Website updates

The website Projects page for 2009 has now been completed, with a few recent photographs.....

Trip to Gambia November 18th 2009

Well we returned very late on Friday, 4th December after a very enjoyable trip. The Tabaski celebrations took place in the middle of our stay in the village of Si-Kunda which we all enjoyed, though it meant we had to try to fit everything we needed to do around it which was a bit of a challenge! But we did achieve most of the things we really needed to do. This time there were four of us, Marje, Anne, Richard and myself. I will be writing more later, but just a few highlights.... Richard worked in the Computer Lab which we installed about 3 years ago in Pakalinding Upper Basic School, rebuilding the server and a few pc's that needed attention, also some work was needed on the pc's previously installed in the local hospital - Soma Medical Centre. The headmaster of the school and the medical staff at the hospital were very pleased and happy when Richard had finished his work there. We went to inspect the doors we have had replaced in the hospital, the old wooden ones were in a bad way, so we have replaced them with stong metal doors, and they are fitted with locks to make the hospital more secure.

We have made some changes at Si-Kunda Village School regarding staff, along with the support of the Akilo and elders of the village. We are also starting a PTA at the school which we hope will increase further interest from the parents by involving them more in the school's future. We have been given some land in the rice fields which will be cultivated by the women in the village to supplement the rice we are providing for the children at lunch time and hopefully help the school fund which has been started by the headmaster and our project manager.

We are going to create a library for the village in the Skills Centre we built last year. It will take up half of one of the large storerooms and be completely isolated from the rest of the building. It is in the centre of the village, and we believe it will be well used. The library in the school can then be just used by the school pupils themselves.

The building is going to start very soon on the land purchased earlier this year near the coast. This will be a compound for Sankung and his family (they have no permanent home at the moment), and included in this will be 3 rooms for students who are going to the coast for further education. Sankung is our project manager, so therefore needs to travel very frequently between the coast and Si-Kunda to enable him to do the work he does for the charity.

One of the students who will be staying there is Lamin Njie. We are so proud of him, he is our first sponsored student to be accepted at the University of Gambia. He will be doing Economics and Management. We have quite a few students now in higher education, so we are very grateful to our sponsors!

We will be posting our next newsletter to our sponsors in January, and will also be updating the website with more news of what has been done in 2009. But if you would like to know more, then please just ask, I am always happy to talk about the charity!

Sue

Next trip to Si-Kunda - November 2009

Well it isn't long now, just over two weeks until we fly out to The Gambia on 18th November. Marje, Anne, Jamie, Richard and myself will be spending time progressing our projects and visiting the schools and hospital we help to support, our list of 'things to do' is getting longer by the day! We will return home on the 4th December.

We have just provided some bicycles for those students who have moved to nearer the coast who are now in further education. They have quite a distance to travel to school, so it has been essential that they have some transport.

We intend to start a new project by the end of this year, and have three very worthy options in mind, it would be great to do them all, but we will take one at a time. We will make the final decision on which it will be as soon as we return, then news of that will be posted on the blog and website.

Updates......

The ladies of Sikunda are very busy in the Friendship Gardens and the skills centre now that they no longer have to be working in the rice fields again this year. All of the school supplies sent in the September shipment have now been delivered to Toniataba, Pakalinding, Fonkoi Kunda, Jiffen and Sikunda schools. Supplies for the hospital and Red Cross will be delivered when we arrive as they have specifically requested. Metal shelving and a cupboard are currently being made for Toniataba nursery class. Cassava and groundnuts have been harvested from the Sikunda village school garden, and proceeds from the surplus sold is being kept for the school fund.

Only four weeks until we fly out to The Gambia!

Marje is still busy making all sorts of jams, chutneys, jellies, etc and putting all the proceeds into the charity fund. Keep jamming Marje! Anyone interested in buying some home produce, please give her a call! (contact details on the website)

Kingsway United Church

On Wednesday 14th October 09, Gloz and I were invited to the Kingsway United Church to talk about our latest projects and give a presentation of photographs. Kingsway have been supporting our charity since we started and we were very pleased to meet them again and to receive some supplies which we will be sending to Gambia on our next shipment. The ladies also purchased some of our Gambian crafts which helps towards our funds for the schools and projects we are supporting. Many thanks for a lovely afternoon ladies, (and gentleman)!

Fundraising Event - Art Workshop!

Today is 10th October, 2009 and we have just finished a very successful fundraising event - an Art Workshop. Karen Evans very kindly volunteered to do this for us at my house in Wing. There was enough room for eight to attend comfortably, everyone brought something towards our lunch, and it was thoroughly enjoyed by all of us - at the same time raising £320!!

I never realised how hard it would be to paint still life... apples in this case, using techniques none of us had used before. I think most of us were rather pleased with the results, and we certainly learned a lot.

Thankyou Karen for giving up your time to provide us with a memorable day and a substantial sum for the charity! We will look forward to the next workshop!