As the UK director of GTS and chairperson of GES 2004/5 it gives
me immense pleasure to report on the state of the organisation over the past
12 months. GTS and GES has made massive progress this year, making this report
very positive reading.
However no honest Organisation is without its faults and there
are a number of areas where improvements could
be made, some improvements are restricted by financial restraints others
maybe limited by staffing & training issues.
Progress is directly linked to the availability of funding, when
GTS started in 1997 the aim was a self funding charity and while GTS concentrated
on employment creation and individual educational sponsorships, this was possible,
but with the implementation of our education projects it rapidly became obvious
that for these projects to develop and be sustainable additional income would
be required. The future of GES success will be dependent on sustainable funding
and that will largely depend on the quality of the projects as well as the
reporting back to national fundraisers and sponsors.
Projects
1) Existing
i) Essau Nursery
ii) London Corner Nursery
iii) Bakoteh Nursery
iv) Youna Multi Purpose Hall
v) Bakoteh Community Library
vi) Brufut Museum
vii) Gap & Working Holiday Accommodation
viii) GES Gambia staffing
xi) Sponsorships
x) GES Website
2) Planned / GTS Recommended
i) Bakoteh Nursery Expansion
ii) Curriculum Development
iii) Teacher Training Workshops
iv) NGO Gambia Status
v) Publicity & Marketing
vi) Fund Raising - Plymouth - Dakar rally
Other Issues
GTS/GES Staffing Gambia
GES visiting Volunteers
GES Exec UK
Gambian Staff Education Support
UK Charity Status
Conclusion
The Essau School has been unofficially handed over by GTS MEMBERS
John & Kay Skingsley for GTS to administer. This Christian school was being supported by
a small UK registered charity, who had raised considerable funds to carry
out building work, provide equipment, teachers salaries as well as generators,
electrification & equipment.
The schools head, a Rev Jackson not a Gambian, was however unsatisfactorily
administering the school and after a lot of consideration John decided to
part company with the Rev and rather than close the school asked GTS if we
would take on the administration, funded by money still in their charity.
GTS had been carrying out some admin tasks for John & uncovered
the problems at the school that lead to John's decision about the Rev.
Julie was present at the school meeting when GTS took over.
Current funding levels are not sufficient to carry out major developments
but as funds become available a further classroom is needed, a toilet is required
and a piped water supply is an urgent requirement. (NAWEC the water service
provider has been contacted. John
had previously applied for a connection. Nawec claim they did not realise
that this was a school and a new application has been sent to Nawec.
The acting Head Malik has secured United Nations food supplies
for the school and GTS using funding from John's charity provided the cooking
pots and the utensils required. The children pay a nominal 50 bututs (1 UK
penny) a day and this provides enough for fish to be added to the sauce that
moistens the boiled rice.
Accounts have been sent to John who is considering their future
involvement with the school - if they raise no further funds, when their funds
run out GTS would request that GES takes over the funding to avoid the closure
of the school.
GTS has sort of parachuted in on this project, albeit to help out
- but it does represent a project away from the tourist area of the 'Combos'
and as such we are very appreciative of the trust and faith put in GTS by
John & Kay.
This is the longest standing GTS school project - the original
head Lamin Samateh was introduced by the founder of our sister charity PRSP
- May Rooney - LS ran a school in rural Salikene on the North bank of the
river, he came across as an honest and dedicated man, who had overstretched
himself with two schools, the second one in Serekunda where he lived and spent
most of his time.
The community of Dumbarton under their Priest, Father Kenny took
over the support of the school and
the funding increased to include a
feeding programme. Because of GTS policy to publish it's operations another
couple contacted GTS to say that they also were funding the feeding programme
at the school. At first the head denied
it but then said that he used the money to fund the second school in Salikene.
The Dumbarton community decided that it would be best to have a
different head master but eventually it was decided to open a new nursery school and invite the parents to send their
children to the new nursery. Most
transferred and the school now has three classrooms, it's feeding programme
and a medical programme that provides for all the children to be examined
once each term.
The funding of GTS/Dumbarton London Corner is totally from the
Dumbatron Community who pay the funding direct to the school Committee's bank
account BUT the school is administered by GTS who receive an admin payment
to support the school - so although the school is funded externally it is
still viewed very much as a GTS project.
The school premises are rented from a commercial landlord.
The Dumbarton community are in the process of registering as a
Scottish charity and although we might prefer for their funds to come direct
to GES in the UK they would prefer
the autonomy and added control this gives them.
Confidentaially - GTS Gambia has concerns about the sustainability
of this high cost project and how GTS would fund it if Dumbarton ever pulled out. At present Dumbartons committmnet is high with
Father Kenny spending a Four month church sabbatical in The Gambia under the
Gambian Bishop of Banjul.
