The Donkey

The daughter of a sister comes on Wednesday afternoons for help with reading but Wednesday mornings are mine.  For me.  To do what I want.

This Wednesday a sister called to ask had I seen the donkey outside my compound?  No.

I went outside and met this.

The poor thing was too weak? sick? injured? to get up.  She'd obviously been there all night.  People were just walking past ignoring her.  Apart from the horrible kids who were poking her with a stick.  The treatment of animals is terrible here.  For me it's the hardest thing to cope with.  I took the stick and poked it in the face of a boy.  I asked how he would like it if someone poked him while he was sick?  I also told the gathering crowd that if I see any of them touch this donkey with a stick I'll beat them till they DIE! 

The donkey kept trying to get up but couldn't.  I brought her a bowl of water which she drank almost in one go.  You can see from the ground we haven't had rain for about 5 months so she can't have been eating or drinking properly.  I collected some greenery from our compound and she ate that too.  Then a foal appeared.

Both animals were really thirsty and when they realized I was the one providing for them they let me stroke them.  They were both so gentle and lovely.

After many handfuls of food and three bowls of water she seemed to perk up a little and made more effort to get up.  Then a terrible thing happened.  The poor girl urinated blood and some nasty looking yellow stuff.  I jumped in the car and went to get a vet.  Eventually I found one but by the time we got back the donkey had recovered enough to get up and walk.  We asked passersby if anyone had seen her but no one had.  She would just be ignored.  We drove around all the blocks near our house but we didn't find her.  It was awful.  The donkey was obviously in need of medical care, her owner doesn't even bother to feed her and we have no idea where she is and can't help her.

This is such a sad post.  If I find her I'll bring her to the compound and get the vet to her, but in the meantime I just have to hope that her owner finds her and starts to treat her properly.

I don't hold out much hope.


UPDATE  Tuesday 18 April.

I was going out to a study over the weekend and as I was opening the gate to get the car out the donkeys appeared being chased by three boys with sticks.  A man happened to be passing so I asked him to watch where they went and I got the car out.  He jumped in with me to show me the way and we followed the donkeys home. 

The owner was a very old man, very sick and lying under a tree, unable to even get up.  His sons have no interest in the donkeys.  The man couldn't speak English so through the sons I asked could I bring a vet?  He seemed really grateful.  He told me the donkey is 6 years old and this is her first foal.  While she was pregnant she was bitten by a snake and has never been well since.  The foal is now 8 months old.  He can't afford medical treatment, or even to buy food for them.

I couldn't get in touch with the vet over the long weekend (I used the local vet, not the brother I use for my own animals) but today I was able to take one along.  He found a big lump on her shoulder, it was full of pus.  He gave her antibiotics, multivitamins and something else I didn't catch for the bladder infection.  She needs repeat injections over the next three days.

The next problem was food.  I bought her a big bag of peanut hay which is apparently very healthy for them and they love.  I took it back and they both went wild for it!  It was so nice to see.

As for her future the vet is going to talk to him about letting her go to the donkey sanctuary where she will be cared for until she is well and then possibly sold.

Donkeys here don't have much of a life but this one deserves a little more than shes getting.    

The Pig

We've come to realize that Gambians have more local knowledge than we do and their fried chicken is to die for but when it comes to actually butchering an animal, think steaks, chops, bacon, they haven't got a clue.  They just hack the carcass to pieces.  I know it's dead but I still feel sorry for the poor animal being treated so disrespectfully.  It doesn't bring out the best in the meat.  Our neighbor offered us some cooked pork but it was burnt.  They say it needs to be cooked well to kill the bacteria.  Yes.  I'm with them all the way on that one one. But burning it destroys the meat.  The life of the animal has been wasted.

I thought I could do a better job myself.  

Could I?  I've always agreed with the idea that if you're going to eat meat you should be prepared to kill it.  But I can't.  What I CAN do is butcher it well and make delicious meals from the meat.  Then the life of the animal hasn't been squandered.

I've never butchered anything in my life so with the help of YouTube and a guy called Scott Rea I undertook the butchering of my very first pig.  I found the experience interesting and surprisingly enjoyable.  I didn't have much equipment, a hacksaw with a new blade, a large knife and a small one.  I don't have a work surface, I just use the top of the washing machine, so I put plastic sheets on the floor. 

I'm not going to put the gory pictures on but if you don't like the sight of meat look away now.

The pig was cut in half lengthways, I took my half and cut it into three primals.

It was left in the fridge overnight.  Apparently it makes the meat firmer and easier to cut up. 

 This belly joint alone weighs 8 kilos.  I also got three smaller ones from the two legs.  Sliced on top to make crackling.  Yumm!

Chops.  I'll cut some of these thinner next time to make rashers.

Diced pork and another joint.

I also got a tenderloin and steaks.


I made the diced pork into a casserole. It was delicious with mashed potato.

