Genieri Visit 2010

Barbara and Kevin Flannery will leave for Genieri on January 8th 2010. While in the village they will find out how the projects are progressing and take funding for salaries. This time they will be particular interested to find out details of how the very successful child sponsorship scheme is working. To date the Link has guaranteed the education 18 children until twelve, at which age they become eligible for secondary school. They will take with them as many supplies as they can cram into their luggage. 

This year we are appealing for: 
Cagoules (needed by the women for gardening in the monsoon season) 
T-shirts (especially ones to fit children up to the age of 4) 
Footballs and football kit 
Pens, pencils, rulers etc. 
Games – dominos, cards etc. 
If you can give us any of these items we shall be grateful and ensure they are delivered. 

                     

Child Sponsorship  Setting up the day care centre in the village was one of the first projects undertaken in the early nineties by the Link. But recently It became apparent that a number of the children attending the Centre until they were seven could not afford to transfer to the primary school in Kaiaf. So the decision was taken to sponsor six children from the poorest families beginning in September 2007. Foday Dampha the teacher of the Day Care Centre would be a member of the committee which decides which children would be chosen and would look after the distribution of the money for us. Investigations showed that 1055 dalasi (approximately £30 at today's exchange rate) is needed for each of the six years which a child spends at Primary School. In the first year five boys and one girl were chosen from three different compounds. Last we received the first reports on the progress of these children. of which a sample is shown here. The children are all in class 1C which has 42 pupils altogether, rising to 47 by July. It is encouraging to see that all the children attend regularly, behave well and seem to show the benefit of the teaching they have had in the Day Care Centre, getting off to a good start in their basic literacy and number skills.  In November of 2008 £475 was taken out to continue the sponsorship of the first group of six and a further six children were chosen using our criteria for sponsorship for the year beginning September 2008. Extra funds were needed during the year as the Dalassi became stronger and the exchange rate rose from 50D =£1 to 35D = £1 Sterling. Shoes, being imported goods, also rose in cost so an extra £32 was sent to cover these rises. Fund raising events aimed specifically at education sponsorship will therefore be increased this year.

 Two boosts to funds
As a result of the recent Safari Supper held at four houses in North Yate the Link raised a total of £282.89. Our thanks go to the hosts and the thirty two guests who were so generous in their support. Our thanks also go to the pupils and staff of Culverhill School who gave the proceeds of their Harvest Festival to the Link, a sum of £93.92.                      

The Primary Health Care Centre
Lamin Sanneh, the manager and sole operator of the Centre whose salary we pay, reported a busy year in which he dealt with 700 cases, ranging from coughs and colds, headaches, fevers and skin complaints.
It was a busy year for births, the traditional birthing assistant having attended 15 by halfway through the year. This compares with a mere 13 for the whole of 2006.
Worryingly he had 100 visits from malaria sufferers. Even allowing for some of these being repeat visits, the incidence of the disease is still too high. We learned that many of the bednets we supplied earlier are in need of replacement and that will be given priority hopefully finding a source of more durable quality.

Greedy Banks
We were less than pleased to discover that our latest transfer of funds to the bank in the Gambia – (mostly forward payments for teacher's salaries - incurred a charge of £57 in addition to the standard charge of £17 from Alliance and Leicester at this end). Apparently, from now on we shall have to pay this exorbitant fee each time we make a transfer – unless, that is, you know of a more cost effective way to get money to Genieri. Suggestions will be most welcome.

Other money Matters
The rate of exchange
For a number of years the exchange rate has been weighted in our favour, sometimes giving us as many as 57 Dalassi to the pound. Recently however the value of the pound has dropped considerably and the rate currently stands at about 36 to the pound. This means our buying power is substantially reduced.
Giftaid
As you may know we have recently started urging our tax-paying friends to 'giftaid' their donations. By simply ticking a box and signing a form we can reclaim an extra 20% on the amount given. This applies to such things as memberships, donations to the Child Sponsorship Scheme and all similar gifts.

Going to The Gambia?
If you are one of the many people planning a holiday in The Gambia, maybe you would consider topping up you suitcases with items for the village. We always have a backlog of books, tee-shirts, pencils, footballs and the like which need delivering. Fabakary Sanneh, from the village, works as a guide and is based at one of the hotels on the coast. He can arrange to collect things from your hotel and make sure they reach the village later.
If you are able to help please ring Barbara Flannery on 01454 880541.

Safari Suppers
The two Safari Suppers of the winter were joined by a third fine-dining event. By way of an experiment, a New Year's Eve supper and fireworks party was enjoyed by a dozen people, a number of them new friends of the Link. Although smaller in scale than normal Safari Suppers it was hailed as a must-do-again. Our thanks are due to Hilary, Jez, Barbara and Kevin for organising it.
Each Safari Supper raised approximately £250; the Autumn Quiz night £191 and the Victorian Fair Cake Stall £205. 

