RETURN TO THE GAMBIA 14 - 28 MARCH
The Gambia reality is now a UK registered charity no. 1118466.
The Robert Kemp Memorial Nursery School is now moving on in leaps and bounds.
On our first visit to the school on 15th of March we were met by a welcoming committee consisting of members of the school committee and some of the children's mothers. We had arrived with 2 sponsors from Oxford and a suitcase full of puzzles, writing materials, chalk and 10 blackboards which were made by Class B10 at Ringmer Community College.
A bench was placed at the front of the class and the 4 of us were told to sit down - that was when the hour long Thank You speeches started. All of the speeches were spoken in
Mandinka while Dembo our co - ordinator translated word for word what was being said. The general gist of it is the parents are extremely happy with what The Gambia Reality has achieved at the school and with the support that their children are receiving from the sponsors. At the end of the speeches I went to the car to retrieve the brass bell that I had left in the boot. Only to find that on my return to the classroom Rob, Nat and Ade were still riveted to the bench listening to the speeches which had recommenced - I had walked out in the middle of the Inauguration ceremony!!! I think that these people can even beat me in the talking stakes!!!!! 
The inside of the school building has been painted in green and white with a wonderful Safari border adorning the wall of the main classroom. This was very kindly donated by Nula and Anne Kennedy of Noolibird. The 25 tables and benches have been made and are in use in the classroom. All of the window shutters and doors have been painted green. The transformation is amazing - it is now looking very much like a nursery school.
As well as the 10 blackboards, Class B10 also made number and letter sheets to stick to the wall which had already been put to good use before we left.
A good part of the money to build the wall and to make up the 4 sign boards was left with our co -ordinator Dembo, upon our return to the UK.
73 uniforms for the children at The Robert Kemp School are in the process of being made - they are being made in the same green and white summer design of Firle School.
£180 has been left in a bank account in The Gambia to pay for the first year of Teremas , ( head teacher), teacher training course. It was too late to get Terema signed up for this academic year so she will sit an entrance exam at the end of June. On passing the entrance exam she will begin the course at the end of July.
Before our visit, we had managed to get 34 children sponsored at the school. We have about 49 children that still need sponsorship. The cost is £15 per year which covers the cost of the childs school fees, the uniform and their lunch money for the year. Anyone interested in sponsoring a child please contact me.
I am currently working on a ‘ Buy A Brick For A Pound ’ campaign. This is to enable The Gambia Reality to fund the building of a nursery school in a village called Sanyang. It is approx. 15 mins drive from Brikama where The Robert Kemp Nursery is situated. There is already a nursery school in Sanyang but it is on the outskirts of the village and is too far for many children to walk to. A plot of land right in the centre of the local community has been donated for the purpose of building a nursery school.
We have managed to form a link between Turjering Upper Basic School and Ringmer Community College. I took a few pieces of the school uniform that Ringmer Community College had donated to Tujering, for which the head teacher and the pup
ils were extremely grateful. We also donated some stationery such as exercise books, pens, pencils etc. We are currently still awaiting the go ahead from an airline to fly out the uniform and educational books free of charge. In total we have 9 boxes weighing in at a total of 135kgs. All of these items have been donated by Ringmer Community College and will be going to Tujering. I returned to the UK armed with 147 letters from the pupils at Tujering to form a penpal link with the pupils at Ringmer.
Before leaving the UK we were donated a quantity of new bandages a
nd 13 large bottles of emergency eyewash plus
other medical items. We took all of these items to Banjulunding Medical Centre. This is a small hospital which we were directed to during our visit to The Gambia in November 2006 with our first batch of bandages.It provides very basic health care for approx. 50,000 people and relies heavily on donations and grants.
http://www.thegambiareality.com/
The Gambia reality is now a UK registered charity no. 1118466.
The Robert Kemp Memorial Nursery School is now moving on in leaps and bounds.
On our first visit to the school on 15th of March we were met by a welcoming committee consisting of members of the school committee and some of the children's mothers. We had arrived with 2 sponsors from Oxford and a suitcase full of puzzles, writing materials, chalk and 10 blackboards which were made by Class B10 at Ringmer Community College.
A bench was placed at the front of the class and the 4 of us were told to sit down - that was when the hour long Thank You speeches started. All of the speeches were spoken in
Mandinka while Dembo our co - ordinator translated word for word what was being said. The general gist of it is the parents are extremely happy with what The Gambia Reality has achieved at the school and with the support that their children are receiving from the sponsors. At the end of the speeches I went to the car to retrieve the brass bell that I had left in the boot. Only to find that on my return to the classroom Rob, Nat and Ade were still riveted to the bench listening to the speeches which had recommenced - I had walked out in the middle of the Inauguration ceremony!!! I think that these people can even beat me in the talking stakes!!!!! 
The inside of the school building has been painted in green and white with a wonderful Safari border adorning the wall of the main classroom. This was very kindly donated by Nula and Anne Kennedy of Noolibird. The 25 tables and benches have been made and are in use in the classroom. All of the window shutters and doors have been painted green. The transformation is amazing - it is now looking very much like a nursery school.
As well as the 10 blackboards, Class B10 also made number and letter sheets to stick to the wall which had already been put to good use before we left.
A good part of the money to build the wall and to make up the 4 sign boards was left with our co -ordinator Dembo, upon our return to the UK.
73 uniforms for the children at The Robert Kemp School are in the process of being made - they are being made in the same green and white summer design of Firle School.
£180 has been left in a bank account in The Gambia to pay for the first year of Teremas , ( head teacher), teacher training course. It was too late to get Terema signed up for this academic year so she will sit an entrance exam at the end of June. On passing the entrance exam she will begin the course at the end of July.
Before our visit, we had managed to get 34 children sponsored at the school. We have about 49 children that still need sponsorship. The cost is £15 per year which covers the cost of the childs school fees, the uniform and their lunch money for the year. Anyone interested in sponsoring a child please contact me.
I am currently working on a ‘ Buy A Brick For A Pound ’ campaign. This is to enable The Gambia Reality to fund the building of a nursery school in a village called Sanyang. It is approx. 15 mins drive from Brikama where The Robert Kemp Nursery is situated. There is already a nursery school in Sanyang but it is on the outskirts of the village and is too far for many children to walk to. A plot of land right in the centre of the local community has been donated for the purpose of building a nursery school.
We have managed to form a link between Turjering Upper Basic School and Ringmer Community College. I took a few pieces of the school uniform that Ringmer Community College had donated to Tujering, for which the head teacher and the pup
ils were extremely grateful. We also donated some stationery such as exercise books, pens, pencils etc. We are currently still awaiting the go ahead from an airline to fly out the uniform and educational books free of charge. In total we have 9 boxes weighing in at a total of 135kgs. All of these items have been donated by Ringmer Community College and will be going to Tujering. I returned to the UK armed with 147 letters from the pupils at Tujering to form a penpal link with the pupils at Ringmer. Before leaving the UK we were donated a quantity of new bandages a
nd 13 large bottles of emergency eyewash plus other medical items. We took all of these items to Banjulunding Medical Centre. This is a small hospital which we were directed to during our visit to The Gambia in November 2006 with our first batch of bandages.It provides very basic health care for approx. 50,000 people and relies heavily on donations and grants.
http://www.thegambiareality.com/
posted by Suzy at
4/14/2007
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