Making a difference in The Gambia – Pt 2

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Matt Smith

We featured a guest post from Natalia Finfando back in February, about her experiences in The Gambia and her impending trip to volunteer at a local school. The post generated a good deal of interest, with many people getting in touch to ask how they might be able to help out, visit schools, or indeed volunteer in a similar way to Natalia. Today we present Natalia’s account of her recent trip and her time visiting a couple of local schools, with plenty of practical advice on how we can all help. Natalia has also generously given her contact details for anyone who wishes to get in touch for more of her expert advice.

Natalia with grade 4

So the Gambia welcomed me again. This time I visited two primary schools in one of the towns. I think I learnt a lot from this adventure and just thought that I might share some ideas with those of you who want to want to have a similar experience.

First of all, schools are very welcoming and it is extremely easy to visit them. You can do it through one of the trips organized via your tour operator and I am sure it will be a worthwhile experience. Another option, however, if you have a bit more time, is to get in touch with some locals and ask them to take you to a school where their offspring learn. All teachers and headteachers I met were happy to meet me, show me around and talk to me about their school. They were extremely kind and welcoming.

One of the schools offered me a placement and I spent a few days co-teaching with a local teacher. It was a very enriching and inspirational experience. We had a chance to compare our methods and children’s ways of learning. I learnt that maybe here in London we have more resources and teaching gadgets, but in fact teachers all around the world play the same games and use similar tricks to control children’s behaviour!

Natalia in the classroom

What these schools really need are links with other schools and children. We in London need it too! It is great to have a pen pal in the Gambia and I strongly recommend it. Most of the Gambian schools, however, also need sponsors as they are poorly resourced. They need more books, blackboards and quite often simply chairs or pencils and pencil sharpeners as they are not that cheap in the Gambia. As I wrote before (my first blog entry), people have to pay for children’s education and buy all the stationary. When you have many children, this is not an easy thing to do.

Hence, if you are thinking what to take with you for a trip to a local school, I would advise you to buy a few packs of pens, pencils and text books (available in many local shops and often even at your hotels). Go with an open mind and enjoy. Enjoy the eagerness with which children learn and greet you. Their natural curiosity when they ask you about your country. Their kindness when they share with you their lunch and their smiles when they talk about their families.

If you have a bigger budget, think of starting off a library for a school that might not have it (most of them don’t!). Again, ask some locals or existing charities if you need further guidance. I promise that it will be a wonderful and rewarding experience. You could also sponsor a child or a few children and pay £30 per year for their education. That would be an ultimate gesture of kindness and possible life changing experience for children who would not go to a school otherwise. You can make friends for life and you will have a valid excuse to come to this gorgeous warm and the kindest country every year! The best deal ever!

PS If you need further guidance, I am happy to be contacted on finfando@hotmail.com

Making a difference

Posted on February 15, 2010 by Matt Smith

We’re lucky enough to feature today a guest post from Natalia Finfando, a London-based teacher, who is currently in The Gambia volunteering at a local village school. Natalia got in touch with the blog after reading a post on here by a member of our staff (Jo Wedeman), a post which has inspired a number people to enquire about the possibility of school visits, donations etc. The schooling situation in The Gambia is an emotive one, and one that is easy to support with basic resources and help – as Natalia’s post ably illustrates. And it’s precisely the kind of thing we set the blog up for in the first place, as a place for people who are passionate about The Gambia to swap ideas and anecdotes, and even set up future projects. Natalia’s story is a fascinating and inspiring one and if anyone wishes to know more then please get in touch – either via the comments or the usual address. Here’s hoping her time as a volunteer teacher goes well! Stay in touch as we hope to feature more from Natalia on her return.

Natalia Finfando with a Gambian pupil

I consider myself a relatively well-travelled person. I have been to many countries; I even lived in three, always hoping I would find the one I would love to come back to. They were all great, fantastic countries to visit. Once. Always once. February 2010 and I am finding myself going to the Gambia. For the third time! How on earth did that happen?

When I think about it, it all started like a typical package holidays, maybe the destination was slightly more adventurous for a less daring European. I went to the Gambia with a friend of mine two years ago and the first thing I noticed was that everyone was smiling. I know that everyone calls the Gambia the smiling coast of Africa but there is actually a reason for that, trust me! When we finally decided to leave the hotel and face the country, it was far more exciting than I could ever have imagined!

The first Gambian school I visited was the one included in the program offered by the Gambia Experience. Going across the country, you can visit one of the local schools. The company tries to take you to different schools so that more schools could get support from the tourist if they choose to do so. I thought that was a brilliant idea. Children performed a little song for us and a few brave ones decided to dance. They were all genuinely excited to talk to us and meet us. Support was not expected but highly appreciated – pencils, text books, pens can be donated. Whatever a normal school might need.

