The end of the line

This will be the final newsletter from Sohm Schools Support as we wind down the charity and suggest to our donors that they stop giving to us. We have a healthy bank balance, which we will continue to use over the next 3-4 years to support some of our principal functions and areas of assistance.

We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to all who have supported us during the 13 years of our operation. We are immensely proud of the outcomes and owe much of our success to your unwavering support. We are deeply grateful to you all for helping us improve the lives of thousands of young people in The Gambia.

Pupils at the Lower Basic school expressing their appreciation for the work and donations supplied via SSS

We have not visited the country for almost three years, and although we still have good friends and contacts and healthy relationships with individuals and institutions there, we sense that we have all moved on.

We understand that circumstances change, and we respect the decisions of our colleagues and supporters. Over the last twelve months, our key contacts in the schools and regional education office have moved to new jobs elsewhere, our critical European partner, Jersey Gambia Schools Trust, is winding down, one of our key UK supporters has died, and the circumstances of another have changed significantly, reducing the financial support they can offer.

Circumstances have coalesced to make a wind-down the most sensible option. For the future, and with our residual funds, we will continue with our stationery donations for Sohm Lower Basic school and support First Aid 4 Gambia – a fantastic small UK charity that offers first aid training, equipment, and supplies to the school (thus providing the only real and permanent medical facility in the village). We will also offer financial assistance to educate the children of two families we have supported for 14 years.

One of those families is desperately poor, and we began by providing the funds to send their then seven-year-old daughter to school. Because of their poverty, she had never been to school but is now on the brink of going to nursing college. Her younger sister is an outstanding talent and is regularly top or second in class at the best state school in the country. Our help to these two young women/girls will make a massive difference to their and their families' lives.

The second family we support are the children of the man who was the backbone of all we did in the Gambia – Lamin Saidy. He was a modest but very focused and professional teacher when we first met and delivered on the ground; with the funds we supplied, almost all the achievements we list below. He is now an outstanding head at the country’s largest primary school, supervising several nursery schools. He is an exceptional asset to the Gambian education service, and we have been delighted to support two of his children through teacher training college, where they have continued his mission.

We are proud to assist both families.

Thirteen years of achievement

Many of you will have watched our story over the years, but what follows is a summary of what the support you have offered has enabled.

·         We have raised around £100,000, which has largely been spent on the structural improvements of three schools: Sohm Lower Basic (primary), Sohm Senior Secondary, and Sukuta Lower Basic.

·         The money has come from many sources, the most significant of which has been Rotary International. It has provided over a third of what we have raised and contributed significantly to our most ambitious project (see below).

·         Gift Aid has been significant and probably accounts for another £12,000 of our income over the years.

·         Derwentwater School in Acton and Beech Hill Community School in Luton have both “twinned” with Sohm Lower Basic School and raised around £15,000 via “Gambia Days” for the school. Sandra’s daughter, Natalie, taught at the first and is deputy head at the second. She was instrumental in gaining her schools’ support for this fundraising. Some years ago, she also gave up some holiday time with a colleague to do some teacher training for the staff in Sohm. We are very grateful for her help with SSS.

"Gambia days" in Acton and Luton raised £15,00 to support Sohm schools and brought "twinning" between the UK schools and the Gambian ones, to the benefit of all pupils at the schools

·         We have held garden parties, auctions (including tickets for gigs like Bruce Springsteen concerts and golfing days), and other fund-raising events. A couple of friends (Elin and Paul) had a collection for the charity at their wedding, and friends and family of another—Brian Bamford—made generous donations as a tribute to him, in lieu of flowers, etc., when he died a couple of years ago.

·         As many as 40 people sponsored individual students in the charity's early days when all Gambian children had to pay school fees. Each sponsor received annual school reports and letters of thanks from the students. Once school fees were abolished in the country, funds were directed elsewhere within the schools.

·         Working with other organisations inside and outside The Gambia has been crucial. We have worked very closely and collaboratively with regional directors of education to mutual benefit and the significant advantage of the schools we have supported. We established an essential and productive relationship with the third-sector Swedish/Gambian construction company Future in Our Hands, which delivered on all the construction projects detailed below. They worked on time, to spec, and on budget—which was hugely important when we were trying to direct activity from 3,000 miles away.