Of the 3000 dalasi a month paid to GTS in admin fees 1000 are used
towards GTS charity staff wages, 1000 on monthly expenses involved with the
admin and the last 1000 will go towards the curriculum development being undertaken
by Jo.
GTS/Dumbarton will continue to be reported as a GTS/GES project
This project is totally run by GTS and is aimed at being the GTS
flagship school.
The building was derelect when GTS got involved, it was established
that the site and existing building was owned by the community, an agreement was drawn up
that GTS would provide the funding for the materials to rebuild the school
and the community would provide the labour.
A School Committee was established to supervise the building, decorating
and furnishing of the school ad once completed took on the task of appointing
teachers and a head teacher.
It was a great joint achievement getting the school refurbished
and running but GTS was not particulary
satusfied that any of the GTS were provioding a quality of education remotely
comparable to equivalent schools in
the UK.
The reasons are complex and historical but in brief few of the
teachers were well educated themselves asnd so have no good practise to base
their own teaching upon. Resources
are lamentably poor and only in intermittant supply.
There is no working curriclum and few teachers have any idea about
lesson plans lesson aims or post lesson testing to assess achievment.
Good lessons happen haphazardly and infrequently, as a result although
learning goes on it is inefficient and not really understood by the teachers
delivering it.
There is almost no way of measuring individual childrens successes
or progress and although schooling goes on from the age of 2 to 6 very little
cognitive development has taken place
by the time the children move to their next school com-pared with post nursery
UK children.
In a nut shell children are
children and deserve a universally standard education - this is a dream and
far from a reality all around the world BUT to accept this is to accept failure
and even perpetuate it.
GTS is determined to change this, at first in Bakoteh and immedaitely
after in its other nursery schools.
It will then offer teacher training to any teachers willing to
teach the curriculum developed.
In the longer term - GES and GTS should be aiming at extending
the GTS educational approach through all levels of Gambian schooling up to University - with the aim of educating children up to university in a
similar time span to European children.
With the necessary resources we could hope to start this in 4/5
years time when new 1st year Bakoteh
children progress to primary school
and reach University entrance around 2021 a fitting year for GTS Gambia Education
to come of age.
Bakoteh Library Project
Our first working holiday
volunteer was Helen Scorer, she spent time at Bakoteh Proper School as an assistant teacher.
The experience was mutually
beneficial to the school, Helen and GTS who established a firm relationship and friendship with the school and the head mistress Mrs Chow.
During her stay Helen
asked what the school really needed and the answer was a library.
Both Helen and her brother
Peter raised money for the project and Kabs monitored the building progress
throughout.
This year we had additional donations from
Mr and Mrs. Smith, who although not GTS or GES members left Gambia last year
and resolved to raise money for GTS. A sponsored bike
ride took place, the cyclist being Mrs Smith while Mr Smith
stayed in the local pub and organized the sponsorships and collection of the funds and they were delighted
to raise over £600 and handed over the cheque at a special celebration meal
at the GTS Bar & Restaurant an event covered enthusiastically by the News
papers in Gambia.
In January Ruth Ledger
and her friend, both in their 20s arrived in Gambia by car across the Sahara courtesy of
the Plymouth Dakar charity Rally.
Quite apart from raising
money for the Organisers charity
- by auctioning their car at the Stadium in Serekunda, they raised £1250 for GTS, half of this
went to the Library project to buy the doors and windows, the other half will
go towards a curriculum development project fpr our nursery schools that will start in the spring of 2005.
On the Wednesday 23rd February a few days before I left Gambia - GTS member Val and Jane (the mother of Tom Hughes who is spending
a 6 week Gap with GTS this year in July-August) joined the communities dignitaries,
Staff pupils and PTA representatives in a moving opening ceremony which was
reported not only in the papers but on Radio Gambia and on Gambian Television
the first time GTS has featured on Gambian Radio or TV.
Despite the library shelves
having nearly 2000 books on them, they still looked
very empty and our next task is to fill them with appropriate books and appoint
a librarian to run the unit effectively. UK volunteers to help are most welcome.
Once GTS has its NGO
status (one up on our registered charity status in Gambia) We hope to get all tourist hotels and lodges
to carry GTS stands in their foyers sporting
GTS & GES information leaflets as well as a book bank, so every tourist can bring a book or two, out to
Gambia for GTS to supply not only Bakoteh library but other community libraries
to be set up in the future.
Youna Multi Purpose (Sports)
Hall
In 2004 Lesley Headley
contacted me interested in introducing the sport of Badminton to West Africa.
I was interested that this should be in Gambia and we communicated and welcomed and hosted Lesley and
National Badminton coach Tim Mawer on their first visit. The outcomes
were stunning.
The sport was introduced
to the school at Youna a village about 10km from
our centre in Kololi. It was also introduced in the school at Tujering a neighboring village to enable the pupils to have inter-school
competitions. Tujering already had a sports hall and despite having
cross beams not ideal for Badminton play is was much
better than playing in the open as the Youna pupils had to.
