Ripple Effects

We always say that educating girls has myriad ripple effects: healthier children, smaller families, and improved local economies. As GambiaRising has evolved, we have also helped some of the girls' brothers (about 30% of our scholarships go to boys). The Gambia has many needs but as opportunities to work in other areas have come our way, we have helped form new organizations to do that work:

- Working Water Gambia repairs village pumps and digs new wells, with funding from Water Charity, Drop4Drop, and individual donors.

- Forest Gardens Gambia is funded by Trees for the Future (TFF) and implements TFF's integrated multi-crop farming system, which is derived from the Peace Corps agriculture program. If you see a farm in the Central River Region with live fencing and incorporating a variety of trees into the farm layout, chances are it was part of this program. More than 1,000 farmers have participated over the past four years.

Clearly there are many ways for these organizations to collaborate. In several villages, GambiaRising provided the materials for communities to build small schools, Working Water Gambia provided the school well and toilets, and Forest Gardens Gambia supplied training and seeds for the school garden.

So when Raphael Jawo, one of our long-time partners in the Central River Region, offered to set aside 250 acres of his family's farm along the River Gambia as a nature preserve, we knew this would be another wonderful chance to collaborate. Forest Gardens Gambia proposed to speed to the forestation process by supplying seeds and polypots. Garden masters at three schools around Fula Bantang (all of the schools built with special gifts from GambiaRising donors) joined with Forest Gardens staff to propagate the seeds for six to eight months until the rainy season. The process was used as a teaching opportunity at the schools, and students joined in. When some money was needed for seeds, vehicle rental, or lunches, several GambiaRising donors contributed in memory of recently departed loved ones. Finally, the rainy season was in full swing, the ground was soaked, and a break in the weather gave the opportunity to mobilize students and teachers and Forest Garden staff to head to the preserve. We had set an ambitious goal: plant 1000 trees this year. I asked Kebba Sanyang how many he expected to plant, and he said he didn't know but they would keep a tally as the seedlings were planted.

Then the great news began to come in. For two days, my phone was pinging in my pocket as photos and reports arrived. I'll let the photos tell the story (below).

But, you may say, I thought this was a farm; there seem to be trees there already.

That is because this is the fifth year of such outplanting. Each year, the goal has been to plant 1,000 trees. How did they do this year?

Here's the tally: ------------->

This was not a GambiaRising program. But it would never have happened had GambiaRising not existed. The schools where the garden masters propagated seeds were funded by our donors. Forest Gardens Gambia was founded by members of the GambiaRising team (its President, Kebba Sanyang, is GambiaRising's upcountry program manager). Raphael Jawo works with both GambiaRising and Forest Gardens Gambia, and when Working Water Gambia wanted to repair every well in Fula Bantang ward, it was Raphael who walked from village to village to survey the needs, and even hand drew the map. This is another ripple effect of committing to educating girls; it will not show up on any report because it doesn't fit neatly into a category. But it is a perfect example of what can happen when communities start to feel empowered, to feel the strength that comes from working together, and have access to the modest funding needed (seeds, transportation of seedlings and team members to the land, lunch for the planting crew).

Now our attention must turn to making sure as many young Gambians as possible have a chance to be in school when classes resume next month. If you are not helping some of them, please do so now. It is crucial that they not miss the opening of school.

$3 per month will fund a scholarship for grades 1 to 9.
$10 per month will fund a scholarship for senior secondary school.
And the cost to attend Gambia College to become a teacher is $40 per month.

Mike McConnell
Managing Trustee
GambiaRising
1500 Park Ave,, Apt. 503
Emeryville, CA 94608-3578

I will help keep them in school