It all began here......
The Full Story
This was something we didn't go looking for. Events seemed to converge to bring us into contact with the village. Because of our business we have to holiday in January, for a number of reasons our normal long haul destinations were no longer viable so we went looking for a short haul sunshine holiday and Gambia fitted the bill. Knowing nothing about the country we were cautious when we set off from Gatwick in 2011.
One of the first people we met at our hotel was Momodou (Mo) who is the bar manager, and as we do wherever we travelled we always ask questions about what the real country is like as we like to get to know the people and the culture. As a consequence we formed a true friendship with him. Having fallen in love with the people and the country we chose for the first time in our travelling lives to return to the same place and destination. Getting to know Mo better and his personal situation we decided to make an offer
to help his three daughters through school. Like so many people we have seen the mass charity appeals and have always said it was too impersonal, but if ever we came across the chance to do something
direct that can make a real difference we would.... little did we know what was around the corner!
On our trip the following year Mo invited us to the village to meet the girls and the rest of his family. The village of Kafuta Tumbung is located on the southern border with Senegal and is about a 2 hour car journey to get there. It is a small rural community with no main road, electricity or water to the home compounds. What a warm welcome we received from the whole village, but it was clear that there were more children that needed help.
As we left we came across a building that had once been used as a nursery school (4 - 7 year olds) but it was closed by the government because it didn't meet their standards (accommodation, toilets, fresh water or qualified teachers). That evening we were surprisingly quiet at dinner, considering the day we had experienced. Then all of a sudden and at the same time we turned to each other and said we have to do something. We didn't know what it would take, how long it would take, but we would do it. But only on the condition that if we started we would never walk away.
So our journey started in February 2013 with fund raising in whatever way we could. We have wonderful friends, customers and suppliers and with Mo acting as our project manager we repaired the building, painted it, got desks built, two teachers were hired, teaching materials bought, uniforms bought and the word went out we would have a school in Kafuta Tumbung.... 67 children registered and we opened on the 16th September 2013.
We then set about raising funds to keep the school running and to build a well and pump for fresh clean water. This was essential if we were going to be able to keep the school under the rules laid out by the Government. The well we decided to go for was a solar powered pump with a holding tank, this was the best option as we had to dig down 41m to get to the water source. This was going to cost £2500 alone but in January 2015 we arrived in the village to turn on the tap to much excitement in the village (many of the villagers had never seen a tap)
In 2015 we set ourselves the goal of building a wall around the perimeter of the school to keep the children safe and animals out, it also allows us a chance to cultivate fruit and vegetables for the school, utilising the new well! Arriving in 2016 we had the honour of cutting the ribbon to the school gates. Alongside these major projects we also have to raise funds to meet the general running costs of the school and the teacher’s wages which is about £5,000 a year.
In 2016 we were able to add solar panels to the school to enable lighting, office equipment and the essential fans to be installed. 2017 saw us complete a third classroom and hired a third teacher. This allows us to now teach around 100 children.
Since starting the school 81 children have reached the standard where they can graduate to the next school, which is approximately 5km away, across the bush.
For just £5 a month a child is able to go to school but many families struggle to meet this. To give you an example
average wage in the Gambia is about £25 a month and quite often this has to support extended families with maybe only 1 or 2 people working. Income in the countryside is even lower, with limited, lower paid job opportunities compared to towns
Most of the people in Kafuta don't have access to work and simply cultivate their plots to grow enough food for themselves. Schooling unfortunately then becomes impossible. Without schooling the children have no chance of doing more to support themselves or their family. To ensure these children can continue their education we find individual sponsors for them, who pay the £5 per month.
Then we decided we needed to build a school next to the nursery to accommodate the older children. In 2018 we provided the village with the materials to start making blocks for the school… the young men learnt how to make the blocks and set about making over 10,000 of them! Following a meeting with the education department we established the required standard and facilities we needed to build and set about raising the £40,000 it was going to take to achieve two buildings, housing 6 classrooms, an office, store and library as well as a separate toilet block. Building is well underway and currently two buildings are constructed, with one still requiring a roof and then concrete floors, doors and windows for both, before being fitted with desks etc. It will eventually have facilities for 210 children. This will mean we can keep our children in the village and provide schooling for all children aged 4 – 12.
Financial control is extremely important and we can reassure any contributor that all funds are controlled and every penny is spent on the school and its pupils. A community account is in place here in the UK and we send money out to a dedicated account in the Gambia, as needed. Our project manager (Mo) in The Gambia organises projects as agreed by us and accounts for all expenditure. We find it beneficial to set goals for each phase of the project. The priority for the next 6 months is to complete the fitting out of building 2 and the toilet block. The projected cost for this is £,8000.
In 2020 we achieved registration as a Charity both in the UK and The Gambia and have set up Gift Aid. With the project ever growing we invited our friends and regular visitors to The Gambia, Karl Wilkinson and Darren Rice to be trustees of the charity.
Over the years some amazing people have supported us in making dreams come true. The main point we would say is that we have found the Gambian people people are not looking for just a hand-out, they want a hand up and knowing that we and our sponsors are out their believing in them and wanting a future for them is the biggest thing in the world to them. The pay back is hard to put in words but when you see a child captivated by a tap giving fresh water, or the smile on a child’s face when they are given a pencil and paper or the sheer joy of all of them when they hear the school bell and they run in proudly wearing their uniform, it is easy to sigh and say that’s a good thing we have done. Trust us when we say a little bit can go a long way and literally change lives.
Derick Hill and Lisa Hill-Whyte
Watch a video charting the schools progress.