Santosu Nursery, Brikama

Santosu Nursery is a registered ECD (Early Childhood Development) school and in my opinion very well run. It has 4 classrooms with 4 teachers and a headteacher. It is a community nursery and was built in 1996 by the local community with some help towards the final stages from a British Company. There are 186 students there aged between 3 & 7. They have water on site and toilets, it is also partly fenced. All the work done on site is by the local community and on my visit there it was very clear to see that the parents are very keen to support the school. However it is in a very poor area of Brikama and although the fees are only 100 dalasis a month many cannot afford to pay. The teachers salaries, water bill and resources are all funded through the fees. If you do the sums you will see this is just not enough to manage the school. On my visit I asked to see the store room and was shocked to see a tiny box with a few felt pens, an old football with the plastic bag that should have been inside, out of the ball and punctured and that was more or less it!! They have no pencils or exercise books and have to rely on parents to provide these items, not all can afford it. In nursery 4, the last level, they are using really old slates for writing on but do not have much chalk.

The staff are very committed and I was very impressed at the standard of the teaching and the education the children are getting. The staff are very resourceful and have made up their own "flash" cards and teaching aids.

We took our visitors there last week and were overwhelmed by the welcome from the children, staff and parents. They were so happy to receive visitors and wanted to male us happy! They certainly did that!

We are happy to announce that we are happy to offer our support to this needy school and will take interested visitors there and do our best to provide them with the items they need. When I asked the Head teacher what they needed this is what he requested:- pencils. colouring pencils, books, exercise books, paper, chalk, sharpeners, rubbers, rulers, wall charts, flash cards, work sheets, reward stickers, footballs, soft balls and play dolls. Simple items but so necessary.

If anyone is interested in visiting this lovely little school or donating items please contact us.

New project in Kitty

Kitty is a village just outside of Brikama and I have visited the school earlier this year and found they are really in need of a lot of help. They have 3 classroom blocks with a total of 8 classrooms. 2 of the blocks were built about 25 years ago and are in a very poor state of repair. The 3rd block was built by the teachers themselves with mud blocks but plastered with cement. They have hardly any school materials or resources, in fact on my first visit I took 500 pencils and 500 pens as they were about to sit exams and did not have enough to go round. They have hardly any classroom furniture and what they do have is in very poor condition, only two of the classrooms have desks and students sitting 3 to 4 to a desk intended for 2 people. The children range from nursery to grade 8. The children in grade three have exams coming up and no desks to work at. The children in the other classrooms are all learning to write but have to use their laps as desks.

Today I took 2 packets of corrugate so they can start to repair the roof before the rainy season as there are big holes in the existing ones. I have pledged to provide them with the rest as soon as possible. We are hoping to be able to raise funds to maintenance the classrooms and provide desks and chairs. After that is completed we would like to build a new classroom block for the nursery with three classrooms. At present nursery 1,2, 3 plus primary 1 are all in the same tiny classroom. Today I counted 58 children in a class where 20 would have been tight but comfortable. This is of course a long term project but with the help of our supporters I hope it will not take too long to start work.

There are 350 children in this school with 8 very committed teachers. They are very proud of the results their students achieve and the senior schools are active in recruiting graduates from this school.

Today I took our first visitors there, we wondered whether the President was coming through the village as the main road was lined with students with banners and branches waving wildly. No, this was the greeting we were given. the whole school had come out to welcome us and walked us through the village with a lot of singing, drumming and impromptu dancing. It was amazing!! They were so happy to receive visitors they could not contain themselves. The two ladies I took there were completely overwhelmed as was I. We toured the school, looked at the store room, which was huge, 3 rooms but nothing in them other than wood they had been collecting to try and do some work on the school an a few books. I will post pictures in our Facebook page. Had a gathering outside with the teachers, some PTA members, and students where the ladies handed over their gifts to the school pencils, colours, balls, posters for the classrooms and many other items. The staff were so grateful, never having received gifts like this before. We then spent some time at a friends compound where we had a delicious lunch before reluctantly leaving late afternoon. The lady visitors said they had an amazing day and one that could never be repeated or forgotten. Me neither!!

I hope we will get more visitors to the school and as much help as possible. It is very exciting to be starting a new project in addition to the one at Basori and I look forward to a long and peaceful partenrship with the school and the community in Kitty.