The school’s link with The Gambia started about 28 years ago when I arranged for my form to sponsor a child in a developing country. For a couple of years we sponsored a school boy called Musa through ActionAid. When he left ActionAid we decided to join Group 7, a group of English schools working together to help a Gambian school. Gradually the other schools dropped away and Plymouth College was the only one left. My tutor group at the time wanted me to organise a holiday for them and eventually we agreed on a visit to The Gambia to see the school we were sponsoring in the village of Kerewan Samba Sira, 300km from the coast.
We arrived and were put in the charge of Mr Demba Bah, a field engineer for ActionAid in the interior of the country. Over the next 18 years, under his guidance and patience, we built seven classroom blocks, a dining hall and kitchen, a library, staff housing quarters, stone wall fenced the whole school site and employed 11 full time teachers. We also extended our support into the community and built and equipped a health post. Thereafter a doctor would join us on the trips and run surgeries. Sometimes we were also joined by a dentist who carried out full screening of the village population. In our final years in Kerewan Samba Sira, one of our senior pupils, Jilli Edwards, asked if she could teach at the school during her Gap Year. This ended up as a six month placement and now, three years on, she has returned to the village and has married a local man with whom she is running a flourishing transport firm!
Three years ago we moved the focus of our work to the village of Bissary Mardi, the home village of Mr Demba Bah. We have established a new base and so far have helped with the local needs by sending out a shipping container of books, clothes, sports equipment and a large amount of medical items. The new health centre we have been building is nearly complete and attracts patients from all over the surrounding area, some walking for four hours when they hear that our doctor is “in”. The local school is now well equipped and starting to thrive.
We are currently working on two long-term projects for Bissary Mardi. Firstly we are raising funds so that we can establish a clean water supply to each compound that does not become contaminated in the wet season and, secondly, we want to buy a strong lorry for Demba Bah, so that he can extend the scope of his new construction business – when ActionAid moved on to new locations, Demba was left without a job and no income. He has started an independent construction company but is hampered by a lack of transport. Once running he will employ six villagers as workmen and therefore really boost the economic development of the village.
A second container will be sent out to The Gambia in March and the next visit will be in October.
David Compton, Outdoor Activities Manager and The Gambia Aid Project
