Amazons changing lives for ever

CHANGING LIVES FOR EVER – THE AMAZON PROJECT VISIT TO THE GAMBIA 2009

Over the past three years the Amazon Project based at Mountfields Lodge Youth Centre has been supporting the educational work of two schools in The Gambia. This year a group of five Amazons and two staff visited the schools and continued to develop and support their links.

Madiana School

So much has changed since that first visit when there was only the shell of two classrooms – it needed a roof, exterior walls, interior walls plastering, windows and doors fitting and the laying of concrete floors and paths. Classroom furniture was also needed for the two classrooms.

As a result of the Amazons involvement there has been an impact on both the school and the village : -

• The Iman has made the first visit for over four years to the school and pass on his thanks and appreciation for support and encouragement given to the village by the work of the Amazons.
• The school has two fully operational classrooms – which means that children can all attend school between 8.00 and 2.00 – therefore increasing their access to education – previously there were too many children and some children only had access to lessons between 12.00 and 2.00. There has also been a significant reduction in the size of the classes and two more teachers have been taken on by the headmaster.
• The Alkalo (village chief) expressed his sincere and profound happiness to have the Amazons working in partnership with the school and the village. He said he was impressed by the fact that women from England worked hard to support their village and school and he was proud to include them as members of his village.
• People are coming from nearby villages wanting to live in the village and send their children to Madiana school- because it has a good reputation of being fair – its pupils no longer receive corporal punishment and the headmaster encourages girls to attend school. The village has now started digging a well and this will allow water to be piped to the school – it is sited about 20 metres from the school buildings.
• As a result of all the extra building work – the villagers got involved and started to take a pride in the village and in the school.
• The Alkalo has given the school and the village some of his personal land – 60 metres square – so that the village can clear the ground and grow cash crops. This represents a huge step in terms of sustainability and development.
• The headmaster took me into his office and told me that this progress would never have been possible without the involvement of the Amazon project and that he was deeply grateful as the school is his life and he can see it developing on a daily basis. He explained that his father had died when he was young and a teacher had looked after him and shown him the importance of education. The headmaster is currently looking after 12 orphans and paying for their education from is wages. He said the school would have remained as it was three years ago because nobody had any pride in the village and mistrusted the school – the Amazons showed that education is the way forward. They came and took lessons and made a commitment to support the education of the children of the village and they kept their promise.

The headmaster said the fact that the Amazons have kept their promise and returned has changed the way the Iman and the Alkalo view the world.

Impact for the Amazons

• It does not matter how many times individual Amazons visit the school (some have been more than once) they always experience something new. This year the group took part in the 44th anniversary of the independence of The Gambia. They learned about the history of the Gambia and had an insight into what is important in a country’s development.
• The Amazons have a clear understanding of the struggle the headmaster has to equip the school with books and pencils etc – it is almost impossible to buy pencils and stationary in The Gambia.
• They know the importance of making a commitment to support the school and to keep that promise. Many people have in the past made promises and not delivered and this has affected the relationship between how many Gambians see white people.
• They have experienced absolute poverty first hand and this has had a marked impact on the way they see the world and indeed their own world. They have observed first hand the fact that the hotel they stayed at had water sprinklers that watered the hotel grounds and the puddles formed by over watering became drinking places for vultures - Madiana school and many others had no water and this was a measure of the inequality that existed.
• Amazons also learn a whole variety of new skills – they undertake presentations of their work and have been involved in the Global Education Project. They have developed the skills needed to work as a team and use the skills and expertise of members and support each other to develop the confidence needed to stand in front of an audience and deliver a presentation. They also work together as a team for all the fundraising events – their annual charity auction is testament to their commitment and persuasion for people to part with their hard earned cash.

Comments from the Amazons

“ Being part of this project and having the chance to go to the Gambia has changed my life for ever – I never realised that such poverty existed – I had seen stuff on the telly but this was different – I was there and part of it. I felt guilty that I had so much and didn’t appreciate it. I have made new friends in the Gambia and I want to continue to fundraise so that they can have a better life.”

“It has opened my eyes – I know what I want to do when I leave school – I want to be a youth worker and make a difference to the lives of young people I work with.”

I had never been out of the UK and my first trip was to the Gambia – I saw so much there that upset me – I just wanted to make things fairer”

Please help us to raise money for Hart House in the Gambia