Our flight was excellent, so yet again congratulations to Monarch.

Foday and Lamin met us at the airport after 'the coffin' had been opened and inspected, this was a good natured affair - 'The coffin' was two stools taped together with gardening tools and the rest of the space stuffed with bedding and clothes. Called the coffin because that is what it resembled.

All wrapped parcels get opened by Gambian customs so we were fully expecting this delay.

Our journey from the airport was via the Brufut compound, the well was all but dug, Mamadi the well digger and night watchman was glowing with pride and I have to say a 17 metre shaft into the ground no more than a metre in diaameter, is a fantastic engineering job especially when done only with a spade and bucket.

I'll divide this report into sections and cover each briefly with links to the fuller stories where relevant. Starting with Brufut.

BRUFUT - The container has arrived, we opened it and took out any items needed at Manjai, but most of the contents are still waiting for March when I'll return to finish the job. The well was completed during our stay, and still needs topping and tailing but it is dug.

When we left work was under way on the first complex of buildings around the container, that will provide accommodation for the builders while construction is going on, and various stores after.

A building design and builder from Lamin has been appointed to construct the first 3 story round house in the area, this will be the first main building on the GTS site and will house the main reception and activity area with a restaurant and observation room at the top.

MANJAI - The family compound is now furnished and ready to let. We have already had several guests to stay and lots more bookings in February, March and April. If you are interested in independant travel a few days at the coast followed by a few at The Bird Safari Camp near GeorgeTown will take some beating.

CHARITY & May Rooney - We met May and her mother Suzie. It was a meeting full of anticipation and we were not at all disappointed. The work that May is doing is brilliant, honest and full of the integrity that we hoped for. So different to some of the charity helpers we have come across in The Gambia who are actually there to have a nice time at someone elses expense.

GTS is has taken its slogan 'Support for Support' one stage further by asking May to spend a day a week at the centre in Kololi. She can help GTS as our 'sponsorship co-ordinator' but also, this will provide her with access to the phone and computer so she can continue and extend her work. We are delighted that she will be there every Wednesday for the next year. So if you read about May in the MIRROR over Christmas and want to arrange a trip to her paper mill, contact her via GTS in Kololi.

FOTGA - We were fortunate enough to meet Jim Everton during this visit. FOTGA are busy and very active sponsoring many children through education and lots of their sponsors have visited The Gambia as a holiday and to meet the kids they are supporting. Some have not enjoyed the experience as much as they might of because of lack of support outside the hotel. Jim has very kindly offered to suggest that FOTGA visitors may find the support GTS can offer will enhance their visit.

GTS Kololi - We are sorry that Lamin has requested that he withdraws as a partner of GTS to concentrate on his own independant work - we are currently discussing this change but in the mean time Foday has taken over the daily running of GTS, with the continuing help of Njundu and May. We hope that Lamin will still be a regular sight with GTS members and will still act as one of our main hosts and safari guides.

BIRD SAFARI CAMP - Since returning to the UK we have been in close discussions with The Bird Safari Camp, suggesting that we join together to provide tourists with enhanced access to 'The Hidden Gambia'. I think we are both delighted with the added value that this will give to Bird Safari guests and GTS members. We hope that we will shortly announce the details of the discussions we have had.

MORE MEMBERS - GTS is now definitely going to hit it's target of 50 members by the end of our first year up to the start of May 2001. The membership money has been transferred to The Gambia Charity account where it is being controlled by Foday and May so we are sure it is being used to provide the optimum levels of help.

May is keen to go back to the original GTS intention of providing small loans, so families can get back to work. One of the first of these will be to a family who used to produce tiedye products but fell on hard times and wewre unable to replace the dyes and purchase the material needed. A working family can be supporting 12 or more individuals so the effect of the money is greatly increased.

Well that is about it - we are now searching for more land near the compound at Brufut so that we can start a horticulture project to provide fresh produce for the restaurant and hopefully start to supply some other tourist outlets. Brufut is very fertile and we hope to have a local team of gardeners at work there before the year is out.

January has added a new dimension to GTS, we always hoped that members would like The Gambia so much that they would want to buy land out there. Well some of our first members have done this and are about to complete on a plot of land near us in Brufut. We are delighted and hope that others follow.

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