Friday 15 June 2012

Taps and books?

Well (sorry!) yes: The Malinding series of books* are selling well (sorry again ..) so we've been able to send off the money to move the water supply from a tap on the outside wall to the inside of the clinic at Mandinari. We haven't had the cash to visit The Gambia ourselves yet this year but there are a number of villagers we trust to oversee the work and we have sent the money for this work to a couple of them. We're also waiting for a report on the fund raising we're sharing with the villagers with a view to buying a maize milling machine for use by the village women. Pounding the maize in large mortars and pestles is a traditional African task, but it's very hard work and very time consuming so a powered mill would be a great advantage - and raise money from the surrounding villages. I so miss being out there with our friends, but the important thing is that progress is being made. (Still want to be there!

*Please help by buying one or more of them - see previous post!

Friday 8 June 2012

Books for Sale!

The three books about life in The Gambia are selling well - from the U.S.A. through Europe to Spain! I wrote them to raise funds for Gambia GOES, our charity, and the hard work seems to be paying off. They books are set in an imaginary village on the South bank of the river Gambia called Malinding. The inhabitants of the village are also imaginary, though I have borrowed genuine Gambian names for them. The characters live only on the pages. I'm offering the first book, 'Empty Bananas' on Amazon ebooks, free for five days, in the hope that this will tempt people to buy the rest of the books in the Malinding series - 'Mussukunda' and 'The Mechanical Girl'.
I'm having a short rest before I start on the next book, which will be called 'The Alkalo' - Sirra, who appears in the first book and marries Ed, becomes am important member of the village community ...

Sunday 3 June 2012

Improving!

I've been moaning and groaning about a decline in the level of donations but there is good news: the tap has been installed at Mandinari Clinic and is supplying pure water for use there. I gather that at the moment it's installed on an outside wall but we'll send the funds for it to be extended to a sink inside the clinic next week. It would be nice to wave a wand and have things done very quickly - as a Westerner I was becoming a little impatient; we had taken the money to the clinic in December when we visited. But, six months wait is better than not having the job done at all! Thank you folks; in the UK for providing the funds and those of you in The Gambia who undertook the work. Team effort = good result!