We've booked our next trip to the Gambia. Just a few weeks to wait then we'll be walking down the steps from the plane into that lovely wall of heat and welcome. Our driver, now a longstanding family friend, will be waiting with news of his lovely family, and we'll chat as we drive along familiar roads to our favourite hotel in Kotu.
We'll settle in as quickly as possible then join our friends for a welcome bottle of Julbrew by the pool. Domada of Benechin? Decisions, decisions. We'll chat about our plans, which school to visit first, what does the clinic need, how can we help the hospital, how are our friends and their children going on? Has Fatou passed her exams, is Lamin married yet, how at the babies doing, how is Amadou doing after his operation, all these and ten times more before we settle down to sleep.
And we'll be wondering, not for the first time, if this will be our final visit to this tiny country of wonderful people and terrible problems?
Age is against us as are the insurance premiums which we pay to cover our travels. Last year our premium cost more than our travel and accommodation.
With luck and a bit more publicity the Malinding books will continue to bring in some revenue, but if we cannot continue to visit and see for ourselves the Charity's money is being well spent I don't see how we can go on accepting money from family and friends. Up till now we can say to our supporters "Thank you for you gift; we used it to help Ami with her education and examination fees and we've see her certificates. She sends her thanks." If we can't travel we can't honestly report that donations have been properly used.
And also, being honest with ourselves, we have to acknowledge that we are not as fit as we used to be! We both plod on, coping with annoying medical conditions which are beginning to prove a nuisance.
Hopefully, we'll feel better when we walk off the plane - so far, the magic of Africa has drawn us back to the continent where human life began. Fingers crossed - see you by the pool, or in the market at Bakau, maybe by the crocodile pool, or in the fish market?
As I said before, fingers crossed! I must get on with Jodie Sonko's second book ....

Two schools.

During the course of our latest trip we were able to visit several schools. Most are doing well, even though several are operating in difficult circumstances. It's great to see the combination of eager student and enthusiastic teachers. We were saddened to see that one school, which had been the pride of its village, struggling. The number of pupils had dropped, the classrooms were in disrepair and the qualified teaching staff had left. There was an air of desperation: basic educational materials - paper, pencils, chalks - were lacking. A couple of rooms were occupied with junk, another had not been repaired following damage from a falling tree. A gardener and a caretaker had been dismissed and the school garden, which had previously provided both food for the children and a small income from the sale of surplus crops in the local market, had fallen into disuse. We provided what help we could but it was beyond our means to fund the repairs and wage bill for the little school. It appeared that the people who had sponsored the school for several years had been unable to continue and the villagers had withdrawn many children and sent them to a new kindergarten a short distance away.
 We made a couple of visits to this new school - what a difference. The head teacher already was in charge of a large lower-basic (Junior) school and had decided to provide the youngest children with fully qualified staff, breakfast every day, medical support if needed and a very happy atmosphere. She funded much of the initial cost of this operation from her own pocket. We made a contribution towards the cost of rice, provided a large number of dictionaries which had been presented to GOES (and for which we had paid Thomas Cook a large sum of money as 'excess baggage'!) The school seemed a truly happy, industrious place of learning.
 I'm haunted by that other, crumbling little school. We had known it in happier days, I had sat in the shade of a tree and taught previous generations of teachers a little more about English language and told stories to youngsters who seemed to enjoy hearing - and helping to make up - tales from two continents.

You could support GOES by buying any or all of the Malinding  series of Kindle ebooks. Who knows, you may be the one who enables an autoclave to sterilise an instrument used in an operation to save a life!

May we live in interesting times ...

We're back. Seemed at several stages we weren't going to get there, stay there, or get back!
We arrived at Manchester airport in good time, only a few people at the check-in in front of us. Passports? Passports! Of course we knew where they were - must have been left in the taxi. Called the taxi - not there. Must be at home then? Taxi home, passports (and half the GOES money) safe in the hall, waiting for us to pick them up. Up picked, taxi back to airport. Check-in discovered a misunderstanding (mine) about the weight of baggage - and the cost of excess ... already about £300 down before we boarded the plane. Taxis not cheap but Excess is dearer.
Arrived, safely, at hotel. Lost four days due to upset tummies and one fall in the shower-room (mine) and another down some steps (J's). My Banjul belly problem didn't erupt till we were home, or at least waiting by the baggage carousel at Manchester airport ...
Those details apart we had an interesting trip - tell you more next post!
Best wishes and thanks to everybody who supported us (literally, in some cases!)
Tom

Free book!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Happy-Nest-Malinding-Village-Archive-ebook/dp/B017Q5X3NM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1450441344&sr=1-1&keywords=Happy+Nest


Hope this works - it's a link to 'Happy Nest', the latest in the Malinding village series. It's the village archive, to which the villagers have contributed mini-auto-biographies, poems, and in one case, a short story which relates how the writer, a teen aged village girl with a longing for education and a career as a nurse, encounters Ed, the anti-hero of the series, with hope but little expectation. Happy Nest is on offer, free, at Amazon, for five days from 18/12/2015
Enjoy!


