February 2016 newsletter - Great progress over the last twelve months

We are just back from a few very productive weeks in The Gambia, working with the two schools in Sohm.

We saw pleasing evidence of real progress with projects that we sponsored and paid for last year.

This newsletter provides details of them. Future posts will explain what we are hoping to achieve over the coming months, and what steps we have put in place, to help deliver them.

Sponsorship

We, or more accurately our supporters, continue to sponsor the education of more than a dozen Gambian youngsters. We caught up with each of the students, got a face-to-face statement of progress , received a copy of their latest school report and a letter of thanks written by the pupil to her/his sponsor. 

We also took a photograph of each of them.  We will be sending copies of all of the above to the sponsors over the next week or so, as part of our commitment to be accountable for all donations received.

Musa Jarju -
star sponsored student

Progress of the individual students was, inevitably, mixed, with one being a real "star" of the school and a couple struggling a bit, because of home/work pressures.

As we will show in a future newsletter, we have directly intervened to address poor results and performance and hope to be able to report satisfactory progress this time next year.

Computer technology

Last year Little Heath school in Redbridge donated 30 redundant computers to the charity together with a number of desk top printers.

We had them all cleaned up, reconditioned and had a Windows suite installed on each. Assisted by generous free container space, we transported the equipment to Sohm last year.

PCs at work - thanks to Little
 Heath school, Redbridge

The result: a complete transformation! Previously, the senior school only had three or four ancient, working, computers for the 400+ students to access.

The whole Windows suite being
 accessed by Sohm's youngsters

Today, enthusiastic students lap up ICT lessons with the donated computers and many are becoming computer-friendly and proficient for the first time, as the accompanying photographs indicate.

Electrification of the Lower Basic school

Last year we made a grant of £1,000 to the Lower Basic (primary) school, to connect with mains electricity, for the first time. That sum enabled lighting and a single power point to be installed in each classroom and in each of the two-rooms of the individual teacher accommodation.

The standard of electrical work would not gain too many professional plaudits in the UK, but it works - without mishap! The work was completed on time and on budget last Spring. Not a statement you hear often in The Gambia!

All wired up - of sorts! But, working well!

In addition to the installation of power to teaching and living accommodation, power points were also installed in the head's office.  As the photo shows, this, in conjunction with some PCs we supplied, has enabled the school to become self-sufficient administratively - saving costs and time over a number of key tasks.

Electricity and PCs in the
 head's office - real progress!

The geographical location of Sohm means that the schools can have recruitment and retention issues for teachers.  Supplying electricity to their accommodation helps a little: they can now read in their rooms at night, charge their mobile phones and crowd around TV monitors to watch DVDs, for entertainment and training.

Teachers' sparse accommodation,
 above and below benefiting
 from electrification

Cooking equipment

The cooking equipment we supplied the senior school with last year has had some beneficial effects.

External Domestic Science exam results have improved, with examiners commenting favourably on progress. More students are now moving on to catering college, in order to help gain jobs in the important tourist hospitality industry.

Cookery equipment,
being put to good use

While we were in the country in January some of Sohm Students took part in a regional cookery contest.  Although they didn't win, their output went down well with the judges, apparently. They scoffed the lot!

Future newsletters will explain what we have sponsored this year, to be rolled out over the next twelve months, in our efforts to keep supporters up-to-date with Sohm schools' activities.

Season's Greetings - December 2015

Season's Greetings 

from 

Sandra and John

Students at Sohm Senior school displaying some of the donations we were able to take over earlier this year

We are sending the above as an e.card, instead of sending Christmas cards this year, and are sending the money saved to SSS, for use in Sohm.

We send the accompanying letter with our e.cards:

Season's Greetings from Sohm

Sandra and John are sending this to you instead of posting a Christmas card.  We will be donating the £100+ we spend on cards to the educational charity we run in The Gambia: Sohm Schools Support (www.sohmschoolssupport.org.uk, @GambiaSchools, FB:SohmSchoolsSupport). So, thank you, for your indirect support!

We have run the charity for five years, largely from donations from family and friends, together with a small number of fund-raising events. We have probably collected about £20,000 for the schools and given a similar amount in kind, with goods, generously donated by our supporters.

During our years of running the charity we have supported this Gambian village's two schools (primary and secondary) and their 800+ students.

Specifically we have:

• Provided each student in both schools with a full stationery supply for every school year.

• Completed equipped an ICT classroom in the Upper School, with 30 working PCs, together with printers and memory sticks for each of the school's students.

• Ensured that for the first time, every pupil in the secondary school has access to a key textbook in every national curriculum subject.

