A trip to the club... lol

The Public Health Clinic

The last couple of days have been interesting to say the least. On Friday we went out to find a dental clinic to explore how dental clinics work in The Gambia. The first village we went to had a dentist, but she wasn’t willing to help us. I watched as the mothers and their children walked in and out of the maternity clinic. There were sick children lying in beds coughing; it was a sad site to see. After leaving the clinic, we went to a town called Sukuto to visit another clinic. The village looked about the same as the last one. It was a very poor

Sukuta's Maternity Clinic

place and the public health clinic didn’t look too sanitary. When I got out of the car a man drove up in a nice Porsche truck and we took a picture. I could hear a man yelling, “sista no pictures here.” He must have thought we were taking pictures of patients because truly besides the nice truck, there was nothing else to see. Inside of the dentist’s office there was a chair and a few supplies; the medical supplies were so outdated. They lacked Novocain and other anesthetics that the U.S. has, instead they used a stronger form of anbesol to numb the patient’s

The outdated Ambulance

gums. The dentist said he can only pull teeth in the morning hours because a patient can bleed to death in the heat of the day. There are so many things we take for granted such as sanitary healthcare. After leaving the clinic we stopped by the largest outdoor market in The Gambia. I bought a dress, a few bracelets, an elephant bag, and a carving. After the market I was tired and I came in to lie down for a

Gambians at the market

few hours. Later that night we went out to a club called Duplex with Keemba. I didn't even change my clothes, so I went to club looking like I was going on a Safari. However, I didn't care because I wasn't trying to be the least bit of attractive. I was excited to experience the music scene in a real African club, but I was quite surprised when I got there. Most of the people were just standing around drinking soda, and bobbing their heads to the music. The DJ played a lot of R&B from the 1980’s and 1990’s. Everyone in the club knew the music and they were just singing and snapping their fingers, but no one ever danced. I was disappointed because I wanted to hear African music, such as drums and African rap. A live band was supposed to come and play, but after waiting for two hours in an empty club, I was ready to leave. We caught a cab to get food and there were more people dancing to music in the restaurant than there were at the club. We sat down and ordered and then two men from Senegal and Mali approached us to talk. As soon as they walked up Keemba began speaking to them in Mandinka, which is always frustrating when we don’t understand. The man that was talking to me was flirting with me and asking to take me out on the beach for a walk. He also asked if I was interested in having an African boyfriend and I told him no thank you, I love American men. At the end of our meal, the men asked for our names to find us on facebook. I told him my

Us at Club Duplex

name was Sarah and before I knew it Keemba was angry and yelling at the men in his own language. He got in the man's face and then he went and talked to the owner of the restaurant. When he stormed out of the place the men called him a jealous Gambian, but I didn't comment because I was a little afraid of being in the middle of a conflict. We ran after Keemba to calm him down and explain to him that we were not in danger, but he kept trying to talk over us and then we just yelled at him to shut up and listen! We had to explain to him that we are smart girls and that he isn’t our owner therefore he should ask questions before he makes such a scene. Apparently, the guys were saying things to him that we didn’t understand, but honestly after seeing that side of him, I was just ready to come back to my hotel room. The next morning I was awakened by Ida, the woman that was coming to twist my hair. It took about 8 hours because she had braided half of my hair and then she had to go back through and twist it like I had asked. I wasn’t super pleased with the finished product, but I only paid $16 so I can’t complain too much. After I was finished I walked down to the beach to listen to the African drums. There were young Gambians dancing to the beats on the beach. As for today, it has been more of a lazy day and I’m resting from yesterday, but later there is a festival taking place on the beach and I can’t wait.