GamBLE - Gambia Building Links in Education - Yalding, Kent
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  • GamBLE - Gambia Building Links in Education - Yalding, Kent
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  • Yalding school, Farato – the Gambia, West Africa   GamBLE -  Gambia:  Building Links in Education started in 2000 and became a registered Charity in 2003.  At first, two Nursery classrooms were built from money raised by the people of Yalding.  The people of the village of Farato helped to build the school and in gratitude to the villagers of Kent, decided to name their new school Yalding School.   Since then, Yalding citizens have contributed to funding two more classrooms and in 2004 GamBLE had created a Nursery School for 160 children aged 3-7 years.  A number of regular sponsors from Yalding village pay towards the salaries of the teachers.  Through generous donations, GamBLE enables these teachers to complete a 3-year training course at the Gambia College and runs regular workshops at the school to increase the skills of Nursery teachers in Farato and villages beyond.   As well as creating a building the Nursery school developed in several important ways: ·        class sizes were reduced to 40 (many Gambian Nursery schools have over 60 children in a class) ·        teachers became more creative and resourceful ·        donations of materials and toys enabled pupils and teachers to enjoy learning   Traditionally children in The Gambia go to Primary school at the age of 7 years old.  It soon became clear that if the Nursery pupils were going to increase their education GamBLE would need to build a Primary school.  This huge project began in 2006 and so far we have been able to provide continued education for another 120 pupils.  The plans are to complete the primary school by 2010 when there will be 400 pupils in Yalding School, Farato.   The success of the project has arisen from the generosity and hard work of the villagers of Yalding and their friends and family.  Fund raising activities are held in the village and have included and annual BBQ, Art Exhibitions, African drumming evenings, a variety of concerts, coffee mornings, sponsored slims and runs and a wealth of donations both of money and teaching materials and school uniform.   Two teachers from Yalding School Farato have visited the village and worked in the village Primary School and Preschool. They have then taken their ideas back to work in their school.  Many of the villagers of Yalding have volunteered to work in Yalding School and live in the village of Farato without electricity or running water.   The link between the two Yaldings is strong and the degree to which each community has shared experiences and understanding is very high.  The development of Yalding Farato has been a direct result of the people of Yalding Kent and in exchange the two communities have increased their awareness of the values and customs of two very different lifestyles.
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