Gospel Sing for The Gambia 2009

Singing for The Gambia with Daniel Thomas

Nyodema’s Gospel Sing for The Gambia (Saturday 16th May, Bognor Regis, West Sussex) was a great success. Vocal coach, Daniel Thomas, former choir director of the London Community Gospel Choir, worked us hard so that by the end of the day we could perform four beautiful songs to an audience of friends and family. Everyone was amazed at how much had been achieved in just one day. Daniel’s reputation as one of the best vocal coaches in Europe is well justified. The day was great fun and inspirational and it was wonderful to see a group of people of all ages, most of whom had never meet before, come together and produce such wonderful music.

Proceeds from the day will go towards Nyodema’s on going work with health and education in The Gambia.

Gospel sing for The Gambia

Below are some comments from people who took part in the workshop or saw the performance:

“Amazing day, well planned and exciting. Musically inspirational, enjoyable, pitched at the level of those aged from twelve to sixty! A wonderful way to raise money for the charity, while the ‘choir’ went from nowhere to everywhere in 6 hours, and revelled in the successful performance at the end of the day.” Geraldine Allchurch, Head of Music, Bourne Community College (workshop participant)

“We both enjoyed the singing and it was obviously a success all round. … one lad brought tears to my eyes and made the hairs on the back of my neck curl…
… how wonderful it was for building a community spirit.“ Eileen (audience member)

“When I walked in and heard the ‘choir’ I was amazed at how wonderful it sounded. I didn’t want it to end.” Peter (audience member)

For more photos of the event see the Nyodema Flickr stream

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Daniel Thomas’ latest release – Higher-High

A week of Song in The Gambia

I have recently returned from another wonderful week in The Gambia with my fellow Nyodema trustee, Shelagh Hamilton. This time our friend, Andrea Encinas, an experienced vocal coach, joined us. Andrea, originally from Trinidad, came to England as a nurse. She is now 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.

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.

Singing Lessons at Jeddah School

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.

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.

The Malaria Play

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.

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.

Elsie’s Teddy

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’.

Kathryn

For more photographs visit Nyodema’s Flickr stream