The island is just for walking and what a lovely place it is. The houses were sometime built like ships as the first photo shows. The pink building is the slave house. It was built by a Dutch merchant and while some slaves were held here, it turns out that Goree Island was not really the center of the slave trade. The door way to the sea at the back of the house was not where the slave were shipped from--no ship could have docked there. Also, there is no fresh water on the island so maintaining a large number of people is unlikely. The majority of slaves left from other ports in west Africa, such as Gambia and Ghana.
Here are some of the teachers with Almamay in the courtyard of the house, and on the balcony above with our other guide Laity. The Baobab tree is common here and there are many African tales about the tree. The trunk is enormous and the fruit of the tree, called Monkey Bread in French (pain de singe) is used to make a popular drink here called bouye. If you look closely at the photo on the left you can see the large green fruit hanging from the branches. I like love the drink, along with Bissap (made from dried hibiscus flowers) and gingerbeer which my maid prepares for me on a regular basis.
The kindergarten's science curriculum includes a unit on Trees this fall. The curriculum is written for the US--beginning with "fall colors" which are none here. I have been enjoying researching trees of west Africa and look forward to learning more with the children as we explore this unit.
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