13 November 2016
Day 12 Sunday
We spent the
day visiting compounds which are home to some of our friends in The Gambia.
We started at
Lang’s compound. Lang is 13 years old and Kathy and I sponsor him. We chatted
for some time and learned that the last book he read was “Animal Farm”. I think
we will bring him a few reading books when we come in February.
We then went to
Fatou and Ebrima’s compound. Fatou was the first student we sponsored in The
Gambia which was about 10 or 11 years ago. She is the same age as our daughter,
Helen and we have kept in touch all the time. Ebrima was sponsored by my father
until he died four years ago and we have continued to help him. Both are in
their mid-twenties now.
Ebrima is a
very industrious young man. He is a qualified electrician and has started his
own barbering shop, which he proudly showed us. As well as raising pigeons and
chickens he is also a keen gardener with very green fingers.
You may remember
reading in Pageant News (24 October 2016) that the parents of Manor Green
Primary School donated packets of seeds to Pageant from their Harvest Festival
celebrations. We gave a selection of those seeds to Ebrima who will grow
vegetables for all the people in the compound. We also gave him a couple of
packets of seeds bought in The Gambia to see how they grow compared with UK
seeds. We will check when we come in February. We have already given out some
packets of seeds and have some more to give out over the coming few days mainly
to schools
On then to
Fatou Lisa’s compound, an old friend from our days at The Atlantic Hotel where
she worked. Alhagie, her son was
sponsored by Ian and he is a very bright boy. He read to me and was word
perfect with a good understanding of some quite difficult words.
As a result of
donations received at Ian’s funeral in September, the Ian Howard Memorial
Scholarship has been set up and we were very pleased to award this to Alhagie.
His continuing education can therefore be assured.
We spent a very
pleasant couple of hours chatting and playing with the children and then returned
to the hotel. Tonight is David and Regina’s last night before they return to
the UK. They have been great fun whilst here and worked very hard. We will miss
them.
Ebrima with
seeds donated from Manor Green Primary School
Alhagie with
his scholarship certificate
