Contact Strode CollegeThe Gambia Project
The Strode College Gambia Project is now entering its sixth successful year with excellent progress being made with the building of the Youth Centre/Internet Café in the Gambian village of Tujereng. Tujereng is a poor village where there would usually be little or no chance of being able to afford a project of this kind. Unemployment is very high and the average income for those lucky enough to be employed is less than 50 pence a day.
The Project started in 2005 when Lorraine Smart approached the Alkalow [Head] of Tujereng village to ask what Strode College could do to support the young people of the village. The Alkalow arranged a meeting with the young people in the village who were unanimous in wanting a Youth Centre with an Internet Café and a hard court for Basketball and Volleyball. The land for the Youth Centre was subsequently donated by the Alkalow and College staff and students commenced fundraising efforts to raise the money needed. The Youth Centre building and hard court are now complete, and running water and electricity have been installed. A photocopier, printer and scanner have been purchased. 5 new computers have been installed along with a high speed internet connector. A refrigerator and cooking facilities have also been purchased for the kitchen. The Internet Café will officially open on April 1st 2011.
To date the Project has cost approximately £25,000 and a further £7,000 needs to be raised to cover the cost of a perimeter wall and the installation of a further 5 new computers. One hundred percent of the money raised goes to the project - there are no hidden administration costs. The Alkalow hopes the Youth Centre will eventually become a community centre used by everyone in the village for gatherings, adult literacy, numeracy classes and young women's meetings.
Since the Project started most of the money raised has been by the students through their fundraising activities such as car washing, sponsored bike rides, auctions, pub quizzes, music concerts, raffles with donated prizes by local businesses, bag packing in local supermarkets and the selling of Gambian material, bracelets and bags. Strode College staff have been very supportive of the students fundraising activities. There have also been some welcome donations by local business people.
A group of students accompanied by staff go out to the Gambia every February for 2 weeks. These visits strengthen the link we have with the village of Tujereng and offer students a valuable learning experience as they very quickly realise how fortunate they are with their material possessions and access to services and facilities that they take for granted, such as education and the Health Service. They also experience and gain an insight into a very different culture with many different beliefs and attitudes.
Students spend time with the Gambian families to gain insight and experience of a typical family day taking part in daily duties including drawing water from the well, shopping at the market and preparing meals. The students are accommodated in the Tunbung African Art Village in Tujereng, owned by a well known Gambian artist, Etu Ndow, which is modelled off a traditional African village built using traditional materials.
In February 2009 the Youth Centre was officially opened by Malang Jassy, the Gambian Government Minister for Youth and Sports. Speeches were given by the Alkalow and senior representatives from the College, Lorraine Smart [Head of Development] and Pene Prior [Deputy Principal]. In addition to the speeches the opening ceremony involved a programme of dancing, music and singing performed by local people as well as students from the College. During the ceremony the College representatives presented a village football team ‘Old Hands' with a complete Liverpool football strip donated by Liverpool Football Club. The ceremony was covered by a Gambian television crew and substantial news coverage of three and a half minutes was shown on Gambian national television the following evening. The ceremony was also covered by a number of Gambian newspapers.
The visits to The Gambia have a tendency to have a high profile for example during the first visit to The Gambia students were formally introduced to the President of The Gambia, Dr Yahya Jammeh at an official opening of an energy plant in the village of Tujereng. This was shown on Gambian national television and was covered in local newspapers.
In February 2011 the fifth group of students went out to The Gambia and during their stay they had a stimulating and enlightening programme which included visiting the Abuko Nature Reserve, reptile farm and Katchikali Sacred Crocodile Pool. They had an audience with the Imam of the village Mosque, observed the village court in action and met the village Alaklo and elders. They were taught the local tribal language Mandinka, Djembe drumming and Gambian dancing. They lived with a local village family for a day, met with the Youth Centre Committee and facilitated numeracy, literacy and art lessons with the children from the Nursery School. They went on a ‘Roots' boat trip based on Alex Haley's best selling novel visiting the village where Kunta Kinte was said to have been taken from as a slave, met with Kunta Kinte descendents and visited James Island where slaves were held in the fort before being taken across the Atlantic to America, the Caribbean and the UK.
It is expected that the project will be completed by February 2013.
For further inform please contact Bill Scott, Student Support Manager on 01458 844454 or by email: bscott@strode-college.ac.uk
