend off, but Monday morning stared with a bang, by us going to the official opening of National Blindness Awareness Week, timed to coincide with our arrival.  We were welcomed by the Director of Health, and then by the lady Vice President, who made the official launch of the week on TV with us there! After that Dr Malaki the senior Eye Surgeon at Banjul's Royal Victoria Hospital showed us round and explained the cataract lens replacement operation his team will perform on 200 people over the course of the week.

Yesterday, Tuesday we went to the Campama blind school here in Banjul were the children sang songs and made us welcome.  They recently won a national singing competition and we got to join in with "If you're Happy and You know it"! 

So today we have to move up river.  The eye teams come by car and can do the 100 miles in a few hours.  We need two or three days, partly because the river is flowing very fast when the tide is against us, due to the continued rainfall In Guinea, up stream.  As for us, we've literally seen no rain since Brest 3 months ago!

The weather is dry and hot with little air so it stays about 30 degrees most of the time.  As there are Malaria carrying mosquitoes about we're all on Lariam tablets, with no side affects we can report, but even so we stay below decks after dusk, and have nets over all the hatches, which reduce air flow even more! What with the Sight Savers meetings, work has ground to a halt on most fronts, though the girls are persevering with their schooling when they can.  As for me, you can see I've been slow in keeping the website up to date, although I think Suzy has put in a piece. More when we have been up river, unless we get stuck on a sand bank on the way!!!

All the best from Loquax in Banjul, The Gambia