Summer 2011 Newsletter

Both Meg Lyon and Marj Jawo have visited Wellingara during the last few months to monitor all the projects.  There have been successes, frustrations and a few disasters.

A major improvement has been a change in the waychildren are assessed for sponsorship. The Sponsorship Coordinator, Buba Dampha worked with two volunteer M.A Social Work students from Sheffield University to produce a broader-based assessment form, taking in more details of the whole family situation; this gave a graded assessment according to need.

In order to consult all the families on a renewed sponsorship policy Wellingara has been divided into three Cluster areas. The Cluster Heads will keep Buba informed of any problems, births, deaths, illnesses etc.

Already this is having a positive community effect as the clusters are discussing how they can raise funds themselves; possibly for their children’s school books. Lack of these books was highlighted in Buba’s school visits report (sent to sponsors recently) It seems that it needs an initiative (like the setting up of clusters) to motivate community members to take action to help themselves.

Sponsored families are encouraged to start a savings scheme and to date, approximately 50% have done so.

However, there are still many children on the waiting list and we appeal, once again, for you to try and persuade friends to sponsor a child.

Sainey Gibba, Head Teacher and senior teacher, Nicholas Pa Bass from the Nursery School have been seconded by the Gambian Education Department for a year to train teachers in the Jolly Phonics scheme. Sainey has trained teachers in the furthest village upcountry. A volunteer teacher and a teacher on a one-year contract are working at the school to replace Sainey and Nicholas.

The school site now has its own ‘bantaba’ where staff meet in the mornings and children use at break times. It’s a cool, airy place with seats around the inside.

The major frustration has come from the slow-grinding wheels of Gambian bureaucracy with regard to completing the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to enable the clinic to legally provide ante-natal and post-natal care. Although the Ministry of Health has now signed the MOU it still has another hurdle to clear before maternity care can begin.. (There was one emergency delivery however, when a girl was born and named Meg!)

Patients needing a laboratory test also have to be referred elsewhere as Wellingara clinic does not have its own lab and lab technician ~ 1to3 does not have the funds to provide this. Testing is needed for confirmation of malaria, pregnancy, TB, STDs etc.

If anyone can assist us by providing funds for the necessary equipment and/or salary do please get in touch with any of the Trustees.

There have been some staff changes at the clinic but it is now open every weekday. Patient numbers are lower than we expected but we are assured this will change once the maternity care is allowed and if a testing lab is on site.

Some disasters: The past rainy season was severe in terms of flooding, fire and very high incidence of malaria; 95% of patients in November had malaria.  The compounds of three sponsored families were devastated by fire when all their belongings were lost. Several compounds were completely flooded after heavy rainfall. The setting up of a community disaster fund is being discussed in Wellingara with a view to assisting those affected by fire, flood etc.

On the initiative of Buba Dampha (Sponsorship Coordinator) an officer from Serrekunda Fire Station addressed a crowd of over 200 people at Wellingara bantaba (meeting place). He gave valuable advice on fire prevention, emergency phone numbers. Following this meeting a recommendation has been made that more fire hydrants are fitted along the roads.  Thankfully the advice given by the fire officer was followed during a more recent fire which limited the damage.

Once again we would like to say ‘THANK YOU’ to all those who have supported us through the year. Special thanks go to all the sponsors who sent extra funds to help ‘their’ families whose compounds were damaged by fire, flood or where the family house was in a poor condition and the extra funds for rice have been very much appreciated.

Thanks to the senior students at The Pingle School, S. Derbyshire; funds from their talent competition bought a motorbike for use by the clinic staff.

Winshill Methodist Church, Burton on Trent completed a year-long project with monthly events for mosquito nets and medication, funding 410 nets (which will protect over 800 people) and 516 chemical net-dipping tablets – a magnificent achievement which has been hailed by one bed net recipient as a ‘life-saver’. Another mum said none of her family had been ill since they received nets. Marj successfully completed a sponsored rock-face abseil as one of the fund-raising events.

The ‘Open Gate’ charity in Derbyshire funded the installation of three new water taps within Wellingara compounds, serving many families with safe drinking water.

Northampton Catenians raised over £1000 for projects in Wellingara.

Reigate College donated computer equipment and funds to pay for the re-painting of the exterior walls of the school.

