End of term report - July 2014 newsletter

 
As the school year comes to an end, in The Gambia and back home, it seems a good time to review progress of our support to the schools Sohm, over recent months.

It has been a very productive year, as far as the charity is concerned.  Sandra and John spent a month in The Gambia, in January and set in trail a number of initiatives that have now come to fruition.

Buildings refurbishment

Our latest, and most ambitious, project was to restore two derelict classrooms at the Lower Basic school, and bring them back into use - thus relieving over-crowding in a school, where 60 pupils in a class is the norm.



Derelict classroom, now refurbished
and restored to full use!

Because Sohm is so remote, the school and Education department provides residential accommodation for Lower Basic teachers in the village.  This is now over 30 years old, and has not been properly maintained.  So, we have been able to refurbish all of this accommodation: providing new roofs, doors, and windows, repairing broken walls and plumbing systems, over the last four months.  As a result, teachers now have decent housing, by local standards, which improves their well-being and comfort, from which the students will indirectly benefit.




Teachers' accommodation,
prior to repair



... and after!

 Examinations support

We now provide support to the Lower Basic school, each year, as they approach their external examinations. So, we pay for duplication of past papers, to help with preparation, and other teacher support, for this year's.  Last year this resulted in a significant improvement in the final examination results the pupils sat.  We are hopeful that our support this year will have a similar impact.

School trip

We have just funded the annual school trip for 180 years 6 and 7 students at the Lower Basic school.  This has meant a visit to the country's capital, its only airport and the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, for many of these 10 and 11 year olds.  This is truly a mind broadening and enjoyable event for these youngsters, as they leave their primary school.  The letters we received from last year's attendees were detailed and fascinating (and available for all the charity's supporters to see).  They confirmed our view of the value of this trip for the youngsters.



Essays and letters of thanks,
following last year's school trip

Sports support

Working with our good friends at Football Gambia and Kit Aid, we have been able to give considerable quatities of sports kit and equipment to the pupils of both senior and junior schools in the village this year.  We have provided the junior school with sports equipment, which will help with their physical development and education.  Football Gambia enabled us to supply over 60 full football strips to the senior school - and they were given a pride of place demonstration at the school's recent sports day.



Over 60 football strips donated,
thanks to our good friends at
Football Gambia and Kit Aid

Continued sponsorship

As a result of the support we are given by a dozen or so supporters, we continue to directly sponsor students at both the Lower Basic and Senior Secondary schools.  We equalise the payments over the expected school life of each pupil; so we can provide sponsorship for a standard flat rate of £60 per year (£5 per month, preferably by standing order).  This, with the Gift Aid we can claim, provides the fees (school and examination) to enable youngsters to attend school, throughout their school lives. Sponsors are sent a letter of thanks, school report and recent photo of the pupil, each year.



Amie Jarju - one of the dozen pupils
whose education we fund, for a donation
of just £5 per month from the sponsor

Stationery

In January we supplied every pupil in both the Senior and Lower Basic schools with a selection of appropriate stationery equipment - relevant to their specific age and needs.  So, there were a couple of exercise books per pupil, a range of graph and drawing paper books, pens, crayons and pencils for each school. These were greatly appreciated by all - as the photos illustrates!



Thanks for the excercise books!!

Computer and ICT studies support

As a result of generous donations of surplus laptop computers in previous years, we have been able to supply the Senior school with equipment to assist with ICT studies, where there is no mains electricity.  Almost inevitably, however, many of the donated laptops had batteries with short power storage capacities.  This year we have been able to source a number of cheap battery replacements for them.  This has increased battery lives of the laptops, from about 20 minutes to over two hours, on average.  It has greatly assisted with ICT teaching. 



ICT resources and capacity greatly improved

Additionally, a good friend recently gave us 120 memory sticks, so that most of the ICT students can now have their own work on their own device, for use on any PC where they do their work.  A great, and much appreciated advantage for the Sohm youngsters.

Books and bikes

Last year we established a book fund, so that every senior student in the Upper school had shared access to a relevant textbook for all subjects.  We were able to top this up,this year, and the government is now offering a similar arrangements for the youngest age group pupils!  A real victory in the pursuit of raising educational improvement.



Book fund - supplemented!

