Trying to organise exchanging an inflatable canoe and a wireless router for mobile 'phones and/or a laptop. Why? Well, mobile 'phones are really a necessity in The Gambia; owning a mobile can save a small fortune over there because it can save numerous, possibly futile, journeys by bush taxi - and save all the time involved in waiting for a taxi to turn up. They are especially valuable during the rainy season when some roads become impassable. And the laptop? Well, I remember talking to a highly intellegent young man (whom we later sponsored through university) asking me what a computer looked like. Had he been a student in this country he would of course been using one for years. He had never seen one. So far we've supplied several laptops to students but there is always a need for more. We can at least be certain that the people we give them to will make good use of them and not just sell them on to raise a quick profit. So, Ebay, begging letters and dropping hints to friends. Fancy a canoe?!
Best wishes. Get well soon, Jenny!
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Monday, 11 May 2009
Moving on
Finally completed the accounts for the last financial year and looking forward to the coming twelve months. Seems to be starting well; we've resolved the problems we had obtaining travel insurance. The bank where we keep the GOES account (Co-p Bank) have been most helpful and we have joint annual insurance with all our 'existing conditions' taken into consideration for a little less than we paid last year. It's a great comfort.
Horija, one of the students you've been supporting, moves into the final term of her MA at Kampala University. She's been seriously ill but she's better now.
Fatou has arrived at the training school where she will study to become a nurse. She'll be living in a village house and has to provide her own bedding and cooking equipment - you've helped with this, too!
Tida has completed her first steps back into education. I thinks she's worried about not doing too well but those of us who have returned to education after a long break will understand her fears. Once more you've been instrumental in helping her and her children.
On the home front we've been interviewed by a student who is considering helping with GOES as part of her work to obtain Gold in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award. Fingers crossed, she'll be most welcome and there's plenty for her to do!
Best wishes to all of you, and thanks for your support.
Joyce & Tom
Horija, one of the students you've been supporting, moves into the final term of her MA at Kampala University. She's been seriously ill but she's better now.
Fatou has arrived at the training school where she will study to become a nurse. She'll be living in a village house and has to provide her own bedding and cooking equipment - you've helped with this, too!
Tida has completed her first steps back into education. I thinks she's worried about not doing too well but those of us who have returned to education after a long break will understand her fears. Once more you've been instrumental in helping her and her children.
On the home front we've been interviewed by a student who is considering helping with GOES as part of her work to obtain Gold in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award. Fingers crossed, she'll be most welcome and there's plenty for her to do!
Best wishes to all of you, and thanks for your support.
Joyce & Tom
Saturday, 4 April 2009
Seeking Sponsors
These children from Mandinari Village would like sponsors so that their education can continue during the next school year.
For information please email us - newhutte@dsl.pipex.com
Monday, 30 March 2009
Apologies - but we're still here!
Sorry for not posting for a while - blame mixed health, family fortunes and misfortunes and domestic difficulties such as not having a fully functional kitchen for three months ... but here we are again. We have been keeping busy with GOES business, funding students, giving grants for housing repairs, small improvements to schools and food for hard pressed families. The cost of rice continues to rise, the value of the pound continues to fall and donations are increasingly hard to come by. However, due to the continued loyalty of friends and family we manage to maintain progress. The end of the financial year is near and we expect our income (after finding all our Bayba* counterfoils to top the £5,000 mark for the first time. This will mean more paper work because we will then have to re-apply to the Charity Commissioners for full charity status (we,re registered for Gift Aid** with HMRC already and this of course will continue).
Once we've managed to buy adequate travel insurance (last year's health problems still haunt us and our 'best' quote so far is in excess of £1000!) we'll be out there again - at least the Rainy Season in The Gambia is warm as well as wet!
Back to work now any questions? Email us on newhutte@dsl.pipex.com and we'll try to help - if you're thinking of visiting The Gambia we're happy to provide advice - go and see what we're doing!
Best wishes,
Joyce & Tom Ireland.
*Bayba is the money transfer agency we use; Costs £5 to send up to £100 and generally the money arrives in The Gambia the same day so is excellent for sending urgent help. We, of course, pay the transfer fees ourselves.
** Gift Aid; a wonderful and easy way that a registered charity (GambiaGOES reg no. is XT7385 with HMRC) can claim back income tax paid by donors. The rate is 28% at the moment.)
Once we've managed to buy adequate travel insurance (last year's health problems still haunt us and our 'best' quote so far is in excess of £1000!) we'll be out there again - at least the Rainy Season in The Gambia is warm as well as wet!
