Successful return - after two years!

I have just returned from a brief, successful, trip to the Gambia - following a two year absence, for COVID-related reasons - and feel there are good stories to tell about the schools in Sohm and beyond.

I'll concentrate on Sohm in this post, and deal with our Rotary-supported project in Sukuta, of which I've written much over the last year or so, in a blog in a couple of weeks.

Senior management team, with Rotary and Beech Hill logos

Firstly, although the Sohm schools were closed for nine months, because of the local COVID lockdown, there seemed to have been few - if any - serious cases of the virus in the village. The Lower Basic (primary) school's staff, however, were very greatful for the supplies of masks and sanitiser that we were able to get to the school, via our good friends at the Scottish charity First Aid for Gambia.

 

Pupils and staff with SSS-supplied anti-COVID sanitisers and masks

 

Before I left the UK, the pupils at Beech Hill in Luton, with which Sohm LBS is twinned, produced some lovely artwork and letters for me to take to Sohm. The Gambian youngsters were delighted, and below are some photos of some proudly displaying their incoming correspondence.

Some of the Beech Hill letters to Sohm

and more ....

and more ....

and more!

The Sohm children have responded in kind, and within two days turned around a similarly impressive set of letters and art work, which we will share with Beech Hill, when they have their annual "Gambia Day", in April.

There has been plenty of work taking place on the ground in the Sohm LBS, to which we have contributed 50% of the cost, over the last two years. A six-classroom block, which was partially damaged by a hurricane two years ago, has now been completely restored and renovated.  It is looking good, as the photos below show.

A local craftworker was also commissioned to repair over 100 pieces of broken school furniture, at an average cost of £8 per item, and with the chairs we supplied two years ago, the school is now well stocked with necessary furniture.

And nursery children - note reconditioned, shiny furniture!

 

 

 

This means that in the ten years of our involvement with Sohm LBS, we have restored and upgraded every building in the 500-pupil school - and the place is looking very smart.

We are delighted to report that our previous, large, building project - the new school hall - is now being well used. Its kitchen, which was part of the construction, is a busy source of nuitritional cooking, much of the food for which has been produced in the school's garden.

 

 

New school kitchen - pots bubbling away with veg grown in the school's garden

As we do every year, we made a donation of almost £1k of stationery to the school. This meets the whole requirements for the 500 children and staff there for the year. So, there are exercise books, pens, pencils, crayons for the pupils and flip charts, marker pens, chalks and record books, duplicating paper, printer inks etc. for the staff.

Below is a photo of some pupils displaying some of this donation. We have had a long relationship with a local stationer - Prime Stationers -  in The Gambia, who has always given us extremenly competitive rates for our purchases. This year he made a significant personal contribution, to top up our donation. So, we were delighted to have some of the pupils wave some of his advertisng material, by way of thanks. Enlarged copies of some of these photos now adorn his shop, with the strapline "Delighted to support the education of local children" Win:win, here! 

Annual stationery donation, assisted by our friends from Prime Stationers

 One other donation to our charity must be recorded. One of our dearest supporters, concious that donations of clothing to developing countries rarely include underwear, was determined to redress the issue and purchased a large quanity of bras, knickers and underpants for what turned out to be a hugely grateful bunch of local recipients (modesty prevents us showing them in action!). It really was a bit of a struggle to get everything out there, and within airplane luggage restrictions - but we are glad we managed it! Delighted as we are to have assisted this very thoughtful donation, we are not opening up a clothes donation facility for the future! In previous years we have had access to free container space. Unfortunately, we no longer do.

Our ten-year involvement with the school has had a remarkable impact on its educational performance.  All schools in The Gambia are given an annual Scorecard, by the country's version of Ofsted.  Below is Sohm's most recent score card.  It has - quite simply - been turned from a run of the mill, rural, back water school, to the exemplar primary school in its district and top of cluster groups and other measurement devices.

Impressive Lower Basic school "Scorecard"

The senior school in the village of Sohm has been badly run for the last four years, and we have refused to work with a head whom we did not trust. He has now been replaced and the school is in the temporary charge of two long-serving deputies, with whom we have always had a very good relationship - Nicholas Mendy and Mama Gomez - see pictured below. We look forward to re-engagement with the school, staff and pupils.

New interim management at secondary school, Mama and Nicholas - back in safe hands

The senior school has good facilities, many of which we, and our partners from the Jersey Gambia Schools Trust, have contributed to, over the years.

We are very pleased to say that the Education Regional Director, now he has replaced the former head, is determined to turn the senior school into a district school of excellence in science and technology (because it has good facilities, and a well educated intake).

