Gambia Update

Visiting The Gambia

(Dec 2011)

Kathryn and Shelagh (our chair and treasurer) return to The Gambia and visit the new school in Dairuharu and dedicate the first classroom to the memory of Lucy. They also met the new teacher, Ebrima at Jeddah Progress Nursery School. They were very impressed with Ebrima and Nyodema have agreed to fund his three years at teacher training college. You can read all about their week in The Gambia including these visits in Kathryn’s diary posted on her blog site. Dairuahru Diary – Part 3 and Jeddah Diary – Part 4

The new children at the school in Jeddah are a shy as they have not met us before

Desks for Dairuharu

(June 2011)
Desks, benches and a blackboard for the classroom plus a desk and chairs for the office have now  been made and delivered to the school.

Mosquito Nets

(June 2011)
115 more insecticide treated mosquito nets were distributed to the children and to expectant mothers in Jeddah, Brikama.

Building a school in Dairuharu, Brikama (April 2011)

The first stage of the school build is finished! One classroom, a store room and an office are complete.

The school at Dairuharu, March 2011

Starting on the roof, February 2011

Lucy in the Gambia

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)

Nyodema would like to say a huge thank you to you all for your ongoing support 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

A short film about people helping other people  (Jan 2011) 

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. Just to explain: as well as being chairman for Nyodema, I work for The Gambia Experience as a graphic designer and I am part of 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 going to The Gambia on the very same flight and offered to show them around some schools.

Here is the result of a wonderful 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. Kathryn

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

Building a school in Dairuharu, Brikama (June 2010)

Shelagh and Chris returned to The Gambia to oversee the start of the school build. We are all very excited that this project is underway and can’t thank everyone enough for their support.

Building a school in Dairuharu, Brikama(April 2010)

In  January we visited a school that we had been told needed urgent assistance.  What we found really shocked us. 15 children in a tiny, dark room with their teacher Amie sitting amongst the rubble, trying their best to continue providing an education to at least some of the children of the village.

Alll thats left of the original school building

Amie, one of the teachers, and Chris from Nyodema, in the temporary classroom

Kathryn from Nyodema with the teachers

Shelagh from Nyodema with Lamin and Pa Louis from Karmic Angels, meeting the Alkalo (headman), parents and teachers.

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

The teachers are trying to continue with the school in the room we saw which is in someone’s compound but one of the walls is about to fall down and the owner wants the space back.

Nyodema has asked the charity Karmic Angels, to assist us in this project. We will raise the funds and Lamin Njie with the assistance of Pa Louis Gomez (both from Karmic Angels) will project manage the re-build. Our aim for 2010 is to build the first classroom.

This time the school will be built with proper foundations and cement blocks.

If you would like to make a donation to this project please contact us at nyodema07@yahoo.co.uk for further information.

Nyodema would like to thank the clients of ‘The Gambia Experience’ holiday company who first told us about this school.