Lesley and Tim decided
to build a multi purpose hall and returned to the UK to raise the capital.
Enough has been raised
to complete the building up to the eaves of the building which is am amazing achievement however an additional £7K is still needed to complete the roof and finish the building
by the time of its opening in April this year, when it is expected that the
President will attend a special match between the two schools and officially
open the hall.
Tim and Lesley have a
number of fund raising events up coming, including
a run by Lesley in the London Marathon to raise
funds, but they have asked if GES has any resources available that can be
loaned to the project to ensure the opening in April will happen.
The hall represents a
major move forward for GTS spreading education out from academic studies to
physical education.
Lesley has now been approached
by a donor wishing to sponsor and coach a football team in Gambia and like the Badminton project we hope that
this will lead to Gambian sports teams participating in International sporting fixtures in the future.
Brufut Museum
In 1993 Pamela and David Brodie discovered GTS
and offered us the use of a compound they had in Brufut.
During early 1994 we
carried out essential work on the roof and perimeter fencing and set up GTS Brufut 3 as a small museum of West African Music and culture.
This venue provides the
location for our twice weekly Rural Gambia visits to use for the buffet lunch and afternoon of music making
and dancing.
As funds become available
we will add to the exhibits and use the large garden to grow some items of
food for the Restaurant as well as providing visitors with an insight into
what plants and crops grow can grow if a supply of water is available.
Aimee and Coca require
a special mention although Aimee has returned to Canada
and at present coca is back in Guinea Conakry awaiting
a visa to join Aimee in Canada their inspiration for the museum carries on and the musical instruments that
Coca made are still used each week to make west African Music.
As a footnote During 2004 Kebba who had been the loyal watchman for
Pamela & David had a sudden illness and died leaving his wife and 5 children GTS kept the family on to look after
the property and Im delighted to say that all the childrens education is
now being sponsored by GTS members from Spain.
The museum is not established
enough to function as a self sufficient unit in its own right but the venue
is ideal as a centre to display West African everyday life as lived in Rural
West Africa and it is hoped that this will develop over the next couple of
years if a suitably motivated and enthusiastic curator can be found to live on site and develop the museum and gardens.
GTS Member Gap and Working volunteer
accommodation
GTS, has over the years
developed a number of accommodation options for members these have been partially successful but not
totally.
This year we have acquired
a property in Kololi. Its situation is ideal just 10 minutes from the Bar, Restaurant and office and the beach
but far enough away to get the atmosphere of the local community. This adds
to our one double room at Manjai. The cost of each double room is £50 (Manjai) and £65 per week (Kololi) up to October 2005.
Over the next couple
of years this venue will be developed to provide a number of double rooms en-suite for GTS members and helpers.
The accommodation currently has
backup electric available via generator, emergency battery lighting and a backup water supply.
A number of members have stayed there this year and commented very positively about it, especially the
cleanliness maintained by our on site house keeper Filley.
During the low season
May to October GTS provides the serviced rooms
to Gap and Working Holiday Volunteers at specially reduced rates,
based on stays of over 4 weeks, while still letting rooms to standard members
at the normal rate, the standard will be maintained throughout by our house keeper who can
also be commissioned to do laundry, shopping and cooking as required.
GTS also has an accommodation
option at the Farm in Tujering and in the future we will have a number
of luxury rooms on the Brufut TAF development
overlooking the Atlantic coastline.
MakepovertyHISTORY.org
& Bond.org.uk
Consider joining when
GTS is charity registered
The GTS website needs
a great deal of work in terms of updating and expanding.
It is always my intention
to spend time in Gambia on this activity but again this year it was not possible
for a number of reasons. Andrea Sinclair has offered to help and is coming
to Basingstoke for a training session during this month to enable her to create
web pages and send them to me or even publish them herself.
First the work has to
be done on computer and that requires electric, the supply in Gambia has to
be described as intermittent and unreliable as a result the computer often
goes off suddenly losing work that has not been saved or a working computer
is simply not available when there is a time slot to do computer work.
In addition because GTS
relies heavily on Email communication, when the computer is operational the
first priority has to be catching up with emails. The Email system in
Gambia is slow because of over subscription and because of low capacity servers
and the result is very slow email particularly when used on line, which is
the way we have been operating because the ISP is unreliable in terms of storing
and local downloading.
I have explored a number
of areas for next year that although not solving the problems should reduce
the service issues
1. I now have a permanent
& secure base in Kololi with a phone line.
2. I have explored using
a large 12 volt battery which charges when the power is on and uses an inverter
to convert 12v to 240v when the power is off.
3. The supply provided
via the inverter does operates a standard computer BUT using a laptop with
its own power supply is much better and uses less power so the unit works
much longer and the system runs a light and a small fan for up to 6 hours.
