Burning rubbish.

Smoke rises from the rubbish tip at Bakoti. It burns round the clock and the smoke and smell spread for miles. Children scavange the rubbish for items to sell - plastic bottles, re-usable bags, anything that might fetch a few dalasis. Directly across the road from the tip is the S.O.S. Children's Village - a wonderful institution which looks after the welfare of orphans in a manner which puts us in the U.K. to shame - read up about it, or, better still, visit it for yourself when you travel to The Gambia. Just remember to hold your breath if the wind's in the wrong direction ...

At last - clean water for the clinic!

 

 

 

Back in the UK

Another trip over. Good news - and, sadly, some bad news. Hope the good outweighs the bad. Very tired, not much food in the house but sleep is the major need! Tell you more when we wake up!

Stories for Gambian Children

Sorry, I was a little early with the news that this book is available free on Amazon ebooks. It's on now, for five days and the first one has gone to some discerning reader in America! Feel free to review or point out errors and I'll try to correct any mistakes. many thanks, Tom.

Where is Malinding?

A few people have asked me about the location of the village which features in my e-books - Malinding. Sorry, you can't go there because it exists only in my imagination. If you can find a map of The Gambia, or if you search for the villages of Lamin and Mandinari you'll be looking in the right area. From Lamin Taxi Centre take a car to Mandinari Village. From there ask your driver to turn right and follow the River Gambia for about 2km. You'll find the place where Malinding might be on the inlet (bolong) - but don't get out of the car because the village really isn't there!You won't meet any of the characters you may have read about in the books - they're imaginary too, I'm afraid. But please don't let this put you off visiting the Gambia and meeting the real people who live there. They'll love meeting you, and are some of the nicest people on the planet.

Good news day!

Many thanks to the staff and customers at Hatter's Cafe Shop in Warrington! We emptied the GOES collection box and counted the grand total of £36.90 ! We promise that all of this (and all of any other donations) will reach The Gambia intact - we don't use any Charity money for our expenses.
As a 'thank you' I've put one of our e-books, 'Stories for Gambian Children', on free offer on Amazon e-books.

Bit of a blow!

Just discovered that Thomas Cook has had to reduce our  Charity baggage allowance from 20kg to 10kg. Still, we want the aircraft to be able to take off! We'll be doing some weighing and de-selecting. Some of the heavy text-books wmay have to stay at home ...
Also discovered we might have a bit of a problem with our travel insurance. Can't go without that! Still, 'May you live in interesting times ...'
We'll keep you posted.
Anybody going to The Gambia without any luggage? !
:-)
Tom