In October Dave and Heather Rogers, of Uckfield Grasshoppers Youth Football Club, approached me regarding sponsorship of a youth football team in Africa. In his spare time, Lamin coaches a youth team in his village, Sanyang. I arrived in The Gambia with lots of the Uckfield Grasshoppers old kit, which mainly consisted of shorts, shirts, socks and a few footballs. The Silva Boys were over the moon with their new kit, as they had never before owned a proper strip. What concerned me the most was that the strips had been donated mainly by the under 9’s team, with the biggest size being 32”, yet Lamin’s team ranges from 14 to 19 years old and the kit fitted them all. During the time that I was in The Gambia the team played two matches decked out in their new strip and ……. jelly shoes! I think that football boots may well be the next items on our list! The Silva Boys drew both matches but their pride in looking like a real football team way outshone the fact that they didn’t win! On behalf of Lamin and The Siva Boys “Thank You Uckfield Grasshoppers”.
Our shipment of uniform and 700 A’level / GCSE science books arrived in The Gambia in September; it was all safely stored in Lamin’s compound until I arrived. We then had the mammoth task of sorting and assigning the books to various schools and colleges! All of the uniform, which was donated by Ringmer Community College, and many of the GCSE science books, which were donated by Imberhorn college, were taken to Tujering Junior Secondary School. It was all very gratefully accepted. Tujering has its own uniform but this will not deter the students and teachers alike from wearing the uniform outside of school. Nursrat and St Peters in Lamin will receive mainly the GCSE books plus a few A’level ones. The main bulk of the A’level, plus some GCSE books, are going to The Gambia College of Nursing and Gambia High in Banjul; Lamin and his father, Ousaman, will deliver these books.
The construction of the nursery school in Sanyang is well underway; the building measures 37m x 9m and consists of 3 classrooms, an office and a storeroom. Due to a shortage of cement in The Gambia and the celebration of Ramadam throughout September, the completion of the school has been delayed until January 2008. We hope that the school will be operational by the beginning of January, however the school lessons have already started in three temporary classrooms within a local compound - the lessons are from 8am – 1pm, Mon – Fri. One evening at 9pm, we arrived at the compound unannounced and we were pleasantly surprised to find that quite a few of the local children were in class carrying out their night studies. The ages of the children ranged from 3 to 11 yrs and they were being taught by candle light by a 13year old girl who had a 7month old sleeping baby strapped to her back. Some of the older children were doing their homework while reciting the alphabet with the younger ones – this was real dedication. These children really want to learn! There are now 60 children registered at the school, 28 of whom have been sponsored. We have had 28 uniforms made by a local tailor for the sponsored children. The nursery has had 20 tables and some chairs donated by a Gambian scout group who receives containers of items from a scout group in Denmark. A further container arrived in The Gambia on 18th November, which also contained more furniture for the school.
The builders have completed two sides of the 300m wall, which will separate the school land from the main thoroughfare. Due to the lack of funds the remainder of the wall will be completed next year. The number of registered children at the school has risen to 183; when we adopted the school on November 2006 there were only 36 children registered. We have had a further 20 tables and 20 benches made – thanks to a kind donation of £180; the cost of the benches and tables was £200 (the exchange rate dropped from D53 to D39 to the £). The 20 tables were already at the school when we visited, and the local carpenter was in the process of making the benches; they should be arriving at the school on Monday 26th November. We have order 42 mosquito nets and they are currently being made for the children who were sponsored last year and re-sponsored this year. The children who were newly sponsored this year received a uniform. Noolibird kindly donated another 3 rolls of their safari border to finish off the classroom. The children very gratefully received their gifts and letters from their sponsors.
We aim to provide basic education to the children in Gambia between the ages of 2 - 7 years by funding the renovations or complete the building of existing nursery schools. The need and hardship of each school and the local community is assessed and acted upon. All labour is carried out by people living in the local community therefore creating employment and providing an income for their daily needs.
We provide funds to make the school furniture eg: desks and chairs and supply them with educational materials plus all recreational items including footballs and skipping ropes.
We plan to finance the teacher training courses for all untrained teachers.In our experience none of the teachers in the nursery schools are actually qualified to teach at any level. The main reason for this is financial hardship.
Each registered child will be provided with a uniform made by a local tailor. This will help to boost their morale whilst encouraging pride and promoting a sense of school/community identity.
We hope to promote the importance of educating the very young by providing communities with a safe and happy environment and a confident trained teacher from whom they can learn.
hem all. During the time that I was in The Gambia the team played two matches decked out in their new strip and ……. jelly shoes! I think that football boots may well be the next items on our list! The Silva Boys drew both matches but their pride in looking like a real football team way outshone the fact that they didn’t win! On behalf of Lamin and The Siva Boys “Thank You Uckfield Grasshoppers”.
hem all. During the time that I was in The Gambia the team played two matches decked out in their new strip and ……. jelly shoes! I think that football boots may well be the next items on our list! The Silva Boys drew both matches but their pride in looking like a real football team way outshone the fact that they didn’t win! On behalf of Lamin and The Siva Boys “Thank You Uckfield Grasshoppers”.
