Children’s smiling faces and shouts of “Kathryn” and “Shelagh” greet us in Jeddah, a poor district of Brikama.

It’s Wednesday morning and we’re off to visit Jeddah Progress Nursery School in Brikama (for children 4 to 7 years old), a school Nyodema has been supporting since 2007. We’ve organised teacher training courses, distributed mosquito nets to every child and helped with the upkeep of the building which really is in a sorry state. As is typical of schools in The Gambia, it was built on a very low budget with mud bricks, no proper foundations and poor quality timbers supporting the corrugated steel roof. Luckily, Friends of the Gambia Association (FoTGA) have been able to step in and build a new school next door to the old one.

Driving through the outskirts of Brikama into Jeddah we hear some children calling out “Kathryn” and “Shelagh” which we find a welcome change from the usual shouts of  “toubab, toubab” or “minty, minty” which are calls any passing tourist or traveller would usual hear. (Toubab is a common term in West Africa referring to someone of European decent.)

When we arrive the children and teachers are all at the gate to meet us outside the Lower Basic school (for children 7 to 12 years old)  and lead us back to the nursery school in procession singing as they go. The new school building looks wonderful, very well built and beautifully painted in orange and red with bright blue doors and window frames. We are delighted as are the children and all the teachers. I was surprised and sorry to see that the new school building is not big enough to accommodate all the children and one class is still being taught in the old school building.

The youngest children haven’t met us before and look at us a little warily, however, the older children know us and greet us with smiles.

As well as seeing the new school we meet Ebrima,who has recently joined the teaching staff. He is not a qualified teacher but we are very impressed with him and we offer to fund the teacher training course he will need to become a qualified teacher. It runs in the school holidays over 3 years and costs around  D6,000  (£130) a year which is way beyond the means of most Gambians.

The teachers have organised lunch and we gather round a large bowl of domada, a popular Gambian dish of rice with vegetables and (sometimes fish or meat) in peanut sauce. It is traditional in The Gambia to all eat from the same bowl using your hands. our hosts kindly give us spoons knowing that we are not used to eating with our hands and would probably make quite a mess if we tried! Shelagh really doesn’t like domada and barely eats any so it is down to me to tuck in.

We then visit the home of Lamin the headmaster, and I’m pleased to see that he can finally afford for his wife and two children (who were living up country) to live with him here and I meet them all for the first time. Lamin’s little boy spends much of our visit playing with a deflated football with his friend. The ball may be broken but their enthusiasm is endless. We are offered another domada lunch, but explain that we ate at the school.

On to visit Lisa and her family. I’ve sponsored Lisa since 2005 through FoTGA. She was attending Jeddah nursery school the first time I visited which is how I become involved with helping that school. She is now at the lower basic school next door. I’ve brought some exercise books and coloured pencils for Lisa and we give Lisa’s mother a large bag of rice. We are offered lunch and a large bowl of domada appears. I eat what I can but don’t do it justice. There really is only so much domada a girl can eat. (This is beginning to feel like the episode of the comedy ‘The Vicar of Dibley’ in which the vicar feels she can’t refuse any invites for Christmas lunch and ends up eating 6 in a row.)

Back at our hotel the contrasts of how we live and life in The Gambia once again hit home. It’s easy to start thinking every time you spend any money… ‘but that would buy three mosquito nets’  or ‘that’s enough to buy a bag of rice to feed a large family for a month’ and so on, but you really have to try not to think like that most of the time.  Occasional thoughts like that, however, are no bad thing (and I probably should do it a little more often than I do).

More photos of Jeddah Progress Nursery School can be seen on Flickr

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

This week’s photograph is of the children at Jeddah Progress Nursery School in The Gambia. Although The Gambia is a Muslim country they are very tolerant of other religions and it is not unknown for Muslims to join in Christian celebrations and vice versa.

I took this photo to raise money for this school last year and the children and teachers were more than happy to don Santa’s hat to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Hope you all have a wonderful time this holiday season.

Cooking fish benachin and visiting the newly built school at Dairuharu

Monday

I’m up fairly early today as I’m going on an excursion run by The Gambia Experience ‘Cooking with Ida’.

