Brufut West African Lifestyle Museum

 For nearly 5 years GTS and GETS have used the compound which GTS Members Pamela and David Brodie offered  the use of to the charity. 

The years of our occupation are coming to an end but during that time in 2004 Kebba who had been the loyal Gambian watchman at the compound had a sudden illness and died leaving his wife and 5 children.

 The charity kept the family on to look after the property as best they could and several of the children continued to have their educations sponsored by members.

 The museum never became established enough to function as a self sufficient unit in its own right but the venue was an ideal centre to display West African everyday life as lived in Rural West Africa.

Pamela and David will be visiting in early 2008 to discuss essential repairs needed to the roof and the future of what we at the charity came to know as Brufut 3 currently remains uncertain.

 Things have also moved on and although GTS continues to run trips for members they are no longer a major core part of our charity work in Gambia.

Archive item

Ian and Hilary Ratcliff are returning to Gambia in early November for their 2nd extended stay, helping GETS. They are devoting their stay this year to work on the Museum at Brufut.

During their last stay Ian made a solar cooker - demonstrated to visitors at the museum on the rural days out and invented a kettle fueled with waste paper and twigs that was able to boil a litre of water throughly in 5 minutes.

Their stay will involve refurnishment of two of the living rooms at the compound for members to stay, they will also improve and add to the displays at the Museum and supervise horticultural work in the Gardens.

GTS Rural Lifestyle visits are run every Wednesday - this is a full day out and aims to show tourists how ordinary Gambians live. Some highlights are our vist to a mixed farm, a wonderful beach bar and a buffet at the Brufut Museum, where the local family shows and explains many aspects of everyday life including drawing water from the well the art of making attire and traditional dancing.

The Museum has a number of musical instruments and a growing variety of displays illustrating different aspects of Gambian cultural living.

More links

Home