leaving the island

Leaving the island was hard, lots of tears all round, hard to believe

it was our home. And then the bus! Packed, I had to stand at the
front next to the driver ,so close to the windscreen the peak of my cap
was touching it! 6 hours in, legs aching and fantasizing about the
hotel in 2 hours and BANG - puncture. Have to wait for another vehicle
to arrive with spare wheel as we had given ours to a bus going the
other way. So, 10 hours later, check in and look forward to a steak or
some such only to find the hotel were having an "African Food Buffet
Night". Would you believe it? Sensing our disappointment the waiters
say, "go on try the African food, you will like it."   Really!!!!!

Anyway, had loads of salad, a buublebath a good sleep followed by a mega breakfast.
The Saturday before we left my local school, Sankulay Kunda, put on a programme for us, singing by the children, drummers, dancing, 2 hours of fantastic Gambian entertainment and a speech in which I (Bakary) was described by the headteacher to the children as "our father, our mentor, our teacher, our everything" I may have told you this already but it bears repeating as
am unlikely ever to receive such an introduction again - more tears. What a country, what people, what next?

10am on Monday, we have been away from the island for 26 hours and the “missing you texts” are coming in – it was hard to come here, hard to stay here and hard to leave, make sense of that if you can.