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that the people who had sponsored the school for several years had been unable to continue and the villagers had withdrawn many children and sent them to a new kindergarten a short distance away.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

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!

Telephones!

Wonderful invention, the 'phone. They don't seem to have got it quite right yet; I decided to dump my old Nokia, the small brick-like gadget that had served me well for about ten years, surviving being dropped, drenched in the wettest rain the The Gambia's rainy season could deliver (that's pretty wet, if you haven't yet visited GOES territory from July through to September!). I gave myself a present of an up-date which is supposedly able to take pictures and deliver them to blogs and web-sites within moments. It's lighter and smaller than the brick. Pity it doesn't do what it says on the tin/box. Yes, it takes pictures. Then it keeps them. I've been trying for the past three months to send the pics to this web. They don't arrive - somewhere, in outer space, there are pictures of clinics and hospitals and schools floating about, looking for a home. What the 'phone does do, and seems very good at, is costing me money. It leaks money. If I check the balance at the end of one day and then switch it off for the night then switch it on next morning the balance is lower. Somehow it has spent money while being switched off! Is it going out to all-night parties? Is it connecting to Amazon and buying ebooks? What is it doing?
Sorry about the rant - I like technology when it works, really I do!
Best wishes,
Tom.

By the way, the fifth 'Malinding' book - Chasing Freedom Home - has reached 40 thousand words - half written.

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

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

Still trying!

We've been away from home for a couple of days. I needed a break - this stupid business with the Co-op Bank has really been getting me down. We took refuge at Gladstone's Library, where the first Gladfest of Poetry and Prose was being held - a great success and a good opportunity to try to forget the hassle of failing to deal with the Co-op Bank and the USA's IRS for a while. Great food too!
A fellow poet (Annie, many thanks) made a kind donation to GOES with the condition it should to used to make a child smile. Will do, and thanks. 
 Mention of money brings me back to the problem with the Co-op Bank a/c - slight progress; we now have a form to fill in which, after we have posted (post? Not fax or e-mail???) back to the bank may enable us to receive a new debit card so we can withdraw money from the account and send it to people who need it! So, we may be back in business sometime next week. Possibly. Perhaps. 
 While we were at the Library I managed to fit in a few hours work on the latest Malinding book - the word count is now over 30K ! 

100% means every penny!

There has been a lot of publicity recently about charitable funds being used to provide people who should have known better with luxuries such as first class flights and the like.
Every penny that is given to GOES is used to benefit needy people in The Gambia. Every pair of reading glasses we receive goes first to a clinic then to someone with fading eyesight. We promise you that any donation given to GOES is used exactly as we promise. We pay our own way. We pay for our flights, accommodation and food. We travel about by local taxi. In addition we tithe our income to the charity.
Thanks for your time - just wanted to make things clear!
Best wishes,
Tom.