Why The Gambia?

Alot of people ask me, why the Gambia and it's a simple answer. The country stole and broke my heart at the same time.

I had no interest in visiting Africa, it was never something on any agenda but in 2009 my partner (the chippie) and I had one weeks holiday to take and not a huge amount of money. The chippie had already visited South Africa before we met and had loved it. He has always spoken of visiting Africa again. So, the available options for our weeks holiday within our budget were Spain, Portugal or the Gambia. Neither of us wanted to go to Spain so I agreed to give the Gambia ago.

It was a week that changed my life. I had never visited a developing country before and the one thing that I found truly astounding was how happy the locals were, despite having nothing. It was true happiness and I was infected! In that first week we met Musa, who we now count amoung our best friends as well as many other locals who we are in regular contact with. Musa showed us the real Gambia, away from the strip. I worked in a school for a day, we visited villages that tourists hardly ever see and we saw how truly deprived the Gambia was. But I never met anyone who felt sorry for themselves. I never met a child who didn't love school or value their education. The Gambia is made up of 9 different cultural tribes and are 95% muslim, 5% christian yet they are an African country that are peaceful and could teach the rest of the world a thing or two. The muslims recognise Christmas, the christains support Ramadam and thet are truly peaceful.