Transport improvements

As many as 50 students walk at least 3 miles to and from the Senior school each day.  It has been given bikes, in the past, from Jole Riders, to help with pupils' travel arrangements who live furthest from the school.  Many of the bikes, however, have fallen into disrepair.  Last year we were able to fund an overhaul of many of them. This year we supplemented this with the provision of a number of cheap puncture repair kits, pumps and replacement saddles, to encourage pupils to take responsibility for their own bikes.



Bike repair kits, to help students take
responsibility for their own vehicles

Big thanks

Our good friends at Derwentwater Primary school in Acton have continued to assist us in raising funds for the charity - and thus for the students in Sohm.  We have recently raised £100 from a raffle at the school's summer fair, which when added to the money raised at the Christmas fair, and associated Gift Aid, means that we will be able to take over £300 form our Acton friends to Sohm next January.  This will, for example, pay for the much needed and appreciated schools trips, or the annual stationery donation to the Lower Basic school.



Sohm Lower Basic school,
friends with Derwentwater Primary
school, Acton

Our friends north of the border

Thanks to a generous donation by our friends at Auchmuty High school in Glenrothes, in Fife, we were able to considerably equip a science laboratory in the Sohm Senior school this year, where previously there was none.



Science equipment, generously
donated by Auchmuty High school, Fife

How to help

We aim to raise about £5,000 per year.  Our friends and relatives who sponsor students contribute about £1,000 of that, and Derwentwater Primary school has provided as similar sum, over recent years.  We have, additionally, been able to raise another £1,000 via a presence at jumble and car boot sales and the odd sale of unwanted gifts via e.bay etc.  Very generous one-off contributions from good friends has usually ensured that similar sums are given to the charity each year.  Now - that missing £1,000? Well, odd cash earnings from bits of paid for work contribute to that.  But .. we are always open to all offers of cash, or goods that can be sent to Sohm, or sold to raise funds for the schools there.

So, anything you can offer, to continue what we believe is a good value-for-money project in this remote African village, for the educational benefit of literally hundreds of deprived young people would be much appreciated.

John and Sandra Walker

April 2014 newsletter

In last month's round up on developments in Sohm we gave details of the impact that generous donors had made as far as sponsorship, science equipment and bikes over recent months. This month, we'd like to turn to classroom and staff quarters accommodation, sports equipment and sponsored school visits.

Building maintenance

The Lower Basic school (primary) in Sohm was built about 30 years ago, and alongside it some pretty basic teachers' accommodation blocks for those working in this fairly remote village.  These have suffered from lack of maintenance over the years (other projects have received priority funding) and two of the school's classrooms are currently out of commission and the teachers' accommodation is in a pretty dreadful state.

Having spent a great deal of time examining the options and costings we decided to make our largest single donation to get these fixed.  We have allocated almost £500, which will be spent between now and the start of the rainy season (June) on upgrading and making habitable these facilities.



Broken classroom, no windows, leaky roof,
uneven floor, no door.
We are fixing this for about £250

Two classrooms will be restored, and brought back into use, thus alleviating crowding in the other rooms - which accommodate up to 70 pupils in each class.



Pretty modest ambition - to turn the wreck above
into something like this, alleviate overcrowding
and help 150 students. Cost, about £250

The repairs to roofs and walls in the teachers' accommodation will make them dry in the pretty torrential wet season and offer a little comfort to ten teachers and their families - though they are yet to get electricity there - one of our medium term objectives.

Below are a few photos of the "before" renovations.  In a month or so we hope to be able to show the impact that just £500 will have made to potentially 150 students and ten staff and their families.



Teachers' accommodation, in desperate
need of repair, which will be funded by SSS,
 at a cost of about £250

Sports kit

We are hugely indebted to two other great UK charities, and their supporters for their assistance with this item.  Kit Aid (who mop up surplus and redundant football kit from clubs over the UK and ship it to third world countries - patron ex-England manager, Graham Taylor) and our very good friends at Football Gambia provided us with over 100 sets of football kit for the pupils at the senior school in Sohm this year.


Big thanks to Letchworth FC for generous kit donation,
proudly worn by Sohm youngsters

They, in turn, had been given them by: The Scottish FA, Cardiff City FC, Letchworth FC, Marriotts School and Watford Grammar school.  We can't thank them enough, on behalf of Sohm's youngsters.  We grabbed some "posed" shots of the kids wearing the kit, while in the village in February - see below.  We hope to be able to show you some "action" shots of the kit in use, on the football pitch in a later edition of this newsletter.



