Bee Keeping

BeeCause Charity have provided Beekeeping training for some of our people from Si-Kunda. They all enjoyed it very much and are now very keen to put into practice all they have learned. They have 'catcher' boxes in the village now and at least one box has bees already in it! We met Jenny, Mick and Peter from BeeCause while in Gambia in March, they are so enthusiastic and willing to help get an enterprise going in Si-Kunda, which is great news for us. This is something we have wanted to do for some time now, so at last it looks like it is now happening! So we are very grateful to all of them at BeeCause for providing so much help and encouragement. I will give updates on the blog as this progresses.
In the picture are both Ansumana's who will be the first beekeepers, along with Sankung and Abdoulie who attended the training.

April updates

Well after a wonderful month in The Gambia the updates are now on our 'Projects' page for 2011.

We have had a very good few weeks since our return as we have had presentations to do which include The Red Cross at Irchester who support us so well. We have received some very generous donations, one of which from the Rotary Club of Bletchley who have supported us for many years now, we had a very enjoyable lunch and gave a presentation which was received well.

We had a very successful sale at BarclayCard in Northampton organised by Dave; which Marje, Anne and I also attended. It was extremely well supported and a very enjoyable day for us.

The BonusBall is continuing to run which also helps a lot with raising funds for our projects.

BeeKeeping training is starting today, we have two men from the village attending in a small town called Lamin, and they will bring their skills back to the village to start a new enterprise. So this is great news!

We installed windows into one classroom last week in Toniataba school to increase the ventilation and provide enough light. We intend to do two further classrooms very soon.

Marje is going to have a garden fete on 21st May if any of you live near enough to Rushden, Northants to attend, you wil be very welcome, please put the date in your diary!

We want to update some more of the website and provide some video clips, plus further fundraising ideas, so we will be busy in the coming months with all of that and more presentations and sales to do.

More updates soon, many thanks for all your support .............Sue

Web updates

New updates for 2011 are going onto the projects page of the website this week with photographs...
The month in Gambia was very enjoyable and productive. The time went by so quickly I would loved to have stayed another month! We will be visiting again later in the year, and I will put some more updates on this blog in a few days

February - March trip

I have just got back from a month in The Gambia, and will be writing some updates in the next few days, so watch this space!!

Merry Christmas!

We wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!!

Special thanks to all of you who have been so supportive during 2010. We are in difficult times, and so we appreciate even more the support we continue to receive, many many thanks from all of us the trustees, and from the people of Si-Kunda.

Marje and Liz had a productive and enjoyable visit to The Gambia in November, all our news will be in the next newsletter, which will be distributed at the end of January. If you don't already receive one regularly and would like to do so, then please contact me - details on the contacts page of the website.

We are visiting Si-Kunda again in February, I will be spending a month there, Anne will be visiting for some of that time, as will my husband.

Trip to Gambia

Marje and Liz are now almost packed and ready to go to The Gambia tomorrow, Friday November 19th 2010. They are going for ten days, and have a very long list of things to do while there...! First on the agenda is to help Sankung at the port of Banjul retrieving the latest shipment, getting it through customs and then upcountry. It should have arrived a few weeks ago but unfortunately the container ship had to call into Antwerpp for repairs. Which has meant that Sankung has been unable to distribute the supplies as yet, but it should all get to the village during the next few days, and can then be taken to the various schools and hospital as intended.

Skills Centre

The Skills Centre is currently having a tiled floor laid, this will be a big improvement to the concrete floor, and will help to make it easier to keep clean.

The excercise books have been purchased and delivered to both Toniataba and Fonkoi Kunda schools.

The shipment is due in Banjul,the capital and port of The Gambia. This will be delivered over the next week to the schools we support,Soma Hospital and Soma Red Cross.