Water & Solar Power

Around 220 pupils attend this school in M’baien village. Before this trip it had no electricity, a broken water pump and no fence – which allowed cows to wander unsupervised into the playground. By UK standards, the school was unusable.

In January 2018, a group of volunteers ventured to M’Baien Lower Basic School, from Britain. Travelling from Banjul airport for five hours, they then crossed a river by ferry, before travelling a further 8km into the bush. After their lengthy journey, the volunteers spent two days working on the school, including painting six classrooms, joined by local villagers and children!

Desks and benches were repaired, and two netball posts were erected, followed by a quick series of games with the local children. ‘Duck Duck Goose’ proved to be a great favourite, and a wonderful meal was prepared by the Mothers’ Club dinner ladies.

A solar water pump was installed in the school’s well, to enable easier retrieval of water, solar power was installed in one classroom and the headmaster’s office, a wall was built to keep animals from straying into the playground, a milling machine was fitted, and a computer room was set up.  In addition, we managed to provide essential exercise books and pencils.

Headmaster Mustafa Jobarteh, said:

“Good and safe drinking water is now accessible for pupils and villagers. Children who were previously unable to attend are now returning to school because of your work, and the donation of books and pencils. The computers had educational materials pre-loaded (as there is no internet here), so the children now have access to resources which they never would have had before. We are now a hub for the whole village and the community convey their sincere appreciation, happiness and unlimited thanks for your help.”

You can help the pupils of M’baien School by helping us buy more materials for the school through our Amazon Wish list!

You can also make us your Amazon smile charity by following the steps on this page.

Alternatively, donate to us using PayPal. We can source exercise books for 10p for the school in The Gambia – so as little as 10p can make a difference!

Janta Bi x

Thank you