The Gambia – West Africa for starters

Monday’s my first day into Banjul (the hotel is in Serrekunda, a small town very close to Banjul on the Atlantic coast). Banjul is interesting. The streets are dusty (rainy season is still a bit off), but in relatively good repair (though of course only the major thoroughfares resemble streets as we know them, mostly cars turn off these streets onto dirt paths). The population is colourfully dressed and we do not see anyone in the time we’re here that would appear to be desperately poor.

There are a couple of goats in the streets. Here, and then again over there a block over. This intrigues me – I do not see anyone who appears to be herding them, yet surely livestock would be too valuable to let it run around on its own? The newspapers are usually a couple of days old, and do not evidence a desire to gainsay the government. On the first day I read an article that a leader of the opposition was arrested for Possession of Loudspeakers (without a license) and find an editorial next to it which attempts to point out to the reader that this shows how the law applies to everybody – a triumph for the rule of law in the Gambia. Aha. Shows you how valuable such an editorial is, because it wouldn’t have occurred to me to interpret the facts quite that way. ;-)

Then there is the usual West African experience of people trying to bum some money off us in one way or another. Most start with a friendly “conversation”, which seems hard to avoid – tell someone you don’t want to talk to them when all they’ve done is wish you a good day and maybe (usually) ask where you’re from. Then, after the young man has told me (in passable German) of his time in Germany, he presses into my hand a little necklace that he tells me they make for tourists around here and even sell in the markets, but he wants me to have it as a gift. I know, even as I take it, that taking it is wrong because it’s got to lead to the next stage, and sure enough it does. He would much appreciate if I had maybe just a tiny little token of appreciation for him as well. Just a few Euros, or maybe just one dollar? And of course he doesn’t immediately take the “gift” back when I shake my head, creating the difficulty that I can’t give it back (certainly don’t feel like throwing it down, I don’t want to insult) but don’t want to keep it either (not without paying, and I don’t want to pay).

This is when I realize something that’s been dawning on me for a while: Polite honesty works. “Look, my friend, I only took the gift because I felt bad about rejecting it, but now that I realize you expect a gift in return, it doesn’t feel like a gift at all, more like you’re trying to sell me something – and I don’t want to buy anything.” “Yes, I realize that in the market I’d have to spend money for something like it – but only if I really, really wanted to have it, which I don’t”. One can take this method further:

“No, I don’t.” ... “You don’t believe I don’t have money? Well, excuse me, I thought when you asked me if I had any money you meant do I have any money that I feel like giving to you, and the answer to *that* question would be ‘no’.” ... “Well, because it’s *my* money and I’d really rather hang on to it”. Etc. Not easy to stay polite while on the other hand honestly saying all those things that politeness would usually make us not say, but very much worth the effort. It seemed to create an impregnable shield against several touts desperately probing my defenses, without ever giving rise to aggression. I think I may be on to something here.