I made scratchings with some of the leftover skin.  I experimented with different flavors.  Left to right, cumin, salt, smoked paprika and rosemary.  This was very easy, just salt the pieces, let them dry out for a little while and cook in the oven for an hour. (I decided in the end that just plain salted was best).  This also produced some lovely lard for roasting potatoes.

I'm cooking pulled pork in the solar cooker.

This is how it turned out.  It tasted wonderful with soft bread and butter and barbecue sauce.

Ribs in barbecue sauce

 Nothing went to waste.  I put the pieces I wasn't going to use out for the vultures.  It didn't take them long to arrive.  I put them on the place where we put our rubbish.  The landlady had been recently to burn it but strangely the vultures wouldn't walk on the ash.  It took me a couple of minutes to work it out.  I then threw the pieces onto the soil and they all dived in. There were about 40 in the end.

When the vultures are excited their faces go pink.

My Irish friends will hate me for giving away perfectly good hocks to vultures but I just can't bring myself to eat them.

I cant get the link to attach for some reason.  Just copy and paste it yourself.
Its the vultures eating the leftovers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4C5wGYC7hM



The half pig cost around £17.50ish.  It has given us a lot of meat and cut in a way that's normally impossible to buy here.  So we save money, get good food, the cats and the vultures are happy.  What's not to love?

I'm off for a cold beer and a couple of scratchings.

Political turmoil

Growing up in UK I never had to face the prospect of war. The nearest was when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands which I thought were off the coast of Scotland.  What a relief to discover they were thousands of miles away in the South Atlantic!

Now jump ahead 35 years. I've been living in Gambia for five years.

In December 2016 the longtime president of Gambia finally lost a presidential election.  At first he accepted defeat then changed his mind and decided he wasn't going to step down after all. The chief of the army backed him and the group of West African nations (ECOWAS) threatened military action. Suddenly war was staring us in the face. Thousands of Gambians fled in fear.  Up to 46,000 went to Senegal and beyond,  others moved as far as possible into the inland villages away from the capital,  Banjul,  on the coast. 

What about Jehovah's people?  We had regular instructions from the branch,  a good reminder not to miss meetings. Some decided to leave the country,  others moved away from Banjul.  Those who decided to stay were advised to stockpile food, water and candles. We had nearly 200 litres of water stored.  In the end we didn't lose any services, even Internet.  But the point is we were obediently prepared.  ;)

The first weeks midweek meeting was cancelled.  Originally East were going to meet with us as ours was earlier in the week but as the situation developed it was decided it was too unsafe to be out of the house after dark.  A curfew was put in place later that day reinforcing the elders decision. 

We prayed a lot about the situation,  both for ourselves and our brothers and sisters. We opened our home and took in 7 "refugees", single sisters and children who lived in the more dangerous areas. (Eight females and Terry, haha. And for the record I didn't have to queue for the bathroom once!) What a blessing it turned out to be.  There were none of the anxieties that others were feeling. With the prayers of our families and friends around the world we truly felt "the peace of God" in our home. Php 4:7.  We so appreciated the encouragement and thoughts of all of you. I opened a Whatsapp group to let people know quickly how things were going.  These comments were some of my favorites. But I really treasured everything that came to us because every comment was made with true love for us and for Jehovah.  

Prepare for the worst but expect the best. 

Keep your heads down and your hopes up. 

Dad and Janet, hopefully it will end sometime today. Thank you for being a great example of putting our brothers and sisters first. I must admit I just wanted you both out so I knew you were safe. But you are safe either way. Jehovah has seen your self sacrificing spirit. He will reward you both. It's been wonderful to see all the words of encouragement you've been receiving. Keeping you in my prayers. Stay safe. Love you both.

And as the situation improved:

Thank you for taking care of our dear sisters,you have really shown what loving one's neighbor means!I hope so called normal life will start now.

Thank you for keeping us all updated with your situation during the crisis, I feel that it brought us all closer together as one family, and praying for brothers and sisters we know personally in that crisis certainly brought me even closer to our heavenly father Jehovah. xxx

So happy to know you're all safe, Janet. And I subscribe to all expressions of gratitude you receive for keeping us up to date and putting our minds at peace. We'll keep you in our prayers anyway. 

To everyone who reads this, I haven't met most of you but I feel privileged to have such a beautiful spiritual family! 

Have a great Sunday xxx

We kept up our spiritual routine which included Morning Worship (Examining the Scriptures Daily,  Bible reading and discussion and singing).  We also took the opportunity for Family Worship.  We watched the new movie 'Oh Jehovah,  I Trust In You'. We love the part where the angel comes and destroys the Assyrian army overnight and we had a parallel here in Gambia when the army chief suddenly announced his army would not fight.  That meant no war! I just wished he'd made that decision back in December instead of waiting for the Ecowas army to arrive on the doorstep.

