Education Hopes

The Chairman & Vice Chairman had a meeting with the Vice Chancellor of Portsmouth University with the idea of setting up some kind of contact with the University Of The Gambia. The idea is still very fluid but we will be seeing the Vice Chancellor in the Gambia during our next visit, starting February 19th, to get his ideas on the best way forward.

A small "Coffee & Cake" morning was held at our Torquay base yesterday in aid of our Transport Fund. A profit of £71 was made and this will go towards the cost of getting our four wheel drive vehicle back on the road. More finance is needed as the repairs are going to cost around £400. The vehicle is used by our agent Talibo to get around the various projects that we are involved in so that he can report progress to us. At the moment a lot of this travel is being done on foot.

Our chairman of trustees and Wendy, his wife will be making their next trip to the Gambia on February 18th 2010. They will be staying at the Sunset Beach Hotel for two weeks and trying to meet up with all people, users and helpers, in the Gambia who are part of the charity group.
Anyone who is in the area is welcome to contact us at the hotel and join us in trip to one of the projects.

Some pictures of the sponsorship money hand-over:-

Good and bad news

First the good news. The books and equipment sent to Mackumbaya School have arrived and have been presented to the school by our representative Talibo Saidy along with sponsorship for school fees for all the pupils that we have sponsorship for at the moment, ( More donations always welcome). A ceremony was held at the presentation and some pictures will be put on the blog asap.
The bad news is that our vehicle in the Gambia has broken down and needs major surgery. Without this vehicle on the road it is very difficult for Talibo to get around the villages to check progress for us. We found out today that he has been walking to some places as there is little or no transport between the villages. Donations to our transport fund are desperately needed and would be so welcome.
Just to top off the bad news we have heard that the back wall ofTalibo's house collapsed in the middle of the night due to the mass of water in the ground during the wet season. Luckily no-one was hurt but to rebuild would cost £250, not a great deal in the UK but a fortune to a Gambian.

Books to Makumbaya

A consignment of books and equipment has been sent out to Talibo, our Gambian rep., for distribution to the Makumbaya Junior School. This will give the school a start in their quest to have a library that pupils can use to assist their education instead of absolute learning by rote which is the method used in most Gambian schools. The shipment should arrive in time for the new school year.