Gambia Day Four - in which Christina feels white for the first time...

Today we woke up to go on a boat safari around the mango swamps near our camp, and despite a temperamental engine we saw monkey in the distance, so I was content! Then we came back to the camp and visited the first school before dinner, which was a kindergarten. One boy took a shine to Claire, who had met us on the jetty before the boat trip. He told us he was 18, and hoped to go into computing. The determination of young people here to get an education was a true inspiration, and I resolved never to complain about college again! The children at and outside the school went mad for our balloons and bubbles, and especially for our sweets - ripping poor Emma's bag open! The children sang us a song, and all we could muster in return was a poor rendition of 'If you're happy and you know it clap your hands' and 'Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes'! The children then walked us back to camp and after dinner we visited the next school - a 'Lower Basic' (primary school). Again the children went mad on our arrival and sang us songs. Addresses were also slipped into our hands on the tiniest scraps of paper. After visiting the third school, I began to feel aware of how being white affects the way you are treated here; when the people here see that you are white, it's as if they hope you have lots of goodies with you and you feel horrible when you've nothing to spare. Anyway, we made our way back to the hotel and it was an early night all round!