Nine of us from various hotels arrive at Ida’s and are shown two racks of colourful Gambian clothes to change into. Now I wasn’t sure about this, but as I have always found that Gambians love visitors to their country wearing local clothes, I picked out a bright green patterned top and matching wrap around skirt and got changed. Then we were all off to the market to pick up the ingredients for fish benachin, a spicy fish dish served with rice. Shopping in The Gambia is an experience in itself and the fish market on the beach in Tanji is a colourful bustling example of daily life. (As most Gambians don’t have electricity let alone a refrigerator, catching or buying food is a daily event.)

I’ll tell you all about the wonderful day we had preparing the meal, playing wuri (while the delicious cooking smells wafted around the outdoor kitchen) and then eating this tasty traditional Wolof meal in a forthcoming post.

Back at the hotel that afternoon I catch-up with the fabulous chef at Ngala Lodge, Jonathan Groves. I’ll be writing about his fascinating career which has taken him to a number of countries, soon too.

Tuesday
This is the day I’ve really been waiting for as we are to visit the school in Dairuharu, a district in Brikama, that we have helped build. I haven’t been here since January. The foundations were laid and the walls were up but their was no roof, nor windows or door fittings. The school was finished in April (the first classroom, a store room and an office) and since then we’ve provided desks, benches and a blackboard but I haven’t been able to see the finished school for myself until now. It is the Muslim New Year today which means the school is closed and everyone is at the mosque. We arranged to visit the school a few weeks ago and we didn’t realise it could clash with this important day in the Muslim calendar. The actual date was only announced a couple of days before as it depends on the cycle of the moon. Unfortunately it was too late to change the day of our visit as the rest of the week is fully booked with visits to other schools. I’m assured that it really isn’t a problem and that the teachers and some of the children will come to the school anyway.

On the way we pick up Fatou. She has been very involved in the building of the school encouraging the other villagers to lend a hand in the construction and she has been given time of work to join us.

When we arrive in the village we are met by Yama, the headmistress and one of the teachers, who is also called Fatou, plus Kaba, who managed the build and Ebrima, chairman of the school’s committee. Sadly, Amie who also teaches at the school, isn’t very well and is unable to come.

I’ve brought a plaque to put up in memory of Lucy, whose family and friends raised much of the money needed to finish the school and some photographs showing how the money was raised. It includes pictures of us drumming and singing at Nyodema’s festival which also raised money for the school. BIG MISTAKE! When we go into the the classroom all the children sing for us in English. I’ve recorded some of it (and some of the other music we heard during our visit) which I will set to some of my photos and put on youtube when I get the chance. When the children finish singing I’m told it is my turn. I wasn’t expecting this – I’m used to singing in a choir not on my own!… deep breath.. I sing them a song in Susu that our drumming group and choir have performed together. They seemed very pleased so I think it was OK. (Don’t worry, I didn’t record that bit.)

It is really wonderful to see the school in use but the floor is very sandy and the dust that rises up gets in your throat so sorting that out is next on our list of things to do. Yama and Fatou explain that they’d like to use what was intended as an office as a second class room for the older children. We think this is a great idea, so next on the list is some more desks and benches.

From the school we go back to one of the villager’s compounds (home) where we are joined by the Alkalo (head of the village) and his assistant. Under the shade of a mango tree we all discuss what further needs to be done including the flooring, more desks and very importantly access to water and a toilet block!

The Alkalo and his assistant both already have three wives yet they say they will each marry one of us (Muslims can marry up to four wives). When Shelagh says her husband probably wouldn’t be too keen on this they offer to wrestle our husbands! Wrestling is a very popular sport in West Africa but I’ve not heard of Gambians wrestling over potential wives before. I wonder who would win!

Tomorrow we are back in Brikama visiting the school in Jeddah that we have been helping since 2007 and after that we’ll visit Lisa, who I sponsor through FOTGA (Friends of The Gambia Association) and her family.

See more photos on Flickr

More on the rest of my week coming Soon!

It’s my last full day in The Gambia and I have lots to write about and many photographs to share with you. On Tuesday we went to the school in Dairuharu that we have helped build and even though it was the Muslim New Year (which is spent praying and then visiting friends, family and neighbours) many of the villagers came to meet us and to thank us for our support including the Alkalo (head of the village) and his assistant. It was a wonderful day and I will tell you more about our visit and the rest of the week in forthcoming posts – including a fantastic cooking lesson (Fish Benechin), interviewing Bajaly (a superb kora player) and Jonathan Groves (the brilliant chef at Ngala Lodge), as well as visiting other schools.

