Newsletter

For those who have not received this by e mail.

Once again G.O.A.L for the Gambia has had a very successful year and this is due to the increased support we have received throughout the year.

Number of Young People being Sponsored:-

We have increased our sponsorship programme to 82 young people, an increase of 16 over last year. Some of the young people have finished their education programmes and since the beginning we have sponsored 98 students. New sponsors have been recruited during the year; bring the total to 42 students with direct sponsorship. We continue to look for new sponsors for those without direct support.

The Arabic School at Brikama:-

We have continued to support the rebuilding programme at the school. We have continued putting the finishing touches to the school block that we financed last year and all that remains is to plaster and paint the building. We have also constructed a toilet block consisting of 3 new toilets. Sandy recently visited the school to find that a second block had been financed and built by another charity. We are very disappointed that we were not consulted by the school or the charity involved so that we could work together to ensure that we could achieve the best possible results for the school. The new block has not been built in the same style as the initial block and it is felt that the money provided by the other charity could have been better used in conjunction with us to achieve more. The school now has 2 classroom blocks consisting of 8 classrooms, 2 offices and 2 rooms for use by staff and for storage of stationery items as well as the detached storeroom originally built at the start of our project there. This was what we had intended to achieve at the beginning. The staff and children are very happy with the school now and it is a huge improvement on what they had originally. We have decided that we will complete our original building but will no longer continue with the rebuilding programme as we feel that there are many more schools that could benefit from our support. However, we will continue to have links with the school and we will take interested visitors and provide the school with stationery items as we have pledged to do from the beginning.

The school has benefited from school stationary, balls, football kits and first aid supplies which have been donated by visitors to the school.

The Basori Nursery:-

We have continued to have a strong link with the nursery and the village of Basori. There have been many visitors during the tourist season, bring suitcases full of school equipment and toys for the children. We have ensured that all the new children who attend school have a uniform and we have also financed replacement uniforms when necessary.

We have also concentrated on the development of the teaching staff by arranging a one day First Aid Training course for 12 adults, all the teachers and support staff at the school attended. This course was organised by a charity that gave the school an equipped medical box and they visit every year to give refresher training and restock the medical box.

We have also enrolled one of the teachers on an Early Years Teacher Training course and purchased a bike for him to help with his transportation issues.

We will look to support the other teachers when they have the obtained the entry qualifications required for the course.

All the visitors to the Nursery and village are struck by the welcome they receive from the children and adults from the village, and for many it has made them want to become involved in fundraising. We have received over £700 for a toilet block to be constructed from 2 visitors to the school and that is now completed and in use! A very necessary addition to the school as the original toilets had been condemned and were no longer safe to use. The children were just going to the rear of school and relieving themselves on waste land which obviously was not dignified or hygienic. Another substantial donation was received which will be used to make blocks for a wall to be constructed around the school. This will keep the children safe from the new road that has been constructed close to the school as well as keeping roaming animals from the school land that were sleeping and defecating freely.

Sanyang Scouts:-

Over the past year we have continued to support Sanyang Scout Group. The charity has continued to financially support the Group in further developing their training programme. We have also helped with supplying uniforms for the young people when they join Scouts.

The Group Scout Leader, Janko, has worked extremely hard to develop scouting within The Gambia and his dedication was rewarded when he was one of two people selected to attend a 3 day International Conference in Tanzania?. Janko has also continued to train the Scout Band. Over the past year, many of the senior members of the band have moved onto the Army and are included within the Army Band. This is a credit to Janko’s professionalism, however he has struggled to find and train new members for the Scout Band.

5^th Sunbury Scout Group has also continued their link with the Sanyang Scouts and the Beaver Scouts still have a pen-pal link with the Sanyang Beavers.

Last November we had the sad news that one of the Beaver Scouts in Sanyang had died from Malaria, she was only 5 years old. On further investigation we found that most scout families in Sanyang did not have mosquito nets. 5^th Sunbury Scout Group undertook a ‘Penny Pot’ fundraising activity and we were able to supply the 120 mosquito nets before the rainy season started in June.

