‘150,000 Cross Med.’ in 2015 – Migrant Report

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Image © MOAS_EU/Jason Florio, 2015. All rights reserved.

 

‘Some 150,000 migrants are believed to have reached Europe by sea to date so far in 2015, with virtually all of them landing in Italy (74,947) or Greece (75,970), according to the International Organisation for Migration.. .’ read more on  Migrant Report, by Mark Micallif

Photo of the Day: Fishing off Jinack Island, The Gambia, West Africa

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Image © Helen Jones-Florio – Jinack Island, River Gambia Estuary, The Gambia, West Africa

 

Taken whilst on assignment for B-Spirit (Brussels Airlines, inflight magazine) – Walking the entire coastline of The Gambia, with photographer,  Jason Florio

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Photo of the day: The dark side of the moon – from a boat in the Mediterranean Sea © Jason Florio

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Image © Jason Florio, 2015 – in the Mediterranean, off the Libyan coast.

Blessed by a Marabout – spiritual healers, Koranic scholars – in West Africa

 

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Jason Florio sets the scene, to photograph Mr Bah, the marabout, and his family, Tuba Dabbo, The Gambia. Image © Helen Jones-Florio

 

‘A Short Walk in the Gambian Bush – 930km African odyssey‘ 2009

When we stayed with Alkalo, Fatou Dansu (one of only 5 female chiefs, at the time, in The Gambia), in the town of Basse, we met a strange, yet intriguing, old man called Mr Bah. Outwardly, he reminded me the obsequious Uriah Heep, the oh so humble character, from Charles Dickens’ ‘David Copperfield’. He walked with a stoop, continuously rubbing his dry, parchment-like, hands together. And, when he shook your hand, he stroked the back of it, slowly, with his free hand – as if to somehow take away an imprint of who you were – whilst all the time, not breaking eye contact. It was a little disconcerting, to begin with, but as we spent more time with him, it began to feel as if we were in the presence of a rather unique individual. He had this odd little click in his voice, when he spoke; indicative of the Fula people, of whom he was one. The chief, Fatou, explained that Mr Bah was a marabout – a medicine man, spiritual healer, Koranic teacher and fortune-teller –  and a much respected, highly-esteemed man, throughout the area, at that.

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Mr Bah, the marabout, reading the sand – The Gambia, West Africa. Image © Jason Florio

 

After Mr Bah did a ‘reading in the sand’, for Florio and I, when we eventually reached his village of Tuba Dabbo, I would go so far as to say that I felt very honoured, to have met him.  Even if he did always seem to magically materialise, whenever we put hot water on the fire, to boil, for tea!

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Tea’s up! Helen, Mr Bah, and Janneh  (expedition team mate)- Basse Santa Su, The Gambia, West Africa. In the background is ‘Neil’ one of the two donkeys who walked the whole 930km with us © Jason Florio 

 

Words by Helen Jones-Florio – journal entries from ‘A Short Walk in the Gambian Bush – 930km African odyssey’ Read/see more on the blog about the journey.