In a place with as many needs as The Gambia, any attempt to do good on a limited budget requires trade offs.  When we started GambiaRising, we decided to focus on education, especially for girls.  When we see needs in other arenas, instead of diverting our focus, we help other organizations get started in The Gambia, bringing their own funding.  We helped and still offer non-financial assistance to Water Charity (focused on rural water) and Trees for the Future (focused on planting trees and sustainable agriculture).  In more than one area, the three organizations work together to address broader issues.  But today, as on Day One, when someone donates to GambiaRising, they know their funds will be used exclusively to support students.

Most of the time, that means buying school uniforms, books, or paying college tuition. But when the community of Sare Wuring came to us for help to build a school, we realized that dozens of children would be able to go to school if we could do so, not for only one year.  Since the government would provide teachers, more students every year would be able to go to school with the government bearing the ongoing costs. The villagers then explained that they had in fact already started a school, but it was made out of leaves.  And the government had already sent two teachers.

Peace Corps volunteer Harry Dwinell made a short but inspiring video about the project:

The school was beyond successful.  More than 100 students from Sare Wuring and nearby villages were soon attending.  The government promised to build a third classroom for the 2020-21 school year, but nothing was built.  COVID delayed the opening of schools that year so we stayed hopeful.  But after the rains ceased last September, it became clear that there was not going to be a third classroom.  Finally, as schools were a few weeks away from re-opening, we looked at our budget: would it be possible supply funds to buy cement and sand to make bricks, doors and windows, and roofing materials?  Our back-to-school campaign had brought an unexpected donation, so we saw a way to say yes to the villagers without impacting our scholarship program.  We funded the materials, then ordered desks from a shop in Janjanbureh.  The villagers threw themselves into building a third classroom, attached to the first two.  The school now had three classrooms, and five grades, in double shifts.  With three classrooms, they were set for the next two years.

This school, and this community, had won our hearts. So when the GambiaRising team was finally able to return to The Gambia in January after two years away, we wanted to be sure to visit.  We knew the community was engaged.  We knew the classrooms were filled and perhaps overflowing.  Our idea in getting the school started was to get students into school, show that a school was viable, and hope that in time the government would marshal funds and take responsibility for providing a school for the village's children. 

What would we find?  We hoped they would not need our help again. 

As our team drove slowly down the potholed dirt road toward the school, our hearts filled with joy.  The school site was transformed.  Everywhere we turned, there was building going on.   More classrooms were being built.  And a new school kitchen.  And teachers' housing.  And a solar-powered borehole well.  And new toilets.  And a fenced garden.  It was our dream come true.

GambiaRising is a small non-profit. We have no source of income except donations from several hundred returned Peace Corps volunteers, my and their friends and my and their families.  We must choose what we spend donated funds on very carefully.  So we think a lot about impact per dollar. And about sustainability. We know that if we educate a child, there is no ongoing maintenance required, no roofs or pumps to repair.  Every year a student is in school, they learn more, grow up, are more in charge of their own future.  You can't break that.  You can't take it away.  So until they graduate, we will make a long-term commitment to support them through at least 12th grade.  (Which is why we love our monthly and annual donors so much.)

When we use our precious funds for a small building project like Sare Wuring, we need to believe that:

1) the children who attend the school would not have otherwise been in school,

2) the community and/or government will take responsibility for upkeep long-term, and

3) the government will staff the school.

All three of these have now been met in Sare Wuring.  Our work is done.  And every year from here on out, the dividends from this investment will continue to be paid.  

If you are a regular donor to GambiaRising, thank you for being part of making this miracle happen. 

If you haven't donated in the past year, please join us.  There is so much more to do. 

And I promise we will work tirelessly and effectively to use your donation(s) to give young Gambians opportunities to change their own lives.

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

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Emeryville, CA  94608-3578