More Visits and Hobnobbing

 Thursday morning we got up and went to breakfast with the ambassador of the United States. His Excellency Carl Paschall, U.S. Ambassador to The Gambia, and Shelly Seaver, U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission.

What a treat out on the ocean view with the Ambassador and Chief Deputy!

After breakfast we hustled over [crowded streets, few lights or stop signs, cars parked in the streetway, yup we hustled] to visit with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of The Gambia.

Honorable Justice Hassan B. Jallow, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in The Gambia, in his chambers. Jeffrey noted a picture in the room from the 70's showing a white man in the Chief Justice robes. Life is moving along and now they have this strong man who likes members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Who knows he may be the next president of The Gambia!

I think it is pretty cool that I got to be a witness of this meeting.

The second I get this ministers name I will update this post

The Chief Justice walked us out while waiting for some to come back from the washroom.

On to the minister of Education - who was gracious and let us visit with him between his zoom meetings.

Meeting with Louis Moses Mendy, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education of the Republic of The Gambia, and other ministry officials.

This is where the Eastmonds were particularly happy because their Human rights syllabus needs to be approved by this ministry.

 

While we were in downtown Banjul, we stopped at the Arch Monument to check it out and see what was there - and to take pictures. 

We wound our way up the side stairs in the columns and came out on top. Every few levels would be rooms off to the side. It all looked like a work in progress. I found it was made in 1994 by the Senegalese but I think it is getting a make-over and has art work of people who were murdered in the last coup. The Gambians have had a peaceful election since and the man is now exiled, so this monument is changing with the times and reflects the symbols of liberty.

Here we are on the upper deck looking out over Banjul. If you see the minarets in the background of a mosque, you can see the next place we visited. 

I do not have any pictures of the mosque as it felt like a holy place and I just couldn't take out my camera and act like a tourist. I did wear my scarf and felt better about being there. It was not as fancy as the last mosque we visited but it felt just as sacred and reverent. There were lots of little kids getting out of school and they had on uniforms. Most of the kids have uniforms for school. The boys were a little bold and told us they were our friends. (Being friends means you give them something.) The girls were more reserved. All of them were very cute and adorable.

The next stop was to get our Covid results. By now I was getting a little familiar with the roads we were traveling back and forth on. Evidently there are just a few main roads in and around Banjul. We stopped at a lab. Police guards met us at the gate and took our receipts and we watched the goats and bought water at a little restaurant stand. Why do the police run the distribution of lab results?

Of course we waited. Anything to do with Covid is waiting. The Eastmonds had to go back to the hotel to get their receipts, so we waited in plastic chairs in the dirt to get our results and for them to get back, but we asked to be dropped off at the hotel while they waited for their Covid results. Jeffrey and I took off our sweaty clothes, had a shower and walked on the beach for a few minutes before we went out to dinner with the members of the church. Life is good.