Francis,

Many thanks for your hosting a superb holiday for us.

It was a full feast for the eyes, mind and soul! We can't wait to come back.

Susanne's 11 rolls of film (including tourist honey spots like the Serrekunda landfill) have now been developed and we'd like to send some copies across.

There's good shots of Haddy, Filley, dismantling the wind blown entrance at GTS etc. What's the best address to get stuff across?

We also want to send a tape or so to Ceedie of some R&B, and hip hop music - I think he said that tape was how he listened, not CD - but if it's a CD player he's got then could you let us know so that we can copy to that instead.

Please send our best wishes to your staff.

We have other addresses, a farmer lady in Bakau who we have got exercise books for, Mohammed of Bakau, Abhul of Tanjin who was our guide - these people weren't bumsters, and we'd like to hear from them again. Could you advise on whether post does actually reach the intended - some addresses are c/o people who work in planning or port authorities in Banjul.

I'll be writing my next Duncan's Doodles about The Gambia and will give your organisation a good (though humerous) write up. We are wondering about support via an appeal in the magazine or via our local schools/newspaper for old mobile phones to be sent to The Gambia.

Many in the UK end up in landfill and so there's an environmental angle, plus it seems the main way of communication. They seem expensive for Gambians (Ceedie had one slanced by the taxi driver after the Destiny Nightclub) but it would be good if they could be used for running their own businesses (for example our boat trip to bird island was all arranged and price negotiated via a man on a bike using a mobile in the middle of a bird forest). What do you think?

Lastly, I remember you saying that some of your staff gained a lot from sponsored trips to the UK. Well we have some work positions at Environment Times including computer, data, website establishment, subscription services and even telesales (some of the pitches we got well impressed Susanne with her many years of experience). Last year we had a 20 year old lad from France who worked for us and stayed at our house for 2 months. And it worked well even though he was very anti-social.

Could this type of arrangement work with Gambians - to mutual benefit of us, them and GTS? Obviously the money we pay for wages would seem a fortune if £5 is the average weekly wage, we would want to be generous but not so that over-inflation problems happen when they get back home (unless of course the money was invested wisely back into The Gambia). What do you think?

We're very sorry for such a long email, especially as your so busy with preps for coming back to England.

All the best wishes to you all, Duncan and Susanne Ashcroft Environment Times

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