Alex Odell has started a project to help the Yakanu International Nursery School in Serekunda. She is supported by an enthusiastic group who call themselves the Gambia Crew - John Dutton, Martine Foreman, Stephanie Kruger, Dom Ross, Gen Dutton and Simon Marrollo. Their plan is to to build a complete new nursery school from scratch at Yanaku. Pageant is now helping with this project.

Background

Alex visited Gambia in January 2006, mainly for a holiday, but she also squeezed in an eye-opening visit to the Yakanu Nursery School in Serekunda. Alex had read a lot about The Gambia as a country and the culture and found it fascinating. One of the things that caught her attention was the education system. Yakanu Nursery School is very basic. All of the desks, writing and reading materials have been donated, and parents must provide everything needed by their children. Three of the four teachers work for free. The headmaster Lamin Kandeh has worked at the school for 4 years, and has put every last penny he has into sustaining the education of the children living in the surrounding compounds.

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children at Yakanu Nursery	in the classroom at Yakanu

They lease their current premises, and have only eight months left before they need new premises. It took three years of fund-raising by a Dutch group to raise the money to rent the school for this long, but are unable to do any more. Lamin and his school need permanent premises.

Fundraising

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Alex has raised £2,495 from a sponsored Sky Dive and Simon raised £800 by running a marathon in Berlin. The immediate target is £5,000. The Gambia Crew will be holding an Auction and Quiz night on the 25th October at the Railway Tavern, Liverpool Street, London, and hope to raise a little more with any luck.

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Simon & Isaac with their Berlin medals	Simon cools off with champagne

November Visit

The money raised so far will go towards buying a plot of land, before making a start on the building. Alex and the Gambia Crew will be visiting The Gambia in November 2006. The plan is for all the crew members to spend time with the children, and introduce them to headmaster Lamin and to Pageant's agent Kemo. They will also meet the builders and the parents committee to discuss plans, building, money and future goals. They are also going to run an Art Class for the children and provide some colouring books and paints. They will bring back the pictures for display.

Gambia Crew's report on their November visit

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We The Gambia Crew (John Dutton, Martine Foreman, Stephanie Kruger, Dom Ross, Gen Dutton) are back from Gambia and the good news is we are in the process of purchasing some land!!

For the first few days in Gambia we spent lots of time at the school talking with the committee members and the head master about the various options in terms of plots of land. Between the six of us we ran some classes and generally spent lots of time with the children which was brilliant.

Steph K and I visited the plots of land and a technical college that has recently been built by a Dutch Charity. In the hot Gambian sun we bartered the price of the land down with a all parties present. Mapping out the land with a stick in the ground was very surreal and at the same time necessary. I don't think either of us will ever forget that moment. We were always accompanied by Kemo or Wandifa.

After much bartering we agreed the price on the land. The land is near a Technical College that Lamin the headmaster is associated with so they can use the colleges well and sanitary facilities which is a big bonus. The land will also be easy to build on.

The next day we visited the solicitor in Banjul and talked in length about the papers, who's name was on them and what kind of deposit the landlord wanted and by when. This experience again was made easier by the presence of Wandifa and Kemo.

So in theory we have done it and managed to secure the land for the Yakanu children. I hope that the land will always remain for the purpose of education and any decisions will also come through the parental committee and other community members.

Lamin expressed his thanks to us and gave us a presentation in which he said the following: "I would like to paint a picture for you of what I have in my mind so you could see how happy you have made me and the school in making our dreams real. Every day I look at the sky and pray that you would return and help us. I did not believe that you coming for us. You came and kept your promise for this I am proud of you and all your friends in the UK for helping us. Thank you and may the god almighty bless you"

The whole experience from start to finish, the fund raising, running the classes and seeing Lamin again cannot be beaten.

More Information The Gambia Crew have their own website, with more information and a lot more pictures.

Pageant is a UK Charity - Registered No 1093963

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