The visit to Dairuharu was without doubt the highlight of the week so this week’s photo is from that day, the head girl of the new school peeping out at us through the window.

Happy New Year to all my Muslim friends in The Gambia and all Muslims around the world.

So pleased to say that the first stage of Nyodema’s school build is finished!
One classroom, a store room and an office are complete.

This classroom was completed as a result of donations made by friends and family in memory of Lucy Ritchie from Bristol, England, who died in October 2008 at the age of twenty five. Lucy was someone who enjoyed helping others and new adventures in spite of an illness she suffered for the last ten years of her life. She particularly enjoyed travelling and had special memories of the Gambia where she loved meeting local people. She would have been so pleased to know that the generosity of those who loved her had created something to benefit others and enhance opportunities for children.

Jill & Ron Ritchie (Lucy’s parents)

On behalf of Nyodema I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped make this happen including…

The Gambia Experience client’s who first told us about Dairuharu
Pa Louis and Lamin from Karmic Angels, who project managed the build
Peter and Peter, who restored an old Mercedes and drove it from Bognor Regis to Istanbul and back
Lucy’s family and friends including, Hannah, who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro
The community of Bognor Regis for their kind donations

You can imagine my delight when, on a chilly morning between Christmas and New Year in a very quiet office, I received an email from The Gambia Experience clients Lou Hamilton and Paul Lang saying that they would like to make a short film about responsible tourism, The Gambia Experience’s School Development Fund and Nyodema (as well as being chairman for the community group Nyodema, I work for The Gambia Experience and lead the UK team for their School Development Fund).

Lou and Paul were going on holiday to The Gambia and as professional film makers they wanted to use their skills to ‘give something back’. As luck would have it I too was about to go on holiday there. I would be in The Gambia at the same time as them so offered to show them around some schools. I visit there once or twice a year partly as a holiday and partly for Nyodema. I couldn’t believe the coincidence that we were all going out and returning on the same flights.

Here is the result of an amazing week. I found it fascinating being involved in this project and would like to say a huge thank you to Lou, Paul, Ali and everyone who helped in the making of this film – a wonderful way to show people in the UK how they are making a difference to the lives of people in one of the world’s poorest countries.

For more information please follow these links:
Nyodema
Lou Hamilton/Createlab
The School Development Fund
Karmic Angels
Chris Diallo/Hands on Skin

Part of my role working for The Gambia Experience is leading their School Development Fund team here in the UK. Earlier in the year I was passed a letter from two of our customers telling us about a nursery school that they had visited that was in desperate need of assistance.

As it happened I was visiting The Gambia myself the following week and took the opportunity to pop into the school. I wasn’t exactly sure where the school was… somewhere in a district of Brikama called Dairuharu… but after asking around we were taken to a family compound. What I found really shocked me. I was shown into a dark, tiny room with one of the walls looking as if it was about to collapse. My lower lip started trembling as I made out 15 children, with their teacher Amie, sitting amongst the rubble. I’ve visited many schools in The Gambia but I have never reacted like this before. Pulling myself together, I had a long chat with their teacher, Amie and the children and, although I didn’t make any promises, I said I would try to help.

The temporary classroom

There are over 100 children in the area that need a school. The villagers had built the original building in mud bricks but did not have the money to finish it before the rainy season and the school fell down.

All that is left of the original school building

Amie, Fatou and the headmistress, Yama, are trying to continue with the school in the room I saw which is in someone’s compound (home) but apart from the terrible conditions the owner now wants the space back.

Unfortunately the SDF couldn’t help as they can only work with government schools for children over 7 years old but I wasn’t going to let that stop me.

As chairman of the community group “Nyodema” (which has been involved in school projecys in The Gambia) I told the rest of the committee about the school. They were just as concerned as I was, however, we do not have anyone based in The Gambia and have never been involved in a building project before. We felt it was too much for us to take on alone. What to do?

I approached another charity, Karmic Angels, and when I told them about the school they selected a project manager to oversee the building work if we could raise the funds.

