Updated
September 2, 2007

Choosing the Truth

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Red at May's compound. Like many kids he tells his stories from the moral high ground.

This one is typical of Red the good guy, helping out, but getting no one into any trouble.

In the rainy season. . . .
There is some man who is digging a hole
He just dig and dig.
He want to plant,
It was raining
I'm just washing in the rain
I'm running all over
I just see the spade cut the pipe
The water flows everywhere . . .

The old man tried to stop the water
I just come and stand there and watching him
That time I'm very worry about him

When the NAWEC people come
How are they going to decide with him, to fix the pipe

I just see him picking the plastic bags
Me also I help him to pick the plastic bag
And then he's trying tp stop the water
To tie it with the plastic bag
I help him
I help him, but the water cannot stop
That time the water is coming by powerful
And he tied many plastic bags
Then the water stopped small
It was going easy easy

And then everywhere is getting water

Then they are just asking each other
Where this water come from?
Where this water come from?
But me . . . .
I don't want to tell them where this water come from
If I tell them
Maybe they can go and report and then that man can have trouble . . .

And then I keep quiet for many days
Up to one day
I see NAWEC
They have come with their car and their everything
And they see me just standing
They say, 'Hey you little boy come here'
They say, 'You don't know where the pipe destroyed'
Up to where the water is flowing all over
I think
I think, that time I have two minds
Maybe if I tell it
They are going to take that man to the police
Or Maybe if I tell it
They are going to solve the problem

Then one mind come
My thinking just tell me, just tell what you know
Then I just tell them at once
They said to me
Do you know the place?
I say 'Yes'
They say to me 'You can find the place for us?
I say 'Yes'
I take them to there
I point my finger there, then I just say 'It's here, it's this place'
They dig a hole, a big hole

And then they cut the pipe in the middle

The water is flowing by power
Up
The water is flowing everywhere, like in the river
Then they put the iron there and they join it tpgether

And they say 'now we've finished'
They say 'You little boy, thank you'

Much agricultural cultivation goes on at the beginning of the rainy season around June
NAWEC is the Gambia's water authority.
Most towns in the 'Combo' Coastal area, have a piped water supply, but connection is expensive, so the local women and girls use stand pipes and carry the water home, balanced on their heads, sometimes for 100's of metres.

If you enjoyed this story, please make a donation through GTS to Elsa, all the money will be used for his education and towards getting his stories published.

Please contact: Francis Glynn to make a donation to Red.

 

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