Forthcoming Visit to Genieri 2012

Jez Truelove will be travelling to Genieri to review the the present needs of the village and to buy necessary supplies such as extra bednets, seeds, medicines and rice for the Day Care Centre.

While there he will also visit the local Primary School to discover how the Link-sponsored pupils from Genieri are progressing. The sponsorship of children has been one of our most popular projects, though our most expensive and the committee is hopeful that as the village become better able to sustain itself there will be less need for such a high numbers to receive payment. As of this year we sponsor a total of 36 children (i.e. six pupils for year for six years)      

                             Extracts from most recently published Newsletters

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