Extract from a story in 'Happy Nest'.

Happy Nest

It was possibly the most stupid thing I had done in my life. My father had shrugged his shoulders and said that Ebou was poor but honest and would look after me. It wasn't Ebou I was worried about. I walked through the warm black dark, guided by a little light from a crescent moon, and found my way to the door of the small house.

No problem; I still had time to turn round and go home. Nothing would be said, there would be no significant glances, I would wake up tomorrow morning and life would be just the same. I didn't want it to be the same: I wanted a chance to change. I knocked in the corrugated iron door and called a greeting. Ebou returned the greeting as he opened the door. The room was dark. Not even the flicker of a candle helped me.

'Fatou, come sit. We are waiting to greet you.' I cursed my stupidity. I could have brought a candle, half a candle even, with me. I was thinking only of my needs, forgetting the Ebou must be the poorest man in the village. The mother of his son had left, returning to her father's compound, because Ebou could not afford to feed them. And I had not thought to bring even a candle.

'Fatou Cham, I am happy to greet you. Come, sit, we will talk.' He spoke English, of course he did, this man I had come to see and could not see. He switched on his phone and the light guided me to a place opposite. I knew the house well: a single small room, a door at either end, two broken plastic chairs to balance on, a box for a table, a hole in the wall for a window. And a hope in my heart for a different future.

Hope is a dangerous thing; it can wreck lives and bring great unhappiness. There was a life waiting for me. I was sixteen years old, I had received some schooling, and I could read and write and figure. My father would soon find me a husband, I was healthy, I could conceive and give life, God willing, to a dozen children. I could already cook and haggle in the market, I could sell, I could clean and I already cared for my mother when she was sick. Life was waiting for me. But. But I was here, in the dark, looking for a different future. 

'Happy Nest' is one of the books in the Malinding Village series, obtainable fro Amazon as an ebook or a paperback. All money from the sale of these books is used by the charity GOES to finance education and health care for real people in real Gambian villages.

Progress

GOES (Gambian Occasional Emergency Support) is a micro charity* registered with HMRC for Gift Aid (XT 7385)

Looking back to Christmas 2017 when we were a little worried about the future of GOES, a mocro charity Joyce and I have been running for about 12 years.

We were finding it impossible, due to our interesting collection of age and medical conditions, to find travel insurance at a price we could afford. To take my mind off the worry I decided to be ill (!) and we cancelled our celebrations.

Recovering, we decided to hand over the practical of work in The Gambia to a young local man, K. He, with his family, lives in the village** where much of our work goes on. K is familiar with the local schools, and the very busy local clinic. We also operate in another fishing village, Bakau, and a suburb of the busiest city, Serrekunda, where we support another nursery school.

We pay a salary – we’re not paying for airfares so that’s sorted that – and local bush taxi fares. He has been accepted as our representative by all the beneficiaries and we’ve received positive feedback from them. Nearly twelve months on and things seem to be going smoothly. We, with your help, have supported 15 students, mainly female, aged from 7 to 22, with funding towards their education. A school has received a grant towards the cost of re-roofing, a village clinic has been kept supplied with essential medical supplies, and an indoor fresh water supply has been laid on.

·          * Operating on less than 5,000 GBP pa

·         ** The village ‘Malinding’ is based on, re-located onto the opposite bank of the river Gambia.

Free Malinding Village Amazon Kindle ebooks

Several Kindle ebooks in the Malinding Village series are on free offer for the next few days.

Set on the banks of the mighty Gambia River the village offers shelter to a mix of British ex-pats and attempts to introduce them to a civilised way of life.

Meet Ed, Sirra, Ebou, Sam, Jodie,  Binta and a host more – learn to brew tea, cook benechin, eat properly,  and even build a house …

What we do when we're not working for GOES

One of us is an historian. That’s why were up at half past six the other morning. The train was at half past eight and we had to be on it. We started to ring for taxis at half past seven. We could have had practically every taxi in Warrington – at half past nine. A good neighbour who was taking the day off work to have root canal surgery offered to drive us to the station. It might take his mind off things …we caught the train. The ticket machine at the station worked perfectly, at the third try. The young gentlemen sitting in our pre-booked seats vacated them with a smile. The train was on time. We arrived at the Lancaster University early enough to wander round and get lost. We found our way back to the Ruskin Library and Research Centre. It’s an exciting, dynamic structure, ship shaped, approached along a causeway through a field of wildly waving grasses. Beautiful. Through the heavy double doors (less of these later) and into the interestingly shaped lecture room. It’s ‘Y’ shaped. The audience sit in the arms of the Y, unable to see one another. The lecturer stands at the joint of the arms and attempts to be heard by both sides at the same time. Behind the lecturer is a huge window which gives a clear view of buses entering the University grounds. No 1 seems to be popular. A working sound system would also be popular.