Sohm pupils wearing football kit donated to SSS by Football Gambia and Kit Aid

·         Key UK charities have been significant, too. The Jersey Gambia Schools Trust and First Aid 4 Gambia have already been mentioned, but Football Gambia and Kit Aid have also been important. The former provided free container space for us to get materials and donations to the country from the UK over many years, and the latter supplied over 100 football kits that were very gratefully received by schools and students alike.

·         We received generous donations of computers (over 70) and related equipment, including printers, scanners, and memory sticks (over 200), from supporters and over 2,000 surplus books and laboratory equipment from schools as they restocked at the end of their academic years. All of which were received with delight and enthusiasm. Over thirty bikes and surplus hiking and camping equipment from Woodcraft Folk were given.

Generous donations of bikes, computers, books etc being transported from container space provided by Football Gambia to Sohm

·         All the direct support to the schools and their pupils listed below was delivered in response to requests for that support from the schools’ senior staff.

·         We supplied new textbooks in every subject so that all pupils could take advantage of them at Sohm Senior Secondary school and stationery every year to both it and the Lower Basic school.

Some of the stationery we supply to Sohm Lower Basic school each year

·         For several years, we paid for an annual trip to the (small) country’s significant points of interest for primary school leavers. This was the first time many of them had left their village.

·         We have been able to support the Lower Basic school with printing needs to support mock exams and pay for 2-hour homework clubs each week for children who cannot work in peace at home. Similarly, for several years, we paid to enable remedial classes in English and maths to be delivered for pupils facing public examinations at the senior school.

Sohm pupils winning national school cookery contest, after receiving kitchen equipment supplied by SSS

·         We paid for the re-equipment of the domestic science rooms in the senior school, and the next year, it won prizes in national schools’ cooking competitions!

·         We bought the Lower Basic school’s first TV and projector and were able to
supply the school with several relevant educational DVDs.

Children watching the school's first TV (supplied by SSS), on furniture in a classroom all renovated by SSS

·         We undertook significant structural repairs in the Lower Basic School, so over the course of four years, all classrooms were significantly repaired, redecorated, and refurbished furniture supplied.

·         We replaced unhygienic toilet blocks in both the Sohm Lower Basic and Senior Secondary schools and added standpipes with running water in key points within the grounds.

·         During the COVID epidemic, we provided the school with many face masks, hand gel, and face visors, which enabled the school to function through most of the period.

Masks, visors and hand gel provided during COVID, to help school continue to function. No fatalities or serious cases recorded in the schools

·         We paid for the introduction of electricity for the Lower Basic school and the teachers’ accommodation and, for a while, paid the electricity running costs. We refurbished the dilapidated teachers' accommodation.

·         We rebuilt and furnished the sick room at the Lower Basic school and rescued the library from termite infestation, restoring it to an active working area for pupils.

·         In our largest project at the Lower Basic school, we replaced the dangerous and abandoned school dining hall with a brand new, £25,000 multi-purpose school/community hall used for dining, sports, assemblies, meetings, and community events.

A school assembly in the new hall, build and paid for by SSS, with pupils sitting on chairs paid for by sponsors' donations

·         These interventions in Sohm have, cumulatively, enabled the Lower Basic school to rise from the bottom of regional Ofsted-type tables in the country to the top.

·         Based on the successes above, the regional education director asked us to lead a joint SSS/Rotary International project at a 2,000-pupil Lower Basic school in Sekuta. We completely revamped the school at a cost of around £45,000. It was our biggest-ever project, which was completed successfully in 2022. This brought new toilets, a better water system, a new sick room, an expanded computer suite, a hygienic food serving area, and an infestation-free library to the school.

Expanded computer suite and hardware supplied by SSS

·         Our efforts in fund-raising and on-the-ground delivery in Gambian schools have been featured in over 20 news reports in The Gambia and the UK, including on Gambian TV and the online versions of the UK’s Guardian and Mail-On-Line.