• Re-equipped the domestic science classroom in the Upper Basic school, thus supporting pupils who will gain work in the country's major non-agriculture industry: tourism.

• Provided over 100 football kits, and sports equipment to the two schools, most supplied by our friends at KitAid.

• Provided electricity to the primary school for the first time: with lighting and power points in each classroom and every room in the teachers' accommodation block.

• Donated over 1,000 text and library books to the two schools.

• Refurbished the teachers' accommodation block for the Lower Basic (primary) school.

• Refurbished, and brought back into use two classrooms in the primary school.

• Paid for day school trips to major landmarks in the country for all final year Lower Basic pupils - their only visit outside the village for many.

• Supplied a dozen bicycles and paid for the repair of 40 others in schools many of whose pupils would otherwise have to walk upto an hour to and from them each day.

• Supported in the region of 20 specific pupils via sponsorship and hardship-type payments.

Our efforts have been recognised by the country's Education ministry, and the senior school has seen its place in regional league tables from in the bottom half dozen (out of 85) to third place.

 There has been a significant improvement in examination results and a greatly increased flow of pupils to the country's catering college.

We are back to The Gambia in January, equipped with funds, generously donated by our supporters (including the money in lieu of your Christmas card!) and we have plans. 

We will:

• Continue our annual donation of school stationery to all pupils at each school.

• Pay for the refurbishment of the (currently out-of-commission) sick room in the primary school - many of whose pupils are often struck by bouts of malaria.

• Completely cleanse, insect-proof and refurb. the library in the primary school, which is currently out of use due to significant termite infection.

• Provide solar panel power to drive the well pump (and only source of water) at the Lower Basic school.

• After discussions with the senior school head teacher, make a significant contribution towards improving one specific curriculum area (this may be agricultural tools, or equipment and materials for the craft workshops).

• Continue to pay all costs associated with the pupils our supporters sponsor and provide hardship (often medical) support to pupils with particular or special needs.

• Continue to support a small income-generation mothers' project which we seed funded last year. This gives greater independence to women in the village and further assists  self-help and support mechanisms there. The kind of sustainability it offers is the only real long-term future for the alleviation of third world poverty.

Thank you for reading this. If you'd like to support our charity further, you can do so via the channels listed above.

We, and we know, the pupils in Sohm, thank you for your support and forbearance and wish you and your family 'season's greetings' and all the best for 2016.

Sandra  and  John

Fund raising Jumble Trail - September 2015

A new wave of imaginative fund raising is getting a grip of great chunks of England, at these days - Jumble Trails. These are a combination of yard and car boot sales, where, through a bit of co-ordinated effort, neighbours in a locality arrange to have yard sales, simultaneously.

Our are had one on Sunday - when over 100 houses in a small part of our neighbourhood in Forest Gate held one of these events.  We asked for donations of unwanted items from friends and relatives and set our stalls out in a couple of local front gardens/drives.

Some of the goodies on offer, complete
 with bunting, on our drive in Forest Gate

It was great fun, as hundreds of people enjoyed a pleasant sunny day by wandering around their area, chatting to neighbours and snapping up bargains.

Gambian flag on show, indicating
 where all money raised would go

We were delighted to raise over £350 (including Gift Aid) from the day, and cleared a bit of much needed space in a few friends' houses!

No reasonable offer rejected
 for the many items on offer

Attached are some pictures - showing all the fun of the Jumble!

A big mention to Sarah Baylis for the donation of a number of teddy bears, which were snapped up by doting grand parents and other charity organisers, with an eye to great prizes for future raffles.

Sandra and John with some of the
 teddy bears, donated by former
 work colleague, Sarah Baylis

The money we raised will enable us to ensure we can provide most of the stationery needs of either the Lower Basic of Senior Secondary school, when we next visit The Gambia, hopefully in January next year.

Thanks to everyone who donated items for sale, and to those who purchased them!

End of Year Report

Pupils at the two Sohm schools, like those in Britain, are now enjoying their summer break.

We have reported previously (see blogs below) on the very considerable progress we feel we made with the schools, with our brief visit earlier this year.

In this newsletter, we present a couple of reports from the two school heads, on the impact of the charity - and implicitly - you, the supporters, have made.

The Gambia doesn't get favourable press coverage in the West, largely because of the controversial behaviour of its president, and because it sits in West Africa - the region blighted by Ebola, earlier this year.

Our view is that, regardless of the president's activities, children in remote rural villages still deserve the best educational opportunities possible. In this blog, we provide some academic evidence to explain why this is important.