Despite their many troubles this season,
Cardiff FC saw fit to make this kit donation to Kit Aid
- so a big thanks to them



Home, and away - they "away" strip donated
by Cardiff, along with the "home" kit, above



From one school to another - Marriotts School's
donation, via Kit Aid, to Sohm School.
International friendship, at its best



An extremely generous donation via the Scottish FA,
modelled by delighted Sohm girls and boys, alike

School trips

Last year, as a result of an extremely generous single donation, we were able to pay for a school visit for all the year 5 and 6 pupils in the junior school.  For many this was their first visit out of the village, and certainly for most the first time they had visited the country's capital.

Unfortunately there was a "malfunction" with the camera that was used to record the day, but the essays the youngsters wrote on their return are a joy to read.  The photo below is of just a few of them.
 
On their trip they visited the country's only commercial airport, the country's capital, its national museum, Arch 22 (the equivalent of Marble Arch - complete with a lift, which astounded many of them) and a visit to the Gambia Radio and Television studios.


A selection of just some of the essays
written by grateful students after
their SSS-paid for school visit

It's a shame we can't give even a flavour of the delight and appreciation these youngsters expressed for what was quite literally an eye opening experience for most of them.

We hope you've enjoyed sharing with us some of the pleasure you and fellow donors have brought to this small, forgotten place.  Your efforts are very much appreciated in the village, as we are told on almost a daily basis when there, and by e.mail etc, when in the UK.

And, yes - money can go a very long way in a village where the average monthly wage is less than £30.

Thank you, one and all.

John and Sandra

March 2014 Newsletter

 

We spent the month of January in the Gambia and feel we achieved a great deal, with the two schools in Sohm we are supporting.
 
We'll roll out the details of progress over the coming months, with lots of photos and comments from grateful Gambian recipients.

We feel we made significant progress as far as:
• Sponsored students
• Donations of science equipment and books
• Donations of sports kits
• Distribution of exercise books, pens and pencils to every student in both Sohm's schools
• Repairing students' bicycles, necessary for those walking 2-3 miles each way to school every day


Pick up truck, loaded with
donated goods, and bound for Sohm

• Topping up the book supply at the senior school, so that every one of the 400 students now has, at least 2-1 shared access to a book, in every subject studied.  Two years ago, barely 10% of the pupils had this level of access
• Establishing a fund to renovate two dilapidated classrooms in the Lower Basic school
• Paying for the refurbishment of the teachers' quarters for the Lower Basic school
• Receiving encouraging progress reports on last year's school trip for all years 5 and 6 students in the Lower Basic school, and funding a similar trip this year
• Funding mock exams, in preparation for the external national exams taken, in the Lower Basic school
• Funding a small amount of sports equipment for the Lower Basic school
• Upgraded all of the laptops generously provided by friends last year, and added three more to the local stock
• Aided computer studies by providing over 150 donated memory sticks, so that all students studying ICT in the Senior school now have a storage system for all of their work.




Vital chemisty kit being used
in a school with no labs

Sponsorship

In brief, we touched base with, and were able to take up-to-date photos of, most of our dozen sponsored students, all of whom seem to be progressing well, and certainly enjoying their studies, thanks to the £5 per month they get from their UK sponsors.
 
One, Ramatoulie Bah, is turning out to be a real academic star, she topped her year group's external exam performance in all three examined subjects, achieving marks of 85% in English, 93% in Social and Environmental Studies and 67% in Maths.



Star pupil - Sponsored
student Ramatoulie Bah

 
We were told the support we give to the Lower Basic school in helping with mock exams was a big help in preparing to Ramatoulie and her friends.
Ramatoluie was, unfortunately, absent from school, due to illness, when we visited, but we caught up with her very proud mum. Coming from a poor family, Ramatoulie could not continue her studies without her UK sponsor; and it is a sign of what a difference sponsorship can make, when we discovered that her mum is illiterate. 

Small gestures in the UK really can transform African lives.

The fact that Ramatoulie topped the Maths exam marks with 67% is indicative of the poor state of maths teaching in The Gambia, generally.  We are working with the Senior school in Sohm to see if we can sponsor additional maths lessons for all.

Donations of science equipment and books

We are extremely grateful to the Auchmuty High school in Fife for a generous donation of surplus science equipment and books, last summer.  The school moved to new premises in the autumn and donated some of their redundant books and equipment to us.  We drove to Fife and picked it up.  Our good friends at Football Gambia generously gave us free transport of the donation to the Gambia. The Gambian Ministry of Education ensured free internal transportation in the country for us.