Back to work now any questions? Email us on newhutte@dsl.pipex.com and we'll try to help - if you're thinking of visiting The Gambia we're happy to provide advice - go and see what we're doing!
Best wishes,
Joyce & Tom Ireland.
*Bayba is the money transfer agency we use; Costs £5 to send up to £100 and generally the money arrives in The Gambia the same day so is excellent for sending urgent help. We, of course, pay the transfer fees ourselves.
** Gift Aid; a wonderful and easy way that a registered charity (GambiaGOES reg no. is XT7385 with HMRC) can claim back income tax paid by donors. The rate is 28% at the moment.)
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Happy New Year!
Sorry to have been away from the blog for so long - blame age and decrepitude! Good news; Tida's children are now at nursery school and she has bravely returned to education after a break of eight years. We found an I.T. introductory course which also covers English and maths in the next village. She's a bright lady and life hasn't been too kind to her lately. Thanks for your help.
Y.B. completes his advanced I.T. course and is looking for work. He'd llike help with further study and needs a sponsor.
F.C. is due to move to Bansang Nursing School to begin her training, and sends her thanks to all who have supported her so far. Her nursing training is funded by the state.
Ami and Musa and Adam and Matty and Haddy are doing well at their schools, but N'dey and Sally and many, many others need help. School fees vary from about £25 a year, including 2 uniforms, for a child at nursery school, to £60 a term (or more) for a youngster at Upper Basic school. At this level there are lots of top-up fees for extra tuition and activities!
An introduction to I.T., such as Tida is embarking on, costs a basic 3,500dalasis (plus 1,200dalasis for books). I've changed from Sterling to Dalasi because recently the value of the pound has dropped steeply. Just over a year ago I was able to exchange at a rate of 50D to the £. In December I could obtain 40D/£, since Christmas the rate has been about 37D/£ and there is talk of the rate falling as low as 30D/£.
Add this to the 'Credit Crunch' and the situation becomes serious. Think in terms of a bag of rice. Rice is the staple food and a 25kg bag will feed a family of six people for a month.
Reverting to Sterling for the sake of comparison; Two years ago GOES could donate a bag of rice for £12. Now it costs £25 to fund the same gift. If the rate falls to 30D/£ we are looking at a price of £31 - assuming the price of rice remains at present levels.
We enjoy running GOES - it's made many friends both here and in The Gambia, but I have to confess to lying awake at night trying to decide which of two or three or more deserving cases gains the support they need.
On the other hand the generosity of both friends and strangers continues to amaze and delight us. Thanks also to our sources of regular income - you know who you are. Also to Hatter's and Snips and Borders. I'll repeat the invitation - visit The Gambia and meet the people you've helped!
Thanks for reading this - comments/advice/suggestions welcome!
email us at newhutte@dsl.pipex.com
Happy New Year!
Y.B. completes his advanced I.T. course and is looking for work. He'd llike help with further study and needs a sponsor.
F.C. is due to move to Bansang Nursing School to begin her training, and sends her thanks to all who have supported her so far. Her nursing training is funded by the state.
Ami and Musa and Adam and Matty and Haddy are doing well at their schools, but N'dey and Sally and many, many others need help. School fees vary from about £25 a year, including 2 uniforms, for a child at nursery school, to £60 a term (or more) for a youngster at Upper Basic school. At this level there are lots of top-up fees for extra tuition and activities!
An introduction to I.T., such as Tida is embarking on, costs a basic 3,500dalasis (plus 1,200dalasis for books). I've changed from Sterling to Dalasi because recently the value of the pound has dropped steeply. Just over a year ago I was able to exchange at a rate of 50D to the £. In December I could obtain 40D/£, since Christmas the rate has been about 37D/£ and there is talk of the rate falling as low as 30D/£.
Add this to the 'Credit Crunch' and the situation becomes serious. Think in terms of a bag of rice. Rice is the staple food and a 25kg bag will feed a family of six people for a month.
Reverting to Sterling for the sake of comparison; Two years ago GOES could donate a bag of rice for £12. Now it costs £25 to fund the same gift. If the rate falls to 30D/£ we are looking at a price of £31 - assuming the price of rice remains at present levels.
We enjoy running GOES - it's made many friends both here and in The Gambia, but I have to confess to lying awake at night trying to decide which of two or three or more deserving cases gains the support they need.
On the other hand the generosity of both friends and strangers continues to amaze and delight us. Thanks also to our sources of regular income - you know who you are. Also to Hatter's and Snips and Borders. I'll repeat the invitation - visit The Gambia and meet the people you've helped!
Thanks for reading this - comments/advice/suggestions welcome!
email us at newhutte@dsl.pipex.com
Happy New Year!