I looked at the school I visited and quickly noticed that it was actually a sponsored school, so in theory better equipped. However, it had no toilet, only two classrooms packed with children of all ages taught in one year group with bare walls and old chairs. Children who were able to afford books and pencils, cherished them immensely. Not to mention that there were no maps, no fresh paint, decent furniture or a library. I tried to imagine what a school that is not sponsored might look like.

Since I already knew a few locals, I was taken by them to a tiny bush school. Yes, it was virtually empty (i.e. with no resources) and yes the walls were old, bare and unpainted but I immediately realised that for a teacher from London who struggles everyday with many behavioural issues in their classroom, Gambian students are dream students! So happy to be taught, lapping up every word, so grateful for the experience, so eager to learn. Suddenly I remembered why I became a teacher in the first place.

What one needs to realise is that in the Gambia children have to pay for education. If you include a weekly fee (teacher’s salary), cost of pencils, text books, uniforms etc. It is around £30 per year. In the Gambia people earn £30 pounds a month if they have a job. If you have many children, which one would you choose to send to school? Many parents face this dilemma and since they cannot afford these school fees, this means their children often do not go to school. Hence the education is very limited for children aged 4 to 7 years.

When I got back to England, I immediately talked to my colleagues at school. Quick brainstorm, discussion, and the decision: we are raising money for a primary school in the Gambia! We had some sponsored silence, school disco and even a pyjamas day. Thanks to this and the tremendous support of my brilliant colleagues, generous parents and understanding of my head teacher (many thanks!), we raised enough money to help one of the schools. I decided not to send money to an existing charity but pay for my own flight and take the raised money myself straight to the chosen primary school as well as volunteer there too.

My children in London are also so excited to hear about another country, to get to know it, contribute and perhaps find new pen pals! They also learn how to share what they have and some of them contributed in the sweetest ways possible. One of them for brought all the pennies he has been collecting for a year and another donated her own pencils. They both insisted on me accepting their contribution. Thank you Loyan and Khadijah, you made it all worthwhile!

Tomorrow we are writing postcards to our future friends in the Gambia. I am going to take them with me and hope to bring back a pile of responses. I already prepared some worksheets. I am setting off on Thursday. They are expecting me in the local school on Friday morning, keen to experience my ‘English way of teaching’, whatever they may mean! Cannot wait. The Gambia, here I come. For the third time.

The Lisa Kent Memorial Trust

Posted on August 26, 2009 by Matt Smith

Today we have a guest post from Liz who runs the Lisa Kent Memorial Trust – a charitable organisation that does some very fine work in the Gambia in the area of child education. If you’d like to know more about the Lisa Kent Memorial Trust then please visit their website.

Gambian children in class

The Lisa Kent Memorial Trust is a registered charity in the UK and The Gambia for educating children. It was founded in December 2003 following the tragic death of Lisa Kent. (The daughter of very dear friends).

The Trust built & established a very successful nursery school, which accommodates 154 children, most of whom are sponsored from the UK. Children start at the nursery school at the age of 3, if sponsorship continues will move to primary school at 7 or 8. The Trust has funded the teachers through a three-year teacher-training course, which they have completed during the holiday periods. Many schools in the Gambia do not have qualified teachers, so the Trust feels we are exceptionally lucky to have well respected and educated teachers who are all very committed to their school.

The nursery!

The school is fortunate to have its own water supply, toilets and electricity, although this can be spasmodic. The official opening ceremony was attended by The Head of the Gambian Early Childhood Development Dept and the Kent family.

The Trust helps other local Gambian schools through our sponsorship programmes and providing educational aids where appropriate. We encourage sponsors, who support a specific chosen child to carry on with the sponsorship programme throughout the child’s education, which the Trust oversees.

The Trust has recently purchased a plot of land in a rural area of the Gambia, where there is currently no school and it has started to build a nursery and primary school. The reputation of the original Lisa Kent Nursery School has encouraged families to relocate to the area so that their children can attend the new school.

Learning to read

The Trust has a long way to go with the build and are looking for volunteers for a weeks working trip next April to assist in the build. We welcome any volunteers who may be interested regardless of experience or skills. We rely purely on fundraising events, donations and our child sponsorship scheme to be able to carry out this work.

If you would be able to support the build or wish to sponsor a child’s education, e.mail enquiries@lisakenttrust.org or write to the Lisa Kent Memorial Trust, PO Box 1083, Cambridge CB23 7WT.