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

A mixed bag!

It's been a funny sort of day. Started off by getting a clean bill of health from the clinic - they manage my asthma and angina.  Sun has shone all day!
 Thought I would admire the nice new cover for Empty Bananas (designed by Adam Vickerstaff) - it wasn't on the book. Drat! bother! Trudget!  I was certain I'd installed it last week. Checked with KDP - I had managed to download it but I hadn't pressed the 'save & publish' button. I have now - Empty Bananas has a gleaming new cover illustrating Ed's* progress from a small boat to a Gambian village (Malinding). You can even see his motor bike basking in the shade ...
 Nearly forgot - the nurse, Joanne, at the clinic this morning was interested in the work GOES does and offered to donate some equipment when we next travel out to the Gambia.
 To offset all this good news we still have no word that the parcel containing more ECG paper for Banjul Hospital has arrived. Fingers crossed - I can't see that the contents would be on any use to anyone else.





*Ed is the anti-hero chap who ... well, you could just read the books and sponsor GOES which helps real people!

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!

Busy days for GOES!

I went for an eye test yesterday. Chatting to the optician about what I do for a living I happened to mention GOES. Can't think how it happened! As a result we've been offered a large number of reading glasses which we'll deliver to one or more of the clinics, added to the number our good friend Stuart has coaxed from the inhabitants of Blackpool. At least we can promise the donors that they will go to good homes! (The glasses; we hope the inhabitants of Blackpool already have good homes ...)
 Another chance remark, this time at Vale Royal Writers' Group (have you seen their latest Anthology, Under the Red Umbrella, available on Amazon Books and which would make a wonderful present for readers) ... what was I saying? Oh, yes, chance remarks about the shortage of ethnic stories for children! Stories for Gambian Children is available as a Kindle E-book and features Gambian children as the heroes and heroines of its stories. End of commercials!

GOES keeps going!

What have we been up to lately? Well, the Gift Aid arrived - thank you, UK Government! Quite a lot of it has been used already because we don't pile up money in the bank. If we have money it's our duty to send it to people and places in need.
We've helped a small school by paying the wages of a couple of members of staff.
We're paying for a young woman (her education had to pause while she had a couple of children) taking a crafts course at Brikama.
We sent support to a family when their mother died.
We paid the registration fees for a nurse who studies to become a midwife.
We have helped a couple of people develop their market gardens.
We have paid for the medical care of several people between the ages of 18 months and 80 years.
We have passed money on to a friend who is building a school.
We have paid school fees for young children to attend nursery schools.

We are running out of money again!
Please help - I noticed that 3 of you bought Malinding ebooks yesterday - or did one of you buy 3 books?
This is a good way to support GOES - and GOES supports people in need in The Gambia.
Thank you!

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

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!

To everything there is a season ...

And this was the season to be bone idle for a couple of days! We went to visit my daughter and be waited on hand and foot. It didn't quite work out like that because I decided that it was high time the latest book was finished! Didn't quite happen but the first draft is on paper - only numerous edits and re-writes and the design of the cover to worry about! GOES was presented with a very welcome cheque, which will be paid into the bank on Monday and immediately sent via BAYBA to help a young family in a small fishing village. So, the being bone idle intention didn't quite work but we had a most enjoyable few days together - apart from our host - hope you're better soon!
 The smog, laden with dust from the Sahara, might have been the prompt to finish the book?
Must find out about the copyright laws relating to 18th Century art work - 'Am I not a man and a brother?' It would make a great cover picture.

Well, what did we do with your money?

Just looking back over the notes we made during the week we were out there - and remembering that one day was lost because the country ran out of petrol! Here's a list of what we did with your money:
 Sad one first - we gave money to an old lady; her son has travelled to Europe to seek his fortune (he was lucky enough to survive the sea crossing to Lampedusa but was arrested and to the best of our knowledge is now in an internment camp). He was trying to support his mother, wife and children and is now unable to do so. We gave his mum cash to buy food for the family and medication for herself,, but we heard she died two days after our return home.
 Better news now - the young woman who was told she had breast cancer and travelled, with your help, to Dakar for treatment, discovered that she did not have a cancerous growth and, after a final check, is back at work supporting her family.
 The young lady who received a modern wheelchair is increasingly independent.
 The village clinic we support received gifts of medical equipment, supplies of over-the-counter drugs and money to buy prescription only medications.
 We met a young woman who is working 13 hours, seven days a week, fifty weeks a year,  to support her family, including a very bright twelve years old sister who wants to be a doctor. This child suffers from a severe version of Sickle-Cell Anaemia; we have been able to donate sufficient money to enable her treatment to be continued, possibly also in Dakar.
 The little boy with suspected cancer of the eye has also received treatment in Dakar and returned home. He has not lost the eye, though sight has been damaged. He has to return to the hospital for a final check.
 A 'hard working family' has received help to improve irrigation of their small holding and to purchase cement to re-inforce the walls of their home which was damaged in last year's rains.
 We continue to support a number of adult students studying nursing, business studies and IT courses.
Bags of rice and sacks of cement go to families in need, money for house repairs, books, clothing go to others.
 The boy who received treatment for a heart condition is a teenager now, anxious to catch up with the education he missed due to his condition. You helped him to continue his studies. You should have seen his smile!
 Our next job is to prepare a claim to HMRC for Gift Aid, which will of course go back into the GOES bank account to continue the work you so kindly sponsor.
 Thanks also due to those of you who have bought the Kindle ebooks in the 'Malinding' series from Amazon. That money goes directly into the GOES bank account and helps to fund the activities listed above.

