Mr Mboge and I finally received the funds to go on trek. Our mission, should we choose to accept, was to travel the length of the country in 6 days, visiting 7 Senior Secondary Schools, interviewing head teachers, volunteer teachers and students to monitor the National Volunteer Teacher Programme. Finally I had some real work to get my teeth stuck into and about time too because I was on the verge of giving up. I was nervous about spending a week with my boss but interested to see the countryside, meet the volunteers, visit the schools and see what kind of impact the volunteer project is making.

The trek got off to a shaky start after I stayed out dancing in Senegambia until 4.30am the night before I was due to leave. Old habits die hard. I had a couple of hours sleep, packed my stuff and got picked up early by Mr Mboge and our driver Mustafa to leave for Janjangbureh, Central River Region. I tried to sleep but a large section of the road on the south bank of the River Gambia is still unmade and it made for very bumpy ride. It was brilliant to finally see the countryside; mangroves and palm trees, immense silk cotton trees and baobabs, wetlands, dry savannah and jungle. There was a wonderful feeling of space, peace and tranquillity. You see no one for miles and miles before driving through small villages where people sit by the side of the road selling the millions of watermelons which are now in season. If you stop your truck, women appear at each window showing you their watermelons and trying to convince you that their ones are the best.

We stayed at the Regional Education Office in Janjangbureh and we had not arrived long before the volunteers we recruited and trained last month came to greet us. They were genuinely pleased to see us which was very heart warming. They said they look forward to the visits from the National Volunteer Team because it makes them feel supported and motivates them. However, their smiles faded fast when they realised that the 'little something' Mr Mboge had told them we had for them was actually paperwork rather than their allowance. Many of the volunteers had not been paid their monthly volunteer allowance as the paymaster forgot to pick up their cheque and no-one else in The Gambia can give them their money. Oh dear.

From Janjangbureh, we crossed the River Gambia on the ferry with the truck and visited Niani Senior Secondary School (SSS) to meet with the head teacher and volunteers under a papaya tree. The feedback from the head teacher was positive although the volunteers were clearly disgruntled about not receiving their allowances. I would be too in their situation. They are, on the whole, young people who have never worked or lived away from home before. They are thrown in at the deep end by receiving just two weeks of teacher training before being sent upcountry to teach in really isolated schools where they know no-one and then they can't even afford to eat or to phone home because the paymaster forgets their cheque. Not very motivating is it?

From Niani we went back to Armitage School in Janjangbureh and then onto Bansang SSS, meeting with the volunteers and teachers along the way before heading to Basse to sleep for the night. What a whirlwind. Ideally I would have sat down and had one to one reviews with the volunteers but on trek we thrust the review form in their face and asked them to fill it in while we went off to do something else to save time. From Basse we went to Fatoto, the complete opposite end of The Gambia to where I live. At Fatoto we discovered that some of the students regarded the volunteer teachers as substandard compared to the qualified ones. Mr Mboge gave a lecture to a year 12 class to put them straight on this issue. He explained that the volunteers had either a degree or a higher diploma in the subject they are teaching so whilst they have had minimal teacher training, they are experts in their field of knowledge and therefore they are equal to any trained teacher (who doesn't necessarily have a degree).

We went back to Basse for the evening and had dinner at an African friend's house then the next day we crossed the river on a ferry again to visit Nyakoi SSS. It was interesting watching people load motorbikes onto canoes to cross the river and I enjoyed picking up a hitch hikers along the way. An old dude dressed in a kaftan and Ray-Bans with a huge machete climbed onto the back of the truck alongside some young women with their babies on their backs. That evening we had enough time to catch up with our VSO friends, Pompeyo and Edwin, in Basse which was a lot of fun but I can't speak about it because what happens on trek stays on trek. The next day we left Basse early and headed back to Brikama Ba SSS and then onto Jarreng SSS. By this time my 'system', as the Gambians would say, was feeling really bad. I was tired from all of the travelling, exhausted from meeting all the new people and my stomach was very unsettled from a week of African food. I feel guilty that I didn't really help the poor volunteer in Jarreng who hadn't been paid for 3 months because I felt so ill. Not that there was much I could do.

The journey home was uncomfortable to say the least and made even longer as we had to stop to pick up people, buy watermelons, sacks of rice, couscous, charcoal, firewood… until the truck was totally overloaded and I had several bags on my lap and a watermelon wedged between my legs. At least I was more comfortable than the poor bloke who sat for 6 hours in the back of the truck on top of the sacks as we drove on the unmade road. I was really happy to arrive back at my little house on Thursday night. I couldn't wait to get down the beach on Friday. I incurred a body boarding injury when I got hit by a wave and smashed the side of my face on the sea bed. It was a bit scary at the time but I was very pleased with the resulting black eye that appeared the next day. It's proof that I'm a proper surf chick.

On Saturday I went to represent the Ministry of Education at the Volunteer Awards ceremony at the Paradise Hotel in Senegambia. We are now experienced with Gambian Maybe Time so we arrived one hour late but the ceremony was still two hours late to begin. There were many speeches and I was starting to fall asleep when I heard the name of our volunteer project called out and I went up to accept the Award on behalf of the Ministry. I had my photo taken accepting the certificate and I gave a little speech. I was on Gambian TV! I must admit I did enjoy it.

I was outside having my photo taken later when an African gentleman came out and asked me, "Are you the Nicola who works for FareShare in Manchester?" I was taken aback by his question and answered quickly, "Yes I am. How do you know?" He replied, "I'm Ebrahima Mbowe, I used to volunteer for you.'

NO WAY!

Ebrahima volunteered for us for ages. I didn't realise he was Gambian. We built a polytunnel together at a school in West Didsbury and then he helped with fundraising at FareShare. I couldn't believe it and neither could he when I told him I left FareShare to volunteer in The Gambia and as it turns out we live quite close to each other. It made my night. Ok so maybe this volunteering malarkey is worth it after all.