Having just left Gambia, as the rainy season and Ramadan  are fast approaching, I thought it would be a good time to briefly reflect on major events and progress made during the past 8 months.

Firstly, the nursery schools all continue to prosper and are all fully enrolled with 30 children per class. It is very rewarding to see the AOT making a major contribution to educating 360 children!

Stepping Stones children are enjoying their new football goal post/climbing frames funded by a generous donation from Rob Bagnall raised by completing the Great North Run.  Grade 3 teacher Pa is about to finish his studies at Brikama College funded by AOT.  I am delighted to report that he has been top of the class throoughout his full 3 year Early Childhood Development Course.

I was very honoured to attend the  graduation ceremoney at Independence Square in Banjul with the three teachers who competed their ECD studies last year. Taku and Bintu from Mariama Mae and Fatou Sonko from Jappineh  all looked splendid in their gowns and mortar boards. (see photo)

Mariama Mae students have enjoyed free school lunches these past few months funded by a generous vistor and from September onwards, will benefit from a regular porridge breakfast – thanks to donations raised by Ali Calvert and friends. Their playground is looking very nice with some stunning new murals painted on the outside walls by recent visitors from Gunjur Project.

A group of children from HENS (Hilary Emery Nursery School)  took part in the national marching day at Indepedence Stadium. It was clear from the songs they sang that they take great pride in their school. Janko and Natoma have nearly completed their ECD training course. Bintu made a tiny uniform for her young daughter (photo) who has “attended” school from a very young age.

Jappineh Nursery has a new the school library which was largely funded by the Jappineh Doll Studio and supplied with numerous books by AOT and a generous donation from Cheryl Lowman.

All the Lower Basic Head Teachers all report that “our” children have a BIG head start in life.

Jappineh Health Centre continues to make excellent progress. There are now two SRNs, one of whom is also a qualified midwife, and the number of patients continues to rise steadily.  In an area which is so far from any other medical facility, being able to provide skilled care, constant supply of good quality essential drugs, and laboratory and ambulance services undoubtedly saves many lives.

The community are very grateful for the ongoing financial support from KASTIA foundation.

Following a visit by Mel and Dee Bixley (who donated the funds for the ambulance) we have been able to make a major stride in improving mental health facilities in the provinces. Dee Bixley spent much of her career working at The Priory and after her visit to the Traditional Healing Facillity in Jappineh,  she wanted to improve the plight of the many menatally ill patients housed there. The Bixley's generosity has enabled us to fund a training course in psychiatric nursing, facilitate regular monthly visits from the national outreach team from Banjul and to supply many essential drugs.

We continue to donate medical supplies to the Gregs Clinic at Gunjur School where Mr Saine and his Red Cross Volunteers provide treatment for emergencies and minor illness for 1,900 students.

Recently, we have partnered with the Kartong Bird Observatory and Gunjur Project to fund a new Health Centre in Kajabang. This exciting new project links our assistance to health care of their community to an on going commitment to protect the environment at the Bolong Fenyo Reserve.

In line with our stated objectives, we are making quite an impact in both health and education!

By Kira Dalton

It is good to be back in Gambia although the weather is still unusually hot and sticky after a later than normal rainy season.

This has meant, however, that the incidence of malaria is at an all time high.
To make matters worse, there is a shortage of malaria drugs everywhere -
except, I'm pleased to say, at Jappineh Health Centre.

Last month they treated an astonishing 896 patients. Nearly double the usual number. Because of drug shortages elsewhere, patients are coming from far and wide seeking treatment and it is VERY rewarding to be able to meet their needs.

Within minutes of arriving in Jappineh on Monday, a woman came in by donkey cart and was delivered of a bouncing healthy baby girl a few minutes later. Ansumana then rushed back to out patients where two young children had been brought in.

One was nearly comatose and the other was having seizures - both because of very high fever caused by malaria. No sooner had the young patients been sponged down, put on drips and stabilised when the next batch of patients arrived. All  this in addition to the usual queue of chronic illness, minor injuries etc.

All the staff at Jappineh Health Centre do an amazing job. Adama and Wandifa seem to be on call day and night - constantly needed on the ward and in the lab.

Our newly recruited second nurse, Alhajie, has been thrown in at the deep end and very quickly proved himself as part of a great team. Even the orderlies and cleaners are having a much busier time than usual and are still managing to keep the place spotless. Their efforts have been made much easier due to our newly tiled floors for which we thank Drs. Isa and Isabella from Holland. Soon we will be using some surplus funds from their very successful Facebook Campaign (Bella Africa) to begin replacing the old, cracked and totally unsuitable double glazed windows with much more appropriate shutters and mosquito netting.

Chalo, the ambulance driver, has been rushed off his feet. He had already made two runs to Soma on Monday morning with emergency referrals but was still on standby well into the evening in case he was needed again. Fortunately, both of the young children stabilised and one was even able to go home the next day as was the proud new mum and her baby.

Our nursery schools on the coast are all looking good after their rainy season
maintenance. All are fully enrolled with the maximum 30 children per class. That in itself is quite an improvement. I recently saw 2 grade 1 classes where there are over 90 children! Their teachers face an impossible task, especially as they are not fortunate enough to have access to the facilities and equipment which our donors have made possible at HENS, Mariama Mae and Stepping Stones. Next we want to upgrade the playground facilities at Jappineh Nursery School so they too can enjoy swings, slides and other playground equipment.

