Gambia is a very poor country, most people live without clean water, sanitation & sewage treatment, the few people that can afford electricity often find that it is very irregular when it is working. Jobs are under paid, a 'good' salary in Gambia for an unskilled worker is $85, cost of living (rent + rice) is about €83, so as you can see, there is very little left to buy clothes, vegtables, meat/fish, send children to school (soon to read charges <£1 per child per month), or for any of the luxuries we take for granted here in the west!
Staff are considered expenable in Gambia, due to the massive demand for jobs, workers are frequently laid off for making complaints about the way they are treated, its not uncommon for staff not to be paid, a recent example, when staff at Jerma Beach Hotel complained about not being paid for 2 weeks, they recieved an instant 20% pay cut, and one staff member was dismissed for complaining! Jerma Beach is a 4* hotel, one nights room rental in their lowest rate room is equivilant to 1 months pay for staff.
Most staff that we met, and went to their homes live in complete poverty, many struggle to feed their families even basic meals of rice, I'm not sure I would smile the way they do, having to come home from a 4* hotel, having worked my arse off all day catering to every whim of the people staying their, in luxury, to have to go back to a home with no water, no electricity, no food, not even glass in the 'windows' to keep the mosquitos out....it was a sad and harsh experience walking around the compounds these people live in :isad:
So back to the School, Soon to Read is in desprate need of sponsership, which we are going to do for them, but a more urgent matter has arisen, the day we where due to leave Gambia, the School was forced out of the premesis by the Land Lord, which in any case was in a dire state, their toilet was a hole in the ground, which stank, and gave no privacy at all, and now urgently needs to find a new premisis, we need to raise £250 so they can rent a new building, so the childrens eductation will not suffer.
Once we have helped them secure a premisis, Misztifiedmind (my record label) will be running events this year to sponser the redevelopment of the School, this will include clean toilets, solar power electricity, books, paper and writing equipment. Aswell as enabling Staff to be paid for the first time in months!
It will cost about £1000 to fully renovate the school, and we hope to raise this thru several events thru the year, including a licenced outdoor event in August, but right now we urgently need to raise the £250 to get the schools new premisis!
It is our intention to promote sustainable energy within the school, and understanding of why we need to look after our enviroment, Gambia is at a crossroads now, and it would be all to easy for them to go down the road we went a few hundred years ago, and have no regard for their enviroment, but we can help change this by promoting sustainable and conscious living amongst the next generation! As it is now, Gambians are not very enviromentally aware, there is rubbish all over the place, and many water ways are clogged with rubbish, the government has little interest in things like this, and is unlikly to change (its a military islamic government, since the coop a few years ago)
If we can raise enough, we would like to provide a few computers for the school aswell, with access to the internet, hopefully powered by Solar Power, as its sunny most days in Gambia!
Thanks for reading!
Please help! any donations you can offer gratefully accepted! Even if its just a few pounds! Donations can be made via Paypal to donations@misztikal.com
Some pics...
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Some of the children at the school...
The toilet...
The main classroom...
This is their 'library'
We will be visiting the school later in the year, to help with the rennovations, and see how things are progressing.
Peace, Love & Emapthy
John
