Culture

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It was a cool September night as they sat on the sofa after dinner, catching up on the day’s activities. It was amongst their favorite things to do after a hectic day. He would usually go on about work and she would about life in general.

He said to her that night with excitement running up and down his face, “The soil of this nation is all one needs to be rich you know. I wish I knew this a long time ago.” He continued with his examples of one retired civil servant here and there who has since retired to farming and is now living in ‘sutura’ and peace and a few others who have been making a living off our soil; especially women farmers who take care of their families with the soil’s reward.

Banjul was never a beautiful city, but it had character and charm. The architecture was poor, but the atmosphere was magnificent. It was dark half the time at night (GUC), but it had a bright spirit. Banjul was fun!

During the colonial era, Banjul was relatively clean and well maintained. The Board of Health (aka bodorfell) that was set up had strict health codes that were regularly enforced. Health inspectors routinely inspected homes, and fines were handed out to those who were found to be in violation. Inspectors were general unforgiving, and that forced Waa Banjul to be on their “cleaning toes” at all times. Nervousness filled the air in every home, as home inspections drew near. Even drinking water stored in “Ndals” were inspected, and the "Kamas" too. The inspections were thorough and the sanctions were stiff. Waa Banjul definitely had a legitimate reason to be nervous.

Lampedusa Early August 2010.

Damaso pulled away from his mother’s clutches, and ran towards a shaggy little doll that would later be labeled ‘fetish’ by Marian, his Italian grandmother. The shaggy doll rolled over his tiny toes as they touched the edge of the waves that washed the doll ashore, scaring and mesmerizing him simultaneously. He withdrew his toes from underneath the foreign object, stepped back and carefully eyed it before deciding to pick it up for further investigation.

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