As for Ebola. There have been more cases recorded in Britain than there have in The Gambia, which is almost 500 miles from the nearest outbreak.

Unfortunately, the tourist trade took an estimated 40% hit this year, which further depressed conditions for the population of this small, poor African, tourist-dependent nation.

Senior Secondary school

We delivered a large number of computers and related ICT equipment to the senior school in January. We have had a couple of brief messages from Mohammed Jawara, the ICT teacher, and the school's principal, on their impact:

"All the items given to Sohm Schools came at the right time (just as electricity was being connected to the school) and are really helping a lot. All thanks to you and all the donors."

2015 consignment, gratefully received,
 and put to good use, by the secondary school

Ismaila Sambou, the school's principal has written:

"On behalf of the parents and teachers of my school, I would like to thank you for the unselfish and untiring effort that you have tasked yourself to help our schools achieve quality education."

In his end of year letter to us, he said:

"I write to inform you that we conducted our national and international examinations (grades 8, 9 and 12) successfully, due to your wonderful support."

"This year's food and nutrition practical was good. The examiner could not hide the improvement she observed on the ground (we fully re-equipped the teaching classroom this spring). She commended the school for the provision of most of the utensils."

"We had our Speech and Prize Giving Ceremony on 13 June. The stationery that you gave to us were partly used as prizes."

Mohammed Jawara, ICT teacher with
 some of his pupils and their computers

Lower Basic school

Our biggest single intervention this year was to pay almost £1,000 to the Lower Basic (primary) school for its electrification and that of the adjacent staff quarters.

Few things happen quickly in The Gambia, so we were delighted to receive a lengthy report from Malamin Gibba, the new head. He was able to report that the project was completed on 29 May - and he enclosed all the receipts, as evidence!

He detailed what this sum of money enabled:

"We have two (electricity) meters, one for the staff quarters and the other for the classrooms and the office. In addition to these, the library, kitchen complex and the three stores are all wired. Every room has a lighting system and sockets for appliances. All the staff quarters, the two bathrooms and a kitchen are also fitted with lighting systems.

Lower Basic school classrooms, now
 with added electricity - lighting and power sockets!

All rooms in the quarters have lighting systems and sockets. There are outside lamps in both the quarters and the classrooms."

We were also able to donate a small amount of ICT equipment to the school, for which Malamin expressed his gratitude, saying that it would mean that:

"We would have most of our (related) works due in the schools, rather than going elsewhere."

He continued: "Needless to say, John we are still enjoying the stationery you gave us and the bicycles are still in good working order. The second-hand clothes were shared among the pupils. There weren't any problems during the process of sharing."

"On behalf of the school administration, the School Management Committee, teachers, parents and pupils of the Lower Basic school, and on my own behalf, I wish to thank you for all the support you are giving us, in our schools."

Bikes - still in good hands

Why bother?

Was it Mao, or Confucius, who said "Give a hungry man a fish and he'll be hungry tomorrow. Give him a fishing rod, and he'll never starve, again"?

Education is, perhaps, the largest metaphorical fishing rod at society's disposal today. Evidence to support the view and academic support for the case can often be thin on the ground of what is sometimes simply instinct or intuition.

A relatively recently published academic tome: "State and Society in The Gambia since Independence - 1965 -2012", ed. Aboulaye Saine et al, provides some pretty convincing evidence.

It is fairly technically and densely written, but a few bullet points, drawn from it, establish the case fairly well:

• ·         Only 42% of Gambians had received any education by the time of independence, in 1965. And typically, it was only for one year, of primary school!
• ·         Figures improved gradually over the next twenty years, in percentages and length of stay terms
• ·         Latest figures (2007) suggests 65% of the current population have attended a Lower Basic school, 36%, an Upper Basic (middle) school, and 21% a Senior Secondary school.
• ·         Fees, although small, stopped further growth of these numbers. Fortunately, they are now being phased out. Our sponsors, however, are still assisting some, for whom fees are still payable (mainly the older pupils).
• ·         There has been a closing of the gender gap, over the most recent decade, so that attendance figures for girls is now almost identical to that of boys.
• ·         There is a strong link between maternal education, and good child health.
• ·         There is a clear link between improved education levels and falling birth rates.
• ·         There is a clear association between better education and agricultural production - the ONLY industry in Sohm.



Some of the students that Sohm School
 Support's donors are sponsoring

• ·         The biggest determinants of good staying-on rates of pupils is high quality staff and better resourced schools (to both of which we are contributing).

