Voluntary Work in The Gambia

VOLUNTEERING CAN BE VERY REWARDING

The Gambia is a poor country but a beautiful and peaceful one to visit.  I plan to return there again as the experience was enjoyable and fruitful.

I was at Living Children’s Academy.  The school which is connected to Church of Christ in Serrekunda, was built on swampland.  I’m told they had to put down a lot of stones to enable them to erect the building.  Being in a swampy area near a body of water this means that there is a risk of malaria especially in the evenings when the mosquitoes come out.  The area surrounding the school is one of great deprivation.  The compounds around it stretch out in a maze of sandy roads, some only wide enough for one car to drive along.  It is obvious to look at it that the housing is very poor and there is a lot of unemployment and not a great deal of money to go around.  Many of the children in the area are unschooled.  I saw many walking around, playing, doing some tasks to help parents and some even begging near the main tarmac road running through the area from Westfield.  It is a hard life!

HOUSING AS PHOTOGRAPHED FROM THE SCHOOL. 

As you can see the extended family compound in the picture has ramshackle huts you’d not want to live in.  I visited compounds where people lived in huts with dirt floors and no windows, sleeping in a shared bed or on a mat on the ground at night and sitting on home made stools. 

THE SCHOOL GOVERNORS AND MYSELF

Pictured:  Pastor Godson Echebe, Deputy Head Teacher Pierre C. Mendy, me, Evangelist Isaac K. Daye, Head Teacher Alfred Sessay, and Evangelist Alexander Ofori. 

HEAD TEACHER’S OFFICE

AS YOU CAN SEE, THE CONCRETE FLOORS IN THE CLASSROOMS ARE THE WORSE FOR WEAR