20 February 2018
18 February - Independance Day
Sunday was Independence Day, so many Gambians were heading for Banjul where the main celebratory parade was to be held. We set off in the other direction, picking up David & Jenny en route to see Faks at Humanity Nursery in Farato, which is a little to the south of the airport.
This visit was mainly to see how our latest project there, a multi purpose hall to be used by both students and the village community, was progressing. The shell of the building has been built to a very high standard and I had no hesitation in paying the second portion of the money for it to be completed.
Following some discussions with regard to finance and school policy we travelled the short distance to the chicken farm, which is in Faks' compound. It has been enlarged considerably since our last visit there in November and now holds around 1,000 chickens. Egg production is good, with upwards of 18 trays of 30 eggs being collected and sold every day. This is now going a long way towards paying the salaries of the teachers, which is the main purpose of the whole enterprise.
This was David & Jenny's first experience of a Gambian school.... I did point out that this was starting at the top end of the range of schools they were likely to see!
We then spent some time in Faks' compound, giving out some of Esther's beautiful dresses to several little girls and chatting to two of the young women who had graduated from the Automotive Engineering Diploma a year or so ago.
We dropped David & Jenny back to their hotel after what they agreed had been a delightful Gambian Experience and I then spent the afternoon going through all the admin with Linda.
Having successfully completed that, we decided we deserved a dinner at Samba's Kitchen, so the carvery for Linda and a steak for me completed a very good day.
Posted by Dave for Pippa.
This visit was mainly to see how our latest project there, a multi purpose hall to be used by both students and the village community, was progressing. The shell of the building has been built to a very high standard and I had no hesitation in paying the second portion of the money for it to be completed.
Following some discussions with regard to finance and school policy we travelled the short distance to the chicken farm, which is in Faks' compound. It has been enlarged considerably since our last visit there in November and now holds around 1,000 chickens. Egg production is good, with upwards of 18 trays of 30 eggs being collected and sold every day. This is now going a long way towards paying the salaries of the teachers, which is the main purpose of the whole enterprise.
This was David & Jenny's first experience of a Gambian school.... I did point out that this was starting at the top end of the range of schools they were likely to see!
We then spent some time in Faks' compound, giving out some of Esther's beautiful dresses to several little girls and chatting to two of the young women who had graduated from the Automotive Engineering Diploma a year or so ago.
We dropped David & Jenny back to their hotel after what they agreed had been a delightful Gambian Experience and I then spent the afternoon going through all the admin with Linda.
Having successfully completed that, we decided we deserved a dinner at Samba's Kitchen, so the carvery for Linda and a steak for me completed a very good day.
Posted by Dave for Pippa.
