RVTH

On Wednesdays, we have no classes and our professor organizes little excursions around our area so we can learn more and more about The Gambia. Today we visited the Royal Victorian Teaching Hospital in downtown Banjul. It is the most popular and most well-run public hospital in The Gambia. The average Gambian would pay 50 dalasis per day to have minor maladies treated (that's 2 US dollars) and the rich Gambian would pay 250 dalasis (10 dollars) per day to have his own private room. The first stop on our tour was a visit to the administration where they thanked us for coming and told us donations are always accepted, "Now is fine or at the end of your tour." Then, one woman told us that there is a Gambian saying along the lines of: if everybody spits on something big, it will get wet. This was some sort of analogy likening our small donation to the spit. They may be small, but together with all the other little donations they make a difference. Interesting analogy in a hospital.
On the way to RVTH, we walked by the Supreme Court. There were a lot of people hanging around on the sidewalks, cars parked in the street and on the sidewalks, police sauntering around with guns. Even the sheep were staring at the Supreme Court building as they trotted by. Then our intelligent and interesting professor remembered that the Supreme Court was trying some of President Jammeh's staff for treason. Apparently, a few weeks ago, some people in his administration were caught smuggling guns into the country in an attempt to stage a coup. Obviously, their plot was discovered and we had the fortune of walking by the Court on the day they were being tried.