• ·         Significantly: those with only one year's primary education make on average 21% more income than people who haven't been to school, in The Gambia. That figure rises to 63% for those who have completed Lower Basic education, 72% for those who have had ANY secondary education and 84% for those who have completed Senior Secondary education.

With the educational fishing rod we are helping to provide to Sohm, we are confident that, if replicated elsewhere, The Gambia, as a whole, will become better educated, more politically sophisticated and self sufficient, for the future.

Finally

Regrettably, we are no longer able to access free container space to take supplies to The Gambia. Our previous provider has ceased to offer the service. We have been unable to source an alternative low/no cost transporter.

Unfortunately, our last consignment,
 via a container, to Sohm

This means that we will no longer be able to take donations of books, second hand clothes, computer and scientific equipment to end to Sohm.  This is a great pity.

It means that we are more dependent on cash donations, than ever - so that we can source gifts-in-kind for the schools in The Gambia.

Your donations will be gratefully received.  As you can see, from the above, we are confident that every £ donated makes a real and tangible difference to young African lives.

April 2015 newsletter - Generous donations from our supporters

This year we were able to take an unprecedented 55 boxes and crates of donations to our Sohm schools, via container space kindly provided, free of charge, by our good friends at Football Gambia.

The logistics were difficult and time-consuming. But the results were spectacular, and incredibly well received, as we will describe, below.
The photo of the loaded truck gives an indication of some of the transport challenges we were presented with in getting the donations to the Sohm schools!

Bikes on top of the pile, of goods
 from London to Sohm!

But, HUGE thanks from the very grateful Sohm recipients to each of the following

Little Heath School, Redbridge

They donated 30 good-order computers (desk tops and laptops), that they were upgrading, together with a number of keyboards, mice (mouses?), and desktop printers. We paid to have them overhauled and cleaned up and to have a modern Windows Office suite installed on each of them, and provided ink supplies and back-ups for the printers.

Students expressing gratitude for generous
 PC and printers' donation from Little Heath

The vast majority have gone to the Senior Secondary school (with a small number going to the Lower Basic -primary - school).

PCs being delivered

 to computer room at

 Senior school

And, laptops 

being fired up

Eastlea Community School, Newham

Donated a range of redundant/surplus school science equipment (microscopes, electrical testers etc) and maths and English text books, together with a range of school library books and an assortment of dictionaries.

These have been distributed between the two schools and are greatly appreciated.

Science equipment being eagerly
 inspected by Sohm's head of science

The senior school had NO science equipment until we made a small donation last year - relying solely on book- learning to understand the principles of science! The Lower Basic (primary) school has no complete sets of textbooks in ANY subject, for class use. The donation of English and maths books will be a great boost to encouraging the youngsters to work on their own, and negotiate their way around text books.  Key learning skills!

Much-needed books, gratefully
 received by the Lower Basic school

It is so easy for schools and others in the UK to discard what we regard as out-of-date materials and consign them to dustbins - but they can offer such benefit in remote communities in developing countries. And are massively appreciated by people who do not benefit from Western wealth.

Newham Woodcraft Folk - hands across the seas

Newham Woodcraft is currently celebrating its 80th anniversary, and are embarking on "80 Greats" (or initiatives)to commemorate the achievement. The pupils of Sohm's Schools have been the beneficiaries of one of these.

Inspired by the imagination and generosity of group leader, "Bill" Bremner, Newham's "Woodies" donated and restored seven bikes for the use of the Sohm schools and their students (see them being transported in the photo, above!). 

Woodies' bike donation, well received

These are highly prized and sought-after, and can each massively reduce the travel-to-study time of many pupils currently walking and hour each way in searing heat, from remote villages to get to their local school.

One of the bikes has been given as a "staff bike" to the Lower Basic school, which will be used for contacting parents swiftly, when their children fall ill, or have difficulties at school. The others will go to those pupils with the furthest travel-to-school journeys at the Senior Secondary school.

School caretaker can't believe
 his luck, with the boots!

Additionally, Woodcraft, themselves were recently given 25 pairs of good condition, second hand, hiking boots. These were surplus to their own needs and requirements, so were sent to Sohm. They have been welcomed as if they were gold-dust, being highly prized for confronting the floods in the very rainy summer season.

Boots and dictionaries ready for distribution

We look forward to delivering more surplus equipment and stock in future years - but there are big questions over our ability to access free/low cost transport for the future. We will keep plugging away to find the ways and means, if our generous donors can continue to extend their generosity.

So, a huge thanks to our supporters, above, for their material donations. The cash donations given by many others, too many to mention here, have enabled us to pay for customising the ICT equipment, and funding the other projects we have considered on this blog over recent months.