Fass School
On our first visit to The Gambia in 1998, our tour guide Sarjor Sarr took us to visit a school on the North bank, the school was Fass. At the time Fass was a lower basic cycle school with approximately 500 pupils, the school itself consisted of 2 concrete classroom blocks and several classrooms made out of corrugated iron with palm leaf roofs. The corrugated iron classrooms were extremely hot and the roofs rendered them useless in the wet season. The sides of the classrooms were so sharp that many of the children had cuts on their arms and legs where they had scraped against them. There was also little equipment and the children had to share basic things like pencils and exercise books.
On our return to the UK we decided we wanted to try and make a difference and through fundraising were able to raise enough money to replace the corrugated iron classrooms with two large concrete classrooms and a library and store area. The villagers made all of the bricks by hand and carried out all of the building work.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Since 1998, HELPING has also built a new smoke free kitchen at Fass, supplied them with seed so that Fass now has a mature garden where they grow vegetables such as carrots and beans to be used in their school dinners and has built a wall surrounding the school to stop the lorries from driving across their play area endangering the children. With HELPING’s continued support and supply of teaching materials Fass has become one of the better schools in The Gambia and is now a basic cycle school with over 1200 pupils, and has more pupils passing exams than ever before due to the equipment readily available to them.
Wansbrough Nursery
Wansbrough Nursery in Bundung was the first nursery we built. This is a four classroom nursery with nearly 300 children, HELPING also supplies the nursery with books, stationery and toys.
Following our success at Fass, HELPING now has 8 nurseries......
Alex HELPING Nursery
Alex HELPING Nursery is in Serrekunda with 210 children. This is our only rented nursery, but is in an area where there was a desperate need for a nursery. We supply the nursery with furniture, toys, books and stationery. We also sponsor 4 teachers at the nursery.
this page was last updated 09 nov 2008 by Roy Richardson
Chessay Ma Jaw Nursery
Chessay Ma Jaw Nursery is a new nursery in the process of being built thanks to Ian Stillie who very kindly donated the money to pay for the building materials to build this nursery. Currently there is no nursery in this area and the children are taught under a tree weather permitting.
HELPING also supports a number of schools, including........
Pakau Njogu School
Pakau Njogu School has over 350 pupils and is in a very poor and remote area. In 2006 when we visited the school they were using a disused derelict classroom as a kitchen. The world health organization supply all schools in the provinces that have a usable kitchen with some rice and oil to subsidize their school lunches. Due to the state of their kitchen, Pakau Njogu were no longer going to receive this food from the world health organization, this would have meant the poorest pupils would not have been able to have any school meals, for many of the pupils this is the only meal they receive each day as their families cannot afford the food to feed them. HELPING, with a donation from Epsom College have built a new smoke free kitchen at Pakau Njogu, this has allowed them to be accepted for their food allowance from the world health organization again.
Medical Fund
HELPING have set up a medical fund, this has allowed us to help many children, teachers and parents giving them access to treatment for malaria, sickness and operations that they would not have been able to afford themselves. This fund has saved many lives and is only possible because of people like YOU making donations towards this fund.
Amat's Story
This little boy is a nursery child at Oakes HELPING Nursery, he fell into a fire while his guardian was cooking and badly burnt his hand. His family were unable to pay for the treatment he needed and he was in danger of the wound becoming infected he was also in a lot of pain and discomfort. HELPING paid for him to have treatment on his hand and went back to see him four days later to see how his hand was healing.
Babacarr's Story
When we met Babacarr in 2005 he was covered in sores through malnutrition and had severe eyesight problems to the point of being almost blind. Due to his poor eyesight and general ill health Babacarr was unable to join in with his classmates and appeared to spend most of his time sitting alone looking very sad. We paid for him to go to hospital to get the medical care he required. The doctors diagnosed him with severe conjunctivitis that if left untreated would have left him blind. He was also diagnosed with malnutrition, Helping paid for vitamins and medication from the medical fund to enable him to get better. Now three years on Babacarrs eyesight is back to normal and the sores on his skin have all cleared up. Since his health has improved Babacarr has become much more integrated with his classmates and joins in when they are playing games. Overall he seems a much happier and more confident little boy.
Fass HELPING Nursery
Fass HELPING Nursery has over 80 pupils. HELPING has refurbished the building and supplied tables, chairs, toys, books and stationery. HELPING also supplied all of the children with a uniform and sponsors the teachers meaning that the children can have a free nursery education.
Jenoi HELPING Nursery
Jenoi HELPING Nursery has 90 children. We have refurbished the building, dug a well as the village had no supply of water, and built a kitchen and toilets. In the future we hope to be able to raise the funds to replace the existing nursery building. We sponsor two teachers at Jenoi nursery who both attend teacher training college in the school holidays. We also supplied all of the nursery children with new uniforms this year.
The teachers with four of our sponsor children at Jenoi Nursery
Oakes HELPING Nursery
Oakes HELPING Nursery in Chamen on the North Bank was opened in October 2007. We built a two classroom nursery with a store room, supplied them with tables, chairs, books, toys and stationery and are in the process of building toilets and a play area. The nursery has 88 children who all received a new school uniform when the nursery opened.
Osborne HELPING Nursery
Osborne HELPING Nursery was opened in March 2008 on the North Bank. The nursery was funded by Lisa and Gavin Osborne’s wedding gift money. The nursery has 2 sponsored teachers and 88 children who all received a new school uniform. We are now building toilets and a play area and hope to build a kitchen in the future and get sponsorship for our cooks.
Jinack HELPING Nursery
Jinack HELPING Nursery is on Jinack Island with over 100 children. At present we are still using a very old dilapidated building, but we are currently building a new 2 classroom nursery with a store room that will be used as soon as the building is complete. HELPING also hope to raise money to build toilets and an outside learning and play area under the trees. We have supplied every child with new uniforms and the nursery with equipment and toys. We currently sponsor two teachers at Jinack nursery and pay for them to attend a teacher training college in the school holidays but are in desperate need of getting sponsorship for a further 2 teachers.
