By Marc Sanderson, Volunteer
As we sit here putting the finishing touches to our new website (which we hope you find interesting and useful by the way), I am transported back to my first visit to The Gambia in September 2007.
Simply looking through my photographs, many of which are littered around this site, reminds me of a trip which literally altered my world in a single week.
And the thing is, it's not easy to explain why it was so life-changing. Why it was so unexpected. Why, in fact, I have struggled to put that trip into words ever since I returned.
I think what surprised me most about the trip was the sheer joy, the hope and exuberance I found in a country which I knew to be suffering from the most appalling problems and privations.
Of course we saw and heard the most heart-breaking things as we visited the schools, walked round the communities and met the children and their families. Everything I'd read and heard had at least prepared me a little for that. After all, this is one of the world's poorest countries we are talking about here, a country where people are suffering from poverty, hunger and disease every single day.
But what caught me completely off guard was the amount of smiling I saw - every single day. And the laughing. And the children playing football in the street - just like at home. And the sheer positivity of nearly everyone I met.
This was not a place full of people waiting for good things to happen - this was a place full of people doing their very best to make those good things happen.
People who needed a new nursery for the children weren't sitting around waiting for Government funding - they were out building that nursery. People who needed somewhere to live were busy building a house. Any help the AOT was able to give was just that - help. With just a little funding for materials, or perhaps to cover a few essential running costs, I was watching Gambian people working, creating and striving to make life better for themselves, their families and their friends.
I think that's why I've struggled so much to explain myself since I've been back home. I simply can't do justice to the sheer inspiration these people gave to me in just a single week.
I guess what I can say is that they continue to inspire me every single day - to approach everything with a much clearer perspective on what really matters, to approach the world with a much more positive 'can-do' (ugh word!) attitude, and to do what I can to find the few little things they need if they are to continue helping themselves towards a better life.
I can't think of anyone who deserves it more.
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