Pirang Basic Cycle School:-

We have a reading project at this school. Many of the books donated have been taken to this school to upgrade their school library and we decided to encourage reading by offering prizes to children on a termly basis. The students choose their own books and Sandy visits to listen to them read and discuss the books they have chosen. The school has created a reading club and once a term Sandy and three teachers judge the children on their reading skills, we look for fluency, pronunciation and understanding. It has proved very popular with the students and many more now want to join the group. We have limited numbers as it would make it to difficult to listen to everyone but there has been a definite uptake of students borrowing books from the library and we will invite new students to join the group annually. Every student in the group who participates in the competition days receives something for their efforts, school stationery usually and the winner from each year group receives something more substantial depending on what we have had donated. Last term the winners received school bags with school stationery inside, water bottles, reading diaries and a cash sum of 25 dalasis (about 50 pence) which they were delighted with. As Sandy was leaving the school she was inundated with requests for the school bags and students wanting to know how they could win one.

Visitors to The Gambia:-

Due to the positive feedback about the charity on the ‘Tripadvisor’ website, as well as our own website, Sandy has hosted 40 visits to the schools associated with the charity during the last tourist season. These trips have given people the opportunity to experience the ‘real’ Gambia, and at the same time, support the schools and children. On their return to the UK many people have kept in contact with the charity and they have continued to support us in our work. They often talk about having Gambia in their hearts. We take great pleasure in sharing this experience.

Sandy has also facilitated meetings between donors and their sponsored student which has been a real joy to see. Generally the donors are taken to the family compound where they met their students and their families to the delight of everyone. Often they are invited to share a meal with the family and gifts frequently exchanged.

Secondhand Items:-

Over the past year we have sent 6 shipments, over 1900 kilos in weight, of second-hand items and other equipment donated to the schools. Sandy has used the shop attached to her compound to sell these goods at a very low cost to local people and there is always a constant demand for all types of goods. Any profit raised, after the shipment costs have been paid, will go to the charity.

If you have any items you would like to donate, please contact me on 01932 562340

What next?

Our plans for the next financial year are to complete the school building in Brikama which is estimated to be around £1000 and to complete the wall surrounding the Nursery School in Basori which is estimated to be another £3000 We need to ensure that we have funds for uniforms for all the children at Basori and we need around 10 new benches to replace broken furniture in the nursery, the estimated cost for the benches is around £50 for all of them. A school uniform costs approximately £5.

We also need to recruit more sponsors for the children already in the programme and for the many that are on the waiting list. Sponsors for teachers salaries are also needed

There is a continuing need for school materials and it is hoped that our visitors will be as generous as they were last year so that we do not need to use charity funds to purchase pencils, pens, books, prizes, toys and games.

In the long term we are looking at possibly building another classroom in Basori to accommodate the increasing number of children wanting to attend the school.

There are many schools and projects that need our support and with the help of our supporters we have every faith we can achieve much more.

Charity Information:-

Website :- www.goal4gambia.org

Email:- goalforthegambia@hotmail.co.uk

Facebook:- www.facebook.com/pages/Goal-For-The-Gambia/181077235260338 We have our own page, if you have not already visited please do and click on the like button at the top of the page, you will then receive the newsfeeds to your page. This is the easiest place for Sandy to update information, post photos, videos etc.

We have introduced 2 new way to make it easier to donate money to the charity:-

Justgiving:- Donate online

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/finalCharityHomepage.action?charityId=1002871

JustTextGiving:- Donate by text

Text JOIN ..... Amount of donation (i.e. JOIN£10) to 70070

Texts are free to send from all networks

Finally we would like to thank all our supporters, without you we could not do what we do. Please continue to support us and the children of The Gambia.

Sandy Sanyang & Paul Reynolds

Trustees

GOAL For The Gambia