Great progress with the new hall

The schools have been back from the summer holidays in The Gambia for about a month and there has been significant progress in the construction of the new hall in Sohm, that so many of you have generously contributed to.

As the photos show, the shell of the building has now been completed and plastering/rendering work is continuing apace.

As we have previously mentioned, our key contact at the school, Mr Lamin Saidy has been given a significant promotion away from the school, and we wish him well. 

Great progress with the construction work

The king is dead - long live the king! We are delighted to welcome Mt Jawara, as the new head.

He is in the white cap, at the centre of the photo, above, being shown around the construction project, with which he is totally delighted.

We are hopefully that the building will be complete by December, with the official opening next January, when Sandra and I will both be present.

Meanwhile, we are moving apace in furnishing the hall, through a great contact we have made, who imports second hand furniture into The Gambia from the UK.  

He has just sourced us 24 sturdy tables, that  can be used at school meal times, then stacked and pushed to one side of the hall, when other activities are taking place. Our friend is on the look out for a further 30 or so of them to ship out.

We have previously mentioned that he had secured 125 chairs for us, which are now in The Gambia. He has sourced a further 75, which will be shipped out in time for the opening of the hall.

Our "Make a name for yourself in Africa" (see earlier posts, below), initiative has gone well.  We are delighted to say that we are now able to "name" 62 chairs, under the scheme.  But there are still about 140 chairs without a name on their back, and for just £25 a chair, you could change that!

While, generally, it is invidious to name donors or chair sponsors, we must make an exception in the case of the family of Yasmin Hussain, a member of staff at Luton's Beech Hill school which is twinned with the Lower Basic school in Sohm.

Yasmin has been an enthusiastic supporter since we first met her, two and a half years ago.  She has passed on her dedication to her two children and six nephews and nieces.  Aged between 5 and 18, the eight of them have saved their Zakat (an Islamic charity donation scheme) and donated £300 to "name" twelve chairs in the school. Their parents have been so inspired by their action that they have added a further £200 - making a total family donation of £500 to Sohm.

Yasmin Hussain's generous family, showing their
support for Sohm Lower Basic school, in action!
Left to right; Saffa (11), Ibrahim (7), Alisha
(12, Anisa (16), Esa (6), Haleema (5),
Sumaya (11) and, front Musa (5)

We really can't thank them enough, and can't wait to bring back photos from Sohm, showing some of the school's youngsters at work on the chairs the family have sponsored.