However,  the situation still wasn't stable as negotiations continued.  What did we do to pass the long days? 

One blessing was a study who lives nearby called. I understood she had traveled but she was at home with her daughter and they decided that the best way to avoid sitting and worrying was to study so they asked me to go round.  

We cooked and ate of course.

Gambians eat from one plate, on the floor, using their hands.

Terry helped Ellen to repair her laptop. 

With four young children in the house, plus others who were staying with neighbours in the compound we didn't have chance to get bored. Thanks to a sister,  Elizabeth, who sent face paints.  I'd had them a few weeks, I was saving them for emergencies.  I wasn't too successful at first then I realized the paints are for white skin so I had to paint the area white first then paint on top.

This is Mariama as a rabbit and her sister Colostine as a pig.

Ben chose Mr Fox

A swarm of butterflies

Not sure what the collective noun for Hello Kitties is.

 

Another sister,  Carole,  had sent a case of clothes which somehow managed to arrive on the same day as the sisters moved in with us. We threw them all in a pile in the middle if the living room and we all dived in. Everyone came out with a respectable pile of clothes. We were very happy.  Thanks so much to everyone who donated clothes for the case.

The kids watched movies which led to a conversation I never thought could happen.  Remember when you used to complain at having to eat sprouts or other horror veggies and your mum used to say "Just think of the children in Africa who would be glad to eat food like that!"  One afternoon we were feeling tired but the kids were running wild so to calm them down I put The Lion King on.  It was so nice to have peace for a while so when it finished I let them watch Dinosaur.  When that finished they wanted to watch Winnie the Pooh. I decided two movies was enough for one day so I sent them outside.  When they protested I found myself saying "Just think of the poor children in England who would love to play out on a sunny day like this."

As I write we're waiting for news that the new President has arrived in Gambia.  We know that the hopes of so many are resting on this man.  But whatever relief he brings is nothing compared to the relief God's Kingdom will bring which will truly put an end to all the problems we see today.  

We met with East this morning as so many had left.  The talk was the most appropriate-for-the-time talk I've ever heard.  I forget the title but it was to do with having love and faith.  The brother asked how we had done over the last week.  Had we been obedient to the directions from the branch and the elders?  He pointed out the love the elders had shown by opening their homes or arranging accommodation for the brothers and sisters.  He likened our situation to the series at the convention where the brothers were in the basement during the tribulation.  He really got us to think about the idea that IF what we had just been through had been the great tribulation, how did we cope?  It gave us so much strength and faith that Jehovah has been with us all the time and always will be if we remain faithful.  He also reminded us of the point in the Watchtower not to spend too much time thinking how it will be, but the best way to prepare is to meditate on how others have coped in similar situations and imitate them.  He read some experiences and all of them said that keeping up a good spiritual routine was the most important thing.  

I hope you've been encouraged by this, my dear brothers and sisters.  It has been one of the most faith strengthening experiences of my life and I thank Jehovah that we were here and able to help others to experience Jehovah's love and the love of our worldwide brotherhood.

Days Out With Visitors

A lovely Dutch family visited our meetings so we took them preaching and out in the afternoon.

A cool python round your neck on a hot day.  What's not to love!

 When we'd had our fill of snakes we went for a walk on Boboi Beach and dinner at the Lodge. Somehow the best times with friends always involve food.

Another day we preached in the morning then went on studies.  I took the girls on a couple of mine and we finished with Ndateh so we invited her along with us.

We were told of a place called Lamin Fish Farm which is in the town where we live.  I'm amazed I never heard of it before.  It was small and cheap but very pretty.

I couldn't get a good picture but they kept Indian peafowl and some were leucistic (similar to albino but they don't have pink eyes).  I don't know if this one was semi-leucistic or was the result of cross breeding between the two.  I've never seen one before.

Ndateh was fascinated by the ostrich.  She'd never seen one before.

The guide told us they did have four but three died.  What happened?  The got their heads stuck in the gate.  You would think that after the first one died they would do something about the dangerous gate but no.  "This is Gambia."

In the next cage were two ducks.  The guide told us they had lots more but they died.  What happened?  Ants.  The ducks were in a large run but were put in smaller cages at night and the ants came and ate them alive.

Moving swiftly on . . . .

There are fish tanks in the middle with lots of different fish.  All managing to survive.

But the very best part was this beautiful lake.  I don't know how long we stayed there but I could have moved in.  It was so pretty and green.  Gambia is very brown in the dry season so to find this oasis was wonderful.

They keep fish in here too, catfish and tilapia

The owner had joined us by now and produced a fishing rod for anyone who wanted to catch a fish and throw it back.

Maresa caught a big one . . .

Terry was hoping to catch some supper,

 but only caught a tiddler.

We finished the day with a meal at Blue Kitchen

Their holiday ended with a meeting.  We'll miss you guys. Xxx