Coffee and very nice biscuits were in a cramped corner of one of the arms by good humoured staff, as was an excellent lunch. Perhaps if there had been room for a few tables lunch would have been even more enjoyable? Certainly less enjoyable was the blocked lavatory I encountered after lunch. As it appeared to be the only one available I called on my army training and cleared it. The wash basins have very hot water. Thankfully.

The lectures were excellent, interesting, and mostly audible. An announcement was made during the afternoon tea break. Storm Callum had blown one of the heavy entrance doors off its hinges, and the entrance was considered to be unsafe. We would therefore exit via the basement. We did. Our taxi picked us up, and, apart from developing a fault with its brakes, delivered us, on time, to the station. Being on time was unimportant because a tree had fallen on the line north of Lancaster and or train arrived 32 minutes late. We were assured that Virgin would refund our fares.

An interesting day, and we learned much about the extraction of peat from the Cumbrian fells, and more about the problems of bracken for the commoners of the region. We’re due to visit Whalley Abbey in the New Year.

Writers writing

Well, one writer thinking about writing ... we visited Gladstone's Library, at Hawarden near Chester, last weekend. Joyce runs a writing course for Vale Royal Writers there, twice a year. The Library is unique; Mr Gladstone, 4 times Prime Minister, left his collection of books for anyone to read. The library was built to accommodate the books and 28 bedrooms, a restaurant, and a chapel for the readers. The library is silent but the rest of the house rings to laughter and chatter. It's a good place to be. I managed to add a couple of thousand words to 'Jodie Two' the second book in the story of Jodie Sonko, orphan, para-athlete and politician. Girl on Wheels is the story of youth, Jodie Two sees her into a troubled middle age, and all money from the sale of these, and all the 'Malinding Village' books, goes to the Gambia to support students, mothers, old people, in schools and clinics. The most recent donations bought sacks of rice to be shared among the poor of a small village; the next will fill the medicine cupboard of a hard working village clinic.

Back to the Blog :-)

GOES seems to be working fairly well in its new slim -line form.
We've sent money to the clinic to re-stock the drugs cupboard, we've supplied bags of rice for distribution to families in need, and we've paid school fees for the students we support.
This all depends on trust, but then, so much in life does. I don't anticipate any problems, maybe naive, but if we don't trust one another what is the point?

Here I am, slaving away over a hot laptop, adding a few thousand more words to Jodie Two, the second volume of Jodie Sonko's autobiography. When it's published on Kindle (about Christmas 2018, I hope) all money from sales of the book, as with all the Malinding Village story books, will go to helping people, young and old, in Gambia.

Very belated update :-(

I miss the sounds of village life. I miss the scent of my favourite food cooking - many of you will know what that is! I miss sitting under the shade of the mango tree, chatting to friends, to people who have, over the course of many years, become as close as family to me.
  Last time I wrote in this blog I wondered what would become of GOES, now that we are probably unable to travel to Gambia again. That was four months ago. We have found that we can manage for the foreseeable future to run a restricted service, concentrating on the villages we have helped in the past, people we know already to be reliable and trustworthy. We regret that we cannot take on new clients.
  We will continue to make the same contributions to GOES funds, and, considering that we will sadly, not be spending our money on flights and hotels, perhaps increase our funding. Perhaps also I will be  able to spend more time publicising the books I've written about Malinding Village, more money will flow into the bank from increased sales! (You have bought all of them, of course? Bless you!)
  We rely on the help of a few of our close Gambian friends to ensure that the money GOES donates to the schools, clinics, and students is wisely spent. If we find that it is being wasted or fraudulently used we will close the charity and donate any remaining funds to another charity elsewhere. It does seem to have worked reasonably well during the last four months, so, with fingers crossed, we'll continue 😎
  Best wishes to all of you,
Tom and Joyce