Free Bananas (Empty) !

I've just checked on Amazon - e-books page and the first book in the Malinding Village series, 'Empty Bananas' is there on free offer for 4 more days. It's about imaginary people in an imaginary village - but the country - The Gambia - is real. Why not have a look? The sun is shining, here in England, but it's cold outside. Sit in your house, cuddle up to the radiator, read the book and pretend for a few hours that you're basking in sub-Saharan sunshine enjoying the company of some of the nicest people on the planet!

Free offer of revised 'Empty Bananas'.

The second edition of 'Empty Bananas' will be available on Kindle e-books from Friday 29/3/2013 to Tuesday 2/04/2013.
Free of charge - the first edition was terrible!
Revised and corrected - a story which travels from Cheshire to The Gambian imaginary village of Malinding via Runcorn, Warrington and Kotu.

Correcting my mistakes!

 Time for another apology, folks. The first edition of 'Empty Bananas' was, to put it mildly, a dog's dinner. I'd written a series of short stories, set in an imaginary Gambian village. Then I had a bright (not!) idea - I thought I'd join the stories together and publish a novel. So, with very little editing and even less proof-reading, that's what I did.
 I'd like to apologise to the people who bought it, and to the people who downloaded it when it was on free release. We've spent a lot of time re-editing and proof-reading and I hope the second edition is more readable. It will be available soon on Kindle and I'll publish a notification here and on Facebook and Twitter as soon as I can offer it again on free release.
 As most you you must know, the object of publication is to raise funds for the charity 'GOES', but before we ask for money I think it only fair to offer the book to those people who were disappointed by the first edition.
Watch this space - I'm hoping to load the book later today - the new cover is on the left of this apology!

Progress takes time ...

Sorry we haven't been keeping you up to date - we've not been idle!  We are still supporting a number of Gambian families with emergency help buying medicines, paying increasing school fees and making some regular payments to ensure that one school can function properly. 
Now, near the end of March 2013, we have been asked for the school fees for two little girls for next term (Gambian schools run on the same timetables as English schools as they were once a British colony). The amount required is only 30GBP each which provides school attendance, a small snack and uniforms. They will also have received a mosquito net initially, vital to help prevent the killer disease malaria. 

Revised ebook

As promised I have revised and, hopefully, corrected the mistakes in the first edition of 'Stories for Gambian Children'. Sorry to all who bought this book - it will be available for free download from 10th to 14th of March. Thanks to all of who who, so nicely, pointed out the errors.
I'm revising the books in the Malinding series about life in an African village and these too will be offered on Kindle in the near future.
Now, near the end of March, Empty Bananas is almost ready to go! Watch this space.

Busy, busy!

GOES has had a busy few days - firstly, we've had money in from the sale of ebooks (the Malinding series on Kindle), income from sales on EBay, donations from friends and family. Don't all rush - it comes into the account and goes (! sorry!) out again almost immediately. This has helped a young man with medical costs associated with a badly damaged leg, repairs to a family house so it will be water tight when the rains come, money to buy rice to feed a very poor family and school fees for several children. 

If you would like to sponsor a very hard working young man's studies we can put you in touch with him. He's bright, very keen to gain qualifications and an income to support his extended family.

We sent some money to The Gambia today and were delighted and surprised to be question by one of the bank staff about our work and what help we would like. Fingers crossed (which will make the editing of the ebooks difficult but may bring good luck to GOES!)

We also heard from HMRC that they are making it easier to claim Gift Aid on donations.

Two months ago we returned from The Gambia to our home feeling very despondent about progress. We then both had health worries. I felt life would be much better if we gave up working with the charity (if you add both our ages together it comes to 149 years) but today we'll carry on. We can't let our African friends down.

I do rant on, don't I? Sorry - back to work. Is that a piece of cake I see?

Reason for delay ...

Well, one of the reasons!  Lots of kind people have bought copies of this book, the sale of which goes straight into the GOES bank account - and usually straight out again to help someone some where in The Gambia. Some of the people who bought a copy pointed out that it could have been better produce - they were right! So, we withdrew it from Kindle and revised the the cover and the contents: hope you like it! As a thank-you we'll be offering it for free download (and as compensation to all the people who bought the first edition). All the 'Malinding' books have been withdrawn for similar reasons, and as soon as the editorial team (Amieo and Joyce, plus me) has completed the re-edit the books will be back on sale again.
 Health has been a bit of a problem for us too since we returned to the UK just before Christmas. We have spent too long in hospital waiting rooms with crossed fingers; worth it in the end because only minor faults emerged and we'll be back on track very soon.
 The matter of the missing money hasn't yet been resolved. Friends in the village concerned are looking into it and until that is resolved the village women will wait for their maize-mill. We hope they won't have to wait much longer because the mill will free them from a very onerous task, and enable a return to education for many of them, we hope.
We'll keep you posted - thanks for your patience - and thanks to Stuart for the push in the right direction ...