Grateful students at the Mahaad school,
with donated science and maths books.
Thanks Auchmuty!

So, a very generous donation was delivered at no additional cost - a real tribute to co-operative endeavour by NGOs and others.



Highly prized surplus, but donated
microscopes, being put to good use

We gave half of the textbooks to the Senior Secondary school in Sohm, and the rest to the Mahaad Senior Secondary, in nearby Sohm and all of the chemistry and physics equipment to Sohm.  The school has almost no science equipment, which makes teaching the subject to its students challenging.  The photos show enthusiastic pupils taking full advantage of Auchmuty's donation.  So, a big thank you to the Fife school for that!

Repaired bicycles

It's also a very big thank you to the 'Billy 'n Babs' bike fund.  Bill Carson and his partner have raised funds to assist with the repairs of bikes for the Sohm youngsters, so necessary in a school with students having to travel up to 3 miles each way to school, with no public transport.  That great charity Jole Riders in the past provided Sohm Senior school with 100 bikes, but many have subsequently fallen into disrepair.  As a result of the 'Billy 'n Babs' fund, we have been able to help repair most of those that have broken down.  So, 20 students can access their education more easily now - without an hour's walk each way, in searing heat, for the school journey.



Thanks to the 'Billy ' n Babs' bike fund,
many broken bikes are now fixed
- students showing some of the repair kits purchased

Next month, we'll bring you news and photos of some of the other achievements of this year's trip - using money generously donated in the UK.

If you feel this is all worthwhile, and would like to assist, we encourage you to donate to our small charity, via the 'Donate' section of this website, or consider sponsoring a student - at £5 per month.  We personally oversee the spending of every £ raised and are able to top up all UK donations, by 25%, via the government's Gift Aid Scheme.



Electrical testing equpiment -
doing its job. Thanks Auchmuty!

To get regular, automatic, updates of news from Sohm, please complete the 'Subscribe' button on the home page of this website.  It is free, of cost and hassle, and ensures that updates will be dropped into your e.mail in-box, automatically.  You can unsubscribe just as easily.  We share your details with nobody.

You may also wish to follow us on Facebook@ Sohm Schools Support, or via Twitter: @GambiaSchools.

Thanks for reading, and for your continued support.

December 2013 Newsletter

As winter sets in, our thoughts are turning to the warmer climes of the Gambia, and thought we would share some of them with you.

Sponsorship

Our supporters are paying the school and associated learning costs of a dozen youngsters in Sohm.  We have recently received upto date school reports on their progress, together with letters of thanks from the pupils, which by now are winging their way to the sponsors.

Most pupils have made significant educational and social progress over the last year, as reflected in the reports and letters.  What is clear, however, is that there would have been no educational progress without the help from the sponsors, because that alone has enabled them to continue with their studies.



A selection of school reports and letters from sponsored students

So, thanks to all who are supporting Sohm's students.  For just £5 per month you, too, could sponsor a Gambian youngster's education and receive an annual school report, letter from the student and recent photo of the student. Please contact us, if you would like to join our band of supporters.
 
This could be the ideal, selfless, Christmas present for that person who has everything!

Christmas Fair

Speaking of Christmas, we'll be making one of our regular fund-raising appearances at Derwentwater Primary school in Ealing, at the school's Christmas Fair on Friday 6 December.



Recent fund-raising fair at Derwentwater Primary School

Derwentwater is twinned with the Lower Basic School in Sohm and all money we raise through our brik-a-brak stall and raffle will be used to help restore two badly damaged classrooms in the bulging Sohm Primary school.

So, big thanks, in advance (!) to the pupils, staff and parents of Derwentwater for continuing to assist their "twinned" friends in Sohm.

Plans for January

Sandra and I will be off to the Gambia in early January for a month.  As part of the preparations, we've totted up the charity's earnings for the year, and claimed our Gift Aid from the government.

So, in total, we will have raised around £6,000 over the last year.  About £1,000 of this is earmarked for the sponsorship of students, mentioned above.  Of the rest, we have spent around £500 on getting batteries and supplies (ink etc) for the 10 laptops and printers donors have given us.  These, with the addition of the 100+ memory sticks we have been given will provide a major boost for the teaching of ICT in the schools without mains electricity.



