Supporting Brikama School

NTBS and NCA have been supporting the Brikama Lower Basic School since 1994 when Spencer and Jean began taking basic but much needed materials such as pens and paper.

Brikama School has 2500 pupils aged between 7 and 13, working on a double shift system; that is 1200 pupils attend at a time on rotas which split the day.

With the help of Newark Castle Rotary Club, Albert Houston and Jacksons Building Centres, furniture has been provided for three classrooms so far. The furniture was manufactured locally, therefore also assisting the local economy.

The New Furnature in Use '..the Staff and pupils of the school and the entire PTA wish to register our deep gratitude and appreciation to all your friends and ours who have kindly and generously contributed..'

Amadou M. Jallow, Headmaster

In The Gambia, education is a high priority in order that the country may develop in the future. Even so, many families can only afford to send the eldest son to school, although there are signs that this is changing; evidence of a small increase in general wealth. Brikama School has two thousand five hundred pupils aged between seven and thirteen years. After leaving, the pupils go on to a higher school for about three years. The School works on a double shift system; that is, twelve hundred pupils attend at a time on rotas which split the day.

Jean and Spencer

Over the last ten years, Jean and Spencer have been taking to the school much needed but basic materials such as pens and paper. When John Barker of Newark Castle Rotary Club first visited three years ago, he asked the head teacher what was their greatest need. They discussed the poor repair of the buildings but also the furniture. At any one time, twelve hundred bottoms need seats and desks to sit at, but there were only proper seats for one hundred and sixty. The children were carrying orange boxes to school every day, as makeshift chairs. John reported to the International Committee: they had their project! The Rotary Club would provide furniture. Various options were considered: send flat-pack or source in Africa? John contacted the head teacher again and it was agreed that the best furniture would be metal framed and built in The Gambia, thereby saving transport costs but also assisting the local economy.

The Country

The Gambia is the smallest independent state in Africa, positioned on the western coast of that continent. It is only three hundred miles long and between fifteen and thirty miles wide. Like the pith of a tree, the River Gambia flows through the centre and the country is alongside each bank. The Gambia has the sea on one border and the rest is surrounded by Senegal. The population is around one and a half million with one hundred thousand residing in the capital, Banjul. The main language is English and, although the population is divided into eight ethnic groups, the area has been free of political and tribal strife since the very young president took over in a coup in 1994. The president is only thirty-six years old today. Banjul is the lifeblood of the country. It stands on an island and is a deep water port. There are more imports than exports and the latter are mainly rice, maize, cotton and peanuts (for the manufacture of soap). Life expectancy is low compared with our own. For males it is forty-five years and for females forty-nine years. Unemployment is high, with farming and fishing being the main activities. However, tourism is a growing industry, based on prolonged winter sunshine and good beaches, restaurants and hotels. The flora and fauna are superb and it is a bird watchers' paradise.

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