HOW to build from a distance in the Gambia? Besides the people, the patience and the communication skills it takes to do business in a foreign country, here, you’ll need to be able to show what you mean. Gambian craftsmen can create many things as long as long as you can show them what you’d like them to make.
You’d think in times like these, these things would be easy. Smartphones, What’s app, internet and Pinterest are available to everyone,right? Wrong. You wouldn’t believe how many things we take for granted, just don’t work like that here. So, back to oldschool, but very reliable, paper, glue, rulers and pencils. And for these past years, I ve been taking my scrapbooks, camera and paper notebooks with me everywhere I go.
What also turned out to be a good idea: me and my friend Adama both have this same book “Eco Hotels”, she’s got it in the Gambia, I’ve got one at home in the Netherlands.
On the phone, I can point out what I mean, simply by telling her the page number. And, then, when What’s app
does work (which means the smartphone is charged, internet credit is topped up, and internet does work fast enough) and fresh building pictures are coming in, one by one, it’s just magic!
