The Cunningtons Arrive In The Gambia

The family have moved to The Gambia because of Aubrey's work. He is doing research at the Medical Research Council Laboratories in Fajara, not far from the capital city Banjul. Aubrey arrived on 13th July and Marianne and the girls arrived to join him on 30th July. It was great to be reunited with the sweaty girls (suffering in the humidity at Banjul Airport). Elise made several bids for freedom through the immigration queue and when she finally broke free, promptly lay down in the middle of the floor and tried to go to sleep.

We have spent the last week getting orientated to the local area, and trying to set up home. We are very lucky to be staying on the MRC compound at the moment. The MRC has a very large site with several playing fields, labs and administrative buildings, a hospital, residences, plenty of beautiful wild birds, and even an occasional monkey. People have been very friendly and welcoming and we are slowly working out how to do all the things we need to do for day to day routine.

The girls are settling in well, particularly because it is just a short walk to the beach. Even so, they are getting very tired because the humidity saps your energy quite quickly and they are waking up each morning when morning prayers are called at around 5.30am. Hopefully they start to sleep better before school starts at the end of August.

We'll add more as we explore over the next few weeks and hope to add some good photos soon.