                             Extracts from most recently published Newsletter

Child Sponsorship update
The child sponsorship scheme, which was launched last summer, has been a great success. The need for such a scheme became clear when Foday, the teacher at the Day Care Centre for which we are responsible, pointed out that some of the children there were unable to transfer to Primary School as their parents were too poor to pay the fees. He reckoned that six children a year stopped all education at the age of seven for this reason. He estimated that £120 would be sufficient for a child to complete their entire Primary School education including the provision of the necessary uniform and books.
Since then the first six pupils have been identified by Foday and have completed their first term at Kaiaf Primary School.
Your response to our request for support for these children has been outstanding and thanks to generous donations from several individuals and organisations for the full £120 and a gift of £200 from Yate Rotary Club, as well as the profits from fund raising events we have a healthy balance in our 'ring fenced' account.
Photographs of the six children involved are winging their leisurely way from Genieri by post and shall post them on this site as soon as they arrive.

                                                   
The Day Care Centre itself continues to flourish, as this recent photograph taken by Yate Council Member Ruth Davis and her husband Tony show. They made the journey up from the coast during a holiday in the Gambia last Autumn. We were especially pleased to see the bright artwork on the walls.

Pest and Disease Training for the village gardeners
Since the Link started paying the salary of a caretaker for the Women's Garden and made sure the boundary fence is in good order, the plot owners have cultivated their land with renewed enthusiasm.

A brief telephone conversation with Foday Dampha in mid May confirmed that the training in the management of pests and diseases has now been completed and the effect in the gardens has been dramatic. The training programme was organised by the Gambia's Department of Agriculture and we believe offered good value at a cost of approximately £500.
The course involved the training of 16 women and 5 men during which they received practical tuition in the identification of major pests and diseases, the safe use of pesticides and alternative pesticides and the use of equipment.

Sixty years on and still counting
Statistics, statistics; don't you just love them? Here are a few more for you to relish - eight bicycles, 805 residents, 41 cats, 32 donkeys, 470 chicken, 207 cattle, 77 sheep, nine dogs, and two oxen.
Those are just some figures that come from the ten year survey of the village which was conducted during our visit in 2007. Its findings will be added to those collected every decade since 1947 when the census was started by Margaret Haswell, the Link's Honorary President.
The full results of this year's census will be analysed at Oxford University and used for research in the Departments of African Studies at that and other Universities. The census is particularly valuable to researchers as it represents the longest continuous survey of any African community.
Meanwhile this year's preliminary results show some interesting developments, partly because a new range of questions was introduced. Genieri's population of 805 people shows a slight increase since 1997 as does the number of compounds at 41. The eight bicycles represent one of the most effective forms of transport and are used to transport children to school and to go to the market at Soma. One of them was bought by the Link for the use of Lamin Sanneh, the Primary Healthcare manager, but cart and donkey remains the most popular combination for most peoples' work. There were no cars to be seen in the village but we were told there are four kept at nearby Kombo.
There is no mains electricity supply, but four compounds have generators used for light and simple electrical appliances. One solar panel supplies a limited amount of power for light.
Incidentally those cats are not kept as cuddly pets but earn their keep catching rats and mice.

Honey back on the menu
After hitting a difficult patch in 2006 the bee-keeping project is back on track thanks to the help given by the National Beekeepers Association of the Gambia (NBAG).
The decline in activity had been for a number of reasons. Some of the original women beekeepers had got married and left the village, termites had attacked the hives and some beekeepers were 'absentee owners'.
Since then eight sets of top bar hives have been replaced together with four bee suits and other equipment. Training was given to seven beekeepers, some of them new to the project, on how to repair and maintain damaged hives.
In order to ensure that the project thrives in future a beekeepers contract will be introduced stipulating that keepers must be residents in Genieri, hives must be checked at least weekly and profits will be divided between the seven participating keepers with a percentage being retained for repair and replacement of equipment.

Football
The team continues to flourish and is the pride of the village and such is the kudos of being selected to play, some players even return from their jobs on the coast for vital matches .
The fact that the village can rely on a supply of good quality footballs and now has goal posts provided by the Link, it has a distinct advantage over neighbouring villages. It is also fortunate in having a level pitch which is relatively free of dips and mounds. As a result it is often chosen as the venue for local cup matches.
During the latest trip 6,000 dalasi (approximately £114) was given to Fabackery Sanneh, the captain, to buy nets for the new posts.

Village Map