PS
Of course we hope you'll buy the rest of the Malinding books - they fund the charity (Gambian Occasional Emergency Support - GOES) which supports education and the provision of medical care in the Gambia.

Disaster.

Just learned that a number of young men from my adopted village have died trying to reach Europe. Our thoughts are with their families and friends. It must take an immense amount of bravery and hope to undertake such a journey and the intention is to help and support the family left behind.
 So very sorry that the adventure ended like this.

We're back!

There is no Ebola in The Gambia. Not a sign of it - so why are the hotels nearly empty? We stayed at our usual haunt - more staff than guests! The flight going out was cancelled and passengers transferred to the next 'plane - same on the way home and with seats to spare. The Gambians are suffering, not from some vile disease but from our fear of it. Many employees depend on tips to supplement their wages; tips are essential to enable, for instance, them to travel home late at night by taxi and to return to work the next day - apart from buying food to feed the family (one of my friends supports 16 family members on a tiny wage), pay the rent, pay school fees for the children, pay health care costs ... GOES helps many people - 66 students, two schools and a clinic at the last count but the country needs you! Just go and lie on a sunbed for a week and you'll provide employment. Travel about a little, ask to visit the home compound of your waiter/room boy/the gardener and see how people really live. You'll be safe, you'll be fed - you may even be offered a bed for the night. The generosity of the local people knows no bounds - does yours?
Sorry for the rant.
No, I'm not.
Tom

PS - there is no Ebola in The Gambia ...

A good start to the day!

Before I was properly awake this morning (half-way through the porridge and only one cup of coffee ...) a very cheerful voice on the 'phone from our local medical centre - do we want a set of baby-scales to take to The Gambia?  They'll try to find some other first-aid stuff such as wound dressings too. A great start to the day!
 We've recently started to correspond with a chap who designs book covers - he's bought the first in the Malinding series (Empty Bananas) and he'll see how to improve on my homemade efforts ...
 We have more spectacles to pick up from the Salvation Army meeting house - thanks, Stuart, we've not forgotten.
 Been away from home for a few days and managed to write another 5k words for the latest book; still a long way to go!
 So, as the sun is shining we've decided to get the bikes out and go for a ride ...

Raise a glass?

Not really! But we could raise several hundred pairs of reading glasses which have been donated to GOES - some by Boot's Optician in Warrington (thanks, Steph) and more by Stuart, a friend in Blackpool on his way home yesterday. We had to clear the spare room because our daughter arrived to stay for a few days and her bed was occupied by three suitcases and twenty plastic bags full of books, medical supplies and reading glasses ...and the T-shirts and caps Thomas Cook donated.
In the meantime we've sent help for a roof repair, re-stocked a clinic's medical cupboard, paid for a scan of a pregnant lady (it's a boy). Thanks to all of you for your support - The Gambia's a great place to visit!

Not Good News!

First, the good news: Boot's Optician presented me with a huge bag full of reading glasses today; Stuart has some more which we hope to collect on Friday.
Now: a sad message from Thomas Cook - no free extra luggage allowance on the flight out when we next go to The Gambia! They have been so good over the last few years that we had, stupidly, come to expect it. We could, of course, buy an extra allowance but we try to spend as little as possible here because the money buys so much more for people there!
We will of course cut our own luggage to the bone but we do need the odd pair of clean pants (and a heap of medication too!)
Thinking caps on ...
Tom


PS - if lots of you bought lots of the 'Malinding' series of ebooks for Kindle we promise to put that money towards extra luggage ... just a thought!

Tummy bug

We generally survive delights such as 'Banjul Belly' when we venture abroad - maybe a couple of days when we work from the hotel so as not to be too far from a toilet! I've just wasted a week here at home while a nasty little tummy bug has dictated where I can go (nowhere!) and what I can do (you don't want to know!)
 Unable to operate GOES bank account in the usual way (visit Co-op Bank, withdraw money, take money to Barclays Bank and deposit in the BAYBA account, come home and make a couple of 'phone calls and the person in need receives the money the same day) I decided to go in for the On-line Banking Option. I thought I understood the system ... I was wrong. It did eventually work, I think: I'm still waiting the hear that the person who needs it has actually collected the money. Because this was my first time I made a series of mistakes which puzzled the banks involved and left me tearing my hair out!
 Thanks for staying with this - back soon!

