Building work starts on the toilets at Basori and Brikama

Visited both schools last week and the work has started in earnest in Basori. Work was delayed as the man who is organising it sadly lost his 22 year old son so work was delayed to allow a respectable time for mourning. I think the hardest part will be digging the soak away, they had dug maybe a metre last week and it needs to be at least 3 metres deep and the soil gets harder the further you dig. They have the funds now to buy the cement, sand and materials and I am hoping that we will now be able to have proper doors fitted rather than corrugate ones.

I was very happy to be there for the opening of the well that the villagers have dug for themselves at the school. They realised that they could not rely on the charity to do everything and so set to themselves. We provided a small amount of money for some of the materials but really can not take any credit for this. See our Facebook page for photos of the well and the starting of work on the toilets. Will keep posting new photos when I visit.

The Arabic School in Brikama is also in desperate need of toilet facilities and I was surprised and delighted when I visited to see that the have dug the soak away themselves. The staff all helped out and it obviously will reduce costs. Once the toilet is finished in Basori and I can be sure we have enough money I will start to buy sand and cement to make blocks for this school. Obviously, any donations gratefully received!

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Thank you

Visits to schools

We are happy to take visitors along to any of the schools we are working with and although it is not expected any school supplies they bring with them they can have the pleasure of seeing the real difference even the simplest gift can make to these schools. None of our schools are in the tourist areas and the only visitors they have are the ones that we take along. You will be welcomed with open arms wherever you decide to go. We do not charge for these visits but would ask you to pay fuel costs and a tip for the driver as we are taking him away from potential work for the day. We can also provide you with lunch in a local compound, Gambian style. A treat not to be missed.

Since the New Year we have had three sets of visitors to schools and every one of them has said they have had a memorable day and really enjoyed the visits. Please read the comments on our guest book and contact us if you would like to spend a day with us.

New Year, New goals!

Happy New Year to everyone. I was very lucky to be able to spend Christmas and the New Year with my family in London. I am back in The Gambia now and have been for a week, a very busy week! I have taken two sets of visitors to visit schools on different days, attended First Aid Training in Basori, a day paying school fees, as well as trying to sort stuff out in the house and the charity. Not complaining though, I love it!

What are our plans for 2011? Well, the first target was to build a toilet at the nursery in Basori but thanks to some very generous donations over Christmas that is now in the process of being built. Thank you people, you know who you are! There me an amount left over, that's the optimist in me, and I plan to use that to start on toilets for the Arabic School. They also do not have any facilities and have even started digging their own soak-away to reduce the costs to the charity. After that there is the first building in Brikama that needs a little finishing off, we would like to dig a well there and have asked for costings, after that we will concentrate on the big fund-raising for the other two classroom blocks.

In Basori once the toilet block is built we would like to consider a fence to enclose the school to prevent children from coming out of school and ending up on the main road. It will also serve as a security measure even though there is little crime in the village. This will be quite expensive but we are looking at ways to reduce the costs.

We would also like to increase the teachers salaries, at present they are paid a very small amount and it would be nice to give them a fair reward every moth for their hard work, commitment and loyalty. When funds allow we would also like one of them to undertake further training to become fully qualified teachers.

I am really enjoying meeting the lovely visitors who contact me when they are coming to The Gambia and taking them to visit our schools and projects, I hope this year will see many more new friends of the charity as well as old friends visiting again.

So many things to do but I am sure we will continue to raise funds and allow us to develop the charity.