In April Shelagh (Nyodema’s treasurer) and I returned to The Gambia and met up with the Alkalo (village head), teachers and parents as well as Lamin and Pa Louis from Karmic Angels.

Pa Louis, Amie, Yama, Fatou and Lamin with the children of Dairuharu

I’m happy to say that we have already started fund-raising and so far have collected over £2,000 thanks to the generosity of our supporters and the Gambia Experience’s clients who first told us about the school. Our aim for 2010 is to build the first classroom (with proper foundations and cement rather than mud blocks) and purchase the necessary desks and chairs etc.

Next month Nyodema is holding a festival “Nyodema by the Sea” – all proceeds from the raffle will go towards re-building the school. (This is in addition to our annual festival which will be held later in the year.)

More information on the festival, Nyodema’s weekly African drumming workshops and Gospel Choir, as well as their ongoing health and education projects in The Gambia can be found on their website www.nyodema.org

I have recently returned from wonderful week in The Gambia with my fellow Nyodema trustee, Shelagh and our friend, Andrea. I have been to The Gambia a number of times but this visit was particulalry special and I wanted to share it with you. 

Andrea Encinas, originally from Trinidad, came to England as a nurse. She is now, an experienced vocal coach, the director of British Gospel Arts, books choirs for The South Bank Centre, sings with the London Community Gospel Choir (you may have seen her singing at the FA Cup Final at Wembley in May!) and is studying for an MBA in Arts Management.

Andrea at Jeddah Progress Nursery School

Well I’m pleased to say Andrea has fallen in love with The Gambia and I’m sure this will be the first of many visits.

We had a very hectic week. Singing (and dancing) at Jeddah Progress Nursery School, Brikama was definitely one of the highlights. Andrea taught everyone some traditional Afro-Caribbean songs and the school choir from Farrato sang a mixture of English and African songs for us. Andrea’s enthusiastic approach was contagious as children, teachers and parents joined in this cultural exchange.

The recently formed drama group performed a couple of delightful short plays including one about learning English the ‘Jolly Phonics’ way and another about malaria prevention. I can’t explain how it felt to see two little girls playing, Kathryn and Shelagh, handing out mosquito nets. These two days were an excellent way to strengthen the bond between Nyodema and the local community. There are two videos from this day on YouTube Singing and Dancing at Jeddah and the Malaria Prevention Play.

School play about using mosquito nets

Another Nyodema sponsored, teacher training course in ‘phonics’, took place over the next two days. This is a method of teaching English widely used throughout the UK and is proving to be a great success in The Gambia.During the week we also managed to fit in a radio interview on Unique FM, a singing workshop at a Gospel church in Bakau and a visit to Serrakunda market. Andrea also took part in a couple of informal yet inspirational performances with local musicians.

As Andrea had never been to the Gambia before we took a day out to explore the area, looking at different housing conditions etc. Andrea was shocked at the extent of the poverty in The Gambia (and since being back has already started raising money for Nyodema).

I mustn’t forget to mention the children’s clothes and toys that we distributed throughout the week, in particular, 14 cuddly toys donated by Elsie, the three year old daughter of another Gambia Experience staff member. After looking at some photographs of Gambian children, Elsie decided that she did not need all her toys. On Boxing Day last year she sorted out all the ones she didn’t play with anymore and asked her Mum to give them to children in Africa. This was entirely her idea. Well done, Elsie! Elsie was delighted to see the photos of her toys in Africa.

One of Elsie's teddies finds a new friend

Andrea and me

Our last night was spent dancing until the early hours to an excellent reggae/salsa band in a bar on the Senegambia strip. The following day Andrea and I said our goodbyes to the wonderful staff at our hotel (Sunset Beach in Kotu) who had made us feel so welcome and headed off to the airport.

Shelagh stayed on to organise the distribution of more mosquito nets and to meet the medical students from Florida who ran the first-aid teacher training course for us at Jeddah Progress Nursery School last year. This visit they ran a dental hygiene course for the teachers and supplied toothbrushes etc for the children.

Each time I visit The Gambia I learn so much, make numerous new friends and return home with many happy memories. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to this wonderful week. I’m very lucky to be part of ‘Nyodema’.

For more photos please visit Nyodema Flickr