"Why do you do it?"

Not always the easiest question to answer. I was looking back through my jottings and came across this entry, about twelve years ago. It may give a clue about why we continue this work. Not happy reading.

"The darker side of life in The Gambia was brought home to me on my second trip. An elderly man who had been collecting fruit from a tall tree with the aim of selling the fruit to buy a cup of rice to feed his family, fell to his death a few feet from where I was standing. Our efforts to save him failed. He had been warned that the tree was unsafe, but he ignored the warning. The taxi I was using for the day was commandeered to take his body to the mortuary, and later that same day he was buried. Many people live a hand-to-mouth existence. Things we Westerners take for granted such as education, healthcare, clean water and support in time of hardship, are simply not available to many other people. At the time of this accident I was on my way to Mandinari village, where I was providing an English Language course for the school staff. I found on the first day that I was offered food and shelter for the duration of my stay. Setting up GOES to offer a little support was the least I could do."

Post this message I still feel the shock I felt that day, when a man, about my age, died simply from trying to feed his family.
Thanks for reading this,
Tom

Another busy day

Well, busy if you include waiting as an activity! Waiting for a cheque from HMRC, that is.
Lots of interest in the latest book, 'Chasing Freedom Home' - please will some of you who now have a copy post a nice review on Amazon? If you do hopefully that will increase interest in other books in the 'Malinding' series and so make a welcome contribution to GOES funds!
 The next, and possible final, book in the series is now into its second chapter - about 3,500 words so far. We went to Gladstone's Library for the day - I took 4,000 words with me but I had read them aloud, in private, thank goodness, and I was far from happy with the result! So the scissors came out and there was a severe editing session this morning.
 After lunch, with cake, the muse was a bit kinder and I've re-written several passages - hope they'll sound better.
 Best wishes to you all, and thanks for your interest.
Tom

Free offer - 'Chasing Freedom Home'

As I promised a few days ago I have put 'Chasing Freedom Home' on free offer for my African friends. I've used your country, some of your names and a lot of your good weather to feature in this Kindle book! Only fair to let you have a free read! You can download it on your PC, laptop or tablet - Amazon have a free app which enables you to do this.
 The story warns what might happen if people in England refuse to vote at a General Election and by default a rabid racist, fascist party comes to power. Africa offers refuge to people escaping death camps and slavery and the characters of the 'Malinding' series of books come to the rescue!
 The free offer starts on Saturday 7h of June and ends on Tuesday 10th of June. I don't object if you wish to buy the book (and the others in the series!) before or after those dates because all the revenue from sales goes into the bank account of GambiaGOES and from there to The Gambia to fund education and health care.
 Best wishes from a rainy Warrington to a sunny Africa!
Tom.

Sorry, Blog - I've been neglecting you!

But I have been busy, honestly! I'm tangled up with an application for Gift Aid on last year's donations; has to be done on line - and if you've been reading this blog for any length of time you'll have guessed that 'online' and 'Tom' are not happy partners! However, we're on the verge of success: I am now waiting 'ten working days' for a code number which will enable my user number to submit the detailed claim for the tax refund. Hopefully. Fingers crossed. Of course it will.

 Chasing Freedom Home, the latest Malinding village book, is tip-toeing into the sales on Amazon.

As soon as the rain stops J 7 I will go for a refreshing trike/bike ride (and cake and coffee) and all will be well with our bit of the world. Trouble is, of course, that so many bits of the world won't be well. Still, that's no excuse not to do what we can.

 Another thought, offered to me by a friend years ago: the main trouble with growing old is that you forget how absent-minded you were years ago!

 Where did I put the last receipt book for donations????

Chasing Freedom Home

Chasing Freedom Home - yours, from Kindle ebooks, for $3 or £1.83!  (Sorry, I tried to rotate it but it kept insisting on reclining. Exhausting business, being published!

As you may guess from the cover, it's an anti-slavery book.
All income from sales go to GOES.

Chasing Freedom Home!

Chasing Freedom Home is the title of the latest 'Malinding' series of Kindle ebooks. I've just downloaded the text to Amazon and, fingers crossed, it should be available to buy ( $3) from this time tomorrow. As usual, income goes straight to the GOES bank account, where I hope it will soon be joined by the Gift Aid income from HMRC.

Where does the money go? To the Gambia - recently providing support for a very small boy to have an eye operation, to a young woman who, with your help, needed proper medical attention to discover that the lump she had found was not cancerous, and to support the family of a lovely old lady who died recently.

