Pageant came into existence after a
holiday in The Gambia in 2001 by Ian and Pippa Howard. They met a hotel
guide who took them to the village of Bakalarr, on the north
bank of the Gambia River, to visit a school. (More about the first
visit) After their return to the UK, Ian
and Pippa began to send materials and equipment to Bakalarr school, and
Pageant was established as a UK Charity in 2002, specifically to support
education and related projects in The Gambia.
Bakalarr has been the main focus of
Pageant's activities, but we have been slowly expanding activities to
schools in other villages 'up river' and also in and around the capital
Banjul. Our projects are listed in a series of linked pages listed below,
which also includes the topic of fundraising. Without your kind donations
and innovative fundraising efforts, Pageant could achieve very little.
There are also links to these pages in the floating menu on the right.
The
spelling of Gambian place names varies, and many have entirely different
alternative names. We have used what we believe to be the most commonly
used versions. Other versions are listed as aka: Just for the record,
Banjul was once called Bathurst!
Pageant Projects and Associated Pages
Fundraising - Some of the ways
Pageant raises money - sponsored challenges, ethical gifts, fêtes,
carnivals, raffles, donations - including how schools in the UK have
raised money in innovative ways
General
Projects - Sending things to The
Gambia, visits to Gambian schools, sponsoring children, Pageant Loans,
The Artemisia Project, Tina's art project.
Pageant projects in
Bakalarr - Pageant has been helping Bakalarr Basic Cycle School
since 2001. We have helped them with classroom floors, a new
kitchen, new toilets, a boundary wall, vegetable gardens, a home
economics classroom, a multipurpose sports court and starting a nursery
class.
Pageant projects in/around Banjul -
Pageant is helping many schools in the greater Banjul area, ranging from
nursery schools to Senior Secondary Schools. We are also involved with GEPADG
in protecting the environment.
Schools
Index - We have produced an index of
Gambian (and UK) schools which Pageant is associated with. It includes
those with major projects as detailed in the Projects pages, and those
which just have sponsored pupils. The Google Maps listed below
show the exact location of many of these schools. Make sure you select the 'Satellite'
view, and in many cases you can zoom in to see the actual buildings.
Please let us know
if we have got anything wrong.
Information
Page - More information about Pageant,
and how you can help us.
The Blog
- We have many regular readers in The Gambia, both of this website and the
Pageant
News Blog. We now have a team in
The Gambia who make regular contributions to the Blog.
