New House

A couple of pictures of our house at the end of the dry season and the end of the rains.  The difference is incredible.

Finally got around to taking some pictures of the kitchen, our dinky little kitchen.

9 June 3013  Meet our new addition to our new house.  A lady I was calling on gave me a little chick, she's called Brigisa after the lady's baby.  She loves Ben and follows him around and eats out of his hand.

We finally moved into the new house on 17 May.  Here's the living room.  I looks a bit bare without pictures and we need new cushion covers.  Tie dye is a Gambian tradition so the covers are a local craft.  The big tree below is directly behind our back door and has fruit at the moment, not the kind that we can eat but the fruit bats love it and over 100 visit every evening.

11 April 2013. This house is a temporary stop until the tenants moved out of the third house in our row.  They had a court order to move at the end of February as they caused so much trouble.  Get this for logic . . .  they got a court order against the landlady to get the three huge trees in the compound cut down because they say burglars hide behind them.

 Even though they had to leave the house, the trees still had to be destroyed!!   Sadly two of the trees were chopped down but the third is still with us and we're hoping it can stay.  Gambia has lost 91% of its trees.  Deforestation ruins the soil and the general environment.  Importantly in our compound trees provide shade.  What is the reasoning of the court that allows more to be cut??

These horrible tenants finally left on 8 April and the landlady says she will begin decorating on 2 May so hopefully we will be able to move mid May.    Then I'll be able to get my washing machine plumbed and my poor fingers can recover. 



January 2013  We moved to a much smaller house this month.  It's nearer to the main road (only 2 minute walk instead of 40!) and in a quieter area so it's better for us.  There's also much less cleaning to do.  It's about half an hour away from the other one.  The removal van arrived at 12 and we were all unloaded by 3pm so it was very quick and easy.

  This is the outside, there are four identical houses in a row on one side of the compound and two other houses at the back so we're living with Finns, Nigerians and Gambians.  Sadly we couldn't bring the dogs.

After spending a year inside (because of the dogs) Kat enjoys going out and makes the most of the morning sun on the verandah.

Unfortunately there is no plumbing for a washing machine so for a while I'm handwashing.  I'm pretty bad at it so I get a little help.  I was smiling at first but I had the wrong technique and my hands were bleeding by the end.

These are pictures of inside the house.  In a few weeks we move to an unfurnished house in the same compound, we're just waiting for the tenants to move out.  Most of the furniture you can see is ours anyway, we were worried that it wouldn't all fit in but it's ok.

Living room, standing at the front door

Living room, Ben's room with the brown door and our room with the curtain.  

Dining room, kind of hallway really but it fits a small table

The kitchen is seriously tiny, you can just see the corner of the sink and the cooker.  I can wash the floor in 30 seconds!

This is the bathroom.  The shower room is on the left and the toilet is on the right.  This area has the sink, fridge from the other house and storage stuff under the pink curtain.  It's a great layout, it means all three of can use the bathroom at the same time, we just swap places like one of those puzzles with the tile missing.