So the season begins; to my surprise about 500 people had come to watch, it was quite a sight playing with the stadium towering over the pitch with the sun on its way down. Our first opponents included some players who play in the Gambian football league; it was to be a tough contest with plenty of chances, sadly the first half finished 0-0. Second half was time to pounce with half an hour left we brought on another striker and played 3 upfront. Unfortunately although we were dominating it looked like we would never score until alas with 2 minutes to go “Big Moma” broke free of the defence and chipped the ball over the keeper an into the net… GOALLLLLLLL!!! The crowd went wild all 300 of the Soul Samba fans were cheering and drumming, children charged onto the pitch, the goal celebrations went on for about 5 minutes before the last minute of football was actually played. The final whistle went; yes relief and sheer joy was the reward for a solid performance. After the game we paraded through the streets back to the club compound for a mini celebration of drumming and dancing.
My next regional visit was West Coast where I was based in Brikama, which is the largest town in the Gambia with many people requiring help. The people I am working with are nice, Mr Joof “Boss Man”, Mr Jeng (I can’t pronounce his actual name), and Musu Bah “The lovely Fula”. Brikama is by far the poorest place I have been to, the majority of the homes I inspected reminded me of derelict medieval forts as they had uneaven stony flaws and small dirty mattresses to sleep on, sometimes the water would come up through the floor; although this is their own fault as they are living on marsh land which is still used to cultivate rice. I got the chance to visit the Brikama craft market, which is apparently the best in the Gambia, here I saw the men carving various items. I used my fantastic bartering skills to get myself a Mandinka game made called “Woro”, I got it personally made with my own design, I then got myself a beautiful little wooden box. After going back to the office we chilled and drank attaya, which is they’re version of green tea, it is very sweet and is drunk from a shot glass. It is quite a sight to see it being prepared, and Mr Jeng is an expert. Final day of my Brikama visit, I will be sad to leave and hope very much to return one day it is by far my favourite place in the Gambia so far; the people are friendly, you don’t get pestered, I can speak a bit of Mandinka as that is their first tongue, overall it just has a really cool vibe.
Having had a busy week of training the team in fitness to the brink of death maybe, as they pleaded with me for a rest sometimes but like the dictator I am I pushed them harder. I think some appreciated it maybe or simply laughed because they had no other option. The day before our second game the training was short and relaxed so as the players would be good form for the match. Again the crowd was around 500 for the match, and on my way to the game I was recognized by people as the “Touba Coach” for Soul Samba, it seems that I am now famous in the area. However maybe my fame will disperse as a shocking first half saw us finish 1-0 down which was lucky we should have been down by 3 if the opposition hadn’t missed 2 open goals. After a stern half time talk the guys were sent out to attack attack attack! The second half performance was much improved as we countered and equalized via a header from a corner. However as the game went on we were torn apart and finally the whistle went we had hung on for an undeserved point. I was far from pleased. And to finish my bad day off whilst out for a few drinks with the other volunteers we received a phone call from our landlady to say we had flooded the house, by leaving the shower on. So we rushed back to find workmen brushing the “gushing” water out of the house. Niyma had lost it with us; although it was far from disastrous the floor was a little damp at best. “Chill Niyma, I deal with this situation all the time at work”, I felt like a naughty schoolboy. Looking back it was actually hilarious “CHUCKLES!”
Me and Matt went to the Independence Stadium to watch Gambia’s final qualification match for the African Cup of Nations against Burkino Faso. There was an awesome group of hardcore fans that were dressed in Gambia colours and were dancing and drumming none stop the whole time we were there, there was also a gospel choir at one end they weren’t quite as spectacular to watch but were still cool. The game to my surprise was actually very exciting. I loved it when one of the Gambian strikers went for an overhead kick and completely missed the ball… HA! Before half time Gambia smashed the ball into the goal but it was disallowed for a debatable offside. BOO!
The second half was much the same with Gambia creating many chances but being awful at shooting couldn’t score until finally from a Rory Delap like throw in they scored a header. The crowd went mental; again kids ran on the pitch it was quite surreal. However as the game went on the referee became a bit of a tool and kept penalizing Gambian and favouring Burkino Faso, finally with the last kick of the game they equalized and everyone was very upset and booing. The whole experience was fun, although we were warned before going about trouble and fighting, which we saw none, I was expecting a scene from the football factory or similar. Matt and me were expecting to be on the news as English football hooligans take over Gambian football or something to that extent. Shame.
That night we had our first experience of the nightclub Aquarius, hmm… an interesting place with sleazy men and a few prostitutes dotted around me thinks. But we had a good time as before that we were at Green Mamba bar where we are friends with the owner “Tony” who is half Gambian half Swedish, he’s cool, and gave us many a free drink and also got us into Aquarius for free. There was some good music not much but some, but a good time was had by all the highlight being when Leah used this girls dreads as a face mask not once not twice but thrice, to her credit she did ask permission the third time.
My next visit is to the North Bank Region where I will be based in Kerowan, but that shall be another story…
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