I am fortunate enough to be living in the rural village of Keneba in the West Kiang region of The Gambia. The Gambia is one of the poorest countries in West Africa and whilst the coastal area has a popular tourist area, upcountry, away from the coast, the extent of poverty is clear. Poverty, malnutrition, lack of health and education facilities here are a reality and growing up in Keneba is far removed from my experience of growing up in Godmanchester.

Living in Keneba village, amongst various projects, I have become involved with the local secondary school. Keneba Upper Basic school opened about 6 years ago with 100 pupils between the ages of 12 and 16. There are now 338 pupils in the school who are using the remaining textbooks in the core
subjects of Maths, English and Sciences. The existing books are loaned out to pupils on receipt of D150 per year (approx £3) but there are clearly
insufficient books for all the pupils and those that remain are now of poor quality and pupils can ill afford the rental costs. My aim is to obtain new textbooks, published in the Gambia and specific to the syllabus, to meet the schools immediate and basic requirements and, if possible, to provide additional supplementary educational materials to assist the childrens learning. Improving access and means to education is a basic, and fundamental means of assisting development in one of the poorest countries in West Africa and provision of textbooks a simple means of
assisting and supporting the children.

This project is one of a number of projects undertaken in conjunction with the West Kiang Villages Development Fund, a UK registered charity.

For any further information or donations towards this project please contact Liz Stokes on 01480 454277 or Lizstokes74@hotmail.com