Well my work is really under way these days, been 'on trek' for the last couple of weeks, speaking to the teachers in the furthest regions, getting to know their chat. So that explains what my job is, researching teacher motivation and anyone who wants much more information on that can read the final outcome of the project, maybe by April 2007. The thing is that now that I'm going around trying to find out the less good things about the job and get information on that, I may not be the best listener to people's job issues when I get home, but I will try! It has been interesting stuff, got to go to schools right out in the 'bush' and to one of the furthest up towns in the Gambia so I've been seeing a lot, and next Sunday I'll be off again to cover another couple of regions, I'm mighty busy these days, it's not easy – I'm not sure I'm used to it! Also spent the day yesterday going round nursery schools where one of my friends has organised a project to decorate and build learning aids for nursery schools by the higher grade children as part of their assignment. This was great to see as it really showed a lot of talent in the kids which may not always be brought out in the classroom. It was also very good in two areas, it will provide well decorated nurseries with some idea of toys where previously they were likely to be the worst class in the school (the wee ones don't matter so much) and it gives older ones the chance to make things that they get told about during their technical lessons but never get the chance to do. So I thought I'd mention that cos I think its quite an impressive wee thing to get going and it does all look really great.

So after being away for so long my cat appears still to love me, straight in the house as soon as I got home and I've given her sardines to ensure she forgives me for abandoning her. I had asked my VSO neighbour to give her a thought and some food while I was away but he said he couldn't promise anything!

So since I love writing about journeys this one seemed somehow interesting (I think I like writing about journeys since I'm sitting for so long thinking about what's happening). It took me over 12 hours to go 300km, hows that for timing? Journey started on the back of a motorbike (I'm enjoying scooting about on the back of one of them – up country VSOs all get motorbikes). Then a ferry and a transit through the island, at this point I somehow messed up because possibly if I'd sat still I might have got a vehicle there that would take me all the way but I crossed back to the mainland and there was no people there needing a vehicle, I sat for a couple of hours waiting to see if we could fill up a seven seater car, it turns out we couldn't so the driver decided he would go down tomorrow instead, but he did take me to the next town, where there was no vehicles going all the way so I had to wait a few hours to get something that would take me half way – it was one of these geli geli's that i wrote about before, fit five people where three would be comfy and the like. But since it was just going a short distance its all about people getting on and off, negotiation's for the tons of chilli's to be put on top, the sheep goes on top but the chickens get to come inside. This is all fine but my only worry is if I get to the town with the ferry that takes us back to the capital and the ferry has stopped running then I have a problem, in each other town I stopped I had another volunteer or the like I could stay with so it would be ok if I couldn't get any further, but not in Barra and its one of those places that I don't think caters for hotels of the class I would expect! But i got there and it was all fine and dandy. It was funny on the last half of the journey there was a little boy (12 at the very most but surely less) in the back with me, although he paid the fare like everyone he kept getting sat on top of the bags of rice and the like so that another person could fit in as well. It turns out the little boy is from Senegal and is being sent down to a town somehow near me but which is not easy to get to from where we started and he's making the journey alone. When we reached the ferry the apprentie (the boy who organises passengers, collects the fare, similar to a conductor but oh so different!) had to find someone going the same way to be able to take him, it just seemed a little bit amazing to me the trust in strangers and the fact that that little boy will make it to the compound he is supposed to and will be taken there by someone he and his family do not know. As the journey went on I got more tired with the regular stops and on, offs of different people, we stopped somewhere and a man got on and he was saying wait there is someone coming (different language so thats all I got) and I was thinking, this is getting a bit much there is no seat, there is no other room either but then a nurse or someone brought out a little boy who was very sick and he was having to be transferred from one small health centre to another in this vehicle, he still had his little drip needle in his hand. The conversation around him was asking about the ambulance (the vehicle the health centre he came from had) but from my understanding of what was happening there was no fuel for that vehicle so this is the only way he could get there. And after making the journey I'm not sure what more would be offered where we dropped them, it still seemed like a small health centre when it was perhaps a hospital that was in order, but what can people do.

So after that splurge of thoughts, its off to bed for me, its been a tiring day in many ways!