Greetings from
Bakoteh Proper Basic
School in The Gambia.
How are you all in
England? We hope you
are all well and we are
so glad you are our
friends.
You find us at
the end of the
dry season. It
has not
rained since
November.
But now the
first rain has
come.
So now the rains
have come it is
time to plant crops
and check our
roofs to make sure
they do not leak.
The mangoes are
almost ripe and ready
to eat. They are
delicious. We have a
mango trees in our
school grounds. Do you
eat mangoes?
We have been learning
about clothes and we
have made a
presentation about
what we have learned.
We hope you like it!
People wear clothes for
many reasons like to cover
their nakedness or to make
themselves look beautiful.
They also wear clothes to
show they are part of a
group - like your school
uniform or a football team
strip or what the
supporters wear
In Africa , because it is hot we have traditionally worn light airy
clothes that let the air get to our bodies so we can keep cool. The ladies are
wearing bulabah and men are wearing haftans. But more and more people
are wearing European clothes like jeans and T-shirts, especially in the
towns. So on Friday all the adults try to wear traditional African clothes.
And when it is special occasion like weddings and the naming of a new baby
we all dress up in African clothes. And at the Muslim festivals of Tobaski and
Koriteh we are all given new African clothes and shoes to wear.
Look at this tailor workshop. The young tailor
nearest the camera is wearing jeans and a T-shirt.
The older tailors are wearing traditional African
clothes.
There are many tailors in the
Gambia who make clothes.
You choose your material
and tell the tailor what
design you want. Most
tailors are men.
Today we are off
to see Mariama.
She is a very good
lady tailor we
know.
Hallo I am Mariama and I am
going to make some clothes
for Musa and Binta. First they
have to chose the materials
and then tell me the designs
they want.
The material we have chosen is
called Tie-Dye and the pattern is
made by tying knots in the
material before putting it into
the dye. It makes patterns. Can
you see the elephant patterns in
this material. Tie-dying is a
traditional West African craft
that is still practiced today.
These are the
materials we have
chosen. Mine is tiedye and Binta’s is a
printed pattern of
Africa and African
drums
Now we have
told Mariama the
designs we want
she measures us
carefully to make
sure she makes
them the right
size.
Here is Mariama
with her sewing
machine making
clothes.
And here is what
Mariama made for us
from the cloths we
chose. Do you like
them?
We are at the
market in
Serrakunda to
buy some
second hand
European
clothes. Most of
the clothes
arrive in large
containers by
sea. We have 25
dalasi each to
spend.
Often they are
just dumped in
a pile and you
have to sort
through and
find something
you like?
I have
bought
this Tshirt for
25
dalasi
My T-shirt
cost 25
dalasi too.
Do you
like what
we have
bought?
We are going to say
Good bye now. We
hope you enjoyed
our presentation on
clothes. And we
hope we will hear
from you soon. Bye.