The two schools in Sohm do, however, have teacher recruitment and retention difficulties; because they are in a relatively remote area, and the accommodation available to staff is poor. We are currently working with the Regional Director on submitting a bid to a significant Dutch charity, to create new teacher accommodation for upto 40 staff, in the village, in unused land and premises already owned by the ministry.

  

Potential location for new teaching accommodation - we're in talks!

We'll let you know how we get on!

Brilliant news!

The last 18-month COVID period has been difficult for us all, but SSS has been beavering away, quietly, trying to get resources to improve conditions in the Gambian schools we work with.

Funding for two of the largest projects we have ever worked on has finally been agreed over the last two weeks, and we are absolutely delighted.

It is a fitting way to celebrate the tenth anniversary of our existence, coming up in January 2022.

Two huge projects

As we have reported on this blog before, we have spent the last two years putting together the finances for completely renovating one of The Gambia's largest Lower Basic (primary) schools - with over 2,000 pupils, in Sukuta.

Piecing together the funding for this has been tricky, but we now have in place the last part of the jigsaw that will allow us to proceed. The project will cost in excess of £30k, and is largely being funded by the Rotary Foundation.

 

We have also been working with our Jersey colleagues in the Jersey Gambia Schools Trust (JGST), and the Jersey Overseas Aid department to put together a £12k project that will completely renovate the only building in Sohm Lower Basic school that we have not already improved over the last decade.

Funding for this has finally been agreed by all parties and construction contracts were signed in early October, with the target of begining work by the end of December.

Sukuta funding

SSS's loyal band of regular supporters will be contributing over £12,000 to this (from money accumulated over the last 2/3 years) and Rotary the rest.

Rotary funding is coming from Redbridge Rotary club (John's own club), which is contributing £5k, with contributions from neighbouring clubs in London (Barkingside and Gants Hill), as well as from international sister clubs in Holland and Slovenia. In addition, the London District of Rotary is contributing $10k and the Rotary Foundation (based in Chicago) a further $8k.

It has been time-consuming and tricky putting the project together, but just yesterday we got the final grant go-ahead and funding agreed.

The project will mean that from early in the new year, our sister Rotary club, Brusubi, in The Gambia, will be able to oversee the construction of:

Double the water tank capacity in the school

Increase the number of water standpipes from one to 11, for the 2,000+ children

 

Completely renovate the unsafe and unhealthy toilets

 Build the school's first sick room

 Bring back into operation the termite-ridden library

From the above to the below

Increase the size of the school's only computer room, so that all pupils will be able to receive weekly computer lessons. 

Reduce overcrowding here, by extending, below

Provide a safe, clean and hygenic food serving area for school meals.

Replace this with a hygenic preparation and serving area

The lives of 2,000 Gambian primary school children will be transformed by these changes.

Last piece in Sohm restoration

Over the years, we have: brought electricty to the Sohm Lower Basic school, improved the teachers' accommodation, brought back to operation an infested library, renovated the school's sick room, improved the toilets, refurbished one of only two teaching blocks and built a new multi-purpose hall.

There is only one building within the school complex that we have not yet upgraded. Eighteen months ago, storm damage ripped off the roof of part of that teaching block. 

Last year's storm damage

Next year's refurbished block!

Together with our Jersey friends, we put together a plan to completely renovate the block, and have been able to identify funding from JGST, Jersey Overseas Aid and ourselves to pay for it. 

Our contribution has been effectively funded by donations and fund-raising events organised by Sohm's twin school Beech Hill Community Primary school, in Luton. We are hugely appreciative of their efforts, without which this six-classroom block renovation could not take place.

We hope construction can begin before the end of the calendar year.

All in all - these have been two great weeks for SSS and for Gambian school children. 

We are delighted, but now, absolutely skint! 

If you would like to help us fund further projects to advance the education of Gambian youngsters, please consider supporting us.

Make a name for yourself in Africa

The good news is, that through the fantastic efforts of our supporters, we have met our Sohm 2020 target - of raising £20k, by 2020, to build a new hall for the school and village. It will act as: a dining hall, assembly room, gymnasium, performance area, prayer room and village hall.

Building team survey the site

Work has already begun on construction, and we are promised completion by the end of this calendar year, and hope to bring back photos and videos to share with you, when we next visit in Jan/Feb 2020.

And the important stuff - the tape
measure is out.  Must be serious!

The even better news is that we are giving you an opportunity to become involved with the next stage in the project - and help furnish the hall!

