It's not supposed to be easy

On Thursday, February 8, we had our plans all set. We were going to get up early, drive down to Banjul, and be there well before the ferry left at 9:00 a.m., and with a little luck, be at the school in Bakalarr a couple of hours later. That’s not how it turned out.

We arrived at the ferry terminal well in advance, but there was no ferry there. The one we thought we were supposed to take was undergoing repairs a short distance away. We waited and waited, and an hour and a half later, we thought it was finally going to happen. The ferry moved over to the ferry terminal, but no one came on board. Just a couple of women with brooms who started sweeping the entire area where the cars were supposed to park. Cleanliness is fine, but why weren’t we allowed on board?

It turned out they’d only managed to start one of the two engines, so they couldn’t use that ferry. We just had to wait for the old, slow-moving ferry that was coming from the other side of the river. It finally arrived, but by then the line of people and cars had grown to unimaginable proportions. When we finally got on board, it was almost like unleashing a tidal wave. People, gear, and cars flooded onto the ferry, and there seemed to be no end in sight. I’ve never in my life seen such an overcrowded ferry. There was no question of following the guidelines regarding how many passengers it was certified to carry. The motto seemed to be “the more, the better.”

Five minutes past twelve, we finally set off. By then, we’d been waiting nearly three and a half long hours in the heat. Fortunately, the crossing went fairly smoothly, but what a chaos it was when everyone had to get off. It took another half hour before we were back on the road. It wasn’t until around two o’clock that we reached the school. We thought everyone had gone home for the day, but we were wrong. They had been waiting for us and greeted us with smiles and cheerful singing. It was truly touching.

The school in Bakalarr is so remote that the power grid hasn’t reached this area yet. That makes it challenging to perform maintenance on the school. Everything used to have to be done by hand, but not anymore. This time we brought a generator with us, and it was truly a blessing. All the work we completed in just two hours this time would surely have taken a full day in the past. Now everything went like clockwork, and our good fortune continued. The trip home was the exact opposite of the trip out. There was no line heading toward Barra, and the wait was incredibly short. Plus, we were able to relax on the ferry and had plenty of space. We got home much earlier than we’d dared to hope.