Just to convince you that we did do some work last year!

...and you thought we only played with the babies and ate huge, delicious meals?

Words make money - I hope!

I spent another pleasant day at Gladstone's Library in Hawarden, near Chester, yesterday. It's a wonderful resource for writers: desks to work at, food to eat (the cakes are tasty) and even beds to sleep in if you want to stay overnight!
As darkness fell I drove home with 2000 new words added to the latest book in the Malinding series. Just 20,000 more to go! This will be the fifth (and possibly the last) book in the story of life in a Gambian village, seen through the eyes of a mixed-race family. Malinding village exists only in my mind, as do the characters who inhabit it, and who travel between there and the North West of England.
The books are for sale on Amazon for Kindle readers. All money from the sales go directly into the GOES Co-op Bank account, and from there to help the humanitarian work of that charity in The Gambia. Much of the work of the charity which has been described in this blog has been funded, at least in part, by these works of fiction. So, imaginary people help real-world men, women and children: fiction becomes fact.
Back to cake - no! I meant back to work!
Tom

Really must do some packing soon!

For the first time in years we haven't received an extra baggage allowance from Thomas Cook. THIS GIVES US A BIT OF A PROBLEM - WHAT DO WE LEAVE BEHIND? It's a headache. People have been very generous again and the spare bed is swamped with donations. Clothes, educational materials and medical equipment. We would like to take some odds and ends for ourselves, too! It's surprising how quickly 20kg mounts up. We have a ritual of weighing everything on the bathroom scales, remembering to include the weight of the suitcases.
 I have been given the loan of one of these new phones which not only can take pictures but can send them to blogs and web-sites and whatever. I'd been perfectly happy for years (and years and years) with my old Nokia - it was just a phone (oh, and it could turn into a torch, very handy on a dark night in a village!). This phone has survived rainy seasons, being dropped, being generally ill-treated, but now it's starting to fall apart. The keyboard bit is detaching itself from the rest of the phone and it's lost part of its memory (it's not the only one!)
 So I have a loan of one of these new (how new?) multi-purpose phones. So far I've learned to switch it on. If and when I learn how to take and send pictures I will 1) post some on here, just to show off, and 2) set about finding a similar camera for myself.
 Oh, and a big 'thank you' to Barclay's Bank for the gift of lots of pens - should keep a couple of schools happy!
 I've not posted on here for a while because I've been busy re-writing 'Empty Bananas' - the first of the Malinding series of books. The original version was a disgrace, I'm ashamed to say. The new edition is much improved (so I'm told) and will soon be on free offer for a few days on Kindle. I hope you enjoy it and that it encourages you to buy the other books in the series. All money from the sales goes to GOES and then on to The Gambia.
 Thanks for reading this - I know I ramble on!
Tom

Carry on!

Heavens, I was down when I wrote that last page! True, these things have to be faced but not just yet - see what Manflu can do to a soul!
Today is a better day. been chatting to Gambian friends about schools and clinics. A friend sent a photo of her daughter, a beautiful little girl, happy and healthy.
Barclays Bank in Stockton Heath, presented me with hundreds of pens to distribute to schoolchildren when we arrive there in November (it's November already and we still haven't packed!)
I've been bust re-editing 'Empty Bananas' after withdrawing the book from sale on Kindle. There were too many mistakes, so when the new edition goes on sale again at Christmas it should be a much better buy! (In the mean-time you can still purchase the other books in the Malinding series. All income from the sales goes directly into the GOES bank account.)
We've written to the chief medical officer at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital in Banjul about material we've been given - thanks, people, you know who you are!
Haven't heard yet from Thomas Cook about extra baggage allowance but our fingers are firmly crossed!
Must sort out the Travel Insurance, buy another suitcase - the zips have give up the will to carry on!
Thanks for reading this,
Best wishes - when are you going to visit The Gambia?