Back on the road: broken bikes mended with SSS funds
which improves school transport for youngsters

We have continued our practice of topping up the book and bike funds we established last year and have bought a supply of blackboard paint, to provide for very basic needs for the schools.  We will, once again, fund a school trip for all the final year students in the primary school and will continue to help with photocopying exam past papers etc.
As indicated above, we will be looking to make a major push in trying to restore a couple of ramshackled classrooms in the Lower Basic School, to help with much needed accommodation there.



Funds raised will restore Sohm classroom in need of repair

Political situation in The Gambia

Following press reports over recent months, a number of our supporters have asked what is happening, politically, in The Gambia.

The Gambia left the Commonwealth in October, some weeks after President Jammeh caused some controversy with an appearance at the United Nations. The Gambia is also changing some of its key international alliances.

We do not feel able, nor need, to comment on these events.

What is clear to us, however, is that the education needs of the youngsters in Sohm remain unchanged, and we will continue, via the charity and the help of our supporters, to help meet them.

Please feel assured that all donations to this charity will continue to be spent for the benefit of pupils in the Sohm schools , directly under the supervision of this charity's trustees.  We know that you would wish no different.

Congratulations!

And finally, huge congratulations to Ian and Christabel Stapleton of Football Gambia - our good friends and supporters.  Christabel has recently given birth to their first child, Sebastian.  We are delighted to report that all three are thriving!

Best wishes to you all at this festive time of the year, from us at Sohm School Support.

Sandra and John Walker

October 2013 Newsletter

 As autumn lands with a bump, we are beginning our plans for our next visit to The Gambia, in January.  But first, an update on recent Sohm-related activities.

On 15 October our second container of materials leaves the UK for Banjul - and a big thank you to our friends at Football Gambia for making this happen. By the time it leaves, we will have sent over 20 x 50 litre boxes of generous donations this year, which we will pick up, early in January, and take to Sohm, for distribution.



Some of the Sohm-bound containers and contents

We have sent:

• A couple hundred school science textbooks and an extensive collection of school science equipment, generously given by Auchmuty High School, in Glenrothes, Fife - as it has become surplus to requirements, following their move to new buildings. The school also gave us a much-needed PC printer.

• Four more laptops, thanks to donations by relatives: Owen, Rachel and Nick, and former colleague, Annette. In addition, we've bought - from an extremely competitive supplier - new batteries for each of the half dozen laptops we've already sent to Sohm - to extend their useful lives.

Much needed science equipment will improve teaching in Sohm

• Over 130 PC memory sticks, which our good friend Maria has hoovered up from her office, and wiped clean.  It will mean that all of Sohm's ICT students will be able to store all of their own work, in one place - essential in a non-networked environment.

• A large selection of appropriate children's clothes, for pupils at the schools, following a request from some of the women in the village.

Additionally, we've spent some of the hard-raised funds collected in the UK, to purchase some supplies in demand in the schools.  So, in addition to the laptop batteries and printer ink, mentioned above, we have also:

• Purchased 10 litres of blackboard paint and brushes for its application.  This is a key step in improving the predominant 'talk and chalk' delivery of lessons in the schools.

• Bought external hard drive capacity to help with school ICT capacity and teaching delivery.

Laptops, batteries and memory sticks will upgrade out-dated ICT equipment

So, its all stations go!  Even after the purchasing, packaging and delivery costs, we should be able to take considerably in excess of £2,000 to Sohm next January, to spend locally, in helping achieve the goals of the charity. We'll keep you updated on progress on that front, once it has happened.

Thanks!

 

We continue to be grateful to a whole range of people - too many to mention, individually - for their generosity in supporting Sohm's schools.

 

But, a special word of thanks must go to former Derwentwater pupil, Yodit, who we featured on this site in July. We then celebrated the fact that she raised £15 for Sohm,  via a sponsored silence in her last day as a primary school pupil.



Yodit - an inspiration to us all!

 

She has followed this kind gesture by undertaking even more fund-raising for her former school's twin school, in The Gambia.

 

She has, in total, given this charity £30, which with Gift Aid amounts to almost £40.  To put this into context: we will be able to use it to purchase enough English language textbooks for a whole class to benefit.  By careful use, this will mean that 100 pupils will benefit next year.

 

Well done, Yodit!  You are an example and inspiration to us all - and offer just the kind of commitment that keeps us going, in tough economic times!

a