APRIL 2009

Our hotel room was disgusting and we had to spend two nights in it as the hotel was full and they could not move us! The room was damp,full of mildew and fungus, with cockroaches and beetles crawling all over the place. They moved us to another room after the two days but it was not much better, so we made them change our hotel. The upshot was that we both developed bacterial infections, resulting in John being unable to venture out of the hotel for three days.

Alex, our guy out there had just obtained a car which we wewre able to use. Unfortunately it broke down three times, once in the middle of nowhere!!

However we were ablke to achieve all we set out to do!. After three days of going to the departmentfor Education we were eventually able to get the "Memorandum of Understanding" completed and signed, which means we now also have our duty waiver. With this, when we ship over goods, Alex can now get it out of the port without any hassle. Its only taken us three years to achieve this!!.

The wall, fencing, and gate have now all been completed, which means the school and compound are now secure. We can now start the next project which is to provide the children with a garden, so they can grow thei own fruit and vegetables.

The foundations of the toilet block was washed away in last years rainy season, so we had to build a new cesspit, next to the original one, so we can still use the same buildong.

When we arrived at the school. most of the children were there, although it was the Easter Holidays and it became obvious that there were even more children than last year, and that they now had three classes instead of the origial two. We had already discussed the possibility of appointing an headmaster, and with this developement it became a matter of urgency. We found a suitable candidate, interviewed him and appointed him.

We also decided we needed someone to look after the building and compound out of school hours so we also appointed a caretaker

Having already shipped over a football kit kindly donated by Ralph Mortimer, Oliver Flynn, and their football team of 8 year olds from Leamington Spa and short tennis rackets, balls and net, donated by Michael Garner from Ayleabury, we were able to play games with the children and organise a football match.

A teacher and her cousin Elixabeth and Kate from Birmingham had expressed a desire to come to the Gambia and help us, having seen our website, and we met them from the airport on the first Monday. They came to the school with four people we had met on our flight, who had also expressed an interest in our project, and the villagers put on a welcoming party for them all with lots of food and dancing.

In the shipment with the football kit and tennis rackets were some wooden shelving, which we thought would be usefull for them to use for storage and together with the villagers we assembled them .

Whilst John was ill, Elizabeth and Kate went to the school and did some teaching and more playing games. They all had a great time.

Since we got back, Alex has informed us that they have started clearing the land ready to develop the garden and get planting before the rainy season which starts in July.

The teachers have now completed their second year of training and all is going well.