Banjul, The Gambia

Today, March 19th, Harriet Beecher Stowe published her book, Uncle Toms Cabin, about slavery. We continued to learn more about the history of slavery in this part of the World. Today on our third stop in Africa and we went to City of Banjul, The Gambia, a city of 2.4M residents in a mere 4400 sq miles. Although slavery was abolished in 1807, there was a significant history of slavery here. In the 17th - 19th centuries there were more than 3 million slaves in The Gambia.

The Gambia, the smallest African Country, is surrounded on 3 sides by Senegal and one side by the Atlantic Ocean with a river that runs through the entire country. We went to the largest market in The Gambia, Banjul Albert Market. What a “challenging” experience it was. We took a bus there and they left us off in an area that could only be described as looking like a garbage dump at the end of a bumpy, dirt road lined with trash. When we got off (other people refused and asked to be taken right back to the ship) we “found” a young person (Albert) who did not speak English but wanted to show us around. Yes, English is the official language but many do not speak/understand English but some version of many African languages and French. It seemed like a very “iffy area” but we proceeded with Albert as he took us through a maze of rows and stalls, making and selling everything from used clothing, chickens, vegetables in all stages of being cut and cleaned, grains and herbs, fish (dead and alive), chickens, “coffee” (you will have to ask for more info) and broken TV sets. Should I go on?

It was such an incredible scrapheap of items one on top of another in makeshift stalls of cloth and any materials around with barely a place to walk. No aisles, dark, very smelly and we no longer had any idea where we were! Even Karen, my compass, was quickly turned around and we were lost most of the time that we walked with Albert. It got “more interesting” when Albert was “surprisingly” joined up by another young person that spoke English and joined the walk. Was this planned or not, where were we going now? They pointed out some items and at least now we understood what he said but at the same time he was “slick” and he was “very aggressive” and wanted to take us deeper into this maze of garbage.

We insisted that we had to go back to where they found us where the bus dropped us off at the trash heap. After another dozen twists and turns and 10 nervous minutes we ended up about a block from the bus. At this point of course they began to get more anxious looking to deal for payment. The good news is one of the entertainers from the ship (thx Keenan) saw us in an uncomfortable place and ran over to “help”. We quickly got out and back to the bus and safety. We were probably not in danger, but the situation might have been a risky one, we just could not tell. This was our experience in the market in Gambia.

Once we relaxed, we realized the worst part of this experience was recognizing the real sad situation that people were in, working in conditions that were unbearable, in dirt and with terrible smells and endless crowds. Most of these people are so poor and with no real hope of getting out of this situation. Very sad.Read more