Every donation we receive is precious.  We use 100% of every dollar directly to support students.  Several dozen Gambian volunteer Coordinators work without pay to help those in their communities, and they never seem to tire.  Fueled by your donations, this system has led to several thousand young Gambians obtaining the education they deserved but had no chance of getting without help. 

Sometimes, the ripple effects of our efforts can be astonishing.

For more than ten years, we have supported several deaf students at St. John's School for the Deaf in the urban area near the coast.  So we were interested to learn that an annex of St. John's had been started in the Upper River Region capital of Basse.  It was not easy to get enough students to fill the first class when the school opened.  It took several more years to fill a second class.  But people began to trust the school, word spread, and the idea that deaf children could go to school gained traction; every year since a new class has been added. 

Two years ago, a returned Peace Corps volunteer said she and her mother were interested in a holiday fundraising campaign.  Did we have any ideas?  One time gifts are not ideal for long-term scholarships, so we consulted with our Gambian team.  The answer was clear: build housing for upcountry teachers.  And start with St. John's School for the Deaf.  

Teachers skilled in sign language and trained to teach deaf children are hard to find and harder to persuade to move upcountry.  But housing in Basse was so scarce that teachers had begun sleeping at the school.

Parents and teachers met with our Coordinator to discuss the opportunity; a plan was made.  When the funds started to arrive, the teachers started work building themselves housing.

And by last school year, the teacher's at St. John's had places to live, right next door to the school.  The school had was operating in double shifts in its three classrooms.  A good situation all around.  However, the first students would be finishing 9th grade in July 2022 with no classroom space for a 10th grade.  And no one had funds to add a new classroom.  

Then a breakthrough occurred.  (This is the ripple effect.)  The school actually had five rooms: 3 classrooms, the principal's office, and a teacher's lounge.  But unlike the days when teachers were sleeping on the floors of the school, no one was using the teacher's lounge; teachers were simply going to their houses, right next door.  So the school asked permission from the government to do away with the lounge, and to convert it to a 4th classroom.  Windows were cut in the wall; a new door was installed.  Desks were brought in. 

And St. John's had a 10th grade!  The students could stay in school.

Peace Corps pulled all its volunteers out of the field when the COVID pandemic started two years ago. Only now are Volunteers beginning to return to The Gambia.  Our most important source of new supporters is Peace Corps volunteers who have completed their service, and in the past two years, there have been none.  But young Gambians are still coming to us every day asking for help to go back to or stay in school.  

In the face of this, it has been heartwarming to see former Volunteers come and ask to help students in the village where they served or trained.  Most recently, a returned Volunteer visited her old home village in the North Bank Region and contacted us wanting to help some children there to go to and stay in school. We introduced her to our North Bank Coordinator, Dawda Faye. Dawda was thrilled and at some point dared to mention that he also had a list of other students in North Bank villages who without help would not go to school. The Volunteer wrote back a short note that included this life-changing sentence: "I feel privileged to be able to sponsor all of these students for this academic year."  So not only the children in her former village but in villages throughout the North Bank are in school thanks to this returned Volunteer, who truly is making miracles occur in these young people's lives.  Here are 15 of these students.

We could not be more grateful to everyone who is donating monthly, and to everyone who has made their annual donation.  Thank you for providing the fuel for GambiaRising.  If you haven't contributed lately, we have so many bills to pay at the end of the year, as Gambia College and the University of The Gambia want their tuition for the January semester.  In The Gambia, divorces will continue to happen; fathers will die or leave.  There really aren't many other places for young Gambians in need to turn, and your donation will have such an immediate impact.  We are counting on the next six weeks to make the difference.  

Mike McConnell
Managing Trustee
GambiaRising
www.gambiarising.org
www.facebook.com/gambiarising

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