Updated
June 19, 2004
Gambia Education Support - UK Charity Reg - Applied
GTS Bakoteh - Report
Alice Bond & Julie Limbrick visited the school project in April/May 2004 when all was well - In June a very heavy rain storm damaged the school's new toilet block
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Bakoteh
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Without seeing the water damage with my own eyes it is difficult to assess exactly what has happened, but the result is that a great deal of repair is now necessary to prepare the soakaway for the toilet block that will go above it.
Despite this setback, the little school has become a firm favourite with visitors who don't just go to look but often spend a few days there helping in the classrooms.
I hope that funding through GES will provide the capital to build a small school that will see children right through their educations and provide a resource and practise centre for Gambian teachers who will benefit from the work of GES in the UK and GTS in Gambia.
If things go according to plan the new school will have GTS accommodation on site for visiting helpers and provide a rich and varied environment for the children who will be taken from Nursery level school right through to University entrance.
The project will grow from a single class entry and will eventually provide schooling for over 300 children, with the possability of funding via the on site lodges GTS hopes that well over 50% of the annual funding for the school will be raised in Gambia and priovide a model for others wanting to help provide more chances for Gambian students.
Your help to raise funds for this project would be greatly appreciated
Comments to GES
Alice spend some days at the Bakoteh school, which is where Julie met her and took some excellent pictures of the children outside the school, the lunch ladies Gambia style and the newly constructed sump for the toilet block.
The school was completed shortly after my trip ended in January, but now the school has a full rosta of children being taught in the mornings and afternoons - on a previous visit Julie provided the funding to start the toilets and the septic tank was built by the time she revisited in April.
Alice (left) with Julie & children
from the GTS Bakoteh school
At lunchtime the canteen is set up at the front of the school - this is
a favourite time for the children.
( . . more pictures below . . )
During May Kabs raised the funding to put the top on the septic tank ready for the walls to be built and the toilets completed but a massive storm in early June dashed open the tank and the sheer volume of the water broke down soem of the outer walls and caused the concrete floor to break because it was not yet hardened.
The sump and septic tank for the new toilets
GTS member and donor Val Thompson happened to be visiting and donated the money to repair the damage and promised to try to raise the rest of the money needed to complete the toilets.
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The GTS Bakoteh school has been very popular with visitors many asking to spend a few days teaching there and reporting back that it has been the high light of their stay in Gambia.
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