An example of some of the press SSS has generated. This from the Luton Herald

We have not visited The Gambia since the Sukuta project was signed off, but now we feel that we can manage our smaller range of commitments in the schools we support fairly readily from England. Therefore, we will continue arms-length support for the schools and are unlikely to visit the country again.

An appropriate time to wind down.

Thank you for your attention to the above, which is not sent as a self-congratulatory eulogy but as a statement of thanks for all you have helped us do and a reminder that small projects can make significant differences.

 

John and Sandra

Schools' out for summer!

As schools break up for the summer holidays in The Gambia and Britain, its time to reflect back on another successful year of fund-raising in the UK and beyond, and of progress in the schools in Sohm.

Beech Hill community primary school, in Luton, has been twinned with the Sohm Lower Basic school for around five years now, and in the past their pupils have exchanged letters and artwork, as they share common interests and swapped stories of each others' lives.

Sohm Lower Basic pupils, demonstrating their twinning with Beech Hill school

In the last week of the summer term, Beech Hill held one of their now annual "Gambia Days", where pupils went to school dressed in the colours of the Gambian flag. After assemblies lead by Sandra and John from SSS on life in the village of Sohm and what has happened to previous years' donations from Beech Hill to Sohm, the Luton youngsters embarked on a day of classroom activities - focussing on life in The Gambia.

Above and below - Beech Hill pupils displaying some of their project work on "Gambia Day"

 

 

There was story telling, art classes, dancing, geography lessons, sessions painting Gambian flags and African masks and a drumming workshop, lead by a local Ghanaian drummer.

Drumming workshop at Beech Hill school's Gambia Day, July 2023

The day ended with a sale, in the school playground, of food cooked by some of the parents and sold to others, as they came to pick up their childrern from school.

In total, over £1,500 was raised on the day, including Gift Aid.  That sum will be more than enough to buy the entire stationery supply for pupils and teachers alike, in Sohm over the next 12 months.  Fund-raising like this greatly enhances the educational opportunities the Sohm youngsters have, and has had the effect of propelling the school up the local league tables, to become an exemplar for rural schools in the region.

Earlier during the year, Sohm Lower Basic school celebrated a long-time supporter of the school (via SSS) and its library, by naming the library after him- The Brain Bamford Library - after his death.  Brian's family chose not to have flowers or donations at his funeral, but instead donated the collection to Sohm Lower Basic school, to be spent on books for the school - his life long passion. Later, a close friend of Brian arranged a fund raisng "Mad Hatter's Tea Party", in his memory with funds going to Sohm, in Australia! Thanks, to one and all from the pupils of Sohm!

The Brian Bamford library - Sohm Lower Basic school

The photos show Sohm's pupils gratefully receiving the results of these donations, in bulk, and in the classroom.

Above and below - stationery supplies for a whole year - made possible by the donations

The largest project currently up and running in the village is the construction of staff quarters for around three dozen teachers from both the primary and secondary school in the village. In the past we have tried to renovate the frankly deplorable staff living quarters.  But their still poor state had become a staff recruitment issue, as potentail teachers have been unwilling to take up jobs in a fairly remote village with pretty dreadful accommodation..

About a year ago we worked up plans with the Gambian Ministry of Education, the head teachers of the two schools in Sohm and a contractor we had successfully worked with on major projects before, to build new accommodation for 36 teachers in premises that was owned by the Ministry of Education, in the village, and set about trying to find a sponsor.

We were absolutely delighted when our friends from Jersey - the Jersey Gambia Schools Trust - were able to find a very generous benefactor, whose funding was matched by that from the Jersey government and work began on the construction of the new housing units.

Building is currently at a very advanced stage of development, and hopefully teachers from both the primary and secondary schools will be able to move in before Christmas.

New teachers' accommodation in the village of Sohm, under construction

The result will make teaching in Sohm a more welcoming prospect for would-be recruits, who will find - as a result of the efforts of supporters of this charity - a relatively well resourced couple of schools in which to work.