We are launching: "Make a name for yourself in Africa". This is seeking sponsors to pay £25 to have a chair in the new hall dedicated to them. We have struck a deal with a furniture company to supply us with chairs, and with a stencil firm who will make stencils of people's names, which can be painted on the back of the chairs.

Your name - to be stenciled
 on the back of a chair

So - you may want your own name, that of a relative (living or deceased) as a memorial, or present. Or you might want the name of someone who you think could be a role model to these young Gambians - a sports star, a music or artistic performer etc. Sandra and I, for example, will be naming some chairs after some of our grandchildren and role model African footballers who play for Crystal Palace or Chelsea!

In addition to a name on the back of a chair, all sponsors will also have a one-line entry (of the choosing of the sponsor) about their subject on a "Scroll of Honour" that will be on the wall of the hall, so the children can see whose chair they are sitting on!

There are some minor conditions:

1. We will not permit the use of the name of any living politician, from anywhere, to be featured. We reserve the right to deny the use of any name we deem to be inappropriate.

2.The offer will allow for 14 characters in a name (inc spaces), there will be an additional cost of £5 for up to 14 more characters.

3. We would appreciate your donation at any time, but the offer closes on 15 December 2019, and photos and extracts from the scroll will be sent in February 2020.

4. Any queries about how to make the donation, or about the offer should be sent to johnvervecom@yahoo.co.uk

We would hope to get as many sponsors as possible signed up by the cut off point in December, so that we can get the stencils taken out in January and have the photos of a child sitting on the sponsors chair taken when we are next in the country.

All sponsors will get a framed photo of a Sohm youngster sitting on "their chair", and an extract from the Scroll of Honour. But most of all, they can have the satisfaction of having helped transform the education and life chances of a Gambian child.

I do hope you will be able to support us. But don't worry - we'll still talk to you, whatever your choice!

Letter of thanks from Sohm Lower Basic School

We have recently received this unsolicited letter of thanks from Lamin Saidy,  the acting head teacher of the Sohm Lower Basic school (the previous head, unfortunately, died in January of this year, just prior to our visit to The Gambia. In his own words, he summarises most of what we have been attempting to do to assist his school, over recent years.

It is a satisfying read for us. We hope you agree - and thank you for your on-going support to our small charity.

Our sincere gratitude to the Sohm Schools Support (SSS) and Jersey Gambia Schools Trust (JGST) for the wonderful contributing role they are playing in supporting our development agendas. Through the engagement of SSS and JGST in our quest to develop Sohm Lower Basic School into model rural school, a lot has been achieved on the infrastructure and teaching and learning equipment. 

Each time John and Robin are seen in the school, everyone feels happy, even the pupils. Their every visit in the school is impressive but this year’s visit is particularly very impressive. This is manifested in the way our friends were received in the school. The welcoming involves personalities from the village and the staff and pupils of the school. 

This year's welcome

There was a short session organised purposely to complement the effort of all our friends through John and Robin by the community awarding presents and certificates to John, Robin and Kakai. It is our wish for every partner to have a form of reward but we do not have the capacity to do so but we believe that God will deservedly reward all those who in one way or the other contributing to the development and welfare of our school.

Our two friends (SSS and JGST) always listen to our problems and try to make sure that the problems known are no more than a threat to jeopardise our progress. This is how we got improvements on the library, sick room, water supply, toilets, fencing, and mending of the dilapidated classroom block and, of course, the electrification of the whole school. 

Each of the projects accords us an opportunity to adding a value to our equipment and assets.

The first big project implemented in the school was the electrification project before the installation of which we had to travel to the nearby towns to process our documents. The installation of electricity accords us the opportunity to get equipment such as computer laptops, desk tops, printers and copiers. Having the equipment in the school relieve us from travelling to the town only to copy or print a document. 

The time wasted did not helping the day to day running of the school. Time was wasted and there was reduction in human resources. The one running the errand has to leave a gap on the ground unattended. Today we are not leaving our post only for printing or copying rather, we have our own equipment that we use at our level to do our work. All the facilities we are enjoying today came through the support of our friends SSS and JGST.

Following the electrification project was the library and sick room were refurbished simultaneously. 

Before the renovation took place in the library, there is nothing that we did not do to keep away the termites. All the efforts taken to repel the termites went in vain. For the sick room, there was a space for it, but nothing could be done there at that material point in time (as there were no resources). 

The restored library

We have children coming from nearby villages walking a distance of two to three kilometres, whenever they fall sick we have no place to rest them much more to administer a first aid treatment.

The first aid kit box was empty with no drugs and no other first aid equipment. This poor sick child had to be sent back home unattended. Our friends (SSS and JGST) felt this situation with us and responded to our plight, making our library termite free and fixed our sick room for us, providing first aid equipment and arranging first aid training for the whole staff.