 We have just taken a little time off to play with our latest grand-nephew in the park, and enjoy singing nursery rhymes at full volume in the back of the car.

 I'll report again soon!

Tom

It's a 24/7 job!

Twenty-odd years ago, when we retired from the day jobs, I wondered how I would fill the rest of my life. J was already settled into her new life as a full-time student and I turned to voluntary work. Voluntary works means you do something you want to but don't get paid for. I enjoyed it immensely. The I lapsed into running GOES. The enjoyment increased by 100%, as did the worry about not being able to do more! J joined in too, having reduced her study a little after the third degree ...
 But there are no office hours - which is brilliant. For example, having finished the latest 'Malinding' series book, we thought we would have a relaxing visit to Gladstone's Library. Great idea; good food, good company and lovely surroundings. Quite true, but GOES was still with us! We left with a car full of beautiful clothing donated by a Library friend who had listened to us talking about The Gambia, and decided to help. Some will find its way to West African villages, some will be sold and the money raised will help to stock medical supplies for clinics.
 Still determined to relax we decided to get a new set of wheels for J. We've both been cyclists from the age of eleven (quite a while ago!) and J decided she might be safer on 3 wheels now. So, we toddled along to another beautiful location, the Juicybike showroom in New Mills. We played with an electric trike in the car park and decided to give it a new home. We also were given a set of panniers and a trunk bag (goes across the top of a set of panniers), all superb quality, to help raise funds for GOES. Many thanks to Bob Wales and Sarah (and all the Juicybike staff) for their support, and for the fact they are excellent people who know their trade and how to look after their customers properly.
 Back to work on Tuesday with the Gift Aid claim, the cover design of the book (Chasing Freedom Home) and selling the donations, probably on eBay, the gifts we've been given. None of the money we raise goes into our pockets - every penny and pound will go so improve the health or education of some one in The Gambia who needs help.

Should a Birthday be a work day?

We're off to Gladstone's Library for a few days to help J celebrate her birthday. It's what sses for riotous living when you reach our age! We will be working for GOES of course while we're there - I'll be trying to complete 'Chasing Freedom Home' and together we'll be adding up all the money the charity has sent to The Gambia during the last financial year. We promise you that any donation you have made has used 100% for the purposes of the charity. We pay our own expenses - fares, accommodation, food and so on. We donate a tithe of our incomes to GOES and we claim gift aid on that amount (Gift Aid is a scheme which returns 25% tax to the Charity). That 25% sets GOES up for the next year. It really is very nice to get money back from the Government!

All in a week's work!

Honestly, we really do more than sit around chatting to our friends and eating delicious Gambian food. Sometimes we really are quite busy! But yes, we do sit around and chat! The art of conversation is alive and well and living in The Gambia. Everybody has a turn to speak and it's rare to be interrupted. I love this country; the eagerness for education, the kindness to strangers, the politeness of children and the gentle sense of humour.

 I'll deal with the work GOES did on this visit but for now I'm just enjoying memories and wishing I was back in the sunshine.

P.S. If you're waiting for a text from me I had better tell you I've lost my 'phone. Hope to find it soon ...

Best wishes, and thanks to all my friends for their help.

Tom

Packing time again.

All being well we will soon escape the rain and head for Gambian sunshine. Thomas Cook again helped us to find a great deal, which means we can visit our West African projects. Our funds are down a little so we won't be taking on any new work but we're going to make sure that we keep promises made last time. The clinics and schools, together with the on-going medical care we've already embarked on will continue to be supported. As I've mentioned before, the hardest part of this job is saying 'no' to somebody who really needs help. Whenever that happens we try to find another charity which may be able to help. Over the past years we've found who we can trust ...
 We're waiting for TC's final decision on extra baggage but we do have room for more medical tackle - reading glasses, wound dressings, Paracetamol and so on. Talking about drugs we've had a problem obtaining out anti-malarials this year. For the last fifteen years or so we've toddled along to our local surgery, been checked over by a nurse, been given a prescription and received our tablets from a pharmacy; done in a day. This year the travel clinic has closed. We put in a request for a prescription - received a 'phone call - 'That's not the way we do it! Go to your pharmacy and ask to be examined there.' We made an appointment. The Pharmacist seemed to be surprised but took full medical history, put in a request to the surgery. His request was refused - he hadn't filled in the right form. He didn't know about this new form and the surgery didn't offer him one. He consulted the other pharmacists he knew; 'What form?'
 Back he went to the surgery - they had the form! He called me, we filled the form in - all the information requested was already in the medical records held by the surgery ... we're waiting the stipulated 48 hours to find out if this time we're lucky. Comment fails me - perhaps you can guess what I'm thinking?