Being a Computer Science student, and needing to raise money to fund my volunteer work, I'm doing what I know best to advertise my intentions. So here is a small web page with background information on Gambia, a bit about the School im helping, and how (if you want) to donate towards my costs and the project costs.
Gambia
The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, commonly known as Gambia, is a country in Western Africa. It is the smallest country on the African continental mainland and is bordered to the north, east, and south by Senegal, and has a small coast on the Atlantic Ocean in the west. Flowing through the centre of the country and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean is the Gambia River. On 18 February 1965, The Gambia was granted independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; and joined The Commonwealth. Banjul is its capital, but the largest conurbation is Serekunda.
The country is less than 48 km wide at its widest point, with a total area of 11,300 km². Its present boundaries were defined in 1889 after an agreement between the United Kingdom and France. It is almost an enclave of Senegal, and is the smallest country on the continent of Africa.
Bakau Lower Basic School
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| Children at Bakau Lower Basic School |
The school itself is located in Bakau, just outside Banjul. The region is the largest connurbation in Gambia, known as Serekunda. From the research ive been able to do so far it's like a Gambian version of a UK city suburb, although amenities and lifestyle are somewhat different!
My involvement is that, through friends of friends, i've been lucky enough to be invited to the school, with the intent on furthering previous works completed by a team of volunteers. The school still lacks key facilties needed to enable the children to have a quality education. Bakau school has 2,000 kids on the roll. 1,000 come in the morning and 1,000 in the afternoon. It has very limited facilities which over the past 4 years the team has been endeavouring to improve. To date we have installed a library, and flown out a container of books, re-furbished a number of classrooms, repaired enough desks for 800 children to be able to be seated during classes and started to install permanent benching.
There are still many challenges ahead, including re-furbishing of the toilet blocks which are currently inadequate, installing a kitchen so that the school can provide one proper meal per day and much more. I will be taking a week out of my Christmas holidays to fly out on the 12th of December, to attempt to acheive as much as possible before flying back 7 days later.
Fundraising
To help fund the cost of my flights and vaccinations, and to contribute towards the cost of the project work carried out i need to attempt to raise as much sponsorship as possible.
The total cost of my flights is £318, although if you want to donate towards the cost of the numerous vaccinations (£100+) i'm enduring then im happy to accept that aswell! We are all endeavouring to try and raise £200 for the project costs. This is on top of our own individual costs, to help pay for materials and work carried out etc. Feel free to let me know if you wish to split any donation between my flights/vaccines and my contribution to the project costs.
I do understand not everybody has money to throw at me so I can help lesser fortunate children in Gambia, and i would never expect a contribution from anyone. I would say however, any amount is of great use and will be greatly appreciated as currently my limited student finances and personal savings are funding the entire trip.
To try and make it easy to get money to me (being in portsmouth) i've attempted to setup a few methods.
Cheque via Post
Firstly, simply handing me a cheque is fine and means i can put it in my account, else if you would like to post a cheque then i live at:Flat 3
7 Nightingale Road,
Southsea,
Portsmouth
PO5 3JH
Bank Tranfer
If paying into my bank is easier then please email me and i'll give you a ring to give my bank account details.
Paypal
For the more 'internet-savvy' amongst you, or anyone who does not have time to go through a bank or postoffice, the wonders of Paypal have a prebuilt donations system. Simply click the button below and it will take you to a page asking you to either pay with credit/debit card (little "continue" button on the left), or pay via your paypal account (on the right).
If the button above does not appear, click Here to send me any donations
These days internet banking is relatively safe, but you should always be careful. If you have any questions about the security of paying for things over the internet, I am reading Computer Science at University (and have studied internet banking security), I'm happy to answer any questions. Feel free to email me.