Thank-you” to Ann McKenzie and her friends in Rhyl. They all belong to an old folks club and collect their coppers for us as well as holding raffles and, to date, have donated over £900 to 1.to3

A plea from Marj: Please do not send letters for sponsored children to her home address but send direct to: The Sponsorship Coordinator, Wellingara CIS, PO Box 1499, Banjul, The Gambia. Place your letter in a separate envelope with the child’s name on.

News :

Wellingara Community Health Clinic

At last the clinic is open on a regular basis, staffed by two nurse/midwives working shifts from 8am to 8pm Monday to Thursday and Friday 8am to 4pm on Fridays. A Red Cross volunteer assists daily.

Patients pay a small registration fee before seeing a nurse. If medication is prescribed this has to be paid for before being given to the patient. Sponsored children are treated free of charge from a fund especially set aside for this purpose. Any patients who cannot be treated at the clinic are referred to other facilities.

The necessary registration with the health authorities is in the process of being completed and then ante and post natal care will be available. There are many requests for this care from pregnant women.

The clinic administrator keeps a record of the numbers of different illnesses per month. During the rainy season (June to October) the incidence of malaria is high. 95% of patients seen in November had malaria.

Generous donations save lives:  1to 3 Trustees would like to thank the following organisations for their generous support.

Northampton Catenians donated £1200 to be used for the Health Clinic.

Once again Open Gate based in Derbyshire has donated £3100 and three new taps have been sited around Wellingara ensuring many more residents will have access to clean drinking water from the mains supply. To keep the cost down villagers carried out the digging of the trenches from the mains to the taps.

Burton on Trent Soroptimists International continues to support Wellingara by sponsoring a very bright young girl to enable her to continue her education. As both her parents have died this support is vital. The Club also donates funds for bed nets.

Winshill Methodist Church, Burton on Trent has as its year-long project, raising funds for bed nets and malaria medication. 1to3 Trustee and Sponsorship Secretary, Marj Jawo did a sponsored abseil in September and a Gambian evening was held in October. A recent concert given by Derbyshire Constabulary Police Choir was well attended raising over £300.

The Pingle School, South Derbyshire donated money to enable the clinic nurses to have a motor bike to enable them to attend emergencies in the area. Funds raised were sufficient to pay for the bike, helmet, insurance and licence.

Pingle School has also sponsored a young woman to attend The Gambia College for teacher training.  All courses are held in the school holidays over three years.

Students at Reigate College have raised funds for the training of two teachers and donated two computers during a recent visit to Wellingara by a member of staff.  The College hopes to be involved over a number of years.

Sponsorship News

Most days the Wellingara Sponsorship Coordinator, Buba Dampha, can be seen on his motorbike (funded by donors in the UK) around Wellingara as he makes home visits to families of 130 sponsored children to check their health and welfare. This is a comprehensive task following which he sends individual reports to Marj Jawo who passes them on to the sponsors.

These reports make for hard reading as so many parents told Buba of their difficulties in feeding the family. High employment levels for the men and just petty trading for some of the women means money is always short. Many families were without mosquito nets and some children were sleeping on blankets on the floor.

If these difficulties are being experienced by families who receive sponsorship funds each month, how much worse must it be for those without this extra income?

There have been several sponsorship cancellations due to financial circumstances, redundancy etc but thankfully, some new sponsors have registered with us.

Two MA Social Work students from Sheffield University spent six weeks in Wellingara and worked with Buba and many children.  They helped Buba plan a revised assessment of need form which is now in place with need being ranked A – F( i.e urgent need to no need)

If you would like to help a child get into or to stay in education by setting up sponsorship, do get in touch with Marj Jawo, the 1to3 Sponsorship Coordinator (see contacts page)  All details are on the FAQs page.

Jolly Phonics

The Head teacher of the nursery school, Sainey Gibba reports that since Jolly Phonics was introduced to the school the number of children moving on from nursery school to Lower Basic school (7-13yrs) being able to ‘comfortably’ read, write and spell has increased year on year.

Thanks are given to Chris Jolly of Jolly Learning Ltd who donated many JP resources and funded the expenses of five JP trainers when they went to /Gambia to train several hundred teachers from around Gambia in the use of this scheme as an effective method of teaching children to read, write and spell.   Sainey is the official JP trainer for the Gambia.  info@jollylearning c.o.uk