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.

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.

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?

Fundraising - what we've tried so far ...

We have tried sponsored cycle-rides, writing books (five so far - Google 'Malinding'), and selling things on Ebay ( a hat-sizer, a very small locomotive, a 40 year-old Seagull outboard, two scooters, a bike, a boat and an unidentified navigation device, to name a few.) We use Easyfundraising as a search engine, which pays GOES 0.5p per search - it all mounts up. We beg for donations and old reading glasses and new medical supplies: I think people run away when they see us approaching

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

Back to packing!

Managed, with the help of Michelle at Thomas Cook, to find a short trip to Badala Park that fits the pocket. She even tolerated our (well, my) shameless attempts to scrounge extra baggage, children's clothing, reading glasses, medication - all the things that are worth their weight in gold in Sub-saharan Africa. We'll be able to see how the building work at the school is going and to visit the students we sponsor and inspect their college and school reports.
Most important of all, we'll visit the many friends we've made over the years and enjoy their hospitality and swap chat about our families.
Not been to The Gambia? Please consider a visit - yes, it is a third world country but it can teach us a lesson or two about respect for other people, and how to enjoy life.