In such difficult times, helping young Gambians stay in school through 12th grade is challenging.  One of our Coordinators said to me "The more we help, the more who come."  Which is true.  This is partly the result of how we operate in communities.  Children who drop out of school or never start school have been part of the landscape for so long that they are accepted and not thought more about.  Occasionally we hear a story about a student who was helped by a teacher or a headmaster, and this is appreciated but is seen as an exception.  But when we start working with a teacher at a school, the numbers start to change.  First a few children enroll or re-enroll with new uniforms and books and other teachers start thinking there may be a way to get help for this one or that one who dropped out because of family hardship.  So the more we help, the more expectations rise for what is possible. 

We also have felt compelled to help at least a few of the best and the brightest continue on to college or university.  And in the past two years, the generosity of our donors has allowed to help some whom we have not helped before: those whose mother or guardian got them through 12th grade but when they excelled in the national exams realized there was no money for them to go farther.  With no offices and a low profile, GambiaRising is not easy to find outside the communities in which we work, but each of these students asked and asked and finally found their way to our door.  Thanks to those who donated this year, we were able to say yes to the very best of these as well.  Let me introduce you to three of them; each of these videos is about 2 minutes long, and each of these students is inspiring:

I began this note in the Brussels Airport during a layover en route to The Gambia.  If my internet connection holds up, it will be sent from Bansang, where I am spending the week visiting schools (and some students). Our Gambian team is so grateful for the work that our donors are enabling them to do.  And they are pouring their hearts into their work when their day jobs are done.  I will let the students speak for themselves (see above).

If you are one of those whose generosity allows this program to do so much good, I thank you again from the bottom of my heart.  And if you haven't donated in the past year, PLEASE join us.  So many more wonderful young people whose dreams of a better future depend on our ability to do more than ever in 2022.