Day 11

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

            Today we woke up because breakfast was at 7. For some reason, we did not eat breakfast until 8:30. There is this thing called Gambian time. No one asks what time it is here because everyone just comes and goes as they please. After breakfast, we went on a boat ride in the mangroves. Buba was saying that we would see dolphins, crocodiles, hippos, and pigs. Yet, we saw absolutely nothing. The people driving the boat would point out different kinds of birds. We were all a bit disappointed and the boat ride was quite boring. The scenery was pretty but very repetitive. We came back to the camp and had nap time before lunch.

Views from the boat ride

            Lunch consisted of …. Chicken and Rice! I am really craving some pizza and a warm chocolate chip cookie right now. After lunch, we walked out of the camp and into the village to go see the mango orchards. The one day we should have worn long pants and long sleeves, Buba did not tell us to. We walked through all this brush and long stalks of wheat to get to the mango orchard. I was excited to try a mango… but Buba forgot that it wasn’t mango season so there were no mangos. Buba did a lecture in the mango orchard. He pointed out a fence that divided two orchards. He said that each orchard produces millions of mangos each season. Americans pay, on average, $2 for one mango. Could you imagine the money these farmers could make if they sold their mangos for this price. There is simply a weak means of production and sales which causes the farmers to remain poor.

            We then hiked to the peanut plantation. As I mentioned before, peanuts are a huge crop in the Gambia. The plantation only had one large conveyor belt and a huge store room. One of the workers explained that farmers bring their peanuts to this plantation and the workers measure out how many peanuts they brought. The farmers then get a money order for their peanuts. The peanuts are weighed, sorted, and put through a cleaner that removes any dirt or small twigs that could have mixed in with the peanut crop. The peanuts are dropped into a huge storage bin and are then unloaded in a huge warehouse. We went inside the warehouse and there must have been billions of peanuts, all the way up to the ceiling. These peanuts are then shipped to other facilities for shelling and making oil. Buba made a similar analogy as his example with the mangos. He mentioned the $1 packs of peanuts you can get at the gas station. There are probably only 20 peanuts in that package. Imagine the money these farmers and workers could make if their peanuts would sell for that price. Again, there is no way for these peanuts to be packaged and shipped all around the world.


Peanut Plantation and mountain of peanuts

            We came back from the peanut plantation and we had time to relax. We had chicken again for dinner. I am writing this blog entry before it, but we are supposed to be going to a ball with the students from the University of Gambia. They are very loud and rowdy. I am not looking forward to this.




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