#GTFOChallenge, the final week, continued: Djembe drumming, Gambian food with Migrateful & forest bathing on Wimbledon Common
I almost can’t believe my stamina: I’ve done over 25 activities this month, travelled from one edge of London to its extreme opposite (and back again) and challenged myself physically and mentally. And all I can think is: I want more of this. All of it. Here’s what I’ve been up to…
Touma Touma West African Djembe Drumming
I almost feel like I’ve stumbled upon a secret society when I head to this event in Finsbury Park’s Art Club, in the park itself, on a Thursday evening… especially when I learn that this drumming circle runs every Thursday night in the park. Thegroup plays on West African djembe drums and is taught by master drummer Alai Sanfo (drumwave.co.uk), a Burkina Faso native who has been doing this for decades. (In fact, some of the students in this drum session have been coming to him for years.) Which isn’t to say the class isn’t friendly to newbies.
I had zero drumming experience and was so grateful to the kindness of everyone there, from helping me find a drum to use that sounded good (there’s a way you can test this, but I’m too much of a newbie to remember what you’re meant to test for) to the supportive smiles when I ended up doing the “response” to Alai’s “call” (e.g. having a dialogue between my drum and his… solo!).
I learned how to hit the djembe at different points, with the palm or heel of my hand, to make different sounds (tone, bass), and halfway through the 2.5 hour session, Alai started drumming on a dundun (a double-headed cylindrical drum, with two drums on either side) as the rest of the class provided the accompaniment.
At one point during the session, I lost myself to the experience: my self-consciousness was gone, the fact I’d never drummed before seemed insignificant, and it was just me and the music. Pounding my djembe, lost in the energy of it all, head swaying, shoulders shaking… It was electrifying. This kind of drumming is a full-body workout… and my palmswere incredibly sore the next day. (Like, can’t-type-on-a-computer levels of sore.) A night to remember.
Gambian cookery evening with Migrateful
From Burkina Faso to the Gambia… all without having to leaveLondon. My next activity was a cooking session and dinner led by Chef Awa, whose story is inspiring and incredible. When she came to the UK from her native Gambia, she was connected with Migrateful, a charity which helps equip asylum seekers and refugees with the skills to teach cookery classes and use their home cooking knowledge to become chefs and culinary teachers. The charity’s mantra? Bringing people together through the power of food.
Gambian-born Awa has been with Migrateful (@migratefuluk) for three years and the evening was even more special because it was her last one: not only has she “graduated” from the Migrateful programme, she is now head chef at Comptoir Libanais.
We made yassa yassa chicken (a chicken dish marinated in a host of spices) with onions, rice and peas, mackerel parcels (I was heavily involved in both the dough making and frying portion of this dish), pepper soup and bisap, a hibiscus drink that tastes divine.
I loved how we got to make the meal altogether as a group, met new people during the process and then sat down outside (the event was atAll Saints Church in Peckham Rye) to enjoy all the delicious food. Which was, truly, incredibly, amazing-tasting.
The whole experience made me think I am so over the basic date night recipe of heading to a restaurant or pub: I want to keep find something more meaningful, interesting and different on Eventbrite. Basically, I want to keep doing stuff like this. Especially when a night out is for a great cause – Migrateful helps refugees from all over the world.
I had a chat with Chef Awa about what signature Gambian cuisine tastes like. “There are always three things,” she explained. “Garlic, ginger and bay leaf. We like to bring lots of taste to the food.” Awa learned to cook as a young child at the age of nine and says that for girls, learning “how to cook for your husband” is crucial in Gambian culture, so you’re taught from your early years. Cooking with her grandfather is what Awa most enjoyed: he taught her that tasty food comes from the heart, and regaled her stories about his life and time in the army when they cooked together.
“I like to see how people react to my food, to my culture,” Awa says of her Migrateful cookery evenings. “I want people to enjoy the food, enjoy the experience.”
Though Awa’s cooking repertoire now includes the Lebanese dishes she whips up for diners at Comptoir Libanais, she discovered a new dish she can’t get enough of when she came to England: lasagne.
“I do it with a twist,” she explains. Her special lasagne add-ins? “Garlic, ginger, vinegar and broccoli. I love the spice,” she says.
Forest bathing on Wimbledon Common
Going to the park is nothing revolutionary, right? Except, now I think it might be: that’s how powerful my first forest bathing experience on Wimbledon Common with Nigel Grimes, a breathwork coach and forest bathing guide (@nigelconnectwiththeforest), was.
I’m not alone – researchers in Japan inthe 1980s discovered various benefits of forest bathing, both physical and mental-health wise. It can help the body get rid of inflammation, balance blood pressure, boost immunity, ease anxiety and improve mood. The trees themselves provide half the benefits of forest bathing, thanks to the phytoncides they release.
This experience was unlike any other, and I can’t remember the last time I was in the park just for myself, just to enjoy it, just to observe. The two-hour walk included guided meditation and breathwork as well as sense-by-sense exercises – I loved how Nigel got me thinking about so many things I never pay attention to. (What can you hear? What colours can you see? What can you smell in the dirt?) I was completely relaxed and so happy digging in the dirt (and, yes, sniffing it), walking backwards, observing the shapes of the leaves rustling against the sky, hugging trees, playing with texture, lying in the grass to unwind as Nigel led us in a body-scan meditation… just, wow. Somehow, I felt more energised and relaxed than I have in months and I can’t wait to do it all over again.
Catch up on my adventures past here, here, here, here, here, here… and here…. And stay tuned for my final post from my month of #gtfochallenge activities…