12 Dec 2020
As I write this, I am missing these kids a ridiculous amount. I come back to my memories of this perfect day more and more. The Gambia has a very special place in my heart. The Gambia, is a vibrant, diverse, beautiful nation. But through the cracks of this inspiring place lies many hardships to make ends meet and a tragic lack of basic necessities in two of the most important areas of life on this planet- Health & Education. This brings me to why I am writing this today and to The Gambia Project. "Knowledge is power"- the Headmaster of the Serekkuta Primary school put it so simply. The books are so important to him and he has hopes to have them in a proper library. At the Kotukala school, there are anything between 57 and 63 students PER CLASS. It's a private community school which means they can't turn children away and just have to cope with the numbers. They hope to manage better in the future. They lack simple school supplies tremendously. If they don't have enough pencils for the students the students can't recite any of the work which puts them behind. The pencils are often broken in two to share between the students who use them till the very last stub of lead. This leads me to The Gambia Project. The Gambia Project is a PENCIL DRIVE (PLUS NECESSARY ACCESSORIES- SHARPENERS AND ERASERS)! I have created A5 mixed media artworks inspired by my travels to the fishing village in Gambia. Each artwork costs just £4-ALL PROCEEDS going to the Bracknell Forest Lions Gambia Appeal.
Kebba our wonderful host has been communicating the same important message to all of the government officials we met during my trip that we can take a lot from- "We are part of a bigger picture and We are building a nation". I learned a lot, and I also got to teach. I took a bit of Gambia with me and I left a little of me there.
If you would like to be a part of this beautiful journey for the children of The Gambia, purchase an artwork! You will be buying them much needed, basic equipment in return and have that reminder with you every day, that you did a little thing for a big step forward.
UPDATE: The first shipment of pencils, sharpeners and erasers has already headed to Gambia. We raised 294 pencils, 135 eraser and 140 sharpeners.
