Bike Trek

A couple of weeks ago I went to a few villages in my area to teach how to make mosquito repellant out of local materials.  All it takes is soap, oil and some specific leaves from around the area to make a batch of this "neem cream."  Here, getting bitten by mosquitoes is not only uncomfortable- it's a health issue because malaria is spread through mosquito bites.  So for these dual reasons, people are enthusiastic to learn about "tule ay bawolop" as we call it in Salliyaa.  I went by bike and was escorted by a man from a village near mine who worked basically as my assistant for the trek.  He set up all the engagements and showed me how to get to the villages he had talked to.  This was originally going to be a one-village, one-day trek, but Ablie got enthusiastic on the scheduling so it expanded to a 2-day, three-village trek.

This is perhaps the nicest road in the country.  This is an offshoot of the Gambia's south bank highway, and all the villages I went to are off of this road.......

Some of them way off the nice road.  Here we are wading through a flooded rice field with our bikes to get to waht is supposed to be our first village.

Still on the way...

 

Things don't always go as planned in the first village.  It was funny- this village that had been our original target bailed on our meetings twice!  This is a picture of the second day when we have resorted to searching for women in their rice fields asking why they aren't showing up for the meeting they scheduled.  This is my frustrated face and Ablie's 'what is she doing now? I am trying to talk' face.

 

This village was the first where I actually got to do the demonstration.  The location was really picturesque, but the people didn't speak any jola so I was really glad Ablie was there to translate into Woloof.

 

Here I am with some of the participants.  The girls on my right are shaving up bars of soap to add to the recepie.  The people from this village were so nice and really came out for the demonstration.  I really wish i could understand them so I could do work there more often. 

 

Finishing up the mixing and getting ready to distribute. A man from this village actually came to Salliyaa to thank us the next day for teaching this in his village.  He told us how well it worked and how excited the whole village was about knowing how to make neem cream.  Its great to hear that something made of things everyone can get locally for a reasonable price is actually working!  Hopefully when I go around on a follow-up visit everyone will have made a new batch when they ran out.  I'll keep my fingers crossed!