To all our wonderful supporters, please do keep those donations coming. There will always be more to do here ......

By Kira Dalton

During Gill and Jonathan Evan's visit to the newly built Stepping Stones Nursery School last March, we met with the Deputy Head of the adjoining large Kunkujang Keitayah Lower Basic School which gave us free land for building our nursery.

She expressed sincere gratitude to African Oyster Trust for the wonderful
gesture but, as usual, mentioned that they still had some further pressing needs - for a chicken! After much confusion, we realised that she meant a kitchen - having a suitable building is a prerequisite in order for the whole school to benefit from supplies of free rice from the World Feeding programme.

Before they left Gambia a few days later, Gill and Jonathan agreed to make a very generous donation to enable us to fulfill this dream.

The first requirement was for the school to have a good water supply, which took some time for them to organise. Another was to obtain a detailed plan to ensure that the building meets all of the WFP criteria, which took even longer!

Finally, with everything in place, we began building on the 1st of May and have every intention of having the work completed by mid June. That will allow time to get the cooking staff on board and rice supplies in place for September.

Gill and Jonathan's generosity will ensure that over 1,000 children are able to get a regular, nourishing cooked meal at lunchtime. And, as all of the WFP research shows, this will encourage parents to keep their children in school.

Written by Jonathan Evans OBE

Seeing really is believing! 

My wife has been Company Secretary of the AOT for a few years now, and I have always been inspired by the reports I have heard and read – at second hand of course - of the projects the Trust is involved with in The Gambia. 

But it was not until Gill and I spent a week in The Gambia in February that I
fully understood just what amazing and transformational work the AOT does!

We fell in love immediately with The Gambia, a beautiful country with a majestic river, spectacular wildlife (we saw 125 species of bird in a week!), in the midst of which 1½ million people live their lives. 

Most Gambians we met seemed happy: welcoming, smiling faces greeted us  wherever we went, and even the tourist-harassing bumsters” plied their trade with a grin (most of the time).  But apart from a small and growing middle class, most Gambians live in poverty – on one scale The Gambia is the 176th poorest nation on Earth.  This is poverty in material terms: there is only a primitive basic infrastructure – water, sanitation, power, transport – and limited health and education provision, especially for small children. 

And this is where charities like the African Oyster Trust make such a difference.  We visited three of the Trust’s nursery school projects, and indeed  saw the new Stepping Stones nursery being built.

The overwhelming view we were left with is how well the Trust is being run on  the ground, with every £ donated in the UK being put to maximum value in The  Gambia. 

Thanks to Kira Dalton’s amazing energy and Fanding’s careful oversight of the projects, the cost of providing and maintaining a nursery school is remarkably low.  Measured in terms of the benefit brought to
children’s education, the payback for every £ is astonishing!

To visit one of the Trust’s nursery schools, to see and hear how the children are enjoying being taught to read and write and sing, to talk to their committed teachers, is the best form of persuasion that here is a very worthy cause.

What a celebration! 

Not only Jappineh people, but most of the surrounding villages were all standing at the main roadside to greet us as we arrived. They then sang, drummed, danced (of course I joined in) all the way to health centre. 

When we arrived there, many more people were waiting under the canopy for us. After the usual slight delay for prayers, lunch, waiting for the elders and the governor's representative to arrive, the speeches started off around 3 pm. Interspersed with more entertainment, they went on until well after 6 pm. 

From what I could understand (and some were translated fully for me) everybody is just so, so, very grateful that they finally have an ambulance at Jappineh. It was great to hear, even if the amount of praise was reaching embarassing proportions! 

As everyone was dispersing and going to look at the ambulance, a donkey cart pulled in. On it was a disabled woman, her wheelchair and 3 relatives. They had come around 5 km from a nearby village. Ansu immediately diagnosed severe anemia, possibly with heart failure and told her family she needed an immediate blood transfusion and to be on oxygen (which we can't do at Jappineh). 

Imagine the relief of everybody concerned when we told them we could whisk them all off to Soma Hospital by an ambulance which had only just arrived. And when When we phoned the next morning, she was doing fine. 

So, within a couple of hours of its arrival at Jappineh, the Mel 1 ambulance has already saved a life! To see the full story behind Mel 1, click here.

There's been plenty of progress to report over the last month on our newest project at Talinding.

The roof is already nearly done, the doors and windows are in, toilets are built and all of the classrooms have been plastered.

To find out why this project is so important to the children of Talingding, click here.

To make a donation and support this work, click here.

By Kira Dalton

On arrival at Jappineh Clinic last Friday, a young woman had just been admitted who had been gored by a bull and brought in by donkey cart (this was certainly not a minor wound - it had entered her left buttock, perforated her intestine and come out the front).

The three trainee Dutch doctors who were fortunately visiting with me immediately set to helping Anmsumana putting her on a drip and pumping her full of antibiotics and fluids as she was losing a lot of blood. As she clearly would need surgery, we then commandeered a rental car and driver and sent her, her newborn baby and mother - acccompanied by two of the doctors, to Soma. They were met by an ambulance which transferred her to Farafenni hospital. The Dutch doctor's did not rate her chances as very good.

We later learned she had been transferred to Banjul for surgery since Farafeni could not cope and had no blood supplies.

Today the Dutch doctor's report that she is recovering well at RVTH. If ever there were a case of extremely good luck this must be it. Also, it justifies exactly why we need an ambulance. Had we not all been there, she would never have made it by donkey cart!