This is the Hands On Care Clinic at the Brikama hospital.
So maybe some of you have heard of this famous Gambian Kora player
named Jaliba Kuyateh? He's kind of a big deal. He's played in Austin
and just got back for a tour in the UK. http://home3.inet.tele.dk/mcamara/jalibaku.html
I met him today. Just walked into his compound with 2 of my support
group members because they had a meeting set up with him. Turns out
he lives just down the street from me in Brikama. Needless to say, I
don't think I'll be moving houses after all. (Well actually, I decided
that I will stay in this house before I met him, but it adds to the
story). Did I mention that Allatentu released an HIV de-sensitization
CD last month? Well, they did and I'm sending 10 CDs to my mom and
they are for sale for 10 dollars or how ever much you want to
contribute to them. The money raised goes straight back to the group,
40% to the actual group and 60% to Fatou Seesay, the singer in the
band because she and her husband wrote the songs.
Anyway, if you want to buy one, ask my mom about them. So Allatentu
set up this meeting with Jaliba because they want to have a benefit
concert with him and be his opening act. He agreed pretty much just
like that, and the concert is going to be on May 21st here in Brikama.
Now, the next few weeks will be devoted to advertising, organizing a
location and possibly making t-shirts to sell. Also, there is talk of
wanting to produce another album, so I'm hoping to be involved with
that (maybe even do a little back up singing-which will encourage me
to speed up the Mandinka learning!!)
Some days are more Gambian than others, and today is definitely one of
them. I went with 2 members of the group to look at a plot of land to
start a garden for income generation, via public transport, and of
course, it broke down. We sat in the steaming gele-gele for about an
hour, while the driver and his entourage tried to fix something (rumor
had it was the breaks). The cheeky passenger women immediately
started comprising songs about hoping to find a peaceful road not too
far away, and as soon as I mentioned that my last name was Camera, two
women turned around announcing that I was their daughter, then another
woman, who has a joking relationship with the Cameras (her name is
Seesay), told us all that we ate too much. Joking with last names is
a big hit around here and it is always appropriate to say someone eats
too much. Then, once we got to the town where the land was, the
Alkalo (village head) asked if we could come back next Friday because
he didn't have time to show us the land after all that day, which is
also typical of Gambians. So next Friday, we are making the trek
again, this time hopefully with an old man driver (not a young boy like
we had today) because I learned that old men drivers look out for the
road and think of their families and young boy drivers, well, don't.
named Jaliba Kuyateh? He's kind of a big deal. He's played in Austin
and just got back for a tour in the UK. http://home3.inet.tele.dk/mcamara/jalibaku.html
I met him today. Just walked into his compound with 2 of my support
group members because they had a meeting set up with him. Turns out
he lives just down the street from me in Brikama. Needless to say, I
don't think I'll be moving houses after all. (Well actually, I decided
that I will stay in this house before I met him, but it adds to the
story). Did I mention that Allatentu released an HIV de-sensitization
CD last month? Well, they did and I'm sending 10 CDs to my mom and
they are for sale for 10 dollars or how ever much you want to
contribute to them. The money raised goes straight back to the group,
40% to the actual group and 60% to Fatou Seesay, the singer in the
band because she and her husband wrote the songs.
Anyway, if you want to buy one, ask my mom about them. So Allatentu
set up this meeting with Jaliba because they want to have a benefit
concert with him and be his opening act. He agreed pretty much just
like that, and the concert is going to be on May 21st here in Brikama.
Now, the next few weeks will be devoted to advertising, organizing a
location and possibly making t-shirts to sell. Also, there is talk of
wanting to produce another album, so I'm hoping to be involved with
that (maybe even do a little back up singing-which will encourage me
to speed up the Mandinka learning!!)
Some days are more Gambian than others, and today is definitely one of
them. I went with 2 members of the group to look at a plot of land to
start a garden for income generation, via public transport, and of
course, it broke down. We sat in the steaming gele-gele for about an
hour, while the driver and his entourage tried to fix something (rumor
had it was the breaks). The cheeky passenger women immediately
started comprising songs about hoping to find a peaceful road not too
far away, and as soon as I mentioned that my last name was Camera, two
women turned around announcing that I was their daughter, then another
woman, who has a joking relationship with the Cameras (her name is
Seesay), told us all that we ate too much. Joking with last names is
a big hit around here and it is always appropriate to say someone eats
too much. Then, once we got to the town where the land was, the
Alkalo (village head) asked if we could come back next Friday because
he didn't have time to show us the land after all that day, which is
also typical of Gambians. So next Friday, we are making the trek
again, this time hopefully with an old man driver (not a young boy like
we had today) because I learned that old men drivers look out for the
road and think of their families and young boy drivers, well, don't.
1 comment:
I'm looking forward to receiving the CD's and listening to the music. This sounds like a great project for you to start out on, with your love of music. Anyone who reads this who wants to buy a CD, please let me know.
Love,
Mom
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