07 July 2011
Exchange Visit to Strengthen Gunjur-Marlborough Link
The Public Relations Officer of Gunjur Marlborough Link, Mariama Mbanding Darboe, has said that a month long visit to Marlborough by a group of six people from Gunjur will go a long way in strengthening relations between the two communities.
The exchange visit, she said, would give the visitors the opportunity to share the cultural experiences of the people of Gunjur with their hosts in Marlborough, whilst also learning from them so as to share those experiences with the people of Gunjur upon their return.
Her words:
“It is very important that they have this opportunity to meet and interact with other people outside their immediate environment and share their cultures with them. We now live in a global village where people from different cultural and religious backgrounds come together to work in our collective endeavours to promote peace, education, fight against poverty and disease, among others”.
Mbanding also believes that the link between the two communities has been a successful experiment in human relations that has yielded great benefits, particularly for Gunjur in the area of Health, Education, Agriculture and women empowerment.
“We have achieved a lot of progress together since the commencement of the link. We have a community nursery school and four gardens for women to help them pay their children's school fees and put food on the table. We also recently received a milling machine for the women of the village following a fund raising in the United Kingdom. The advent of the machine will save the women of this village a lot of time and hard work spent on using the mortar and pestle to process their harvest,” she said.
The President of Marlborough Brandt Group, Dr Nick Maurice, said they were delighted to welcome six friends from Gunjur to the community of Marlborough.
This, he declared, is the 24th exchange visit of young people between the two communities. He maintained that it also coincides with the 30 anniversary of the formation of the link between Gunjur and Marlborough which came about in 1981 thanks to the enthusiasm and support of Abdoullai Bojang, then Gambian High Commissioner in London.
“The visitors will be bringing the Gambian culture, faith and way of life to schools in the country of Wiltshire through many school visits. They will be visiting London and will meet our MP, Claire Perry at the House of Commons to talk to her about the benefits of community partnerships”.
Dr. Nick concluded that there is no doubt that the visitors from Gunjur would be adding a vital international dimension to the lives of the many people that they meet and will be adding to the global peace, prosperity and justice that Marlborough and Gunjur have been striving for for the past 30 years.
The exchange visit, she said, would give the visitors the opportunity to share the cultural experiences of the people of Gunjur with their hosts in Marlborough, whilst also learning from them so as to share those experiences with the people of Gunjur upon their return.
Her words:
“It is very important that they have this opportunity to meet and interact with other people outside their immediate environment and share their cultures with them. We now live in a global village where people from different cultural and religious backgrounds come together to work in our collective endeavours to promote peace, education, fight against poverty and disease, among others”.
Mbanding also believes that the link between the two communities has been a successful experiment in human relations that has yielded great benefits, particularly for Gunjur in the area of Health, Education, Agriculture and women empowerment.
“We have achieved a lot of progress together since the commencement of the link. We have a community nursery school and four gardens for women to help them pay their children's school fees and put food on the table. We also recently received a milling machine for the women of the village following a fund raising in the United Kingdom. The advent of the machine will save the women of this village a lot of time and hard work spent on using the mortar and pestle to process their harvest,” she said.
The President of Marlborough Brandt Group, Dr Nick Maurice, said they were delighted to welcome six friends from Gunjur to the community of Marlborough.
This, he declared, is the 24th exchange visit of young people between the two communities. He maintained that it also coincides with the 30 anniversary of the formation of the link between Gunjur and Marlborough which came about in 1981 thanks to the enthusiasm and support of Abdoullai Bojang, then Gambian High Commissioner in London.
“The visitors will be bringing the Gambian culture, faith and way of life to schools in the country of Wiltshire through many school visits. They will be visiting London and will meet our MP, Claire Perry at the House of Commons to talk to her about the benefits of community partnerships”.
Dr. Nick concluded that there is no doubt that the visitors from Gunjur would be adding a vital international dimension to the lives of the many people that they meet and will be adding to the global peace, prosperity and justice that Marlborough and Gunjur have been striving for for the past 30 years.