Stop Press - Great news!!

After trying to call Ousman (brother of Alhagie, aka 'the boy with the bad leg) manage to get a clear line; usual exchange of greetings, the
"How is Alhagie?"
"He is without pain, he is taking himself to the clinic to have the dressing changed, he will see the surgeon on Thursday to tell him he is cured!"
The family send thanks to everybody who has supported them over the recent months.
The kindness of strangers (you don't have to be - if you're planning a visit to The Gambia we can give you introductions to the family!)
Well done writers & readers.

Futures?

I wonder, when I can spare the time, what the future will hold for the people we try to help today. We all hope that The Gambia will prosper under a benevolent government and that pure water, health care and free education will be available for all.

What will become for this young lady? She already has a loving home where she is cared for by everyone who lives there. It's an extended family, parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins, grandparents and great-grandparents taking part.

Perhaps there's poverty in material things but there's wealth untold in love and care.
We'll do all we can, with your help, to make sure that she has medicine and education to meet her needs (20% of Gambian babies die from malaria before they can reach five years of age).

What exactly, would we hope to see if we should be able to walk into this young girl's family home in, say, twenty years' time? Probably electricity will be available for all who can afford it; water will gush from taps; there will be books to read and children will be busy doing their homework.

Let's hope that the family virtues and strengths will not have been lost; that respect for elders will continue; that books and learning will still be valued.

G.O.E.S. attempts to help people. It is not our job to tell them how to live.

We do not try to impose our values on them - they seem far ahead of us in most aspects of civilised society!