We had only one water source for the school and this single pump was shared with the community. Our friends (SSS and JGST) intervened to improve the limited water supply in the school. We now have a stand pipe at the staff quarters, one at the garden, two for children and one behind the classroom, which children use when going to the toilet.

The most recent development in the school is the fencing project and the renovation of six classrooms. These two came at a time we needed them most. There were cracks on the walls, cracks on the floor broken doors and damage on the roof of a classroom. The cracks on the walls affected the blackboards, preventing teachers from writing on the blackboard. 

The whole of the six classroom block was renovated and painted, blackboards repaired and the broken doors fixed. The roof was fixed, so we no longer fear for books and papers getting wet or unauthorised people entering the classrooms after school hours, to tamper with our materials.

One of the six refurbished
 classrooms

Our friends (SSS and JGST) are not only supportive on the side of infrastructure,  but are also supportive on the side of stationery. They provide an annual supply of stationery based on what the school needs. The stationery received every year always address our needs, meaning we are getting the required quantity and quality of materials that will serve our teaching and learning needs through to the next year. 

Pupils showcasing some of this
year's stationery supplies

There is no child in the school without the basic school materials such as: books, pens, pencils, erasers, rulers, sharpeners. Teachers also have vanguards (poster paper), markers, rulers, glue, a laminator, a television set and cello tape, to prepare the learning materials in their classes.

Educational DVD (supplied by SSS)
captivating children, on TV (supplied by SSS),
running on electricity
(paid for and introduced by SSS)

The support of our friends does not only stop at the aforementioned assistance they render to us.

The pending project proposed for the school this year is the school hall with a kitchen and a store.

Architect's drawings for the new
hall/kitchen/store block - this year's major project

The store, as proposed, will be fully furnished with movable chairs, electrified and fitted with equipment such as projector for school based workshops and meetings as well as audio visual classes. 

The hall should also have a stage basically for sport, drama, role play and other educational activities. This same hall will serve as the school assembly hall.

Another wonderful initiative we have from our friends (SSS and JGST) is that we are linked with First Aid For the Gambia, where we now get our annual first aid supply for the sick room and they arrange biannual first aid training for the teachers. We just had the third supply of equipment and supplies and the second first aid training, on Friday 25^th January 2019. 

First Aid training and
supplies, each year

A P.O. Box was also opened for the school in February 2019 to make mailing easy and secure for the school. Last year our friends in Luton sent us letters and packages, which, until today, we have not received. 

This time we are hopeful that our mail will not get lost. Anything to be sent to the school will come through:

Sohm Lower Basic SchoolP.O. Box 5380BrikamaWest Coast RegionThe GambiaWest Africa 

It is in our plans to make good use of the resources at our disposal in a positive way, in order to bring about greater opportunity to attract a culture of being supportive in the day to day running of the school including feeding the school children. 

We want improvement in our water supply in order intensify gardening and farming within the school.

The Mothers' club is an instrumental partner, as far as grooming and caring of school children is concerned. We have high hopes of this club which is already established in the school. We are relying on the able- mothers club to come to our aid, by invitation, to be part of us in the garden to grow more crops and feed our children who will sometimes come to school hungry. 

School gardens, watered by new pump
- helping to grow food for the hungry
children's school breakfasts

The success of this project is assisted by the more efficient water supply with efficient garden tools and farming implements at our disposal.

In conclusion, we have to extend our sincere gratitude to the staff and pupils of Beech Hill Primary School, Luton and the management of Rotary International, Redbridge. 

Acting head, Lamin Saidy, showing his
appreciation to two of our largest supporters

We would not forget the personalities of John, Robin, Carol, Sandra, Natalie and their Gambian counter Mr. Kakai Sanyang for their unflinching support to make things possible the way they are with us here in the Gambia. 

We alone can tell how much your support means to us. Everybody knows about your support in our school. 

Lamin Saidy - acting head teacher, Sohm Lower Basic School 

20 February, 2019 

     

Sohm 2020

We are delighted to announce the launch of "Sohm 2020", our drive to raise £20,000 over the next two years to fulfil two extremely ambitious projects.

Our sights have been raised as a result of an extremely fulfilling partnership we have struck with Beech Hill Primary school in Luton. 

We have also been encouraged by help from some other very generous donors and a working arrangement with a Swedish charity in The Gambia, that specialises in training and employing Gambian construction labour to work on not-for-profit projects, at cost price.

