School's Out for the Rainy Season

I thought about pulling the old Fox News trick and making up a dramatic story to accompany this picture. Wrong news network, FNC would just deny it ever existed. Or maybe more accurately they would say hateful nomadic Palestinian Islamic extremists funded by Iran with weapons manufactured in Russia caused this while smoking Cuban cigars after attending a Pro-Obama rally where a whole lot of flip-flopping was taking place. But no, it's simply just children playing in some old rubble next to some grass that was burning.

The other day I heard a Christian teacher say to a Muslim teacher with a cell phone "What are you doing with that mobile phone??! You're going to blow us all up aren't you? Muslims shouldn't be allowed to have mobile phones." He was referring to Islamic extremists using cell phones to detonate bombs. The Muslim teacher replied "Okay then Christians shouldn't be allowed to have guns because they kill everything in site when they have one in their hands." The two teachers just chuckled and shook their heads then went on with their day. No lawsuits, no one lost their job, no news stories, no fights, no riots. And this was in an Islamic school. Too bad things can't be that relaxed in other places in the world. Could you imagine a Muslim teacher in America saying something comparable to that in a Christian school? Could you even imagine a Christian school hiring a Muslim?

The third and final term is now wrapping up here. I just need to calculate grades and then I'm done with school until September. I'll have some more time to do a little bit of traveling and work on other projects. The rainy season is just starting now as well, so that's exciting. Soon somehow plants will start growing out of the formerly dry, barren dirt and sand, and the land will become lush and green. Soon I'll be able to watch the ominous cloud formations roll over the bush while they bang on their drums in the distance; gathering troops, deciding which cardinal direction to attack. Soon I'll be curled up in the fetal position sucking my thumb while thunder, lightning, and wind threaten to annihilate my hut. It's a common occurance for people to loose their rooftops during the rainy season.

In two weeks I'll be going to the Banjul area again for an all-volunteer meeting. On July 4th we'll be slightly more American than usual and we will be having a party at a beer factory it sounds like. The second week in July I'm planning to go to Sierra Leone. I'll hopefully be staying with some relatives of one of my friends. I'm still debating on whether I want to spend my time in Freetown itself, or out in the countryside. I'm leaning toward the second choice. I've heard the countryside is beautiful there and the village people (no relation to the band) are especially friendly. I'll keep you all posted on how that shapes up.

Pets of The Gambia: