3 house staff in the morning
Mariama's dress reads:
"Jammeh for Stability. Jammeh for Presiden."
"Jammeh for Stability. Jammeh for Presiden."
Last night on the 8 pm local news we found out that due to the Parliamentary elections that were most probably going to be on Thursday (and now we find, they are), public schools and offices will be closed on Wednesday (to prepare), Thursday (for the actual election) and Friday (for the results). The kids rejoiced like it was a snow day. And we adults are figuring out what to do for a warm 5-day weekend. It may not be safe to be out too much, as crowds of cheering supporters might storm the streets or police patrols might closely monitor whoever is out. Because of the unexpected days off, our private schools' winter/mid-term break also has been suddenly moved -- to this week and next week (now, the plans we were making for a week off in February had to be scrapped at a moment's notice).
Why three days off for a mid-term election? It turns out that citizens must travel to their home provinces to vote. Even though this is a small country, infrastructure difficulties call for many hours to travel a few hundred kilometers. More organized candidates provide transport by bus for their constituents to get home, but not all get this benefit.
Foreign embassy staff and some of the other international organizations' staff based here are busy preparing to serve as election monitors, to ensure as transparent a process as possible.
There are even festive dresses to come out for the elections, in celebration of the President or the political party. The attached picture of Mariama, the long-time, hard-working, kind, and cheerful maid at our home, shows her in a dress celebrating President Jammeh, which she has worn specially for these days. The next picture is of her with the rest of the house staff (Awa and Fatou), arriving to work in their beautiful gowns – an everyday occurrence.
Why three days off for a mid-term election? It turns out that citizens must travel to their home provinces to vote. Even though this is a small country, infrastructure difficulties call for many hours to travel a few hundred kilometers. More organized candidates provide transport by bus for their constituents to get home, but not all get this benefit.
Foreign embassy staff and some of the other international organizations' staff based here are busy preparing to serve as election monitors, to ensure as transparent a process as possible.
There are even festive dresses to come out for the elections, in celebration of the President or the political party. The attached picture of Mariama, the long-time, hard-working, kind, and cheerful maid at our home, shows her in a dress celebrating President Jammeh, which she has worn specially for these days. The next picture is of her with the rest of the house staff (Awa and Fatou), arriving to work in their beautiful gowns – an everyday occurrence.
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