Our Beech Hill partnership

Beech Hill primary school in Luton is a large school in a modest, mainly Muslim area of the town. Its recently appointed deputy head, Natalie Carson, is daughter of SSS co-founder, Sandra Walker.  Natalie has previously worked with SSS in Sohm, when five years ago she and a colleague, undertook some training of teachers in the Gambian village.

Friendship cemented in Sohm
with Beech Hill school, Luton

In her new role, in Luton, she has persuaded the school to "adopt" the Lower Basic school in Sohm. This will involve developing twinning arrangements, exchanging correspondence with individual pupils, exchanging curriculum materials and helping to fund raise on behalf on Sohm LBS. 

Beech Hill has already raised almost £1,500 for Sohm in the six months since the arrangement was agreed, and has committed itself to assist the school for upto three years. Sohm has also adopted the twinning enthusiastically, as the photo, above - taken in February - shows.

Beech Hill has other, exciting, twinning and fund raising events planned over the following months - and we will keep you up to speed on their progress.

Initial target - met!

Over the last year, our charity efforts have been focused on raising enough money to completely refurb and re-furnish a broken down classroom in a decaying block of six at the Lower Basic school.  Supporters have generously provided us with the £2,500 we felt necessary to undertake this task. And we thank them (they know who they are!), very sincerely for their generosity.

The six photos in this sequence
are of some of the damage to the
walls in the classrooms which will
be fixed, via steel girder
supports in the six classrooms

Above and below - close ups of the
extent of the damage to the
walls, on the photo, two up

Your generosity will also pay to
replace the broken classroom
furniture, desks and chairs

Termite damage has made this, the
door to the deputy head's office,
unusable.  This will be fixed by September

We have, in fact, been able to raise twice that amount for this project! 

In January we were given an estimate, by the government's education building surveyor for refurbish and re-equipping the whole six-classroom block. We have given the spec to the local Swedish/Gambian charity, mentioned above and they have given us a cost price quotation for the work.

Working on a "matched-funding" basis with our colleagues from Jersey, we are delighted to announce that we have now collected enough to restore the whole six classroom block, and an office within it!

Work will commence at the end of the summer term and we hope everything will be complete in time for the pupils' return to school in September.

More innovative funding

Until two years ago we had free container space to ship donated items out to The Gambia.  This arrangement enabled us to take, among other items, a whole classroom computer suite, with associated equipment.

Stationery: donated ...

The "free passage" offer has, unfortunately ended. One of our long-time supporters, forgetful of this, however, donated a large supply of unwanted stationery to us, as he was closing down his stationery business. It would have been ideal for the children in Sohm - but the commercial transportation costs of getting it there would have been greater than it was realistically worth to the schools in the village.

... and transported.  That's another
classroom refurb paid for!

A generous, local-to-us, retailer stepped in and offered to buy the stock from us.  Friends and colleagues transported it free.  Result? Another few hundred pounds to help restore the classrooms! Thanks to all concerned in that transaction - on behalf of the children of Sohm Lower Basic school!

The big one!

Flushed with success, and some certainty about future levels of funding, we began exploratory talks, while in the Gambia earlier this year, about embarking on our most ambitious-to-date project. The demolition of the school's decrepit, unusable, 35-year old school kitchen and dining hall and replacement with a fit-for-purpose facility.

Above and below: the existing, but condemned
kitchen and dining room, from outside.
Note the interesting curvature of the roof!

It has been condemned and out of use for three years now. Even when it was operational the 'dining area' was inflexible, as the "furniture" consisted of immovable concrete blocks. In the absence of a proper kitchen and dining room, children have to make to with pieces of bread, dipped in a sauce, from outside stalls in the school grounds.

Complete with dilapidated windows - above -
and holes in the wall (not ATM's unfortunately)
 - below- you can put your fist through

Once more, we got the schools' building inspector to give us a price for demolition of the building and the reconstruction of a kitchen area and multi-functional hall.  The initial estimate is £20,000, inclusive.

The hall will have movable tables and chairs - so it can still be used as a dining area, and so much more.

The current kitchen area, above, with a close-up,
below, of the cement units in which wood is
burned to heat the pots to cook the rice

The furniture can be moved to one side - so offering the school its first ever: assembly hall, indoor gym, meetings room, performance area and prayer room.

Above - the condemned dining hall, with
immovable cement "furniture". Below the outdoor
"dining" arrangements the children are making
do with in the absence of the unfit dining hall

We aim to raise £10,000 over the next 18 months to pay for this - and so, with our Jersey partners, reach our £20k by '20 target.

Your help - as ever, would be much appreciated! And, as ever, we will keep you up-to-date on progress with the project.