Tom

When do we say 'Good-bye' ?

Been thinking (yes, I know it's dangerous!) about how and when we cease to work with GOES. The charity is, in a sense, our baby - we conceived the idea, cherished it, watched it grow, became quite proud of its achievements ... and then we grew old and it became hard work!
 We have to accept that at some time we will be physically unable to travel out to The Gambia a couple of times a year, and I feel that now is the time for us to decide what to do! Our main concern is the future of the many children we support - and the living conditions of their parents. Only this week we have heard of the deaths of a very young child and of the father of a young woman whose education we sponsored. These people have become part of our extended family and their lives are interwoven with ours. I don't know the answer; I do know we must try to find it. Sometimes being 77 is great; sometimes it's not!
Tom

Leaping, very slowly, into action again.

Title says it all; actually had a phone call from the Co-op Bank yesterday. My missing correspondence has been found, but due to some clerical error we have to start all over again but a debit card will be sent, together with a new PIN so I can start to use the bank again. Great! Hurrah! When? Don't get too excited - it will take seven to ten working days ... in other words, we're back to the same position we were in five weeks ago. The difference is that this time I have a real live, named, person to speak to. So it all may turn out for the better, but not just yet. The good news is that the Bank will present GOES with some money as an apology. We'll see.
 I had a good day working at Gladstone's Library today - 1,300 words added to the fifth book (not thought of a title yet - 'Returned Empty' is my best effort so far but I don't really like it.
 Friend S (you know who you are) has been coaxing his friends into raising money for the cause - details when I have their permission to print them!
 HMRC have received our application for Gift Aid and I hope it will be processed before we travel out to The Gambia in November.
 So, the future's bright (but not just yet).
Best wishes to everyone,
Tom

The sun shines but I go to work!

You might think that at my age I'd have more sense! Still, there's another book to be finished. In it Ed's eldest son, Ed-Lamin, has finished Uni in England and has settled down to live happily ever after with Jane, his beautiful girlfriend. There was a General Election six months ago but the people of England were either too lazy to vote or too disillusioned to care. So, as a result, an extremist party - the Purity People's Party - gained power and set about ridding the country of 'undesirable aliens' by rounding them up into concentration camps. Ed-Lamin is captured by manages to escape by  -  well, that would be telling and I need you to buy the book and support GOES! Anyway, it may or may not end happily!
 So, that's why I've spent a sunny day indoors. The pile of reading glasses donated by kind people in Cheshire for use by short-sighted people in West Africa grows - more please. We're not sure that we'll be able to take heavy stuff like reference books out this time because we've not heard from Thomas Cook about an extra baggage allowance yet. Fingers crossed. Light stuff we can manage in our pockets - mobile phones (always welcome), memory sticks, spectacles and such like, please !

Working together.

GOES is, as I may have mentioned before, a very small charity. It therefore makes good sense to join with other charities or individuals from time to time to achieve a good result. We received the email below, which we publish with the senders permission, to illustrate a happy outcome in such a case. It also shows how determined the young people of The Gambia are to succeed for the benefit of their families and their country. We wish Xxxx every success in the future.

 Hi Tom,
Yes, he worked very hard and yes, I provided some encouragement and financial support to him. But...... you and Joyce stepped in when I couldn't and provided him with the funding for medical care he needed. You get both of our thanks and appreciation for that.
Happy for you to put something in your blog without my or his name and  that thanks to support from GOES, M was returned to good health following a severe bout of malaria and was able to gain the strength to go forward again in his life to successfully complete his studies and his exams funded and cared for by his British sponsor.
Something along those lines anyway. but yes Tom, credit where credit is due in order!!.

Hi Tom and Joyce,

Just a short good news message from Xxxxx.

They had their graduation day at Arabic school yesterday (similar to our last day of final term). He had a good time of celebration with his friends.

All pupils were called back into school today to check the lists of pupils who had failed their exams. (You will probably be familiar with this process from Mandinari). 

Xxxxx has emailed me to say that he has not failed! He doesn't know his final pass mark yet but at least has passed all his subjects.

He has tried really hard. Even to the point of not eating and losing weight in order to get his days and evenings full of study time.

I thought that you would like to know.

Next stages will depend on his results. Hopefully he will be able to secure a placement at college or university course in Banjul. If he does, I will make sure I help him every step of the way. 

Warmest good wishes. Thank you so much for your caring, loving support of him. You HAVE made a difference!! If you hadn't paid for his malaria treatment and the mosquito net, things may have been very different.