This year I was using
a borrowed laptop but I shall take a laptop with all the required software
next year and should then be able to spend time working on the Website.
It is clear from emails
received and by talking to visitors at the GTS office and the Bar & Restaurant
that the site is greatly appreciated and is a major factor in people decision
to visit GTS during their holiday however it does need updating as things
in Gambia change rapidly from year to year and I think we are now missing
an income chance by charging tourist venues to be on the site even if the
sum charged is small.
Sponsorships
The sponsorship of individuals continues
to grow although GTS staff now try to steer potential sponsors to sponsor
our schools rather than a particular individual a few do but in general sponsors
enjoy identifying with a particular child.
It is crucial that our records are complete
in the UK and in Gambia there are cases where Gambia has the name of the
child and the sponsors name but no other details and vice versa.
Jerreh Jemmah is trying hard to correct
this so we have a complete set of records in Gambia & UK
Individual sponsorships are really just
a service to GTS members as they take far more time than is appreciated and
although expenses are taken from the sponsored childs account the cost of
staffing is provided by GTS and the work now takes all of Jerrehs time and
often involves other services staff at busy times.
Some sponsors who start as GTS members
continue to sponsor but do not renew their membership.
As sponsors are directly supporting Education
it is sensible for them to pay into GES and provide a gift aid statement where
appropriate I would suggest that they are also expected to join GES each
year they are using our services in administering their sponsorships.
This would suggest that GES uses the membership
income from sponsors to support the salaries of GTS staff who are working
on sponsorship support. discuss
School and/or general sponsorships
Abswer Questions as required
2) Planned / GTS Recommended
i) Bakoteh Nursery Expansion
ii) Curriculum Development
iii) Teacher Training Workshops
iv) NGO Gambia Status
v) Publicity & Marketing
vi) Fund Raising - Plymouth - Dakar rally
Rather than report on each heading I would like to suggest that
GES develops a grand strategy with a 25 year aim. I suggest this because you
see charities in Gambia come and go, this year I have been approached by two
charitable organisations about absorbing them into GTS/GES. Both because the
founders are retiring and want to spend their time doing other things and
want the work they have started to continue and the people who have supported
them continie to have a channel into helping in the Gambia.
Each has been running for 8 to 10 years and each is very focused
on helping one school.
I think that our help should be more fundamental The curriculum
development at Nursery level is the foundation we should be building on, the
current schools that GTS run provide a perfect workshop for that development
part of that development will be training teachers our NGO status in Gambia
is focused on Educational and community development through education. Our
Publicity and Marketing will have some solid concepts and examples to focus
on.
Our fund raising will also have far broader focus. Already Kabs is making serious contacts with
public figures, the press, Radio and TV. Unlike many organisations who contact
them with ideas of what might be done ALL have been surprised and impressed
with the variety of Education projects that GTS is already running their
support will be important to us in Gambia and that coverage will help to bring
on board the tourists that at present are often wasting their resources on
unstructured projects.
GES visiting Volunteers We must have a structured
project for them to work in and have things for them to do the curriculum
project will provide a serious demand for teaching materials and at least
part of the volunteers work can be helping making those resources and a smaller
part helping existing teachers deliver some of them to the children as teaching.
Gambian Staff Education Support GTS currently
has over 40 staff, a number would like to attend educational courses themselves.
Although I support this, we must have a policy and a budget for it
if we agree that it is a good idea.
I suggest that staff apply
I suggest that they contribute significantly to the course costs
I suggest that GES/GTS support is performance based
As these are employees any support should be loan based pending
the successful completion of the course. At which point the loan is deemed
paid off if they pass or repayable if they fail I fear there will be a grey
area here where people who have tried very hard fail and I think we need to
have a method of judging this.
At present Lamin the Head waiter started a basic computer course
without approaching us. The full cost
of the course was 3000D (£60 approx) of which he paid 1,500D up front at
that point he approached us asking if we would pay for the course. This is
totally the wrong way to do it but it highlighted the fact that we need a
policy on this an affordable policy.
After the successes and failures of pushing what has often seemed
a very large stone up a very long hill, it really does feel as if thel is
very clearly in sight. As the founder
of GTS the hardest aspect has been releasing the control of the project to
other people. I am delighted that I have been able to start this because the
vision I now see from the top of the hill is a far broader panaroma than would
ever have been possible if GTS had remained a one man band.
GTS with GES I am convinced will grow into a major contributor
to change in the Gambia.
Gambia needs change to help it solve its 3rd World problems
BUT we must constantly be aware that Gambia still has a rich cultural and
social tradition and it would be a tradgedy if those were significantly eroded
as a necessity to the growth of a better economy. It is up to us to make sure we preserve that
richness, try to understand it, celebrate and support it.
Francis
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