Thursday, 25 December 2008
Tabaski to Christmas
Hello again. I'm back in England after amixed trip - good news and bad news. Bad in that the family of the boy with the bad leg had failed to take him back to the clinic for regular check-ups and his wound has become re-infected. Everyone blaming everyone else, lots of accusations of theft, neglect & ill-will. I arranged for the doctor to see the boy again, laid on transport, a new x-ray and both doctor & I threatened to withdraw support if a single appointment is missed in the future. This took four days of family conferences, 'phone calls, people calling at my house last thing at night and first thing in the morning to say they didn't agree with the decisions that had been reached in the previous meeting and demanding another. Outcome - the doctor has seen the boy and the leg can be treated, so I suppose that's good news!
The good Good News is that by chance I met a young woman who was forced to end her education at the age of fifteen when her father died. She led a very sad life, giving birth to two children. The father of the first child also died and the father of the second ran away. She left the village to seek her fortune and, not finding it, returned to her mother's compound and became an agricultural labourer. She had attempted to join the army and the police force but failed to satisfy either with her educational attainments.
She asked GOES for support with school fees for her children (agreed) and we discussed with her her own ambitions. It seems there is an introductory IT course which includes basic language & maths. She came to the airport to say goodbye and we found ourselves sitting at a table near two people who had taken the course we were discussing and offered her help with it. Also within earshot was the head of a fairly local nursery school who offered the girl a job as a student teacher provided she achieved good grades in the IT course! She also offered her the chance to practice on the school's typewriter to help with her keyboard skills! As I left for the departure lounge the four of them were still deep in conversation.
Apart from two doses of Banjul Belly (don't ask!) my health kept up, my lungs and heart continued to work and I was too busy to worry about it anyway ...
Thanks from all the people you have helped and I'll post some pictures after the family celebrations are over.
Happy Christmas, and we wish you good health, happiness and long life for 2009.
The good Good News is that by chance I met a young woman who was forced to end her education at the age of fifteen when her father died. She led a very sad life, giving birth to two children. The father of the first child also died and the father of the second ran away. She left the village to seek her fortune and, not finding it, returned to her mother's compound and became an agricultural labourer. She had attempted to join the army and the police force but failed to satisfy either with her educational attainments.
She asked GOES for support with school fees for her children (agreed) and we discussed with her her own ambitions. It seems there is an introductory IT course which includes basic language & maths. She came to the airport to say goodbye and we found ourselves sitting at a table near two people who had taken the course we were discussing and offered her help with it. Also within earshot was the head of a fairly local nursery school who offered the girl a job as a student teacher provided she achieved good grades in the IT course! She also offered her the chance to practice on the school's typewriter to help with her keyboard skills! As I left for the departure lounge the four of them were still deep in conversation.
Apart from two doses of Banjul Belly (don't ask!) my health kept up, my lungs and heart continued to work and I was too busy to worry about it anyway ...
Thanks from all the people you have helped and I'll post some pictures after the family celebrations are over.
Happy Christmas, and we wish you good health, happiness and long life for 2009.
Thursday, 4 December 2008
There's good news and there's bad news ...
Day before the journey. No news about the extra baggage allowance. Suddenly realise there's not much time left and everything is in heaps or plastic bags on/beside/under the spare bed. Flurry of emails/'phone calls. Outcome is the Thomas Cook, who have been so helpful before, aren't going to be this time. No extra allowance. Drat, blather and trudget!!! Good news 1) Adama rings to announce she has washed and ironed some of my clothes that arrived in The Gambia without me in April. Too excited to enquire what's there so out goes my bag of spare clothes. It's a fingers crossed moment. Now down to weighing everything else. Seven kg above the 25 allowed.
Out go some items of clothing for adults. The laptop weighs just under 5kg and will go in my small backpack. Joyce has brain wave - check the accuracy of the fisherman's weight scale. Brilliant! 2kg of tinned food from the pantry shows up as nearly 3kg! The scales add on 0.5kg for every weighing! Fingers crossed, nearly everything goes back into the holdall. Just hope the airport scales aren't made by the same firm as the fisherman's! Next panic - did I book the taxi for 5am in the morning? Better just check!
Out go some items of clothing for adults. The laptop weighs just under 5kg and will go in my small backpack. Joyce has brain wave - check the accuracy of the fisherman's weight scale. Brilliant! 2kg of tinned food from the pantry shows up as nearly 3kg! The scales add on 0.5kg for every weighing! Fingers crossed, nearly everything goes back into the holdall. Just hope the airport scales aren't made by the same firm as the fisherman's! Next panic - did I book the taxi for 5am in the morning? Better just check!
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