We've been involved with Sohm for twelve years now, and the turnaround in conditions in the schools and standards of teaching, and now accommodation have been quite remarkable and been shown in improvements in educational achievements in the village.

This would not have been possible without the generosity of supporters of our charity.

We thank you all - and join the pupils in the schools in wishing you a great summer!

We'll be back, looking for further advances in Sohm's schools in the autumn term!

Signing off the Sukuta project (2)

This is the second of two articles signifying the successful conclusion of our Sukuta Project. The first immediately precedes it, on this blog

We have feautured the project frequently over the last three years in words and pictures. This episode is aimed at showing, mainly in picture form, the difference your - and Rotary's - money has made to the 2,000 children attending the school.

On International Women's Day 2022, the then head of Sukuta LBS (Mariam Mendy, dressed in white, second from left), the CEO of contractors Future In Our Hands (Jainaba Sarr, dressed in orange, second from right), together with then President of Brusubi Rotary club (Omar Jallow, far left) and John Walker, representing Sohm Schools Support and Redbridge Rotary (far right) sign contract for FIOH to deliver the Sukuta project.

 

 

There were seven aspects to the project. Below, adopting a before and after approach, we present a photographic essay of the differene our Sukuta project has made to a large number of young African lives, now and for many years into the future.

Water Supply

Before: one water tank for 2,000 pupils

 

After (1): second water tank ready for installation

 

After (2): second water tank in place

Doubling the water capacity of the water supply enables much more hygenic practice and cleanliness around the school.

Standpipes

Before: There was only one water standpipe for 2,000 children to wash their hands (including after toilet and before food) in the entire school.

After (1): one of the ten new standpipes installed in the school

After (2): another of the ten new standpipes installed in the school

After (3): yet another of the ten new standpipes

Toilets

Before (1 and 2): Old toilets, before the project

Under construction: The new toilets

After (1 and 2): running water in new hygenic toilets, for the first time

Library

Before (above and below): Old library suffering from termite damage and unusable

 

After (above and below): newly reconstructed library, termite free and fit for use. The building is waiting for Brusubi Rotary Club to provide the promised furniture, and then it will be up and running and a fabulous facility for 2,000 pupils

Sick room

Before: No sick room in the school; a space identified to construct one

After: The sick room built.The building is waiting for Brusubi Rotary Club to provide the promised furniture, so that it can become a first aid and medical centre for the 2,000 pupils.

Computer room

Before: too small, unfit for purpose and unable to offer space for all the pupils

After (above and below): greatly expanded facility, with air-con, in which all pupils can receive ICT lessons

Vendors stalls

Before: The hot, unhygenic place where local women sold school lunches to the 2,000 pupils at the school

After (1 and2)- above and below: the new clean, hygenic building created for local traders to sell lunches to the school's children

After (3 and4)- above and below: traders setting up, and children using the new school meals facility

 Signed, sealed, but not fully delivered - yet

 

A year ago Redbridge Rotary (with significant SSS backing) and Rotary International provided the money for the completion of the Sukuta project. Under the terms of the agreement, Brusubi Rotary club were entrusted to supervise its delivery. Contractor, Future In Our Hands, went beyond expectations in executing the contract to price, despite building supply price inflation.

 

The completion of the project was hailed on Gambian TV and Brusubi Rotary club, via current president, Alpha Jallow, was happy to take credit for the delivery of this carefully constructed and delicately financed project.

It has been a great success, and SSS supporters and Rotarians, world-wide are to be thanked and praised for their generosity in ensuring that.

All that is needed now is for Brusubi Rotary club to put its money where its mouth is (to the tune of less than $1,000 US) and deliver on the promises it made to Gambian TV and furnish the library and sick room. That simple, low cost, pain-free gesture will ensure that 2,000 young Gambians will benefit from everyone else's efforts. 

 

It will also illustrate that Rotary values are extended to and be displayed by Gambian Rotarians too. Service before self-service. Charity before vanity.

 

The four photos, above and below, are of Brusubi Rotary President, Alpha Jallow taking credit for the delivery of the project. Now let the club deliver on its promises.