Domestic compounds are shared living spaces consisting of a collection of huts or a block of rooms within a yard.

They may be enclosed by a beautifully woven palm-frond or millet-stalk fences, rows of bound-together rhun palm stalks, or barricades of wooden stakes, often just gnarled, twisted and unfinished branches planted upright in the earth as a readymade feast for termites. Hedges are rarer, while sturdy walls of cement blocks are regarded as a status symbol. The purpose of the compound boundary is just to mark out space, not to keep anybody out! It's normal for villagers to drop in on their neighbours uninvited, and small domestic animals - chicken, sheep, and goats - are free-ranging. Many Gambian compounds are built around mango or orange trees, which give the compound colour and shade, as well as an abundance of fruit in season; pawpaws and bananas are also commonly grown.

Inside the compound fence is the courtyard, usually of vigorously swept bare earth, where domestic life is lived out. The day starts just after dawn, between 6.30 and 7am for most of the year. Either within the compound, or outside under shade tress, women stand for several hours a day pounding grain (millet, sorghum or couscous), using long heavy wooden mortars in large bucket-sized wooden pestles. Mud-brick huts with roofs thatched with grass or palm fronds are very common in rural villages, and are practical, as they are cool by day and warm on cold nights. However, many villagers opt for cement-block rooms with corrugated iron roofs if they can afford them, as they require less maintenance, and more protection against fires, even though they make buildings roastingly hot in the sun and deafeningly noisy in the rain. Hanging just over the doorframe inside each hut or room is a collection of jujus, which may be verses from Koran bundled up in pieces of cloth, shells, or other fetish objects blessed by a marabout to bring good fortune upon the house.

It's not unusual for the huts or rooms in a compound to be used only for sleeping and storage, but, if a visitor arrives, they may be ushered into a room to take a seat in the best chair in the compound and, at meal-times, to eat there alone. Women often share their huts or bedrooms with their children; if a man has several wives, they take it in turns to spend the night with him, on a strict rota. The men's houses are generally at the front of the compound so there's no chance of anybody visiting the women unnoticed. Plumbed-in sanitation is very rare in rural villages; instead, there's a fenced-off area at the rear of the compound with a long-drop latrine and a 'shower' area for washing with bucket and soap.

Download the compound owner list (excel doc/28kb)

Have a look at the Madina Salaam Village tour

A typical compound interior